Help Anyone take abilify?

[Life_and_Death]

I'm thinking about trying it but I'm not sure yet. It seems a lot like rispredone which I've already tried. around the time it was suppose to "start working" (4-6 weeks) the rispredone made me go insane so I'm thinking I'll try either abilify or rispredone again WITH an antidepressant for the insanity.

I was talking to someone with BPD like me and he said an antidepressant alone is helping him but after thinking about it I thought "that's nice you don't have hallucinations too so I need something a bit more"

Or any suggestions on stuff I can look into. My appointment isn't until the 10th of August so I still have a bit. And a quick run down on my problems (not an actual diagnoses my phychiatrist kinda sucks so I'm doctoring myself but I match the symptoms 90-100% soooooo)

Borderline personality disorder, cptsd, ptsd, depersonalization derealization, anxiety (it's a few different kinds so I'll just say anxiety), hallucinations, paranoia and I think that's everything. It's at least the most major ones.

 

[Notmadeforthislife]

I'm thinking about trying it but I'm not sure yet. It seems a lot like rispredone which I've already tried. around the time it was suppose to "start working" (4-6 weeks) the rispredone made me go insane so I'm thinking I'll try either abilify or rispredone again WITH an antidepressant for the insanity.

I was talking to someone with BPD like me and he said an antidepressant alone is helping him but after thinking about it I thought "that's nice you don't have hallucinations too so I need something a bit more"

Or any suggestions on stuff I can look into. My appointment isn't until the 10th of August so I still have a bit. And a quick run down on my problems (not an actual diagnoses my phychiatrist kinda sucks so I'm doctoring myself but I match the symptoms 90-100% soooooo)

Borderline personality disorder, cptsd, ptsd, depersonalization derealization, anxiety (it's a few different kinds so I'll just say anxiety), hallucinations, paranoia and I think that's everything. It's at least the most major ones.

Everyone is different, but I had a terrible experience with Abilify. I had an awful side-effect called akathisia. It was the worst feeling ever. Geodon worked better for me without the side-effects, but you have to take it with food. I'm currently taking Rexulti. I haven't had any side-effects with it. But, you may react to the medication differently than I do.

 

[voyager (D)]

I'm thinking about trying it but I'm not sure yet. It seems a lot like rispredone which I've already tried...

No, it's not like Risperidone. Both drugs have a strong antipsychotic effect. But Risperidone has a dampening effect, increases appetite and has a negative impact on sexuality. Abilify boosts drive and does not affect appetite and sexuality.

My experience with Abilify was very special. Last summer I was very depressed and suicidal, couldn't leave the house and was caught in bad obsessive thoughts.

When I got Abilify, the symptoms went away within a week. I had never experienced anything like it, although I have been taking psychiatric drugs for almost three decades. I was really good and I thought I had found the solution to all problems.

After another week, there was considerable and unbearable internal and motor agitation (akathisia). I couldn't sit still, be in bed, but at the same time I was so weak and exhausted that I couldn't even go down the stairs. I was given 15 mg of Abilify a day. I later tried to take 5 mg a day, but it had no effect and motor symptoms still occurred. There was no choice but to stop Abilify again.

Abilify: For me, the most beautiful and worst drug at the same time.

But it can work very differently for you.

 

[so tired or manic]

I used to take abilify and I was on it for a while so it probably did something. I don't really remember though, it's been years. at the very least I don't recall any adverse side affects, but I could just not be remembering? all I can say was my time on it was not very rememberable

 

[Life_and_Death]

@Notmadeforthislife @voyager (D) you have both mentioned akathisia. there isnt a medication or something i can take to prevent it or something is there? i seem to have at least 1 major side effect with every medication i tried. i cant seem to find anything that makes it so i can still function so now im looking into options to get around that

 

[voyager (D)]

Cariprazin (Reagila (EU), Vraylar (USA)) is a newer, highly potent antipsychotic. I tried it out. It increases appetite, but is otherwise quite well tolerated.

