Note: I was a very young energetic fifty-five year old woman with no history of health problems except for a spastic colon, which runs in the family.
I experienced an adverse drug reaction to Zyban on October 6, 1997 and was taken by ambulance to the ER. The symptoms were that of a stroke and seizure (confusion, weak left arm, eyes not focusing, jerking of limbs, slurred speech and more). For the first time in my life my blood pressure was elevated (200/100). Tests revealed low sodium, low anion gap, high glucose and other abnormal blood readings. They observed me in the ER for several hours then sent me home without testing me adequately.
From that day on I experienced about every autonomic problem possible (Heart arrhythmias, renal dysfunction, uncontrolled hypertension, panic attacks with and without seizures, stroke symptoms, jerking, drooling, stuttering, bed-wetting, aphasia, depression, phobias, face pain, double vision and a hundred other symptoms.
Each time I went to the ER I was told I had “anxiety” and given a shot of ativan ... or that I was having a panic attack ... or that I “should see a psychiatrist”. I was “labeled” at the local hospital as some kind of a fruitcake looking for attention. Many test results came out abnormal: 2 spots on frontal lobe on MRI, inflammation of area near the brain stem on two separate occasions, unexplained monocular diplopia, renal disorders, cardiac disorders and many more. Even though I knew I had suffered some kind of brain injury from the drug reaction, I could not get a doctor to discuss any of this with me.
Thirty trips to the ER (at least 8 by ambulance) and five years later I am finally learning what had happened to me.
Bupropion is supposed to be excreted through the urinary tract but because of the hydroxybupropion not metabolizing properly it could store in the liver longer than it should. This triggers the mother drug, bupropion , to do its job on the brain...but triple duty. Since bupropion goes strait to the pituitary it hits full blast and neurotransmitters go haywire...sending signals to the adrenal gland...producing too much adrenaline (fight or flight) and producing ACH causing edema. Edema, along with other misfiring neurons causes vasoconstriction. This cuts off the blood supply to the brain and can cause brain stem stroke. This misfiring of neurons is actually a seizure.
The end result can result in brain damage that affects the PNS at its cranial nerves. This explains just about every symptoms on our list (autonomic, autoimmune, metabolic and blood disorders). It may also affect the CNS. This explains the depression, phobias, aphasia, confusion, mania, etc.
Like many others who have experienced drug reactions (Lawsuit material) I was turned away, abandoned, misdiagnosed, and discharged by most doctors. I had to search for answers on my own.
Addition:
Just one year and 8 months later I have no muscles left, I've had cardiac arrythymias (bradycardia and trachycardia), sinus AV block(something to with heart), chronic kidney infections, closed urinary spinchter (was surgically reclosed), I've gone thru taste and smell perversions, mania, and too much to list. . My organs have not functioned properly at times(heart, kidneys, bladder, urinary spinchter, digestive tract, & more).One doctor said my autonomic nervous system was affected! A doctor at Georgetown Univ Hosp last year said that I had a stroke that seized two parts of my brain. MRI revealed two spots on my frontal lobe but they said it was "probabley artifax"! Had seizure and stroke due to vasoconstriction on 9th day of Zyban Had dysautonomia for five years & (1/2005) still with residue now and then...(seizures,heart,kidneys,porph,panic disorder...and a thousand more)