Meds

Anyone ever try Abilify? How did it work for you?

My husband and son are on it with lamictal. It works well for them.

Hello, Serra27. Medications do not work the same for everybody. At least for me, trial and error is the norm.

Gave me a real bad case of the Parkinsonian tremors and akathisia. It was a real nightmare that would just become worse. I had to be taken off of it by the doctor.

At 15mg I felt great but I also had a weird slowing effect where I seemed to be on a five second delay. It was bizarre and very noticeable so I had to go off. Plus it was $650 a month before I hit my deductible

It was a different time for me, before I was diagnosed BPII. I gained a bunch of weight on Abilify and it made my bulimia go crazy (probably from the weight gain). I was only on it about 6 weeks until I just said eff this. Plus the cost, oh the cost was horrendous.

But as others have said, everyone reacts differently. I know people who love the stuff.

It gave me akithesia, so i had to stop it, but it works well for a lot of people. If you start at a very low dose, like 2 mg, and go up slowly it's less likely to cause akithesia.

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Abilify is the absolute magic med for me. I started at 2 mg and titrated up by 2 mg a week, and by 6 mg I felt an effect. We haven't gone any higher than 6 mg, even though that's below the usual therapeutic dose. I don't mind, it means we can go higher if needed. I am myself, finally. It's like the low grade depression I was experiencing even between bipolar episodes is gone.

My pdoc initially told me to take it at dinner because it might be activating. I started getting anxiety at bedtime and wasn't sleeping, but I was also experiencing serious health problems and I think that was causing the anxiety. In any case, I got into a routine of taking the abilify at 10 PM, the rest of my meds at 11 PM, and I'm asleep by midnight. Now I sleep fine.

I took Abilify and it worked very well. Only when I lost my health insurance I couldn't afford it. It's a shame, I've been depressed ever since I got off of it.

Watch for weight gain and increase in blood sugar . I tried it and gained 5 lbs in a week so I dumped it in the garbage bin.

I'm actually losing weight on Abilify. I feel better so I'm DOING more instead of sitting on my butt all the time. I think that's helping.

EDIT: though I did initially gain 5 pounds at the beginning. I stuck it out and am now losing.

Abilify had some horrible side effects on me. I have been on so many the last year or more. My poor body is tired.

The best for me is my lamictal. I was a size 16 due to meds and in five month I went down to a size 10. Im gardening again,which I have not wanted to do in years. I have no desire to eat candy, cookies, cakes....I crave fruit mostly. This is the best I have felt (when Im not manic, hee hee) in years.

Good luck with Abilify though. I really hope it works out for you.