[Victoria'smom]

About 2.5 weeks ago my pdoc upped my medication. She said it would take a while to kick in but how long? I'm getting impatient.

[~Christina]

What dose were you on and how much was the increase?

Give it some time, are you eating well !? Although there are no specific instructions in regards to calories with Abilify, your body will generally make better use of a medication if it’s taken with food.

Originally Posted by ~Christina

What dose were you on and how much was the increase?

Give it some time, are you eating well !? Although there are no specific instructions in regards to calories with Abilify, your body will generally make better use of a medication if it’s taken with food.

That is very true. My Ritalin bottle and linzess bottle both say not to take with food, but the other meds say it’s okay to take with food, and their pamphlets (yes, I read the pamphlets) say that absorption is better when there is food in your stomach. So, unless a med’s instructions explicitly say do NOT take it with food, I would assume absorption is better when there is food in your stomach.

But in general, before abilify pooped out on me, it would take 7-10 days for me to feel the full effects. So I personally think that 2.5 weeks without seeing any positive effect is concerning, but maybe everyone is different?

[Victoria'smom]

I'm on 15 mg. I was on 10 mg. I don't eat with it so I will start. I'm eating my normal. Egg/bread breakfast and chicken tenderloin/ side dinner w water through out the day. There's some effect but not enough.

I personally found that abilify was one of those drugs where I needed to make large increments in dosage in order to see a noticeable improvement. I started off at I think the minimum of 2.5mg. I didn't see any positive effect at first until I reached 15. Then when my mood tanked, we increased it to 20 and no positive result. Finally saw some improvements at 30mg... but then it pooped out several months later.

That's just my experience. I found the same to be true with Latuda and Rexulti. Seroquel was the odd one where all I needed to do was make a slight increase and the effects would be extremely noticeable (although not in a good way for me).

[Moose72]

Originally Posted by bluebicycle

I personally found that abilify was one of those drugs where I needed to make large increments in dosage in order to see a noticeable improvement. I started off at I think the minimum of 2.5mg. I didn't see any positive effect at first until I reached 15. Then when my mood tanked, we increased it to 20 and no positive result. Finally saw some improvements at 30mg... but then it pooped out several months later.

That's just my experience. I found the same to be true with Latuda and Rexulti. Seroquel was the odd one where all I needed to do was make a slight increase and the effects would be extremely noticeable (although not in a good way for me).

What happened with you and Seroquel?

Originally Posted by Moose72

What happened with you and Seroquel?

Made me severely depressed and gave me suicidal thoughts.

I was becoming hypomanic/manic, and my old pdoc said that we'd nip the problem in the bud by increasing seroquel. Then well, the increase made me heavily depressed within a few days and I couldn't bear it any longer. So once we agreed to decrease the dose, the depression went away within a few days. That’s how I knew it was the Seroquel all along.

[TimTheEnchanter]

I think it is different for everybody. We all metabolize meds differently and I read that some cases a month had to pass for Abilify to fully kick in. Also what else you are taking will have an effect on how long it will kick in.

Originally Posted by Miguel'smom

About 2.5 weeks ago my pdoc upped my medication. She said it would take a while to kick in but how long? I'm getting impatient.

[Victoria'smom]

Week 3: this sucks

Sorry it's not helping much right now.

Can you contact your psychiatrist? I am concerned that it has been 3 weeks with very little improvement.

I did read this:

Antipsychotic medications can help to calm and clear confusion in a person with acute psychosis within hours or days, but they can take up to four or six weeks to reach their full effect.

Source: Antipsychotic Medication | CAMH

Do you have confusion and/or psychosis? If so, then it sounds like you definitely need to call someone because it has certainly been far more than a few days.

[Victoria'smom]

I'm less confused and less hallucinations but they're not gone.

[*Beth*]

I started Abilify at 5mg (a month ago). Now at 15mg. I noticed an improvement in my thinking and perception (miserable mixed state) within 3 days of the 5mg.

[unicornlady]

Did not take long in my experience. For me it was a couple of days. I'm sorry it's not helping you, I hope your pdoc will find you something else.

That said, I'm not totally sure the abilify does much for me. Definitely reduces frustration, but no idea if it actually stabilizes anything.

[bpcyclist]

Abilify didn't really work for me at first. We had to make several adjustments in dosage to get it right. I think 30 mg was the level it worked best at for me. Unfortunately, after several years, I developed a bit of a movement disorder on it and so we had to d/c it. Overall, until then, I found it helpful.