Abilify

Hello after taking six years (for the docs ) to discover that I was not suffering from depression but that i was bipolar 11. I have been on Lamotrigine (350 mg ) for one year and it has helped me a lot.But ,I am still missing a little booster to make me feel good.I have tried prozac ,latuda,seroquel,risperidone and five days ago I was switched to Abily. All of these meds had terrible side effects and i took some for two weeks and some others fo two months. The prozac sent me into a depression and kept me there until I put it in the garbage.The abilify gives me a headache (feel queasy )and it makes feel so restless that I cannot stop moving around . This will last about 7 to 8 hours. I am on 1 mg of abilify for two weeks and then up to 2 mg.Here in Canada,the Abilify comes in a 2 mg pill.It is very small and to get the 1 mg you cut it in half.so,i am going to cut that half in half and try taking one quarter mg per day. If the side effects are tolerable i will move u to 1 mg in 3-4 weeks.After going though 17 anti - depressants in 6 years (which were only making me worse ) and now these antiphycotiques you can understand that I am getting feed up with this S. . . T Any one have suggestions ???

drugs.com says ambilify is an antipsychotic which treats schizophrenia and bipolar.

As a bipolar, diagnosed and treated of course for 15 years as a depressive, I was given a now phased out anti-psychotic, Stelizine (sp?), and it made me want to move all the time. I would walk to the park, I would walk around the apartment, when I sat down to eat I would tap my foot so that I could be moving.

They've improved anti-psychotics since then, but then you say,

"five days ago I was switched to Abily" and "The abilify gives me a headache (feel queasy )and it makes feel so restless that I cannot stop moving around . This will last about 7 to 8 hours. I am on 1 mg of abilify for two weeks and then up to 2 mg."

drugs.com says the side effects of Abilify can include:

"severe agitation, distress, or restless feeling;
twitching or uncontrollable movements of your eyes, lips, tongue, face, arms, or legs;
mask-like appearance of the face, trouble swallowing, problems with speech;
anxiety, feeling restless; sleep problems (insomnia)."

I can understand why you are fed up. It is a very distressing feeling.

For bipolar, I am on Mirtazapine antidepressant (7.5 mg a day) and Llithium (600 mg. a day) which treats the mania and is also a stabilizer which keeps the Mirtazapine from making me go manic.

Perfect Time, I'm sure you're frustrated that it took the doctors six years to realize that you have bipolar disorder.

However, bipolar disorder can be very difficult for psychiatrists to accurately diagnose. It took a long time for my doctors to accurately diagnose me with manic depression, as they originally thought I had depression, not bipolar disorder.

I hope that the ablifiy works as well for you as it did for me. I started with 5mg. I now take 20mg.

Taking it slow is smart. Though I didn't have side effects with abilify. I guess I was lucky or something. What kind of side effects do you have? You said that they weren't so bad.

Best wishes...

Hope you have a happy New Year!

Hugs, Karen...

I hope it works out. I am sorry you have side effects... It must be so frustrating to have to continue trying new meds to find what works for you. I tried many before I found what works but that was years ago. I been on the same medications for a long time. Except for the Lexapro, that is fairly new to me. I had a little weight gain but that was it.

Keep us posted on how you are doing. I hope it works out. Slow and steady...

One day at a time.

Hugs, Karen...

An accurate diagnosis matters. Anyone who doesn't think it matters is wrong.

I'm sure shrinks are getting better at diagnosing, in general. I think some of them are better at it than others.

I think it's great that you're getting treatment from a shrink that you believe is a good one, Karen.

Hello Karen.I am still on one half of 1mg of abilify.No more side effects.I will go up to one mg in 6 days.Going very slow with this one.

I am now up to 1 mg of Abilify per day with no side effects.Wiil be going up to 2 mg s in 10 days.Cannot believe that had to start on one quarter of one mg s for my body to ad just to this med!!!!!!!

Hi PT,

I hope you are feeling well today <hugs>

Just a couple things to point out - antidepressants are not for BP - the induce mania and hypomania so as bipolars we shouldn't be on anything with antidepressant properties at all. Also can cause depression as you experienced with the Prozac.

As for the Abilify restlessness is one of the main side effects. I had to stop it due to this and a lot of antipsychotics come with the same nasty side effects. I hope as you go up slowly it goes away. There is a "cousin" medication to Ability they came out with (I worked in psychiatry for almost 10 years and remember when it came out about 2.5 years ago..I can't remember what it's called at the moment!!) But the idea behind it was it has less side effects.

Medicating is so tough. I am on Lamotrigine as well and I find it is one of the few that at least for me doesn't give me side effects.

Hang in there,
Mogli