Elon Musk On Twitter Says Wellbutrin Should Be Taken Off Market, Here’s The Pushback

Elon Musk isn’t a medical physician. He’s not a psychiatrist or every other kind of psychological well being skilled. However on Friday, he expressed a really robust opinion about Wellbutrin, an anti-depressant treatment, on Twitter. Sure, Twitter, that social media platform that he plans on shopping for for $44 billion, which is about $44 billion greater than most individuals will ever have. Check out how Musk responded to a tweet from Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen a couple of completely different treatment Adderall:

As you’ll be able to see, Andreessen had initially tweeted, “Everybody thinks our current society was brought on by social media. I am questioning whether or not Adderall plus ubiquitous Google searches have larger results.” Be aware that Andreessen, who’s not a medical physician or different psychological well being skilled both, didn’t point out Wellbutrin. Nonetheless, Musk determined to throw in a effectively, how about Wellbutrin kind of reply: “Wellbutrin is method worse than Adderall imo. It needs to be taken off the market. Each time that drug has come up in dialog, somebody on the desk has a suicide or close to suicide story.”

Presumably, Musk used “imo” to face for “in my view” quite than “intrepid marine officer”, “clever medical object”, or “I monetize otters.” Possibly this was a disclaimer simply in case somebody accused him of providing medical recommendation. Regardless, on social media, such a qualifier might go unnoticed, particularly in the event you don’t emphasize “imobidhrme,” which might stand for “in my view as a result of I don’t have actual medical experience.” Bear in mind when podcaster Joe Rogan mentioned, “I’m not a physician, I’m a bleeping moron,” and “I’m not a revered supply of data, even for me,” as I coated for Forbes? Nicely, has that stopped folks from taking medical recommendation from Rogan? And has that saved Rogan from persevering with to make claims about Covid-19 vaccines and medicines corresponding to ivermectin? Add over $260 billion in web value, and do you have got an identical state of affairs with Musk?

Let’s check out the specifics of what Musk tweeted. Saying that Wellbutrin is worse than Adderall is a bit like saying, “a can opener is method worse than a hedge trimmer.” Positive, each medicines do have an effect on neurotransmitters, the chemical substances that nerve cells in your mind use to speak with one another. Nevertheless, they do fall into completely different classes of medicines. Wellbutrin, recognized generically as bupropion, is an aminoketone antidepressant or a dopamine reuptake inhibitor, whereas Adderall, recognized generically as dextroamphetamine/amphetamine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant. The strengths, limitations, dangers, and usefulness of each Wellbutrin and Adderall actually rely on how particularly they’re getting used.

The 2 medicines are typically used for very various things too. Docs might prescribe Wellbutrin to deal with both main depressive dysfunction or seasonal affective dysfunction, which is when despair episodes have a tendency to return within the Fall and Winter months. Wellbutrin occurs to have the identical lively ingredient because the smoking cessation treatment Zyban. Thus, medical doctors may additionally prescribe Wellbutrin in an off-label method to assist folks making an attempt to give up smoking.

In contrast, medical doctors have a tendency to make use of Adderall to deal with both consideration deficit hyperactivity dysfunction (ADHD) or narcolepsy. ADHD isn’t the identical as despair, though a given particular person might have each situations. With ADHD, you have got loads of issue with sustaining consideration, experiencing hyperactivity, and being impulsive. Remember the fact that there are formal standards that psychological well being professionals use to diagnose ADHD. So don’t assume that you’ve got ADHD simply since you complain that too many individuals on Tinder are on the lookout for long-term relationships.

Narcolepsy isn’t the identical as despair both. It’s a persistent sleep problem the place you’ll be able to have episodes of being extraordinarily drowsy and all of the sudden falling asleep in the course of the daytime. Once more narcolepsy is a proper prognosis with particular standards. Not with the ability to keep awake after you’ve spent the entire evening watching cat movies doesn’t essentially imply that you’ve got narcolepsy.

