Wellbutrin and Adderall are both common prescription medications. Wellbutrin is commonly prescribed to treat depression and occasionally to help someone stop smoking. Adderall is most commonly prescribed to treat ADHD and narcolepsy.
While both medications have uses in mental health treatment, there are potential dangers and risks to combining them. In the rest of this article, we’ll take an in-depth look into how they work, potential interactions, and side effects to help you understand the risks involved.
Introduction to Wellbutrin and Adderall
Before we dive into the potential dangers of combining them, let’s first cover how these medications work and affect the body.
What Kind of Medication is Wellbutrin, and How Does it Affect the Body?
Wellbutrin, also known as bupropion, is commonly prescribed as an anti-depressant. Its main effect on the body is it increases levels of common “feel-good” hormones in your brain called dopamine and norepinephrine.
Dopamine coordinates your reward system, movement, mood, attention, motivation, and many other important functions. Norepinephrine primarily regulates stress responses and cognitive function. The positive effects of both these hormones are why increasing their levels in the brain helps treat symptoms of depression, like being in a low mood or having trouble focusing.
Studies have also found that when you quit smoking, those hormone levels become lower in the early weeks. Therefore, Wellbutrin (bupropion) may be prescribed to help offset some of the side effects of quitting smoking, especially if someone needs to stop for medical reasons.
What Kind of Medication is Adderall, and How Does it Affect the Body?
Adderall is a stimulant drug that’s a combination of amphetamine and dextroamphetamine. It interacts with the brain similarly to Wellbutrin, increasing hormone levels. Particularly, it increases dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. However, Adderall is more powerful and stimulating than Wellbutrin.
Since those hormones help with things like focus and attention, it’s an effective treatment option for ADHD, where typical symptoms are inattention and hyperactivity. It’s also effective for treating narcolepsy since increasing norepinephrine levels promotes wakefulness to prevent sleep attacks or excessive daytime sleepiness.
Why Might Adderall and Wellbutrin be Prescribed or Taken Together?
Generally, the most common reason a doctor would prescribe Adderall and Wellbutrin together is if they have a patient who is struggling with multiple conditions, such as co-occurring depression and ADHD. Research shows that about 18% of adults have both depression and ADHD.
However, since these medications both affect the chemicals in your brain similarly, it’s extremely important to manage dosage properly and ensure enough follow-up visits to check for side effects. Therefore, doctors usually only take this approach after trying other medications and treatment options where none of them were successful.
Medical Risks
The biggest medical risk when taking Adderall and Wellbutrin together is they have the same mechanism of action. They both inhibit the reuptake of norepinephrine and dopamine. This means they keep both of these hormones in your brain rather than getting absorbed by the rest of the body. This causes their levels in the brain to increase, boosting things like mood and focus.
However, if doses aren’t managed appropriately, the levels of these chemicals can become too high, causing harmful side effects.
Potential Side Effects
Some possible side effects from combining Wellbutrin and Adderall are:
- Insomnia
- Increased anxiety
- Nausea
- Dizziness
- Increased heart rate
- Elevated blood pressure
- Heart palpitations or chest pain
- Shortness of breath
- Excessive fatigue
- Hallucinations or delusions
- Seizures
Many of these side effects could cause severe health complications. Therefore, if you are taking both together, it’s important to seek immediate medical attention if you experience any of them.
Psychological Side Effects
While Adderall and Wellbutrin are commonly prescribed to improve mood and focus, combining them in the wrong dosages or mismanaging how you take them together could lead to the opposite effect. Particularly, it could cause side effects like anxiety, agitation, or mood swings.
In some rare and more severe cases, this combination of medications could cause hallucinations or delusions that lead to irrational or dangerous behavior. This usually happens when the medications are mismanaged or abused, such as taking high doses of one or both of the substances.
Potential for Addiction to Adderall
Another concern about this combination of medications is that Adderall specifically has a higher potential for addiction. You can develop both a physical and psychological dependence on it, specifically if the drug is taken in higher doses than your doctor prescribed.
Adderall is commonly abused by college students or busy professionals who want to be as productive as possible or feel the rush of the stimulating high it creates in high doses. About 14.6% of college men and 8.8% of college women misuse or abuse it each year. On top of that, 10.1% of non-college men and 5.3% of non-college women also misuse or abuse it each year.
If someone is prescribed both medications and starts experimenting with higher doses of Adderall, it makes it much more likely they’ll experience harmful side effects.
Additionally, if someone is prescribed Wellbutrin and then buys Adderall at a party or from someone they know, they might have a bad reaction if they aren’t aware that the effects of both medications could interact.
Warnings and Precautions
To prevent harmful side effects from combining Wellbutrin and Adderall, you should only take them if prescribed by your doctor. On top of that, only take them within recommended doses and attend all follow-up appointments to watch for side effects and adjust treatment as needed.
Additionally, it’s important to watch if you or someone you care about is experiencing common signs of addiction to a drug like Adderall. Common signs of addiction include:
- Continuing using the drug despite it causing negative complications in your life
- Feeling like you can’t function normally without it
- Having physical or mental withdrawal symptoms when you stop taking it
- Taking larger amounts of the drug than prescribed
- Withdrawing from social situations or activities once enjoyed
- Struggles at work, school, or in relationships
When someone is experiencing these signs, especially if combining Adderall with Wellbutrin, it’s important to encourage them to get help to treat the addiction. Going to a local treatment center is often a good first step.
Conclusion
While the combination of Adderall and Wellbutrin may occasionally be prescribed for medical purposes, it’s important to manage doses, follow your doctor’s instructions, and watch for potential side effects to stay safe.
If you or someone you care about is experiencing signs of addiction to a drug like Adderall, our treatment center can help.
Our team at Genesis House Rehab creates tailored treatment programs to fit your needs and ensure success throughout the recovery process. That includes drug and alcohol detox, residential treatment, and aftercare that’ll help maintain long-term sobriety.
Contact us today to learn more about getting started.
References
- Wilkes, Scott. “The Use of Bupropion SR in Cigarette Smoking Cessation.” International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, vol. 3, no. 1, 1 Mar. 2008, pp. 45–53, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2528204/.
- Katzman, Martin A., et al. “Adult ADHD and Comorbid Disorders: Clinical Implications of a Dimensional Approach.” BMC Psychiatry, vol. 17, no. 1, 22 Aug. 2017, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5567978/, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-017-1463-3.
- “Drug and Alcohol Use in College-Age Adults in 2018.” National Institute on Drug Abuse, 13 Sept. 2019, https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/college-age-young-adults/drug-alcohol-use-in-college-age-adults-2018-infographic.
