43 replies to this topic

[YoungSchizo]

Well this is my last day on Abilify.. Yesterday I already felt really unwell overall and the anxiety is getting worse day by day. I also notice signs of Tardive Dyskinesia starting around my mouth today. Fuck this, this is too much to handle, I'm out!

 

-edit- is there a way to eliminate Abilify out of my system quickly (hence the very long half-life and it already reached max. plasma peak levels in two weeks). I just took 3mg Clonazepam to relax the nerves.. I hope that helps.

Edited by YoungSchizo, 07 July 2018 - 03:25 PM.

[John250]

If you're on the schizo-spectrum, then Keto-diet is a very, very bad idea... because keto-diet causes the synthesis of KYNurenic Acid to go up DRAMATICALLY - and KYNA is, as you may know, an antagonist of alpha-7, as well as a very potent NMDA-antagonist.
(if you're unaware of it, the compound is suspected to be closely connected to the symptoms of schiz... evident by the fact that sarcosine, a Glycine-agonist helps, and various alpha-7-agonists have been found to help with schiz as well...)

(a compound closely related to KYNA is being researched as a more natural version of Memantine, for the treatment of Alzheimers disease, as we speak...)

Keto works well on Autists and Adhd-ers since they have issues with NMDA-hypERactivity, instead of the hypOactivity seen in Schizo-spectrum.


I suggest you go off of it...


References:
------------------ Kynurenic Acid and Neuroprotective Activity of the Ketogenic Diet in the Eye.
https://www.ncbi.nlm...pubmed/28486923
Ketogenic diet increases concentrations of kynurenic acid in discrete brain structures of young and adult rats
https://www.ncbi.nlm...les/PMC3359463/
Regulation of kynurenine metabolism by a ketogenic diet[S]
http://www.jlr.org/c...urrent issue%29

Very interesting. Also carbohydrates are needed for serotonin production so that might be a negative as well.

[YoungSchizo]

@John250 does Abilify has antidepressant property's on 2.5mg? And how about side-effects? I might try it again at that dose with 37mg Latuda as an antipsychotic.

[John250]

@John250 does Abilify has antidepressant property's on 2.5mg? And how about side-effects? I might try it again at that dose with 37mg Latuda as an antipsychotic.

I’m only a little over week into it I think it’s going to take longer but I don’t notice a ton of antidepressant affects so far. More so leveled me out a little. A little too hard to explain since I am not that far into it in a few more weeks I should know much more.

Edited by John250, 08 July 2018 - 05:29 PM.

[John250]

@John250 does Abilify has antidepressant property's on 2.5mg? And how about side-effects? I might try it again at that dose with 37mg Latuda as an antipsychotic.

I was just reading that Memantine can help with Schizophrenia “if” used in conjunction with other meds. Can’t find the damn article though.

Also here is an update on the Abilify. When I went off all my meds I started getting bad anxiety. When I started back on Lexapro only 5 mg literally within two days 80% of the anxiety when away. I would still get it but I wouldn’t get that racing paranoid feeling that would normally happen. About 10 days into the Lexapro the anxiety started coming back a little so I started increasing the dose to 10mg which made me too lethargic. I backed it down to 7.5 and that seem to work well. Once I introduced Abilify it seems to work synergistic with the Lexapro as I backed the Lexapro down to 5 mg again. So far it’s been almost 2 weeks on Abilify at 2.5mg and Lexapro at 5mg and my anxiety has subsided even more and my compulsive behaviors have subsided about 50%.

Edited by John250, 10 July 2018 - 03:58 PM.

[YoungSchizo]

I was just reading that Memantine can help with Schizophrenia “if” used in conjunction with other meds. Can’t find the damn article though.

Also here is an update on the Abilify. When I went off all my meds I started getting bad anxiety. When I started back on Lexapro only 5 mg literally within two days 80% of the anxiety when away. I would still get it but I wouldn’t get that racing paranoid feeling that would normally happen. About 10 days into the Lexapro the anxiety started coming back a little so I started increasing the dose to 10mg which made me too lethargic. I backed it down to 7.5 and that seem to work well. Once I introduced Abilify it seems to work synergistic with the Lexapro as I backed the Lexapro down to 5 mg again. So far it’s been almost 2 weeks on Abilify at 2.5mg and Lexapro at 5mg and my anxiety has subsided even more and my compulsive behaviors have subsided about 50%.

