[Novembernight]

Hi,

I started Abilify three weeks ago and the first week I experienced that it had a good effect on my positive symptoms. I reported it to my psychiatrist who was happy to hear that and suggested that I stayed on 5 mg Abilify. But the last 2-3 days things are getting worse. I started to be more focused on "strange" people and cars, e.g. cars with brands seem to bother me and it sometimes leads to speculations about conspiracy - but I don't feel dragged down by them. However, the thoughts/feelings remind me about my full-blown psychosis 8 months ago. When my psychiatrist asked how the feeling would rate on a scale from 1-10 (10: most frightening) after one week with Abilify, I responded with 3-4, but now it seems more like 5-6. I assume that my psychiatrist would like to let me increase in dosage. According to my psychiatrist, I was under-medicated when I was on 1 mg of Risperidone.

My concerns are: Should I let me increase in dosage to avoid a relapse or is it better to tackle the problems with cognitive effort? can Abilify induce psychosis since it is a partial agonist? My psychiatrist says no. I definitely feel more stressed and restless on the med, and is that a bad thing? The more stress, the more psychosis I assume. Should I go back to Risperidone where I felt more "down"/sluggish but which gave me cognitive problems (e.g. in terms of IQ).

I hope my questions make sense. Any responses would be appreciated. Thanks.

[junkDNA]

I get transient paranoid delusions even tho I'm on meds. They usually go away a lot quicker than when I wasn't medicated.

[Sometimes psychotic]

5mg is not a lot of abilify-----it's likely that your dose is too low, normally you need at least 10mg to be effective, max dose is like 30mg. If you're on meds why not use an effective dose instead of cognitive effort, it gets tiring to hear voices all the time if a higher does can prevent that, but it depends on side effects. Abilify can't induce psychosis but it's rapid withdrawal can.

[still_crazy]

I take 30mgs/Abilify. I know, that's the usual maximum...or, at least, that's the biggest pill produced.

I've been on lower doses. In my own experience, plus based on what my shrinks have told me, lower doses=somewhat more stimulating; higher doses=more effective for severe problems (Schizophrenia+Schizoaffective, Bipolar I, psychotic depression, etc.).

Back in the day, 15mgs/day was the target and starting dose for Abilify. A doctor told me that 10mgs is about as low as --I-- could go, when and if dosage reduction becomes a viable option.

Some of the research on Abilify and the other "atypicals" showed improvements in cognitive function during long term treatment at normal doses (5mgs is a bit low, btw). Of course, most (all?) of that was industry-sponsored, so...take it with a grain of salt.

I'm not any kinda MD, much less your prescriber, but...I personally think you should try at least 10mgs, since that's often regarded as the low end for full on antipsychotic effects. The uneasy feeling you have might get better at 10-15mgs. If you get really bad nervous tension and such (akathisia), be sure to tell your prescriber ASAP.

I think you already replied to my post on my supplement protocol. I'm no expert, but that b-vitamins+c+e+other antioxidants has made my "real" treatments more tolerable.

For a while there, vitamin E looked promising for tardive dyskinesia. Then, some studies came out that showed 0 effect. From what I've read, they crunched the numbers and it turns out that TD that has developed fairly recently responds (sometimes...) to vitamin E, but long standing TD...not so much. Based on this, some experts think that vitamin E could be used with antipsychotic/tranquilizer/neuroleptic treatment to prevent the onset of TD. That's one reason I take so much vitamin E. I have chosen to use natural form vitamin E w/mixed tocopherols. I take 1,000 IU daily, which is one big gel cap.

There's one very small study (really just a sample of a handful of patients) which showed that adding vitamin C to vitamin E helps TD. I now take 20 grams of C per day, in the form of 1 gram time release tablets, 10 in the AM and 10 in the PM. Some small studies have shown an improvement in some symptoms of psychotic disorders (paranoia, for instance) with high dose C and some other antioxidants.

Anyway...I do think you should try a full dose of 1 antipsychotic/tranquilizer/neuroleptic you can tolerate. Personally, I'd take Abilify over Risperdal, at least long term. Zyprexa is apparently a bit more effective, overall, than Abilify or Risperdal in large studies, so that might be something to consider, too, although zyprexa can make you obese and/or diabetic.

Hope this helps.

[greentires4me]

I'm on 15mg of abilify my pdoc went slow on me she started with 2mg then worked her way up to 15mg just that when I was on 2mg I was really really sick I was puking every day and she was denying I was doing it but I saw my doctor regularly and he could see the side effects and wrote letter after letter stating I needed different meds well I don't really puke anyone so far the voices have been good. But I like Olzanapine better she just likes this med because I gained like 40lbs off Olzanapine.

[Novembernight]

Thanks for feedback and good info, all of you. I will try to go up to 10 mg and see how it works. I agree that it is better to live without too many symptoms. Then I will see what side effects can follow with an increase in dosage, hopefully not too many.