“Wellbutrin reset tolerance?”

It's tough for anyone to tell when Wellbutrin is working, as it's not really a medication where you can feel it "kicking in" each day or "wearing off". It works to change the brain chemistry over time (in a good way, not a scary way). I have more questions about why you think you are losing effects but I will do my best to answer your question without these. It's not unheard of to develop a tolerance but is very uncommon.

Many factors can play a role in why you might be feeling this way - if things in your life are more emotional/intense than normal (i.e. stressful life events, loss of family/friend, etc), it can feel as if it's no longer working. It's okay to feel some of these emotions in moderation if they are triggered by events and you have no thoughts of harm to yourself or others. This is something to discuss with your psychiatrist as to whether you should increase the dose or if a "drug holiday" or gap in therapy is warranted to then restart.

Just to look at it from a mechanism standpoint - some versions of the drug take as little as 18-24 hrs to be out of your system, while some of the longer acting XL, SR, LA versions can take 20+ days. (There are different "metabolites" that emerge when the medication is broken down in your body and you may still see effects from these longer.) Luckily there should not be too many side effects from stopping the drug, unlike other anti-depressants, BUT still consult your doctor or psychiatrist who prescribes this medication before taking yourself off of it. Let them be part of that decision with you for best results. Wishing you the best of luck going back to school!

Only taking Wellbutrin XL for 4 months shouldn’t be enough time for your body to no longer receive effect from it, but if you’re wanting to slowly ween off of it and then restart I would recommend trying to take one table every other day for 2 weeks, then every 2 days for 2 weeks, and then every 3 days for 2 weeks. After that you should be able stop it completely for a couple weeks and then begin taking it again daily. I would definitely advise a discussion with your physician about doing this though, and see if he wouldn’t want to just increase your dose of the medication. It can be safely taken up to 450mg per day, however it lowers the seizure threshold, especially when alcohol is consumed. I’m not suggesting that you drink or not, but being 21 years old and being in college I just wanted to make sure you were aware of the risks of taking Wellbutrin and drinking.

The answer is that's not how it works. I would not recommend abruptly stopping your medication like that. I do recommend discussing this issue with your prescriber. There are different categories of drugs that do what Wellbutrin does, so your prescriber has options to work with.

I would contact your prescriber for an alternative medication!

You don't want to abruptly stop your Wellbutrin, if you are stopping it you need to slowly wean off of it and then stay off of it for at least 4 weeks. However, you are not on the maximum dose and could ask your Doctor to increase it to 450mg daily to see if that helps you. 4 months is not very long to have been on the medication and see no effect due to tolerance, so I think a dose increase is probably the best thing to try here.

I would suggest talking with your doctor. He or she may increase the dose or frequency of your Wellbutrin to get desired effects