[Sunflower123]

Has anyone had experience with this as a side effect?

[Singer1984]

Yes,I found it made me sexually overactive. From 2005 to here... Doctors and governors,don't look at reasons why they look at cold hard facts. I'm trying to get myself together in 2017. I would try dance and meditating or crouching, it helps with mental issues. Take care.

[LonesomeTonight]

Originally Posted by Jennifer 1967

Has anyone had experience with this as a side effect?

Yes, I think this was a side effect for me. At first, I thought I was in a hypomanic state, which can cause irritability, but then realized the timing fit with when I went up in dose on Abilify. And that was only to 2 mg (I'd been taking half a pill). Stopped for a bit, had depression issues, and am now back to half a pill (I'm super sensitive to meds). What dose are you on? Maybe talk to your p-doc about decreasing it?

[still_crazy]

its possible. a doctor once told me that, contrary to what the psychiatrists might tell you, psych drugs = weird effects on a fairly regular basis. not always --terrible-- weird effects, just...lots of people have reactions that you won't find in the pdr or the official studies. happens.

i got irritability from seroquel. looking back, i think i was too sedated and had some weird, partially suppressed akathisia that made me an anger ball. i stopped the seroquel shortly into the trial, thank goodness.

my best guess would be that irritability might be more of an issue at lower doses. the d2 partial agonism of abilify can=(over)stimulation and what the 'experts' call 'activation.' There's also varying degrees of akathisia to consider. even the manufacturer's data (kind of suspect, for obvious reasons...) shows an unusually high rate of akathisia. my former psychiatrist told me that abilify is 'activating' at low doses and 'soothing' at higher doses. yes, she said 'soothing.' i guess high dose abilify is like a nice, tall glass of warm cocoa?

ive read elsewhere that abilify's 'activation' and the start up akathisia are kinda sorta like what you see with some antidepressant drugs. kinda makes sense, i guess (?). especially at low doses, and most definitely if you've got other psych drugs on board, i could see (as a non-expert, ocd-ish person who reads about this because...well...i can...) irritability as a result of some stimulation. throw additional drugs in the mix that play with different parts of the brain, mess with blood levels, etc., and the effect(s) could be more pronounced (wild *** guess).

anyway, i hope you get to feeling better. i had a doctor once who told me he used low(ish) doses of thorazine with abilify during the 1st couple weeks, to keep people calm and all. sounds like chemical cosh to me, but he said it worked. maybe a sedative, benzodiazepine, gabapentin, etc. for a little while? i mean, of course...talk to your doctor. im just throwing out suggestions. that's assuming you even want to stay on the stuff, of course.

good luck. :-)

[TicTacGo]

Exactly why I only used it for a week or so and then stopped. This inner agitation I couldn't shake.

[Sunflower123]

Originally Posted by LonesomeTonight

Yes, I think this was a side effect for me. At first, I thought I was in a hypomanic state, which can cause irritability, but then realized the timing fit with when I went up in dose on Abilify. And that was only to 2 mg (I'd been taking half a pill). Stopped for a bit, had depression issues, and am now back to half a pill (I'm super sensitive to meds). What dose are you on? Maybe talk to your p-doc about decreasing it?

I'm on 5 mg. I was going to ask him to increase it but I don't think I will now.