Furthermore, Musk saying that Wellbutrin needs to be taken off the market is a fairly robust assertion. So is utilizing phrases like “each time” and “everybody.” Bear in mind “each time” technically means each single time. Be very skeptical at any time when anybody says “each time” or “everybody” about something scientific, particularly something medical-related. As an alternative, actual scientists have a tendency to make use of extra correct phrases corresponding to “normally”, “sometimes”, “extra prone to”, or “tends to” in addition to “many individuals” or “a majority of individuals” when referring to one thing that occurs typically, corresponding to, “whenever you drop a cinder block in your foot, it tends to harm” or “a majority of individuals don’t like underwear made out of sandpaper.”

Why did Musk assume that Wellbutrin needs to be taken off the market? Whereas his tweet appeared to counsel that utilizing the treatment is related to suicidal ideas, Musk didn’t supply any scientific research or exhausting knowledge to justify his opinion. However Musk’s observations alone will not be sufficient to make that conclusion. Simply because bitcoin comes up each time a pal has talked about squirrels in dialog doesn’t imply that squirrels are by some means controlling the crypto market. Equally, Musk’s observations not solely are undocumented however will also be skewed. When Musk mentioned, “Each time that drug has come up in dialog, somebody on the desk,” whom precisely was Musk speaking to, what sort of of conversations had been occurring, and what sort of desk was it? Was it a kind of actually small tables which are utilized in kindergartens? Musk’s tweet didn’t say, “imbo” for “in my billionaire’s opinion” however would his opinions carry as a lot weight if he had been just a few dude and never a billionaire?

One clear confounding issue is that those that are taking Wellbutrin seemingly have despair, which in some instances can have accompanying suicidal ideas. So, simply because such ideas come up doesn’t essentially imply that they’re the results of the treatment. You don’t declare that bandages trigger bleeding do you?

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) does list a number of possible side effects for bupropion starting from drowsiness to complications to nausea and vomiting to nervousness to sleep disturbances to uncontrollable shaking of part of the physique to lack of urge for food to extreme sweating to seizures to confusion to hallucinations to irrational fears to irregular heartbeats. This actually doesn’t imply that everybody and even most individuals will expertise all of those unintended effects. It does imply although that you just shouldn’t be taking Wellbutrin by yourself with out the shut steering of an actual psychological well being skilled who’s certified to prescribe and monitor your use of Wellbutrin. Wellbutrin ain’t like hen wings. You shouldn’t simply take one if you find yourself feeling down. (Though, you might have considered trying another person to observe your use of hen wings too.)

Loads of psychological well being professionals on Twitter pushed again on Musk’s assertions. For instance, Jessi Gold, MD, MS, an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Washington University in St Louis School of Medicine, tweeted that Wellbutrin is “one of the crucial favored meds by my sufferers” and that she herself has been on the treatment:

And David Reiss, MD, a psychiatrist in San Diego, CA, referred to as Musk’s tweet “DANGEROUS medical misinformation” and emphasised that “any antidepressant could be harmful if not appropriately prescribed and carefully monitored” within the following tweet:

In the meantime, those that mentioned that they’ve undergone remedy for despair chimed in as effectively. For instance, Matthew Cortland, a lawyer, urged, “Please don’t take medical recommendation from Elon Musk,” and provided the next:

He emphasised the “want to extend entry to ALL despair therapies” in the remainder of his thread:

Cortland additionally highlighted a sentence, “Of notice, the danger of a suicide try is inherent in main despair and should persist till remission happens,” that appeared within the medical reference UpToDate:

Then there was creator Stephanie Land, who wrote that “Wellbutrin modified my life. It in all probability saved it a bit too” within the following tweet:

After all, Wellbutrin and Adderall will not be for everybody. And as with many alternative medicines, there are seemingly numerous people who find themselves on such meds who actually don’t should be on them. On the similar time, there could also be individuals who may benefit from these medicines that at present don’t have entry to them. Regardless, blaming all of society’s issues on social media, Adderall, Google searches, or Wellbutrin alone enormously oversimplifies issues and actually overlooks the advanced system of contributing elements. For instance, current and widening socioeconomic disparities are main elements. And so has our society’s regular shift over the previous a number of a long time away from investing in, respecting, and following actual science and actual scientists.