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Re: Abilify success stories

Posted by med_empowered on August 17, 2008, at 20:16:51

In reply to Abilify success stories, posted by Elanor Roosevelt on August 17, 2008, at 19:55:51

I went through a no-meds period and went crazy...as in, I had to dragged off the streets and put into a hospital crazy.
Turns out...I had "psychotic mania".
In the hospital they used Haldol and Depakote (old school, I know, that place was a total hell hole). BUT when I get my own shrink, I got switched over to Abilify (20mgs/day) plus the depakote and some sedatives (klonopin, ambien) for as-needed use.
I'd kind of like to lower the dose of Abilify (I'm just worried that 20mgs is overkill) or go off of it completely now that the psychosis has passed, but...its pretty good stuff. No twitches, no dysphoria, no muscle stiffness/tremor.
I didn't get akathisia. My shrink says that w/ Abilify the "akathisia" is a little more complicated than your usual akathisia; apparently higher doses are considered more "soothing" and produce less anxiety/agitation (this is according to my doc; I don't really know of any data that supports this).
I had tried Abilify before, but my shrink maxed to out to 30mgs. I wouldn't recommend the max dose unless you have some sort of "Sybil"-level madness going on...for me, at 30mgs, the Abilify may as well have been Haldol (dysphoria, muscle twitches, etc...I needed a beta-blocker to keep taking it, then I ditched in completely).

I've also found lower doses to be helpful if you're in paranoia/agitation land but not quite PSYCHOTIC; it kind of takes the edge off things for a while so you can chill and get your sh!t together. I wouldn't say it has an "antidepressant" effect so much as it can make life a little more bearable if you're agitated as hell. I'd personally recommend having a benzo on hand if you're going to take it.

Good luck.


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