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I Accept Show Purposes. Table of Contents View All. Table of Contents. What Is Wellbutrin? Weight-Related Side Effects. Wellbutrin for Weight Loss. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Sign Up. What are your concerns? Verywell Fit uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles.
Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Related Articles. Why You Aren't Losing Weight. Obesity Silver Spring. Diabetes Care. Each independent review is provided by authors who have no financial association with the drug manufacturer. This series is coordinated by Allen F. This content is owned by the AAFP. A person viewing it online may make one printout of the material and may use that printout only for his or her personal, non-commercial reference.
This material may not otherwise be downloaded, copied, printed, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any medium, whether now known or later invented, except as authorized in writing by the AAFP. Contact afpserv aafp. Want to use this article elsewhere? Get Permissions. Read the Issue. Sign Up Now. Previous: Options for Women with Unintended Pregnancy. Next: Red Rash on the Back. If you have any of the following conditions then you may benefit more from the combination of Wellbutrin plus Naltrexone over just Wellbutrin alone:.
By adding a low dose of naltrexone the list of conditions and people that benefit from Wellbutrin increases dramatically. I only discuss the methods that I have used that have worked for patients and share this knowledge with you. Wellbutrin is considered unique among anti-depressants in that it is at LEAST weight neutral and at best usually helps with weight loss somewhat. Other anti-depressants, especially the class of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors SSRI's for short are actually well known to cause weight gain 8 to the tune of pounds or more depending on the person.
It's worth pointing this out because so many people take anti-depressants usually of the SSRI class which may be making weight loss very difficult. For this reason, I generally recommend against the regular use of SSRI's in obese patients and instead would recommend a trial of Wellbutrin instead.
It's also worth pointing out that Wellbutrin may actually cause weight gain in some individuals. While most people do experience weight loss by taking Wellbutrin, some unlucky people will experience weight gain. The exact mechanism behind why this occurs is not well understood nor is it likely the subject of future studies however it probably relates to several factors.
Wellbutrin has an impact on appetite and eating behavior 9. Generally, this benefit extends to help reduce binge eating and promote normal caloric intake but it can go haywire in some individuals and increase food cravings and food intake dramatically.
We know Wellbutrin generally promotes hormone balance but it is possible that it may promote the excessive production of a stress hormone known as cortisol. This effect may be mediating through excessive adrenaline norepinephrine levels, but it's not clear. If you find that taking Wellbutrin is making you feel more jittery or anxious then this may be happening to you.
Wellbutrin may influence sleeping behavior and promote insomnia Lack of sleep 11 is a known cause of weight gain and you should not take this medication if it interferes with your ability to sleep. I have found that IF Wellbutrin is going to help you lose weight you usually need to be taking around to mg per day. If you want to combine this with Naltrexone then that dosage ranges from 4. All of these are names for the same medication, but differ in how they administer the medication to your body throughout the day.
By taking the medication several times throughout the day you will allow for a more stable dose and higher concentration in your serum. The only reason to reduce the dose or to switch to XL is if you are having issues with sleep. In which case you would benefit from using the XL first thing in the morning or using the IR twice per day but skip the final dose.
Determining the dose you need is based on how you respond to Wellbutrin and if you experience any negative reactions while taking it. Whenever you take a medication or undergo any therapy or treatment you always need to think about the benefits and compare them to the potential consequences or side effects.
Also, Wellbutrin tends to work the best in a select subset of patients known as "responders". My recommendation is to always target your therapies and treatments to your body and that means trying to find the root cause of your weight gain. If you do decide to use Wellbutrin you should be aware of the potential side effects associated with this medication. I've listed the most common side effects below 12 :.
If your goal is to use Wellbutrin for weight loss then you should stop the medication immediately if you experience weight gain or insomnia as both of these side effects may blunt your progress. Lastly, you can generally prevent many of these side effects by starting off with a low dose and titrating only when necessary.
Having said that, some people will simply not tolerate the medication and should not use it. Starting and stopping the drug should only be done with medical advice from a physician, because withdrawal symptoms are possible if stopped abruptly.
Patients on SSRIs are susceptible to a wide variety of common side effects, including sexual dysfunction and weight gain. One of the reasons Wellbutrin is sometimes preferable to patients, however, is that it specifically does not have those two side effects.
But even though it is comparatively easier to take, there are some concerns for interested patients:. Most of these symptoms will typically go away after the first couple weeks of taking the medication.
There is also a small risk of seizures if the recommended dosage is exceeded. Though weight loss as a side effect was observed earlier, a study of obese adults on a recommended diet showed that the bupropion patients were able to lose almost double the weight of the placebo group after 48 weeks.
Another study in also found compelling evidence that bupropion promotes weight loss, and a study in showed bupropion patients simply had no weight change compared to patients on other antidepressants.
Bupropion either as Wellbutrin or Zyban on its own is not typically prescribed for weight loss, but in the FDA approved a combination of bupropion and naltrexone called Contrave as a treatment for obesity.
For example, a pound man could potentially lose 12 pounds in a year. So, even though bupropion may promote some weight loss, it is not the most effective way to lose weight over the long term. For those with suicidal thoughts or a major depressive disorder, antidepressant medications may be a crucial path to health and wellbeing.
Wellbutrin is proven to be effective as an antidepressant, and it does also have weight loss as a potential side effect for some people. Contrave has similarly shown some effectiveness at promoting weight loss. However, neither Wellbutrin nor Contrave have proven to be capable of promoting the magnitude of weight loss that most people would be content with.
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