please share your experiecnces with ABILIFY® (aripiprazole)

please share your experiences with ABILIFY® (aripiprazole)
share your experiences with me specially about the tremor and weight gain!
thanks a lot! it means a lot to me

One word Hell. Get ready for it because you will have non stop anxiety that will drive you crazy ! You will feel groggy and feel you just woke up through out the whole day. I quit abilify in march and still have the side effects from the abilify now !!!. I was prescribed abilify and two other meds for anxiety because the anxiety from the abilify was that strong. Good luck you need it

I love abilify! I used to have terrible rages and haven't lost my temper since I went on it.
I have not experienced weight gain or anxiety. I have no side effects, either.

I've had a pretty good run with Abilify in combination with Lamictal. It's not perfect, but it's done a lot to keep depression in check. Abilify has absolutely wonderful for keeping a lid on my anxiety. I have had nothing even remotely resembling tremor. I have had some weight gain, but not everyone does. During my first 8 weeks on it, I had insomnia, but that resolved itself. I used a dash of Seroquel for the insomnia for a few weeks. I (and some others out there) do well with low doses of Abilify for depression. I don't take more than 2.5 mg. Because it can make me a bit logy, I take it at night.

Of course the only way you'll know what benefits and side effects you'll have is to try it. For me, the positive effects kicked in gloriously at about 4 or 5 days. Everyone is different. Good luck.

It calmed me down a bit, but then its effects wore off. I haven't been on it for six months. Lithium replaced Abilify.

I was one it only a short time--a month or two. it was a godsend. for the first time in my adult life I thought "wow! THIS is what it feels like to be a NORMAL person!" I wasn't riding a rollercoaster of emotions and I was happy. I was taken off of it because it cause edema (my ankles got swollen and VERY unsexy) and it raised my blood sugar. considering two of my sisters had gestational diabetes and parents have Type II she pulled me off asap. my weight gain started when I was on it. unfortunately that part has continued since then so I only apply partial blame for my gaining 50 pounds on that med. I'm blaming it on the medications following Abilify but who am I kidding there?

every drug has it's pros and cons. check out the Crazy Meds website for an informative (and hilarious) explaination of side effects. good luck!

I put on about 25 kg which was pritty bad cause I already weighed 120kg I had sezures 4 of which I was taken to hospital for one which happened in a glass shower, I now havve a nastly looking scar from mmy eye crossing over my nose down the side of my nose and of to the corner of my mouth. I cannot feel half of my. Upper lip and surrounding tissue and its been over a year and I still have part of my nose that lifts off (not like my. Whole nose, more like a little gap between my nose and my face) after I stopped taking abilify the weight gain stopped and also started to reverse, iv lost 16 kg just from not taking it anymore (I stopped october 2011) I have had one sezure but my doctors agree that was due to alcohol consumption (2 weeks ago) {I do not have epilepsy} and also this I believe is the biggy..... NO PANIC ATTACKS whatsoever from a few days after stopping abilify!!!!!! On abilify I could not leave the BEDROOM forget about scared to leave the house oi spent all my time in the bedroom more times than not crouching in the closet waiting for my hubby to get home. But you should know I'm sensitive to most anti phycotics as I am too a lot of drugs - even panadol. If you feel your medicine is not working well than talk to ur doctor before doing anything.

I started on 2mg aripiprazole/abilify liquid and went up 2mg/week until 10mg. At 2-4mg it was activating so I took it in the morning so I could sleep. Now I take it at night because it's sedating. The 2 weeks I was on 6 and 8mg were horrendous. Pdoc said it was akathisia of the mental variety more than physical, but I wonder if it was a mixed episode. It was HELL whatever it was! I was mentally agitated with my mind running a 100 miles a second, planning all these different ways to commit suicide, and I'd pace (not from a physical need but to try to tire my body out so I could sleep and gain some relief from the agitation). I felt like I was crawling out of my skin. Somehow made it through those 2 weeks to 10mg tablets and the feeling instantly passed, and I feel fine on 10mg now.

The only thing I found was that it's taken 6wks of being at 10mg for the voices to decrease. I had thought it'd work faster than that initially. And it helps with anxiety over my 'delusions', not by taking them away but by making you not care. For example, I still think about my brain rotting away, but it's more that I'm resigned to the fact rather than worrying about it. I had hoped it would make those kinds of thoughts go away entirely but sadly not in my case.

I don't think I've gained weight on it so far, but I haven't been monitoring it. My clothes all still fit, put it that way. Hand tremor is the same as it was before aripiprazole. The last time I took it I never experienced the agitation but I went from 2mg liquid to 5mg tablet and then 10mg tablet, so maybe it was the liquid?? I don't know, I don't understand why that would be the case... Last time I was on 10mg for several months and started to get muscle twitching in my legs, but not enough to actually move the leg, just so I could feel & see the muscle twitch. Again that was nothing major. Overall I would recommend the drug, just don't be stupid like me and suffer in silence if the agitation/akathisia strikes - phone your pdoc asap! Mine has given me some sleeping tablets for emergencies now (I didn't want to try benzos) in case that ever happens again.

Good luck hamed_online!

*Willow*

I LOVE how I feel on Abilify. Nothing else works for me. I was tried on Geodon, Paxil and a boatload of others and this is the only thing that makes me feel normal. Until my dose was correct I had muscle twitches, but they went away once my doc found the right does for me. I had a little weight gain, but nothing watching my diet and moderate exercise hasn't helped. The only drawback for me is the $$$$$$$. VERY expensive for me but might not be for you. I hope this helps!

I didn't gain anymore weight than I already have from other drugs. I was only on it for a short time and then was switched to lamictal. The effectiveness was great, but I would get very sleepy, so much so that it became hard to drive anywhere.
Bluemountains

The best anti-pyschotic on the market for me. My only complaint is the steep price, and it won't be generic until 2015!!

TnT

I was taking Effexor, that seemed to not be working well, so my psychiatrist (now ex) added Abilify. After a few months I started having thoughts that I knew weren't mine, so I stopped taking it. I didn't have any issues with weight gain, wasn't on it that long, but I did start having tremors when the dosage was raised, they went away when the dosage was put back down, then the "bad thoughts" started.

I hated Abilify! Weight gain, tremors, difficulty remebering anything, nausea - the list goes on and on. Was on it for six months then insisted pdoc take me off. Am now on Seroquel/Topamax/Buspar for bipolar and BPD and feel great

Oh dear, Abilify. I was only on it for a few months but it was a living hell. Not only did my anxiety increase but, also, I started to get very noticeable tremors. I also could not think clearly at all, and my weight actually decreased. It was one of the worst drugs I have ever been subjected to.

However, not everyone gets the same side effects so, perhaps, it could actually work for you.