Confused about Wellbutrin SR dosing

[nataliachick7]

I was prescribed wellbutrin after many failed ssri trials. I have depression/chronic fatigue. The doctor prescribed 150mg in am for 7 days and then two 150mg pills in am after that.
Everything I am reading says with the SR i need to seperate the doses 8 hours apart, not take them together. The thing is...i can tell wellbutrin is working for me;giving me energy, and there is no way I can take a pill at night because I would be up all night! Just the one 150mg pill in am is making it difficult for me to fall asleep at night.
What should i do? Is the XL form better? I dont have insurance, and i paid like $45 for the SR (generic), and I cant afford anymore than that if the XL costs more. Thanks for any suggestions.

[Otto]

Originally Posted by nataliachick7

Everything I am reading says with the SR i need to seperate the doses 8 hours apart, not take them together. The thing is...i can tell wellbutrin is working for me;giving me energy, and there is no way I can take a pill at night because I would be up all night! Just the one 150mg pill in am is making it difficult for me to fall asleep at night.

I'd tell the doc. Everybody titrates these doses differently (I never could tolerate more than 150 mg), and if the base dose is working, there's no particular reason not to let it ride for a while and then think about increasing it.

[eclipse]

When I first started Wellbutrin, it kept me up at night. It's gotten a LOT better over time. I would take the AM dose as early as possible - like when you roll out of bed, whenever that is, and then second as soon as possible later in the day (like if you take the AM dose at 7AM, take the second one at 3PM. You can also wait longer than the one week at the one dose a day until you adjust a bit more.

[nataliachick7]

thank you!

[elmh23]

The pharmacist told me not to take it after 4pm because of that. I'd already been on it before (and they hadn't told me that!) and found it tapered off a bit and I was able to fall asleep easily within 2 weeks of starting it. I take 100mg three times a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner.)