[noclevermonicker]

Hi, all,

I have been dealing with my diagnosis for the past 5 years. After the birth of my fourth child, I suffered Post Partum Psychosis. I heard voices, saw things, thought of harming myself and children, major depression...you get the idea. I ended up getting pg again with #5 (dh got a vasectomy while I was pg). After that, all symptoms came back, except, I ended up in the psych ward with some other, more severe symptoms. If I'm not on an anti-psychotic, my symptoms come back, full force.

Since then, my psych has diagnosed me with Bi-polar II and we've found a pretty effective cocktail. The problem is, it's a lot of meds to take and I'm severely overweight. So we've started tapering off my Abilify. Every day to every other day, to every 3 days, to every 5 and now I'm down to weekly.

So, here's the problem: I went down to weekly this week and for the past 3 days I can barely get out of bed, I'm crying constantly, my kids are suffering, I'm taking extra doses of Clonazapam to deal with anxiety associated with this. Basically, I'm a wreck. Is this common for withdrawal with Abilify, or do I need to re-up my dose? My psych is on vacation till next week, but did say if it got out of hand to bump back up to every 3 or 5 days. If this is temporary, I don't want to bump back up and have to taper back down again...

Anyone experience this? Is it normal to feel this way coming down from Abilify?

[Anneinside]

To me, it doesn't sound like your symptoms are a reaction to weaning off Abilify but because Abilify was working for you and now that you are taking too little your depression is coming back. It sounds like you need to be on Abilify.

I've had weight gain from abilify myelf so that could be what's going on with you. I may be tapering off abilify in the near future but if my depression or other symptoms become unbearable I'll definitely go back on it. I'd rather fight the weight with a disadvantage than live in misery or worse, return to the dark place I was before.

Stay strong and try to only change one thing at a time. It's possible you're just adjusting to not having the abilify but if this gets out of control I highly recommend getting advice from a doctor. I've tried modifying my own meds before and so far it's never ended well. As suspicious as I get of doctors sometimes I have to give them credit.

[Amelie10]

I have no real experience with what you are going through, but after readying your post, I just want to send some love and encouragement your way. Five kids would be difficult for anyone....with our issues, I know it can't be easy. Hang in there. Being overweight is a nightmare, I understand, but depression worse.

[choocha]

Hi. I don't think it's because you are coming off of it. I think it's because you actually do need to take it more often. If you are tapering properly withdrawal symptoms will be minimal. You need to be on a med for these symptoms. Why don't you just try one that doesn't have weight-gain as a side effect or low rates of it etc. I hated the weight gain so I take Zeldox, which has been proven to have minimal to no side effect of weight gain. I don't know whether Abilify is a MS or an AP. Zeldox is a MS. But surely there is an AP with no weight gain. It sounds like you got put on all of these meds for a genuine reason and if these symptoms have started coming back in, you may need to resume taking what you were taking or try something new. Get professional help. Just do what your doc said till he/she gets back for now. Then go see him/her and let them know. Good luck, take care and keep us informed about your progress and any developments.