 

I know about the articles, I've trialled Memantine too and still have a package of it left. It provoked positive symptoms in me so I stopped.

 

Thanks for getting back to me. I've tried 2.5mg for a couple of days but didn't benefit from it's antidepressant effect anymore. So I bumped it back up to 5mg since yesterday and today I already felt a lot better. I won't go any higher or lower again with Abilify. If I won't get any nasty side-effects again, 5mg seems enough to keep almost all my positive symptoms at bay (better than any other antipsychotic), the anxiety manageable with Clonazepam and it gives my mood a little boost. I do however feel kind of unmotivated/bored to do anything but it's known of Abilify and antipsychotics in general (and due to fact I suffer from negatives). I also still feel a bit brain-foggish and lethargic throughout the day but that could also be because I took Mirtazapine for sleep past weekend. Last week I tried Trazadone, it didn't help. This week I will try Promethazine and if that doesn't work, Amitriptyline or whatever.. getting sick of my fragmented sleep issues   

Edited by YoungSchizo, 10 July 2018 - 09:14 PM.

[John250]

I know about the articles, I've trialled Memantine too and still have a package of it left. It provoked positive symptoms in me so I stopped.

Thanks for getting back to me. I've tried 2.5mg for a couple of days but didn't benefit from it's antidepressant effect anymore. So I bumped it back up to 5mg since yesterday and today I already felt a lot better. I won't go any higher or lower again with Abilify. If I won't get any nasty side-effects again, 5mg seems enough to keep almost all my positive symptoms at bay (better than any other antipsychotic), the anxiety manageable with Clonazepam and it gives my mood a little boost. I do however feel kind of unmotivated/bored to do anything but it's known of Abilify and antipsychotics in general (and due to fact I suffer from negatives). I also still feel a bit brain-foggish and lethargic throughout the day but that could also be because I took Mirtazapine for sleep past weekend. Last week I tried Trazadone, it didn't help. This week I will try Promethazine and if that doesn't work, Amitriptyline or whatever.. getting sick of my fragmented sleep issues

Yah antipsychotics can take a long time with frequent adjusting to properly work.

[Believer]

I experienced something weird. I felt that nothing is enjoyable anymore, everything is "boring," plus I was a little depressed. This was a horrible kind of feeling because literally nothing would work against it.

This is also very unusual for me as I never get bored, I can literally sit all by myself with nothing to do and be fine with it. Though I had not taken abilify in a long time so not sure if abilify could somehow be related to it. Maybe it was the slow-release melatonin I took. I know I react badly to melatonin.

 

Anyway, today I took abilify 5mg and felt literally nothing as if I had not taken it. Sometimes I can feel abilify but other times I cannot.

[YoungSchizo]

I experienced something weird. I felt that nothing is enjoyable anymore, everything is "boring," plus I was a little depressed. This was a horrible kind of feeling because literally nothing would work against it.

This is also very unusual for me as I never get bored, I can literally sit all by myself with nothing to do and be fine with it. Though I had not taken abilify in a long time so not sure if abilify could somehow be related to it. Maybe it was the slow-release melatonin I took. I know I react badly to melatonin.

 

Anyway, today I took abilify 5mg and felt literally nothing as if I had not taken it. Sometimes I can feel abilify but other times I cannot.

 