It is very difficult even for a psychiatrist to predict in advance which medication will work for you in which way and which one you can tolerate. In the end, you can only try it out.

It is more than two weeks until August 10th. I hope you get along well over time.

 

[Life_and_Death]

Cariprazin (Reagila (EU), Vraylar (USA)) is a newer, highly potent antipsychotic. I tried it out. It increases appetite, but is otherwise quite well tolerated.

It is very difficult even for a psychiatrist to predict in advance which medication will work for you in which way and which one you can tolerate. In the end, you can only try it out.

It is more than two weeks until August 10th. I hope you get along well over time.

shhh dont remind me lol. thanks to my lack of memory im just kinda coasting through the days waiting for it to show up.

i know its difficult to predict but im hopeful that even if there is side effects theres something i can take to make it livable. thats why im thinking i might try the rispredone again. at least i know what its going to do to me lol

 

[suicidebabyseal]

@latinend maybe you can share your experience here

 

[Notmadeforthislife]

@Notmadeforthislife @voyager (D) you have both mentioned akathisia. there isnt a medication or something i can take to prevent it or something is there? i seem to have at least 1 major side effect with every medication i tried. i cant seem to find anything that makes it so i can still function so now im looking into options to get around that

I don't know of any medication that you could take at the same time as Abilify that would get rid of akathisia.

 

[Squiddy]

I used to, but it gave me brain fog so I had to get on another med plus more

 

[Cancún]

Dont take abilify

 

[VoidGirl]

I was on injectable abilify for 2 months and it absolutely obliterated my soul and sent me into intense anhedonia. I am still that way now, 10 months off that stuff.

 

[ERASED]

I use to take it and it didn't work for me.

 

[Deleted member 19276]

I am on Abilify actually. Syringe shots.
Though I am not entirely sure how effective it is at this point for me...
I can tell I get some nasty side effects from it, such as the bran fog someone mentioned in the thread above.
I don't know if there is a "safe" medication for mental illnesses, I think they are all meant to cause problems one way or another.
If you feel desperate I'd say go for it, the pill form of Abilify at least, but don't do it for too long like I did. Look for alternatives once you are done with it.
Muscle cramps, weird muscle shaking, fatigue constantly, sometimes hard to think and speak out, things like that which I can consider as side effects on my end.

 

[Life_and_Death]

I don't know if there is a "safe" medication for mental illnesses, I think they are all meant to cause problems one way or another.

Well to be fair... Everyone always says medication is bad and don't use it but of course it's going to be altering the chemicles in your brain, what did you think was going to happen. To be fair though I JUST thought of it that way myself.
Something I think I forgot to add
I have a phobia of needles and I'm scared of choking so I can only have medication I can chew (btw anything that isn't flavored tastes REALLY bad but it's better then dying a slow death)

 

[Deleted member 19276]

Well to be fair... Everyone always says medication is bad and don't use it but of course it's going to be altering the chemicles in your brain, what did you think was going to happen. To be fair though I JUST thought of it that way myself.
Something I think I forgot to add
I have a phobia of needles and I'm scared of choking so I can only have medication I can chew (btw anything that isn't flavored tastes REALLY bad but it's better then dying a slow death)

Yes, perhaps that is true. I hate meds that taste like crap too and having that stuff injected to me, I can say it's not fun. Not a fun experience at all.
Currently dealing with a lot of fatigue issues because I didn't take the meds for a while... It's even making me vomit a little, sorry to be so gross!
Nasty side effects, but if you think it will be okay to try out some medication like that or form of it, I'd say you have my support.
Every choice will be appreciated.

 

[mathieu]

I took Abilify for a little while. It didn't really help but I don't remember having any side effects either. I'm now on Rexulti which is very similar. I would sooner take Abilify than risperidone because risperidone has worse side-effects IMO.

