I had my quarterly appointment with my psychiatrist the other day. As planned, I told him that I would like to switch to a new antidepressant. I felt that Wellbutrin, which I had been taking since 2000, was exacerbating my overall anxiety level. I showed him my nails, which were bitten down to the quick. Although I've been biting my nails since I was a child, normally I can stop for a year or so, but it's been over seven years since I had long nails - since I started the Wellbutrin. And my husband made a point of agreeing when I told him that I thought I'd been more anxious overall since I started the Wellbutrin, so I knew that it had been (painfully) obvious to him also.

I detailed my past antidepressant history for my doctor, with the thought that this might help him choose a new medication for me. In addition to Wellbutrin I had also taken Norpramin for most of the first decade that I was on antidepressants. Norpramin is a tricylic antidepressant that had been very successful in banishing my depression, but it's a decade-old medication with side effects including dry mouth and teeth decalcification. During one year of that decade I had taken Prozac, but went back to Norpramin since the Prozac made me feel flat emotionally (although it did help my obsessive compulsive disorder).

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