Posted by Christ_empowered on November 20, 2010, at 20:42:01
OK, so I used to take 15mgs/day Abilify, and I was stable. Then I went off cold turkey for several months and had a bit of a relapse, so I re-started my medication. I started @ 15 but then went up to 30 (my old dose before reducing to 15 several months prior) b/c the 15mgs/day dosage didn't have enough "oomph" to calm me down. Its been a couple months and now I'm stable. I don't have EPS or dysphoria, but I'd kind of like to go down to 15mgs/day just to reduce the amount of neuroleptic my brain is exposed to.
Is this a good or bad idea? My shrink says abilify is the best thing they have and that for bipolar disorder "more is better" (I guess schizophrenics can take 10-15mgs? I should've asked). Anyway, I appreciate his advice, but it seems like most shrinks love to ramp up the dose of antipsychotics, so I kind of took his insight with a grain of salt.
I don't have any mania or depression. Anxiety is still a problem, but I don't have any significant agitation. My thinking is clear, but I'm wondering if maybe 15mgs/day wouldn't give *more* cognitive improvement, since I wouldn't run as high a risk of neuroleptic-induced cognitive deficits.
Please give me whatever advice you can. I'd love to be able to ask my doc about it, but he seems big on higher doses of meds, which kind of scares me, although I see his point.
poster:Christ_empowered
thread:970868
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20101117/msgs/970868.html