I have the opposite, without Abilify and when I just sit and do nothing I get depressed and at least (go force) myself to go for a work-out to chill. Now, with Abilify, I can just sit, be bored and do nothing at all without getting depressed by it. In your case Melantonin could be also contributing because of it's sedating effects. This has been my experience when adding a sedative: The past weekend I added 15mg Mirtazapine (and even though my sleep is still fragmented) I still got enough sleep in total. The downside, I'm taking a long acting "stimulant" (Abilify) + a long acting sedative (Mirtazapine). It's interacting/contradicting! The first week when I started Abilify I went off all drugs to see what the effects of Abilify on it's own would do, after going through terrible side-effects the first two days, I was fine the following days, although it provoked me into compulsive gambling (a known side-effect of Abilify) but even though I lost my loan I still felt relaxed, mellowed, positive symptom free + a strong antidepressant effect. Then I added 20mg Parnate, which seem to work synergistic with Abilify. Because my sleep was less and still fragmented, I added 50mg Trazadone, first two days I slept fairly well and still felt well (aside from increased anxiety, brain-fog and fragmented sleep), the third day I thought I like Abilify so much so I upped my dosage to 10mg, that's when the trouble started. Within 2 days I had some sort of "nervous break-down". Like I already said, I backed down to 5, then 2.5 and now since 2 days back to 5mg but I felt I had no other choice than adding 15mg Mirtazapine the past weekend. Last night I started having mild positive symptoms, took some extra Clonazepam and it resolved my issues. Last night I dropped the Mirtazapine to 7.5mg and added 25mg Promathazine in the hopes it would aid my fragmented sleep. This morning: waking up once 2 hours later after going to bed I could fall back to sleep easily, another 2 hours later and I was wide awake. I spent 4 hours in bed trying to fall a sleep but I just couldn't.

 

Anyway, before I get off-topic. It's the same with me on Abilify, one time I feel social/okay/chill/relaxed/optimistic/symptoms free, the other time unmotivated/apathetic/lethargic/anxious/paranoid/sluggish. One thing that last even though I feel crap right now, is it's antidepressant effect on me, I still can feel bored without my daily work-out which I hardly missed before Abilify. I think and it's just an idea/guess, I think Abilify is a first in class drug that has both agonist/antagonist properties that just was not well "designed" to be a stable drug (even though it was found effective enough to be marketed back in the days). 

 

At this point I do not know what I will do. I have an appointment tomorrow with my pdoc and am going to ask for a short acting sleep-aid and maybe give Abilify another week. One thing is for sure, Abilify for me is temporary, once Cariprazine or (Abilify's successor) Brexpiprazole is on the market I'm off of it permanently.

[John250]

I experienced something weird. I felt that nothing is enjoyable anymore, everything is "boring," plus I was a little depressed. This was a horrible kind of feeling because literally nothing would work against it.
This is also very unusual for me as I never get bored, I can literally sit all by myself with nothing to do and be fine with it. Though I had not taken abilify in a long time so not sure if abilify could somehow be related to it. Maybe it was the slow-release melatonin I took. I know I react badly to melatonin.

Anyway, today I took abilify 5mg and felt literally nothing as if I had not taken it. Sometimes I can feel abilify but other times I cannot.

Try adding 5 g Glycine when you take your melatonin. It’s supposed to counteract those effects.

[Believer]

Tried 10mg just now. Pulse is at 53, 10 points lower than it usually is. Blood pressure is normal. Feeling a little weird (tight/sore) in my ankle area but not sure if electrolyte deficiency (I had before) or caused by abilify.

Feeling a tiny bit restless but otherwise more calm than at 5mg. Anxiety is reduced.

 

All in all abilify seems very mild at 10mg.

[YoungSchizo]

I just started about six days ago. 5 mg pills but I’ve only been taking one quarter. 1.25mg when I increased to 2.5 mg I feel a little spacey the next day. I don’t think high doses are needed as 2 mg shows to increase D2 up to 70% versus 5-10 mg at 85% haven’t noticed any changes in sleep duration yet.

I had an appointment yesterday with my pdoc and she told me the same thing. In this area 5/10mg is the therapeutic dose for Abilify on patients with schizophrenia.
Over schizophrenia.com (in the US) it's considered normal that a therapeutic dose starts at 10 all the way up to 30mg. Guess they're overmedicated LOL

Edited by YoungSchizo, 13 July 2018 - 12:05 PM.

[YoungSchizo]

The anxiety became unbearable again and I quit Abilify for good. Back on lowest dose of Latuda and Zyprexa until I get my hands on Cari or Brexi.

[John250]

The anxiety became unbearable again and I quit Abilify for good. Back on lowest dose of Latuda and Zyprexa until I get my hands on Cari or Brexi.

I’d assume the increase in 5ht2 from Abilify increased your anxiety or possibly the D2 increase did. I’d try and figure out whether it’s Serotonin or Dopamine that you are extra sensitive to and evaluate from there. If I had to guess I’d say it was the increase in mesolimbic D2 that was too much for you leading to the anxiety but you know your body best.