Not feeling while on Abilify?

Has anyone had experiences of having trouble expressing themselves when they were on Abilify? I am having a difficult time crying. I haven't been able to cry for a couple of months. I was wondering if it is because I am on this medication.

thanks

POOH

hey,

abilify made me really nervous/jittery when i first started taking it, but it didn't do anything for me afterwards so i eventually stopped using it.

http://www.crazymeds.us/abilifypi.pdf lists some results from trials on abilify. it does state "blunted affect" as a "very rare" reported side effect.

but given that i dont know why you are on the abilify, and that difficulty with emotions could be due to almost anything in the psych-world, i think it would be best to check with your dr what their thoughts on this are .

Sometimes I do feel blunted or numb, but I haven't been able to link it specifically to Abilify. (I am also on several other drugs.)

I tried to go off Abilify recently, and I felt no improvement in emotional responsiveness. Instead, I just felt awful and unstable, with a lot of suicidal thinking. I am back on it now!

What other meds are you taking? For example, I did feel less blunted, and generally more awake, after stopping Cymbalta.

As deliquesce said, do check with your doc.

Deliquesce and Slothrop:

Thanks for your input. I am currently on thorazine and thyroid medication, along with Abilify. All are to help me with my atypical depression. I am also currently in intense outpatient therapy. I have been able to feel in the past the range of emotions but haven't been able to cry in months. This has me very concerned. Should I be? I will talk with my pdoc next month about my lack of emotions, in the mean time I will continue to research the side effects. I couldn't find anything on the website for Abilify or other websites for this particular side effect, but I will continue to keep looking.

Thanks again for your input.

POOH

initially i was concerned also about feeling " blunted" but i think for me that passed after taking abilify longterm , but i am on several other antidepressant type meds.

i would be more prone to suspecting the thorazine, to be honest. that is a fairly heavy drug to be on and it's effects are a lot more sedating/blunting than abilify, which is typically reported to be more activating.

i am confused about why there aren't any antidepressants in your combination, if your drugs are primarily to help with depression? you dont need to justify it to me, of course, it's just something i noticed.

i guess the other thing to check would be your thyroid levels and whether the medication for that needs to be adjusted?

Feeling numb and not being able to cry, so far, as been a common side effect for me on every antidepressant I've taken. It's so frustrating...

Here is a post I wrote a long time ago

"I took Abilify for a long time. It reduced my psychotic type symptoms, decreased my obsessive thoughts some and sorta balanced me out. I had to take 2-3 other meds with it because it alone was not enough to manage my symptoms. I had tried a zillion other meds and med combos but none of them helped me. So, even though Abilify was not 100 percent effective, it seemed like my best option.

I had a lot of problems staying on the Abilify because I was still sometimes irrational, anxious or/and depressed. But, I still considered it to be somewhat of a miracle med because if I stayed on it, it kept me sane enough that I stayed out of the psych hospital. But, I never felt good while I was on it. I was just less "crazy."

For a few years I was on 30 mgs and never had a problem with side effects. But, then I suddenly started having serious side effects--severe agitation/restlessness, uncontrollable leg movements, tremors and others. I had to completely quit the Abilify because the side effects were so severe I had problems functioning and they could have become permanent.

After I had been off the Abilify for awhile, I was surprised when I started experiencing/feeling my emotions because I had not noticed they were gone. It was not until they came back that I realized the Abilify had blunted them to the point that I had felt nothing for several years. It had gradually numbed me out and it was such a slow, subtle process that I was not aware of it while it was happening to me.

I spent a very long time with no feelings about myself or the people in my life or anything that was happening in my world. There were many times I felt like my life was gray and I never enjoyed anything but I attributed it to my depression. But, when my feelings came back I knew it was the Abilify doing it to me.

Now that I look back on it, I am saddened that I spent years not feeling anything--it is like I lost a few years of my life and I will never know how I felt about them. I cried when I first hugged my dad and felt his love--I had forgotten how good that feels. I never would have taken the Abilify if I knew this was going to happen to me. I would have found another way to manage my mental health."

I'm only up to 10mg as of last night on Abilify, but I've been manic for 5 weeks + and it hasn't been able to slow me down. I still can get emotional, nearly to tears a couple of times from the intense love/emotion I feel for certain people. But most of the time I'm just happy and energetic. This is probably an manic episode despite all the meds, but I like the combo.

I'm on that and Wellbutrin 150mg in am and Lamictal 200mg split between am & pm. It's awesome for me, but everyone is different.

Sorry if you're feeling numb. I agree with deliq, it's more likely the Thorazine. Abilify tends to be a stimulant and can make you drowsy but it seems to make most people hypomanic rather than depressed or numb.

Just a thought. You are entitled to have any reaction possible so ignore me if your reaction is bad and it's not one of your other meds. Definitely talk to your p-doc about your feelings. He/she make down your dose of thorazine as a first adjustment.



Take care.

This drug is TERRIBLE!!!!
We had to take it, and eveyone who came out was like a zombie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WORST of all, The Host is under 18, and in the fine print it says "Is not intended for people under 18" or something like tht!!!!
WHAT was Children's Hospital THINKING?????
Jake

thinker, you're manic and taking Wellbutrin? Wow, I'm bipolar II and don't get much in the way of mania, but that drug took me pretty close! Man, I was shaky, jacked up, hostile...

Maybe it's different for you...

The new p-doc said she'd take me off of Wellbutrin eventually. I don't want to be off it, but so it goes. WB did make me hostile, aggressive, drive dangerous in the beginning couple of weeks, but since then it's just given me energy...started it last August or Sept I believe, so after a year, it has no neg side effects. The newest drug is abilify and only a couple months ago i started Lamictal, so I figure it's one of them contributing to my mania.

Pooh--
I know exactly what you mean. I have been on Abilify for two+ years and have not cried since. I am aware of my blunted affect, as well. I asked my pdoc if there was a different drug I could take, but he only reduced my dosage. I've been on Zoloft for 15 years. Tried Wellbutrin, but it made me homicidal. (no joke--my roommate was scared of me.

Hoping to find a different med that will work with Zoloft.

Hey, just a thought. But not feeling and not being able to cry are 2 different things... there are people (who consider themselves "normal") that don't feel the need to cry because they are happy all the time. Smiling is known to release endorphins which are the natural pleasure chemicals, so maybe by not crying you are projecting happiness - which in turn will make you happy.... Just my thoughts - hope they find you well...

For me, Abilify blunted the severe, continuous suicidal thoughts while I was taking it. When those thoughts tapered off I stopped taking Abilify (with pdoc approval) and I found that I felt happier off it. My conclusion was that it both kept the bad and the good feelings at bay. So yes, I would think that Abilify would make you less tearful. I hope things improve for you.