 

[Eren]

I took it a while ago for the OCD, it didn't help me too much, I also didn't notice any side effects.

It is difficult to get an answer here since each person has a different experience with that medicine.

In any case, I hope it helps you if you take it.

 

[Squiddy]

I took Abilify for a little while. It didn't really help but I don't remember having any side effects either. I'm now on Rexulti which is very similar. I would sooner take Abilify than risperidone because risperidone has worse side-effects IMO.

I'm currently on Risperdal and it helps me a lot better than Abilify. Everybody's brain is different

 

[BitterlyAlive]

I'm thinking about trying it but I'm not sure yet. It seems a lot like rispredone which I've already tried. around the time it was suppose to "start working" (4-6 weeks) the rispredone made me go insane so I'm thinking I'll try either abilify or rispredone again WITH an antidepressant for the insanity.

I was talking to someone with BPD like me and he said an antidepressant alone is helping him but after thinking about it I thought "that's nice you don't have hallucinations too so I need something a bit more"

Or any suggestions on stuff I can look into. My appointment isn't until the 10th of August so I still have a bit. And a quick run down on my problems (not an actual diagnoses my phychiatrist kinda sucks so I'm doctoring myself but I match the symptoms 90-100% soooooo)

Borderline personality disorder, cptsd, ptsd, depersonalization derealization, anxiety (it's a few different kinds so I'll just say anxiety), hallucinations, paranoia and I think that's everything. It's at least the most major ones.

I took Abilify for a bit. It didn't really do much, personally. But that certainly doesn't mean it won't help you. I came off it because I developed akathisia - that was one of the worst things I've ever experienced in my life.

I suppose Abilify is similar to Risperidone because they're both antipsychotics. But Abilify is an atypical antipsychotic (AAP), I think Risperidone is more "traditional"? AAPs tend to have fewer and less severe side effects versus the traditional antipsychotics.

 

[CuddleHug]

Interesting timing of this post, because my doctor prescribed me Abilify yesterday. Honestly, I don't know why. I guess I've tried everything meant for treating depression and they just throw stuff at me to see what sticks. I'm not a fan of antipsychotics, they usually have pretty severe side-effects. I've been "lucky" not to get that many, but I also never had very high dosages. They just didn't have any positive effects at all and so they take me off them fairly quickly. Except Seroquel, that one fucked me up.

I was going to say I can update you on how it goes for me with Abilify, but I don't think I'll have anything to report before your appointment.

Hope you can make up your mind before then. Don't be too scared because of some horror stories. Like someone said, our brains are different and no one can predict the outcome of drugs like these because we don't understand exactly how they work.

Hugs

 

[Life_and_Death]

I was going to say I can update you on how it goes for me with Abilify, but I don't think I'll have anything to report before your appointment.

If you'd like to tell me you can. I mean before my appointment or not it would give me a good idea for what might happen when it starts "working" for me.

Thank you hugs

 

[CuddleHug]

I have a phobia of needles and I'm scared of choking so I can only have medication I can chew (btw anything that isn't flavored tastes REALLY bad but it's better then dying a slow death)

First report. It tastes sweet and has a strong vanilla flavour. Definitely soft enough to chew! Mine is a generic Aripiprazol, not Abilify, so taste and texture could of course differ depending on brand/manufactorer.

Anyone else who has taken it who can chime in regarding taste?

 

[Life_and_Death]

First report. It tastes sweet and has a strong vanilla flavour. Definitely soft enough to chew! Mine is a generic Aripiprazol, not Abilify, so taste and texture could of course differ depending on brand/manufactorer.

Anyone else who has taken it who can chime in regarding taste?

Vanilla? That's weird but hey, can't say no if it tastes good lol.

Crazy idea! There's threads for different methods. What if we made threads for different medications. (the more popular ones anyway. We'd be here forever if it was for every medication) and document how different people react to it. (or does this already exist and I missed it?) @angel-of-the-night?

