Hi all, it’s been a while. A lot has been going on, but I wanted to ask for advice in regards to this situation I’m going through.
As of last week, I was taking Wellbutrin and Strattera in conjunction with my Lamictal and Vraylar. However, I believe that the Wellbutrin and the Strattera may have interacted with each other and I’ve become psychotic, with the psychosis worsening at night. I keep hearing things coming from outside my bedroom window (which have made me believe that there is someone outside) along with a few other things I’m experiencing, but this is the most notable factor.
I still live with my family, and I’ve slept in the living room on the couch and on the floor and last night I slept in the same bed with my mom because I’ve become so averse to sleeping in my own bedroom. I can only sleep when it’s light out, which means I get anywhere from 2-5 hours of sleep a day.
I let my pdoc know about this yesterday and she took me off the Strattera and Wellbutrin, but I’m thinking about getting a new pdoc at some point in the near future because in short I’m not too happy with her services. In the meantime, what can I do to ease the paranoia I get at night? It’s so bad at night and I’m at a loss of what to do about it. I’ve considered going inpatient but I don’t think I want to do that right now.
Mixing ADHD meds with wellbutrin can often be bad they both mess with chemicals that are involved in psychosis. You may be better if you just dont mix them again. I got psychosis triggered by Vyvanse and Wellbutrin, though I already have had psychosis without them. Still I imagine mixing meds that do such similar things amplifies stuff and could lead to that as a side effect. Benzos are good if you have them but relaxing stuff and leaving your light on and whatever you can to feel safe is good. There is nothing shameful about sleeping with your mom either. It would be good if pdoc temporarily prescribed you xanax or something.
I agree with this. Or a short course of haldol maybe to take at night for a few weeks until things return to normal. Haldol is quick acting and can help keep the lid on.
You need to have another chat with your psychiatrist.
Also, I completely forgot to mention in my original post that I’ve tried magnesium and melatonin to try to go to sleep but they haven’t helped at all. I’ll consider asking my GP for a better sleep aide or a benzo. Thank you everyone for the suggestions, you’re the best.
I remember when I was taking reboxetine (NRI) and Bupropion in combination that I did a lot of digging and ended up find a source stating that they have a interaction that raise reboxetine to multiples of the plasma levels of taking it alone. It was such an obscure source that I can’t find it. You will see that these medications don’t seem to have interactions on liver enzymes but they do on seem to have an interaction in plasma concentration. Medication combinations are not well understood in general. You could ask a pharmacist to check the liver enzymes interactions but yeah if you already know what caused it then pretty reasonable to assume that combination is the culprit and that in anycase being risk adverse towards it is a good idea
If you are looking for something non addictive you could try valerian root which calms nerves and helps sleep. It is often sold as a formula with hops and lemonbalm. I would try that.
Benzos will probably help, but ideally you don’t want to end up taking them long term.
