![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 9 of 9. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by PuppyLove on April 17, 2005, at 23:22:16
My doctor started me on Abilify 7.5mg and have been taking it for approx. a week. I feel restless, cannot sleep, blurred vision and very paranoid. Do the side effects subside? I am also on Prozac and Welbutrin.
How have abilify users coped with the side effects? Does it get better?????
Posted by D minor on April 18, 2005, at 0:05:00
In reply to Abilify - I am jumping out of my skin! Help...., posted by PuppyLove on April 17, 2005, at 23:22:16
I almost lost my mind with anxiety on Abilify. Man! I was running around screaming and pulling my hair. Literally. I was invisioning all kinds of horrible disasters. I couldn't sit still.
But I'm still taking 5 mg. How? Two things to try. Propranolol(Inderal) is a beta-blocker that sometimes helps with the physical symptoms of anxiety. A low dose may help.
The way I cope with it is that I take Seroquel, another atypical anti-psychotic. Seroquel has high anti-anxiety effects. It allows me to be able to take the stupid Abilify. Plus it's not addicting like benzos.
Why are you taking Abilify? Is it for hallucinations? I have found it to be very effective for that. Or are you using it for something else? I would recomend seeing your pdoc ASAP so that your symptoms can be relieved. Don't be like me, you don't have to put up with this. If the two things I suggested don't work out, I'm sure you and your pdoc can come up with something.
Goodluck!
dm
Posted by bimini on April 18, 2005, at 8:00:03
In reply to Re: Abilify - I am jumping out of my skin! Help...., posted by D minor on April 18, 2005, at 0:05:00
This is bizarre reading how different individuals react.
During my trial with Abilify I had no problems with anxiety. I was taking a stimulant at the same time. It did nothing to change or deminish my hallucinations.
Posted by banga on April 18, 2005, at 8:38:25
In reply to Abilify - I am jumping out of my skin! Help...., posted by PuppyLove on April 17, 2005, at 23:22:16
Hi,
For some people it does provoke anxiety; for some, like me, it actually helps anxiety. But I did in the beginning feel physically agitated, even at 5mg. I stepped the dose down and now have no problems. Now that my body is used to a dose of 2.5, I think I could go up to 5 mg. if I needed to.
I would go down on the dose, at least for now...but definitely tell your pdoc! I am not a doctor, bring this advice to the attention of the pdoc for approval.Someone else complained here about the exact same thing, overly agitated on Abilify, but complained that they can't go down on dosage because it is hard to cut the 7.5 half pill down to yet another half.
Abilify has an *extremely* long half-life--as in three++ days. If you cannot reduce the dose by cutting the pill, you could go to taking it every other day. That way your blood levels would not build up as much.
Abilify is very powerful. Again, I am amazed that pdocs don't titrate it up slower. I feel great at 2.5mg. Helps with rumination and anxiety. I am not the only one that finds this tiny dose very helpful.
Good luck!
Posted by med_empowered on April 18, 2005, at 13:22:29
In reply to Re: Abilify - I am jumping out of my skin! Help...., posted by banga on April 18, 2005, at 8:38:25
Hey! Anti-psychotics in general have a tendency to sometimes provoke anxiety, induce "akathisia" (restlessness, usually accompanied by lots of jittery movements), and the like. Abilify really caused problems for me at 30mgs (bad shrink, taken for Bipolar), when I developed a **pronounced** tremor/shaking...propranolol + increased Klonopin fixed that. Second time around with Abilify, I was fine until I stopped the 10-15mgs/day dose...for about a month, I had a tremor (withdrawal emergent side effect in some drugs), which fortunately went away. Now, to your problem...if you're having problems at 7.5mgs and you **need** an anti-psychotic for whatever reason, you may just want to try something else...for best effects in bipolar/schizophrenia/schizoaffective you should usually aim for 10-15mgs/day, so bad effects at 7.5mgs is a bad, bad sign. You can use propranolol, benzos, benadryl, etc. to help with these side-effects, but again: if you're having these side-effects at such a relatively low-dose of abilify, and you **need** an anti-psychotic, please seriously consider a switch to a different atypical. If you're dealing with bipolar or some complicated form of depression and you need mood-stabilization, you may want to consider the more traditional anti-convulsant mood-stabilizer route. Even psychosis in bipolar can often be controlled with depakote/lithium. If you're doc is using abilify primarily for anxiety, you may want to try something else. Or get a new doc. Seriously. Lots of people with mood-disorders and/or pronounced anxiety don't play well with anti-psychotics, while some do...anyways, there are other drugs for anxiety you can take. Good luck!
