?Abilify?

My doctor just prescribed me Abilify for treatment of manic depression and anxiety. I have been on several medications before and am afraid to actually go on this on I checked the official patient stuff of it and it said:

"This medicine is classified as an antipsychotic medication and is used to treat patients that suffer from delusions, hallucinations, unorganized thought and hostility. This medicine may also be prescribed to treat severe behavioral problems in children. "

So yeah I am waiting to call my doctor and talk to him more about it (when we gets into the office). I am worried of side effects and of personality change. Some medications I have taken in the past have had such bad reactions (not alergies, but on the body) that I am apprehensive to try another. If anyone has taken Abilify or has any information concerning it from personal experience please post it.

I'm sure if you will post this message to the bipolar message board you will get more reponses by people who are an abilify. There are a few there that I know take this drug.

I have heard this is a new drug - but I thought it was more for depression.  Have you tried Lamictal or talked to your doctor about it?  I have heard it is a very good mood stabilizer and used for Bi-polar as well as depression..

I haven't really heard of Lamictal, but I could swear I've heard it mentioned somewhere. Tommorow night I go see my doctor again so I'll ask him about it.

Rianna: I came across a former post of yours which mentioned SAM-E and Remeron. I was wondering why you stopped the SAM-E. I noticed it was expensive, I have tried it, but because I could not afford to get it regularly I couldn't decide for sure if it was helping but I think it helped. The reason I was staying away from SSRIs was from the side effects, namely the "zombi-effect" of Lexapro and Prozac you mentioned, but compared to what I'm feeling now I want that zombi effect back, but just because I know it will stop the bad feelings. It seems you have had similar effects and effectiveness to me on these drugs so I thought I'd ask you some more about it. I have tried Nortryptaline (which is a tricyclic antidepressant I think and something I read said it was an SSNRI too), which seemed to make me not depressed, but let the anxiety out for the first real time I'd noticed it (or took note of it for that matter since before I knew anything about the anxiety I thought it was all the depression). I am staying away from SSNRIs because of horrible effects I've had from Effexor and from Nortryptaline whatever that exactly is. I'll ask my doctor about the Remeron. While I know Lexapro is the quickest solution to feeling "ok" again, I know it will still give me that same zombie feeling after a while. It's the numbing of my other emotions I can't stand, after all life seems broken without true passion and love. I was wondering about the SAM-E and Remeron to see if I could get on Lexapro to just get through living for now and then switch over or just maybe start Remeron and take some suppliments to help out.