Roslyn

January 8, 2004

Thank you for your support, i will look back through the posts for

his story. I do get very edgy, and stressed which i think upsets my

husband, and today I have a sonogram, because i have failed to gain

any weight. I lost10lbs. I will say i am not one to gain mych

during pr egnancy so this may be why, but I doubt it. I lost a few

lbs in the first 3 months of my other pregnancies, but around 4

months gained it all back. I aso still get morning sickness which i

think may be due to the wellbutrin, also severe headaches. Hopefully

today everything is ok.

thanks,

Roslyn

January 8, 2004

Dear Roslyn,

You said:

<<. I have been taking the wellbutrin since the beginning of my pregnancy

becasue both my psyc and OB said that it would be fine to continue becaue it

is a class B. I am now almost

5 months pregnante. I am becoming more worried every second because of the

horror stories I have read. I know each case is different, but hearing what

he experinced would be a welcomed story, any info about this drugs effects

may help me notice anything funny in my baby when he or she is born. How did

he ween off? I am currently taking 300 mg of xl and I do have some 200mg and

100mg of SR left over. I have not taken anything today or yesterday, and I

do feel ok, but i know by tonight I will probably be really stressed. I went

through paxil withdrawl a few yrs ago for my anxirty (which was hell) and my

symptoms never returned during that just other withdrawl stuff, and it was

over after quitting cold turkey in 2 weeks. This was a time when people were

just figuring out that paxil withdrawl existed. I have not spoken to my

psychiatrist, one because I know that she will deny the problem, and two

because she is crazier than she thinks I am. She thinks I am other paitents

and even after I tell her who I am she turns in someone elses paper to the

receptionist to check me out. She never remembers my story and I have to

reminder what I do and what my situation is every time, our first meeting

was 15 min and she gave me 3 drugs wellbutrin, paxil cr,and trazadone, and

told me to start taking them right away even though I had been on lexapro

from my ob for a few weeks already, and she told me that I could keep taking

the lexapro until I finished the bottle along with the other drugs if I

wanted. Thank goodness I did not!!! >>

** This story needs to be reported to the center in which this doctor

works. It's not difficult to conceive of someone not knowing your story (I

have a difficult time keeping everyone's story straight) but the reckless

and irresponsible prescribing of psychotropic drugs. If I were you I would

make a formal complaint about this and request another doc.

Most important right now is your health and that of your child. I have to

be honest here. My concern about quitting quickly is that the fetus will

also suffer withdrawal and become distressed. You can't reduce the XL except

by lengthening the time in between taking it. This really doesn't work very

well and at some point it is the same as going cold turkey.

My best thoughts on this are to get back on the SR (the adjustment to

this may cause some difficulties for several days), reduce v-e-r-y slowly

trying to keep yourself as comfortable as possible.

This is one of those situations where there are no really good answers.

The fetus has already been exposed to this drug for 5 months. I agonized

for the past 24 hours over what to say to you. I decided that as an adult

and a parent, you are entitled to all information.

The B category states there is " NO EVIDENCE OF RISK IN HUMANS. Adequate,

well-controlled studies in pregnant women have not shown increased risk of

fetal abnormalities despite adverse findings in animals, or, in the absence

of adequate human studies, animal studies show no fetal risk. The chance of

fetal harm is remote, but remains a possibility. "

Glaxo-Wellcome has a Bupropion Bupropion Pregnancy Registry. It is not

made public. Healthcare providers can access the data (compiled

semi-annually) by calling the pharmaceutical company. Here is a report

released to physicians in June of 2003:

As of February 2003, 764 pregnancies involving exposure to bupropion had

been prospectively registered with The Glaxo Wellcome Bupropion Pregnancy

Registry. As of June 2003, 154 pregnancies were pending delivery, 213 cases

were lost to follow up, and 397 cases with 401 outcomes were obtained. The

indications for use of bupropion in the latter were depression in 251

patients, smoking cessation in 95 patients, depression and smoking cessation

in 16 patients, bipolar affective disorder in one patient, and unspecified

in 34 patients.

Of 322 outcomes involving bupropion exposure in the first trimester there

were 261 live births without birth defects, 40 spontaneous pregnancy losses,

11 induced abortions, 1 induced abortion with evidence of Down syndrome on

prenatal testing, and 9 infants born alive with birth defects (In other

words, there were reports of problems of 50 of 311 pregnancies -11

pregnancies subtracted to account for elective abortions).

