Tapering off abilify. Withdrawl?

So the pdoc wants me off the meds. He thinks I'm fine now. At the end of June I will begin tapering off very slowly probably cutting my dose from 7.5 to 5 for a while just to let my brain adjust. I don't want to return to the psychosis but its impossible not to try going off since pdoc is so convincing. He spent like 15 minutes telling me why I should be off the meds.

My question is this when tapering off abilify did you experience side effects? Last time I went to 5 was a year ago and I was anxious and irritated. I'm not sure if my illness was returning of if this was some sort of temporary withdrawl symptom. Has anyone here gotten off successfully with a pdocs help? Did you experience withdrawl symptoms?

I've not tapered off abilify/aripiprazole, but I have stopped 10mg abruptly twice, once on my own and the other time with pdoc's approval. Both times it was nothing major, just some headaches and feeling a bit under the weather for maybe a week. I never found it a problem at all which is why I can't remember much detail about it.

Good luck with the withdrawal and hope the symptoms are kept at bay.

All the best,

*Willow*

Thanks, that is precisely why I am worried I've never heard about withdrawl symptoms but I got really moody when I tried to go off last time.

Were you switching to another antipsychotic or just going off cold turkey?

Thanks I think I'll need the luck!

Your problem could be the lower dose causing more stimulation, rather than withdrawal. When I was on 6mg & 8mg (increasing the dose to 10mg) I was very restless & irritable & agitated. I don't know if it was akathisia or a mixed episode or what, but it was 2 weeks of utter hell. Once I got to 10mg it disappeared, and I was fine before on 2-5mg.

The first time I quit cold turkey and was off all meds for 9 months and all the symptoms came back quite quickly. The second time I dropped straight from 10mg to switch to quetiapine/Seroquel. I chose to quit cold turkey again cos I'd done it before with minimal issues and I was worried about the restlessness etc coming back at a lower dose as I tapered.

All the best,

*Willow*

Maybe I'll just go off it then I never thought the lower dose would be a problem. Pdoc is open my input luckily.

Well it's just a thought, your mileage may vary. I don't want you to fail off meds, but you should soon see if it's going to work for you or not. It seems like you're not too fussed about stopping meds, it's more your pdoc's idea, so I suppose it's not the end of the world if you have to go back on it.

Wishing you all the best anyway

*Willow*

Well the initial plan was to wait 6 months after my last hallucination and I was begging to go off the meds at every session, then I tried and failed because I just couldn't handle the irritation/anxiety. I decided to be medicated was better than that so strangely while I am afraid of becoming delusional again its that irritation/anxiety that I really want to avoid, but like you said I can always go back on as long as I don't lose control. Anyway to placate myself at the time I told myself I'd try again in a year and now its been a year so the pdoc is holding me to my own statement. I originally said these aren't candy and he used the same words against me a year later. I have no idea how he even remembers that with how many patients he has or if its just something he says. Anyway I figure it's worth a shot at this point, we can always adjust the meds. Thanks for your help, I'll consult with the pdoc about the no taper method, but we'll probably just do a really short taper like a week.

Ugh just got back from the pdoc and he wants me to do a 6 week taper, so much for my input. I told him about the middle levels being worse and he looked at me like I was crazy. Then he wants to see me after the initial taper so we can reassess.

That's not good! My current pdoc appreciates that I have idiosyncratic reactions to medications...

That's good though. If things get unbearable then hopefully your pdoc will reconsider...

All the best,

*Willow*

He's really accessible by phone so I can always call him if I want to stop tapering I'd just have to go back up again...I don't think he'll let me go down when I'm that bad. He just didn't get how bad it was until I said I'd rather be psychotic. We were actually ending the session and he sat back down to find out what I meant. So he is a really good guy I just think I don't always convey things so he understands.

Just updating the thread...have been on abilify five mg for four weeks now...I had one day where I was unduly cranky but that's it. This suggests that my symptoms last time were a return of the psychosis or it was because we dropped from 10 to 5 directly. Dropping 2.5mg every six weeks seems to be the way to go.

Thanks for the update.

Is the crankiness the same as agitation?

No what happens with me is I get unreasonably upset over small things. Our technician who orders things left on vacation without telling me so I was upset we couldn't order anything for two weeks but I just kept focusing on it. Also my friend found out she was diabetic and ate a cookie, I was just livid that she ate a cookie and didn't want to see her again, but it only lasted one day. That kind of thing...I think it's probably different for everyone.

Apparently, this medication has mood stabilizing properties.

Yeah that's what I told the pdoc before I went off that I was afraid I had an underlying mood disorder...he just sort of grimaced and said nothing then I moved to another topic. There's always the possibility that I'm bipolar or sza I don't really have a firm dx other than psychosis.

Do you know at what sort of dose??

I thought I'd read that before, but pdoc dismissed its mood stabilising properties and I'm not using it for that, just for psychosis...hmmm...

Glad you're doing ok so far Sometimes. All the best with it

*Willow*

Sorry, I have no idea.

Went off abilify cold turkey because it was making me aggressive. Had no side affects from doing that.was glad to be off it

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I understand this thread is old but I must say.... When you said, "I'm not sure if my illness was returning of if this was some sort of temporary withdrawl symptom." This is exactly how I felt. I had the same feelings and was even to the point where I was out looking for people to get me drugs that caused the problem...

The way I am thinking is that your DR is right, you should be off the meds at this point. The question is why are symptoms returning when getting off of Abilify. How can dosing down be achieved safely?

Hope this helps and would like to hear back from you if your still on the community.

So that was a year ago when I was experiencing aggression/anger along with anxiety...which really weren't the symptoms I was sick with, I was just hearing voices. What seems to be effective is going down 2.5 mgs at a time with 6 week intervals between decreases. I know it's slow but I'm not having any problems going from 10 to 7.5 or 7.5 to 5 like I did from 10 to 5. Your pdoc may have a different strategy and some people have no problem getting off but I had been on for a year before trying to go off so I honestly believe that my brain had adapted to having the medication around. For 7.5 I had to cut the 15mg pills in half but that saves money and a trip to the pharmacist too. Anyway I'm still on 5 and scheduled to go down in two weeks. I will try to keep the thread updated as a reference.

I am going to try this with 4 week intervals (2.5 per 4 weeks). Should take about 5 months to get off. The last month I will take 2.5 every other day and then end it. What I really find though is that it hits me 2, 3 or 4 weeks after I STOP taking it. I'm taking for the same type of thing (hearing voices)

I haven't actually been off yet this is my first attempt so I'm not sure what will happen hopefully nothing but if the psychosis is not gone yet I'll have to think seriously about whether to go back on or not. A low dose might not be so bad everyone is on 1 or 5mg these days. Oh and I like your geodone avatar

I decided to take myself off 30mg Abilify by going cold turkey without my pdoc's knowledge. The itching was unbearable!

x

That's super unsafe, you can actually become psychotic again because of the rapid withdrawl...it increases the dopamine receptors in th brain making you ultra susceptible.

To be honest my first reaction to this was to become pretty angry as I viewed it as being extremely patronising :/

Then it made me think and realise some things..

1) You probably had no idea that I've been on psychiatric medication, including various antipsychotics, for 22 years so I am fully aware of the dangers of coming off them 'cold turkey' and without medical supervision.

2) The fact that number 1 is the case really should make me less inclined to be so impulsive! Pity I'm so bull-headed at times

3) You are also possibly not aware that I am currently conducting doctoral research in to mental illness as part of a PhD, so I have quite a bit of insight.

4) It's really difficult to "read" someone's tone in a post!

Thanks for giving me a kick up the arse to realise that it's not all about me

x