Seroquel vs Abilify?

Over the lat few months I have dropped my doseof Seroquel from 100mg at night to 50 mg. The wheels have been falling off for a while. I am moving house at the end of next week. Since the dose of Klonolpin (totally gone) and Seroquel has dropped 50mcg the symptoms of illness have returned. To what degree the stress of moving is bringing to the mix in unclear. Maybe after I have shifted into the new place my levels of anxiety will drop.

Today I saw my P'doc. My uncontrollable neck spasms are back at full force..... to the extent that he needs to move my head in order to break the spasms. My body often responds in abnormal grunts to questions that he poses as the emotions do not wish to be seen but that's the only way they can respond. Or other voices jump out from my mouth. Today I had to hid in the bathroom after I left the p'doc today. I couldn't drive home for ages as the spasms still had me in their grip. I tried breathing many times. it didnt help. I knew that I was very unwell when I visited the chemist. Out of body stuff.

The reason I wanted to get off Seroquel because my ability to drive a car was suffering due to the tiredness that Seroquel brings with it. My P'doc has never mentioned Abilify before in regards to my treatment. But he is suggesting it now.

Does anybody know what it is like to switch to Abilify? I have never taken this med before.

Maybe its the move is part of the reason the wheels are coming off? I've never been on abilify but I do notice a change within a day or two when I don't take the seroquel. Luckily I've been good about it and haven't had to deal with that for a while. Hang in there, hopefully these changes will be positive in the end!

Klonopin is a muscle relaxer. That could be part of why your spasms have returned.

I take both Seroquel and a low dose of Abilify. Abilify works exceptionally well for my depression, and I've found it to be very activating. However, if I'm not depressed and I take Abilify, then it's too stimulating and I become more anxious, agitated, and irritable.

Abilify is certainly likely to be much less sedating than Seroquel... at lower doses especially it tends to be more activating.

Personally for me, it actually made me quite tired but that's not the norm. I think I just tend to be quite sensitive to meds.

A common side effect of Abilify however is akathisia i.e. a feeling of restlessness. It can range from mildly irritating to unbearable, although there are medications that can ease it if it crops up.

I'd say Abilify is definitely worth a shot though, it's certainly almost the opposite of Seroquel in many ways!

Thanks all for the input. Given that I seem to be anxiety prone then it seems like Abilify and my body would not play nicely together. I was going to see if I could get Seroquel out of my system on a permanent basis eventually. Now I am not so sure.

If Klonolpin/paxam was just masking the spasms leaves me a little confused. Do I start taking Paxam again so that these spasms go away? Then my driving will turn ugly again.
I dont think my pdoc will mind what I do. I must say that it is disapointing to know that things are back to the same levels of spasms. My p'doc thought I was getting better.

I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but I found that as I went up in my dose of Seroquel, the drowsiness lessened. Seroquel has worked great for anxiety, but I had to get to a dose that didn't make me just fall asleep. It seems like anything less than 100 mg knocked me out, but over 100mg and it was only slightly sedating and I was able to function much better.

That is true, from my experience as well as hearing it from others on this forum. Somehow the histamine blocker is very sedating at low doses.. I used 25 mg. for many years for sleep. I also was on 150 mg and wasn't as sedated.

I hope you find a solution possum! I've had spasms and twitching as well and finally got off of seroquel, but am increasing the diazepam because of stiffness and spasms. Let us know how you are doing and what solution you find please.

That does sound odd BlessedRhiannon I was sleeping better on 100mg of Seroquel than at 50. Ours bodies do act differently at times.

Were the spasms and twitching a result of coming off the Seroquel disparassaint or were they always there? My P'doc is unlikely to increase my benzo's. He would rather I increased the Seroquel or try Abilify (which I am not leaning towards due to it's effect).

I have tried many things for the spasms. I have come to the conclusion that my body goes down this track rather than feel emotions. Somatic? I am not real crazy about it. I am just crazy..........

Hi possum,
I had some spasms for years, but it did seem worse since coming off seroquel, and I'm stiff. I've read about one side effect of seroquel is increased muscle tone. I thought that wouldn't be a bad side effect, but I think my muscles changed and now don't relax well. I had a therapist tell me, well, as long as your twitching isn't severely disfiguring just keep taking your med

I'm feeling better on an antidepressant but the stiffness isn't going away..... wondering if it will ever get better. Tried increasing diazepam but that doesn't work either and I'm dependent on it just to keep withdrawal away. So I don't recommend it really but it does have a muscle relaxing agent in it.

I believe what they say about the benefits of benzos wear off very quickly. Maybe you are having spasms from unreleased emotions, but that isn't crazy, just sounds possible. Stress makes many people have twitches. I hope you are sleeping well, that helps tremendously. Ok this got long sorry.
I hope you get feeling better and find what works.

Thanks for responding to my latest post. Spasms are painful and very unpleasant. I doubt they knew what they were talking about. I suppose in the long term if things don't settle I will have to choose between no medication and spasms verses medication and no spasms.

Good luck to the both of us.

Hi
I just started 2mg Abilify just over a week ago. I have been on Seroquel 50-150mg only at night for a number of years. Cannot take Seroquel during the day because I get sluggish and want to lay down. Also take 25mg Zoloft and gabapentin. I take the Abilify first thing in the morning and so far all I can say is....Wow, what a difference. I'm having such good energy going on. More importantly, I have better focus and follow-through. I swear, there's been a problem with lack of dopamine in my brain for years and no medicine has ever helped enough. The only side effect I have so far is some insomnia. The Seroquel has been very good at getting a full nights sleep but I'm not sleeping as well now, waking up quite early in fact. But the good energy makes up for that. Also I'm having reduced anxiety and compulsive hair pulling. So far so good with the Abilify.

Have you tried Procyclidine for your muscle spasms?

I used to get muscle rigidity, where my muscles would seize up painfully both on Amisulpride & Abilify.... procyclidine took care of them really well. I'm not sure if that's similar to what you are talking about?

I have never heard of that medication loial. Thanks for letting me know.

The spasms occur when I am not on any medication at all but maybe Procyclindine might help me. I will look it up.

Sorry mysticmadness I missed this post. Do you think that it is the Abilify that is reducing your levels of anxiety or the Gabapentin? I would be interested to know this to know a way forward.

I take 5mg abilify now for 2 weeks. so far it's great..helps balance me out. All meds can have issues but abilify is supposed to be less for weight gain and sugar problems..although I've ready all of them can cause sugar issues so it's good to get your blood sugar checked while your taking any antipsychotic because they can all do that..and if you have blood sugar issues or prediabetes..well that can mess up how your meds work and how your brain functions
I'm going to get mine checked in 2 months but so far so good..takes about 3 weeks to fully work and dosage depends on your condition..mine is for compulsive skin picking..it works

That does give me hope. Since being on Seroquel I have been diagnosed with diabetes and am keeping an eye on my blood sugar. I would be very happy to lessen my angst levels by not reverting back to Benzo's or more Seroquel. Now that I come to think of it, my blood sugar levels have come down since I have dropped my Seroquel from 100mg to 50mg. Good thinking.