The defects in infants born alive included one infant with bilateral club

feet, one infant with Klinefelter's syndrome (no physical abnormalities),

and 7 infants with heart defects (1 abnormal aortic valve thickening with

mild aortic insufficiency, 1 ventricular septal defect, 1 trivial pulmonic

stenosis with atrial septal defect, 1 coarctation with ventricular septal

defect, 1 thickened heart muscle, 1 pulmonary stenosis, and 1 coarctation of

the aorta).

The registry's Advisory Committee noted the increased number of

prospective reports of defects involving the heart and great vessels. Given

the small sample size and the potential bias from the large percentage of

cases lost to follow up an accurate assessment of a potential effect of

bupropion on the developing cardiovascular system could not be made. To

further evaluate the possible association of bupropion with cardiovascular

defects The Committee plans to conduct a retrospective cohort study entitled

" Bupropion in Pregnancy and the Risk of Cardiovascular and Overall Major

Congenital Malformations " .

** The American Academy of Pediatrics says this about bupropion:

" Data are too limited to provide a recommendation for bupropion,

mirtazapine, nefazodone, trazodone, and venlafaxine. "

** We are here to support you in any way we can. Though the report

above is disturbing I think how you take care of yourself and your mental

state has a very large impact on your baby. Please know we will help in any

way we can.

Regards,

January 9, 2004

I have not spoken to my

> psychiatrist, one because I know that she will deny the

problem........

our first meeting

> was 15 min and she gave me 3 drugs wellbutrin, paxil cr,and

trazadone, and

> told me to start taking them right away ....

Ros...I have had this SAME experience. Visited a psy doc and within

15 minutes had three prescriptions (I believe at the time ritalin,

trazedone and paxil). It is pretty common practice for psy docs

around here. It is also common practice to put adolescents and pre

teens in psych hospitals and give them SSRIs and benzos and what is

called " family therapy " . MDs can bill over 100 bucks for a therapy

session which SOMEONE ELSE does. They also get HUGE amounts of

insurance monies. These psych hospitals are big business around here.

I used to work in one (not long as I could not stand the stressful

working environment).

It is still amazing to me how immersed I was in this culture to

believe all of this. It took the effects of withdrawal to make my

eyes open.

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your infant.

Terry

January 9, 2004

Roslyn, good luck today at the doctor's, how exciting to be having a

baby. I only had one child, now 27 and my most cherished friend.

Children are so important, and you are blessed. I wonder if anyone

here could tell you a safe way to reduce the drugs.... maybe just

going down by tiny cuts... you do have 4 months to reduce it so the

baby is not born with it. I am no doctor, but other woman have

reduced that I have known and it worked for them. My heartfelt best

to you and your baby hugs

> Thank you for your support, i will look back through the posts for

> his story. I do get very edgy, and stressed which i think upsets

my

> husband, and today I have a sonogram, because i have failed to gain

> any weight. I lost10lbs. I will say i am not one to gain mych

> during pr egnancy so this may be why, but I doubt it. I lost a few

> lbs in the first 3 months of my other pregnancies, but around 4

> months gained it all back. I aso still get morning sickness which

i

> think may be due to the wellbutrin, also severe headaches.

Hopefully

> today everything is ok.

> thanks,

> Roslyn

January 9, 2004

Thaks to everyone who responded. Well I am a little disturbed about

the report, and now I wish I would have pressed to see a copy when I

first learned about it(I did give my Dr. the info to register me).

