Posted by Christ_empowered on October 26, 2011, at 2:10:02
Its been a little while since I stopped my 15 Abilify. I thought I'd give an update, since you all have been supportive and helpful.
I feel SO MUCH BETTER. Sorry for the screaming caps, but seriously: the improvement is awesome. I'm a little bit more introspective, a bit more intense emotionally, more active, I eat less, my thinking is clearer, and my concentration has improved. The voices, surprisingly, are less of an issue now (or have been for the past couple days) than when I was on an effective dose of Abilify. I think maybe its a psychological thing; since I'm reading more, thinking more, talking to people more, doing more, my mind isn't stuck on the same events in the past or the same recurrent themes of my low-grade auditory hallucinations. Also, my mood is better overall (although obviously I have more minor ups and downs now that I'm off the tranquilizer), so I think maybe pushing my mood up above a tranquilized melancholy has done wonders for reducing the frequency and intensity of my voices.
Sleep is good. Weirdly enough, although Lamictal is definitely not sedating, it prevents me from going days without sleep. My sleep is heavy, restorative, and filled with vivid dreams with complicated plots.
My anxiety seems improved. I don't know if getting rid of the whole dopamine-blocking, deactivation effect corrected anxiety that was caused by low-grade Parkinson's, or if I'm just having a good week, or if getting rid of the neuroleptic lets the mood elevating effects of the Lamictal 200 shine through, or what, but I'm feeling much, much better.
I think maybe Abilify had outlived its usefulness for me.
poster:Christ_empowered
thread:1000827
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20111016/msgs/1000827.html