Posted by PuppyLove on April 18, 2005, at 14:49:25
In reply to Re: Abilify - I am jumping out of my skin! Help...., posted by med_empowered on April 18, 2005, at 13:22:29
I am on abilify for a mood stabilizer. I have severe depression, anxiety and post-traumatic. Could the prozac be complicating the abilify? Since abilify is to stabilize one's mood (serotonin) and prozac increases serotonin, isn't that a bit contradictory?
I was put on trileptal originally, but had a severe side effect. To go to sleep yesterday, I had to take a klonapin. That worked for about 4 hours and then I had to take another to get 8 hours of sleep.
Posted by med_empowered on April 18, 2005, at 16:31:25
In reply to Re: Abilify - I am jumping out of my skin! Help...., posted by PuppyLove on April 18, 2005, at 14:49:25
Hey! The atypical antipsychotic+anti-depressant (usually either an SSRI, like prozac, or a tricyclic) is a pretty standard combo for severe depression, psychotic depression, so on and so forth. You'd think that the two drugs would cancel each other out, but for some (note: **some**) people, this is just the ticket...Eli Lilly is now marketing Symbyax, a prozac+zyprexa combo pill, for bipolar depression. Anyway, this has some obvious pitfalls...even though the new antipsychotics are a lot better than the old ones, there are still some problems, more so in certain individuals than in others. Again, if you're having problems at 7.5mgs/Abilify, my first piece of advice would be to change to something else. If you're depressed, not bipolar, then Lamictal could have some benefit...you have to adjust the dose slowly, because there is a **slight** risk of serious complications, but once the dose is adjusted correctly, it is just the ticket for some people..it seems to work well for depression and bipolar, although its more anti-depression than anti-manic. Another option would be to try a different atypical antipyschotic. Geodon is kind of like Abilify in terms of a pretty good side-effect profile...little weight gain/loss and no indication that it increases diabetes type II risk...but it does cause some heart weirdness (prolongation of the qT interval) and has been implicated in a couple of "sudden, unexplained" deaths involving its users. There's also seroquel, zyprexa, clozapine, and risperdal. Personally, though, I'd seriously recommend you try a more conventional anti-convulsant mood-stabilizer this time around. Effexor is being used specifically for PTSD these days and is also a pretty good anti-depressant, so that might be a good AD to try if the prozac thing doesn't work out too well. Good luck!
Posted by Phillipa on April 18, 2005, at 17:56:43
In reply to Re: Abilify - I am jumping out of my skin! Help...., posted by PuppyLove on April 18, 2005, at 14:49:25
I nearly jumped out of my skin when prozac first came out and I was put on it. By day three I was in a complete panic state. I stopped it and it took 3 days of xanax to come down. Fondly, Phillipa
Posted by jparsell82 on April 20, 2005, at 21:09:52
In reply to Re: Abilify - I am jumping out of my skin! Help...., posted by PuppyLove on April 18, 2005, at 14:49:25
> I am on abilify for a mood stabilizer. I have severe depression, anxiety and post-traumatic. Could the prozac be complicating the abilify? Since abilify is to stabilize one's mood (serotonin) and prozac increases serotonin, isn't that a bit contradictory?
> I was put on trileptal originally, but had a severe side effect. To go to sleep yesterday, I had to take a klonapin. That worked for about 4 hours and then I had to take another to get 8 hours of sleep.
>Abilify definitely causes akathisia in a fair amount of people. I experienced this myself... agitation, fidgety, impatient, etc. Your best bet would be to try to get your dose of Abilify down to 2.5mg and then ride the symptoms out for a week. Also, SSRIs such as Prozac, can also cause akathisia to some extent in some people. So, taking the two together might be more likely to give you symptoms of akathisia. But if you can break your Abilify down to the lowest dose possible, the symptoms would be more likely to go away after a while and you should be able to take the Prozac too. I would atleast give it a shot first, everyone's brain and body reacts somewhat differently so it may or may not work out for you.
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.