Posted by fluffy on June 19, 2004, at 11:25:18
In reply to Re: Apathy on Risperdal..Should I switch to Abilify?, posted by shoebox on June 18, 2004, at 17:53:31
HI Shoebox--
Yes-I've tried Lamictal. It really did very little for me in terms of stopping the cycling and preventing a major depression that I crashed into this past fall. So we switched to Depakote, which I've had pretty good luck with. But for whatever reasons, it changed the nature of my cycling into a different beast--the lows feeling disconnected with memory loss and dissociation and the highs with agitation and anxiety. The add-on of Risperdal has removed the agitation and I've gained back my sleep and memory. But I'm still left with apathy and anhedonia. I've been through the gamut with meds, as most people who deal with this stuff. All the anticonvulsants except for Topomax and Lithium with completely erased my memory. i've been blessed in that Depakote did nothing to increase my weight or appetite. I suppose I'm just feeling like I need some fine-tuning rather than a major change. I'm hoping that the switch from Risperdal to Abilify would be latteral and not set me back too far or into another tailspin. But it's hard to feel like myself completely in this state. So I think I'm going to give it a try. (if my pdoc is willing and agrees that it would be a positive change for me.) So I'm hoping that someone who has made this kind of switch can chime in and give me their experiences. Everyone has a different profile in their noggen. So until we can actually see what's going on in there, it's a lot of guesswork. I've been trying medications for the past year and a half. I feel like I should just be satisfied that i'm not cycling madly. I don't want to rock the boat to much. But i feel well enough to be objective about the fact that I don't feel quite like myself yet. Convincing the doctor that this might merit a med change will be the true challenge. I'll keep you updated.
Did your husband switch from anther antipsychotic to Abilify? Or did he just try it as the first one? I had terrible side effects with zyprexa, while risperdal has given me none except for anhedonia and occasionally tremor.
keep in touch,
Katy
poster:fluffy
thread:357773
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040614/msgs/358076.html