I think I will ask my Dr. to get a more recent report since the one

here was dated almost a year ago. I just pray everything is ok, and

I did have an ultrasound yesterday, and to my knowledge everything

looked great so hopefully if there was a problem it would have shown

up there so I do not need to worry. As for reducing the medication,

it has been 4 days now and I stopped I hesitate to reintroduce it to

my body especially after reading the report. Also I cannot cut the

pills because there is an uneven distribution of medicine in them and

it ruins the sustained release property or something so the smallest

mg. I would get is 100 then quit, plus wellbutrin has a 30 day half

life so my body is slowly eliminatiing it, any more medication I take

will prolong the total elimination by 30 days. I am not sure about

the XL but I know the sr has that long half life. I guess there is

no great way, and I look at it as if I would have never seen the hair

loss stuff I would have taken it until delivey and the baby would

havegone through withdrawl then, and no matter what it will be there

so what is the difference if I do it now. Not that it will preven

any heart damage now, because the body systems are pretty much

develpoed. I don't know, maybe it is not the best choice but I feel

ok just some stress here and there when my other two children start

fussing alot I am just going to take my chances and stop. I want my

life back, and I need to look now for non drug ways to manage my PPD,

because I am sure since it never fully healed and I will be

delivering again so soon it can only get worse. I belong to a PPD

board, so maybe someone there who is not using meds can help with

ideas. I only called the doctor because I was afraid I would hurt my

children, and the funny thing is I NEVER felt suiciadal until I began

taking the paxil wellbutrin combo, and when I stopped the apxil the

feelings almost stopped entirely, although I still have days where I

rather not be here, it is not as scary as then, which leads me to

belive that there is a lot more truth to SSRI's inducing suicide. I

have always been a person who has a strong moral belif that suicide

is wrong and that if you did it you would be condemed to hell, but

when I started feeling that way, I could not belive it. How could I

be so selfish? That is what I think made it worse, not only that my

mind made me feel like dying, but I had exceptional guilt along with

it. I am happy to be off the meds now, but I know I really need a

new plan of action, because I do not want to hurt my children. In

those dark days before I started the meds I am not so sure my self

control was all in my hands.

SOrry this is so long, and again thank you to everyone who has

supported me.

Roslyn

January 9, 2004

My heart goes out to you, of course you do not want to hurt your baby

or your other two for that matter. I am so sorry you have to go

through this during this special time in your life. My niece just had

her baby in early December, a little girl - Arabella, I got to hold

her at 3 weeks of age and I just sat there and cried... what an

angel. You are so blessed to have been able to have found the needed

info to keep your baby safe... We are here for you, please take some

really good vit/min and eat well.... if you ever need to just talk,

please email me and I will exchange phone numbers with you... where

are you located, I am near Dallas..... you will most likely feel some

withdrawal. Things could get hard for you, please get back to us if

you need us, hugs

> Thaks to everyone who responded. Well I am a little disturbed

about

> the report, and now I wish I would have pressed to see a copy when

I

> first learned about it(I did give my Dr. the info to register

me).

> I think I will ask my Dr. to get a more recent report since the one

> here was dated almost a year ago. I just pray everything is ok,

and

> I did have an ultrasound yesterday, and to my knowledge everything

> looked great so hopefully if there was a problem it would have

shown

> up there so I do not need to worry. As for reducing the

medication,

> it has been 4 days now and I stopped I hesitate to reintroduce it

to

> my body especially after reading the report. Also I cannot cut the

> pills because there is an uneven distribution of medicine in them

and

> it ruins the sustained release property or something so the

smallest

> mg. I would get is 100 then quit, plus wellbutrin has a 30 day

half

> life so my body is slowly eliminatiing it, any more medication I

take

> will prolong the total elimination by 30 days. I am not sure about

> the XL but I know the sr has that long half life. I guess there is

> no great way, and I look at it as if I would have never seen the

hair

> loss stuff I would have taken it until delivey and the baby would

> havegone through withdrawl then, and no matter what it will be

there

> so what is the difference if I do it now. Not that it will preven

> any heart damage now, because the body systems are pretty much

> develpoed. I don't know, maybe it is not the best choice but I

feel

> ok just some stress here and there when my other two children start

> fussing alot I am just going to take my chances and stop. I want

my

> life back, and I need to look now for non drug ways to manage my

PPD,

> because I am sure since it never fully healed and I will be

> delivering again so soon it can only get worse. I belong to a PPD

> board, so maybe someone there who is not using meds can help with

> ideas. I only called the doctor because I was afraid I would hurt

my

> children, and the funny thing is I NEVER felt suiciadal until I

began

> taking the paxil wellbutrin combo, and when I stopped the apxil the

> feelings almost stopped entirely, although I still have days where

I

> rather not be here, it is not as scary as then, which leads me to

> belive that there is a lot more truth to SSRI's inducing suicide.

I

> have always been a person who has a strong moral belif that suicide

> is wrong and that if you did it you would be condemed to hell, but

> when I started feeling that way, I could not belive it. How could

I

> be so selfish? That is what I think made it worse, not only that

my

> mind made me feel like dying, but I had exceptional guilt along

with

> it. I am happy to be off the meds now, but I know I really need a

> new plan of action, because I do not want to hurt my children. In

> those dark days before I started the meds I am not so sure my self

> control was all in my hands.

> SOrry this is so long, and again thank you to everyone who has

> supported me.

> Roslyn

January 9, 2004

Dear Roslyn,

You said:

<<As for reducing the medication,