[unior]

Abilify didn't seem to be fixing my paranoia and delusions. So my family MD (yeah I know) took me off of my 30 mg of abilify and put me on 40mg of geodon. I simply stopped taking abilify and started taking geodon.

I was ok and fairly well for 4 or 5 days.

Right now though I'm grinding my teeth, fingers are shaking, feel almost nauseous and really weird as in hyper.

Withdrawl going on here?

Next question what to do.

I'm not sure. I've been on both meds at different times, but haven't directly gone from one to the other. You might should give your doc a call to see what he thinks. Usually they would decrease one while perhaps increasing on the other I would think.

[unior]

Well I sort of feel like an idiot now. Dunno what happened I was about to call my doctor but I eventually got over it. I don't understand what was going on.

I dunno if it's possible since I'm on a lowish dosh of geodon vs. the high dose of abilify I was on....that my bipolar symptoms were returning as mania?

That dosn't make much sense either cause the symptoms didn't last that long.

I was drinking coffee earlier in the day....maybe caffeine is interacting with the medicine. I should probably lay off it.

Oh well still feel dumb for having a freak out session over it. I just felt incredibly not right.

[vvector0000]

In retrospect:

I suspect the Geodon was more of a problem. Abilify has a half-life of 4-5 days, so it doesn't really get below its 'active state' until 10 days or so. I have taken it and had no problem when I stopped it abruptly. Geodon is more of a powerful drug and has more of a 'load' when you start/stop it.

Glad you got over it!

[unior]

Originally Posted by vvector0000

In retrospect:

I suspect the Geodon was more of a problem. Abilify has a half-life of 4-5 days, so it doesn't really get below its 'active state' until 10 days or so. I have taken it and had no problem when I stopped it abruptly. Geodon is more of a powerful drug and has more of a 'load' when you start/stop it.

Glad you got over it!

I believe your correct.

Saw my pdoc instead of family doctor.....He told me that low dose of geodon was low enough to it was behaving like an acivator on my dopamine receptors or w/e. I need that dopamine blocked to axe my symptoms. He thought I would be better off on his tried and true meds....to block the dopamine receptors.

I went from geodon, celexa and atarax to: risperdal, lithium, ativan, benztropine, and trazadone to sleep.

I hope his new conglomeration gets me to the point I can work again without having the horrible symptoms I get.

He didn't seem to want to tell me a pinpointed diagnosis but was leaning towards paranoid or disorganized schizo....more paranoid. Yet I'm still back on lithium which I always thought was for bipolar. All I care about is being able to work again.

[vvector0000]

Really glad things appear to be working out!

Opinion:

I would caution anyone to be careful with Abilify and, ideally stay away from it altogether. Otsuka tried to do WAY too much with that drug - combining Prozac (a similar molecule anyway) with a novel 'antipsychotic' dopamine/5HT modifier, sort of like a twisted and cloven Geodon into a single drug. It's too unpredictable because of everyone having such different deficiences, surpluses, etc. in their bodies. For me, the akathisia was so bad that I truly wanted to rip my face off on it. It was so agitating that I paced in circles and things like that. It was truly one of the most horrible things I've experienced with a med.

-vv

Originally Posted by unior

I believe your correct.

Saw my pdoc instead of family doctor.....He told me that low dose of geodon was low enough to it was behaving like an acivator on my dopamine receptors or w/e. I need that dopamine blocked to axe my symptoms. He thought I would be better off on his tried and true meds....to block the dopamine receptors.

I went from geodon, celexa and atarax to: risperdal, lithium, ativan, benztropine, and trazadone to sleep.

I hope his new conglomeration gets me to the point I can work again without having the horrible symptoms I get.

He didn't seem to want to tell me a pinpointed diagnosis but was leaning towards paranoid or disorganized schizo....more paranoid. Yet I'm still back on lithium which I always thought was for bipolar. All I care about is being able to work again.