 

[LADY007]

Everyone is different, but I had a terrible experience with Abilify. I had an awful side-effect called akathisia. It was the worst feeling ever. Geodon worked better for me without the side-effects, but you have to take it with food. I'm currently taking Rexulti. I haven't had any side-effects with it. But, you may react to the medication differently than I do.

I took Effexor for 9 years and it worked well.. Then it stopped working. Tried Abilify and it made me very jittery and hyper. Be careful with it.

 

[CuddleHug]

I've been on it for 10 days now, low dosage, and all I can say is that I'm getting tired of the taste. Like, seriously, that's the only thing I can say. I don't even get why they'd put so much sweet vanilla flavour in it, I feel sick even smelling it. I just hope it doesn't affect my relationship with other vanilla-flavoured things...

Sorry to come with such a boring report. I'm seeing my psych again on Tuesday and we might up the dosage a bit. I'm on 5mg, for reference. I think standard therapeutic dose is 15mg, so I'm not surprised I'm not feeling anything.

 

[CuddleHug]

Dosage bumped to 10mg now. Still pretty low, I think. Will report back if I notice any changes, otherwise they'll probably bump it to 15 in two weeks.

 

[CuddleHug]

Okay, so this just happened. I've been having slight issues peeing for a few days and yesterday I couldn't even get a few drops out until my bladder was about to burst. This morning, I still couldn't pee, so I went to the hospital to get it checked out. Spent 5 hours there, because it's such a rare occurence in young people (I'm 29) and no one really had any clue what to do about it. Eventually I got a catheter and now I've got to carry around a bag of pee until Monday.

What we ended up with was basically two possible reasons:

1. UTI (Urinary Tract Infection)
2. Abilify

They said it's most likely the medication, but I have to take antibiotics just in case. They took a sample of my urine to check for a UTI, but I have a gut feeling it's Abilify messing with my muscles somehow.

I'll update again on Monday to see what they say. Will also see my psychiatrist on Monday for a follow-up, so we'll discuss it then. I've only taken it for 3 weeks, but so far I've noticed no positive effects at all, so it's not like I will miss it if they take me off it.

I just want to say that this is not a common side-effect at all. Apparently all antipsychotics have a very small chance of causing issues like this. Please don't see this as a reason not to try it. The reason I'm posting about it is to spread awareness, because it is very scary to suddenly not be able to pass water and I was not aware drugs like this could cause it.

 

[BPD Barbie]

I take 20mg daily and can say its reduced my paranoia and stopped the hallucinations. I do take in conjunction with other meds but it's worked pretty well for me. Been on it around 7 or 8 months now.

 

[CuddleHug]

This will be the last update on Abilify for me. I was really unlucky with this one. Caught two rare side-effects from it; urinary retention and profuse sweating.

The urinary retention started when I increased the dosage, but I didn't really notice until it became so bad that going to the toilet was difficult. Then the total blockage and hospital and you know from my last post. I got a catheter and had to spend the weekend at home with it. Today I went to take the catheter out and I could pee normally again. Yay!

On Friday, I talked to my psychiatrist and she said immediately that I should stop taking Abilify. She was fairly certain that it was the cause of my problems. So I stopped taking it and noticed something else, namely that I was sweating less.

That's when I understood that my profuse sweating was not just due to the heatwave, but also due to Abilify. I don't usually sweat a lot, so I had been wondering if it was just extremely humid along with the heat or something. It never occurred to me that my new medication could have caused it. I'm certain it was due to Abilify for the simple reason that I'm not sweating anymore after stopping it.

For anyone reading this in the future, I hope you don't get the same side-effects as me. Several of the doctors and nurses I encountered throughout this said they had mostly heard good things about Abilify. Just be aware of changes like this and seek help if you notice anything unusual. Especially not being able to pee, because it can be very dangerous if you do nothing.