Switching to Abilify?

Recently, I was diagnosed with a hypomanic episode, which means I probably do have bipolar II instead of depression (Still reeling from that) and my psychiatrist suggested switching from Lexapro to Abilify, since Abilify is a mood stabilizer while the other is simply an antidepressant. My parents are against the switch, and I'm okay waiting the whole thing out, but I was wondering if anyone had similar experiences they could share, relating to either medication or just switching meds in general.
Thanks,
-Sam

I definitely can relate to the bit about an antidepressant throwing me into a hypomanic episode. It can take awhile to get the meds right - at one point I did take Abilify. Lalmictal has been the best drug for me. Good luck.

I felt abilify kept me in a depression that wavered from mild to severe for a few months. I'm doing much better on a mood stabilizer alone. Plus abilify was super expensive. I only had side effects from abilify when I went up to 15mg. Abilify seems to be the go-to drug for BP now.

What I don't understand is Abilify is classed as an AP but all the doctors say it has mood stabilizing effects. I didn't see any mood stabiliZation. You might be better off with a dug that's actually classified as a MS but that's only my experience.

Hi. I can relate to AD's triggering my hypomania and mania + switching meds. I switch meds all the time because either they stop working or I don't like the side effects. It can and does take years to get the meds right when treating BP because of trying to balance out the mania vs depression. Taking just a MS alone can be very effective when treating BP, as long as your depression isn't too bad. But I know with me, my depression at the moment is so bad that I need an AD as well as a MS. The risk that the AD will trigger a mania is worth not going through the depression. I just have to weigh up how I'm feeling all the time and back off or increase the AD, depending on how bad the low or high is at the time. Does that make sense? Does that help at all?
Btw, screw what your family or friends say about you taking meds. You look after yourself. They are not in your head. You know you and how unwell you are and what is right/wrong for you. Don't listen to their negativity. It will get in the way of your recovery.
good luck, take care and keep us posted about your progress and any developments.

Talk to your pdoc about taking both Lexapro and Abilify. Mood stabilizers are often prescribed in conjunction with antidepressants.

I take 10mg of Abilify daily. During the first month I experienced side effects: drowsiness, blurred vision, confusion, and joint soreness. The soreness was so painful at times that I skipped doses here and there and almost considered stopping taking it. However, I stuck it out and after about 4-5 weeks, the side effects stopped and its worked great to tame my mania.

Isn't Abilify an antipsychotic?

Ability is promoted so much because its a brand name and doctors have an incentive to prescribe it.

There are cheaper alternatives, imo

I had good experiences with Abilify while on 10mg, while also taking Lithium and Prozac. As soon as I went up to 15mg, however, I got the side effect of akathisia and Secondary Parkinson's. It all just depends on you individually. If Lexapro worked for you, talk to your doc about staying on it maybe, with Abilify as a mood stabilizer against future hypomanias and the laxapro to ward of depressions.

Abilify is an antipsychotic, which means it is not always safe for everyone to use. It can cause irreversible tardive dyskinesia amongst other things. If it is only for your depression, and your hypomanic episodes are not bothering you much, I personally would not agree to using it. There are other medications out there for depression with less side-effects and risks. It doesn't work like a charm for mania, but in my experience it works much better for that than for depression. I'm on 20 mg and it gives me bad side-effects like restlessness, interrupted and little sleep, anger and irritability plus quite bad anxiety, so I want to change to a different antipsychotic. Antidepressants have made me manic in the past, so I don't want to and shouldn't either be on those. There is evidence that antidepressants for bipolar can cause rapid cycling, which I now have.

Hey Sam- I'm also bipolarII as well! I'm on Lexapro and just got off Abilify since it didn't help with my depression and mood stability and switched to Latuda. Latuda seems to be much more effective with my bipolar depression and hypomania and doesn't make me hungry! I find I need to be on a AD, an AAP and an anti-convulsant and the same time for my bipolar condition. Btw-for me Abilify at 2.5mg-5mg had anti-depressant properites, and at any higher dosage didn't really help at all! Best of luck!!

I was having a bad depression period and the doc recommended the smallest dosage to go with 225 Effexor, 300 Wlbutrin XR, 900 Lithobid. I think my doc gave me Abilify because I'm maxed out on Effexor and Welbutrin. I took it for a week and it made me crazy. I was crawling out of my skin. I told the doc, he took me off and increased the Lithobid for a while. That seems to work.

I agree with all the other posts, Abilify is the new kid on the block and I'm sure docs are getting incentives to prescribe it. I would ask the doctor what else would give you the benefits of Abilify. It may be a combination of pills, but a proven combination whereas Abilify still needs to be vetted.

I tried abilify last year and it made my depression waaaaaay worse.

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I've been on Abilify for years with no side effects, but I think there are other meds to try first.

Abilify got my husband out of his depression with the help of his anti depressant. My son switched 2 months ago so that abilify could possibly replace his antipsychotic and mood stabilizer. If your insurance covers it I'd try it. There is also an SSRI that has an antipsychotic quality called viibryd which may be an option. As far as medication less is better and if you are in a hypomanic state you want to deal with it now as there is a possibility that you can become manic and for me mania comes with psychosis.