Posted by ghost on November 29, 2004, at 16:58:04
In reply to ANGRY-felt great for 3 days and now gone ABILIFY?, posted by abstract on November 28, 2004, at 11:20:59
i took 7.5 mg abilify daily for awhile and found it helped a great deal. it did cause anxiety and restlessness, and for that i was prescribed 0.5mg xanax as needed. (i probably only took it a few times a week for anxiety.) the doctors i talked to all seemed to feel the anxiety was a normal and expected side effect, but easily treated with anti-anxiety medication.
incidentally, other side effects included incredible sleepiness the first 3 days i took it (or the dosage changed-- i tried other doses), but then insomnia for 2-3 wks (1-2hrs sleep per night). the xanax also helped to sleep, but was additionally prescribed ambien later. it also decreased my appetite a great deal.
i'm now off abilify (for the time being) and on lamictal (150mg/day) which works really well for the rapid mood swings, even better than abilify. (not perfect, but nice.) i've heard abilify works well in conjunction with mood stabilizers, but i haven't had the opportunity to try that to its full effect.
(incidentally, the only reason i went off abilify was because of a lack of insurance and running out of pills. i now have insurance but have the opportunity to take geodon, in the same class, for free, so in the future i might go back on anti-psychotics. we shall see.)
good luck,
ghost
poster:ghost
thread:421276
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041128/msgs/421951.html