Abilify....Anyone on it or know about it??

[NuttyBuddy]

I started Abilify for psychosis after a hospital stay. Its been 5 days, I am getting up at 5am and up all night. Now I know this is activating, but does this drug even work?

[cckids]

My son has been on abilify for around 2 months now. He was doing the up and down during the night at first also. What time do you take it? At first he was taking it in the AM when he was doing all the up and downs. Now he's taking it at 3-5 pm and it's working better as far as sleeping. He struggled terribly with mania, even with the depakot and risperdal, this has proven much better. He is also on depakote still. Keep in mind it is a 26 hour half-life so it does take a little while to get up to an effective level in your body.

[crudpuppy]

I take 15mg abilify at night before bed. I get up through out the night at about 4 hour intervals but end up goin back to sleep after being up for 10 minutes or so. I also take lamictal and lexapro at night which may be a cause too. But I've been on it for over 6 months...its very agrivating...but the meds combo seems to work most times.

[MaryEvelyn]

My son is on Ablify 15mg and Lexapro 7.5 mg he takes them both in the AM. We give him melitonin at night to help him sleep. He has Autism not Bipolar but this has helped with his tantrums.

[Pamster]

I take abilify and so does my son. I know that for managing my BP II it has been a godsend. I feel so much more level with it then I did before I tried it and was only taking SSRI's. It has taken care of the racing thoughts I used to endure, I know I might need to take something for the rest of my life and if it's Abilify I won't complain because I feel has really has helped me.

[Me BP?]

I'm newly diagnosed Bipolar I and have been taking 15mg Abilify for over a week now. I don't know how long it takes to work but right now it's not doing anything. :eek: My minds racing like crazy, can't sleep and very frustrated with the whole thing. :(

I wish you luck with it and I hope it works for you.

[Pamster]

I felt a little better at 15 mg but I went up to 30 and that is where I have been for over a year successfully managing my BP symptoms. Maybe you need a little higher of a dose to have it work better, that is if you notice a little improvement, if not then it might not be working for you. I think it was around 20 mg I noticed it got easier to think straighter. And 30 did it for me totally, so that the racing is gone completely and I can focus properly and hold a decent conversation. :)

[Me BP?]

That's the worse part......the racing. I've only been on it 2 weeks tomorrow. I was supposed to see my pdoc last Wednesday but he had a death in the family and cancelled. I think it's this Thursday but I forgot. He did mention he would start at 15 and take it from there. But I know it's soon.

[Pamster]

Give it a chance and try to go up to 20, see if it doesn't get better around 20 mg. I know that was when I started to really notice a difference and my counselor still felt I could go up to 30 because I was still racing a bit when I spoke, but thankfully NOT in my mind as much.

I really feel for you on this BJ, it's horrible to not be able to think straight, I remember one night when I had gone a day without the abilify because I didn't get it refilled in time and had to wait until the next day-money related don't ask :p-and I could not even say a silent prayer without things jumbling all around and things cutting off thoughts I really wanted to finish.

I think that has to be the hardest symptom to deal with, and one that I do NOT miss in the least. If you donn't notice anything around 20 mg it might not work for you, I know that 30 mg is where I've been happily for over a year and I don't miss a pill because I know it is working. I wish you the best of luck with things, I know it's not easy, but in a way getting the dx was kind of comforting to have a reason things went on like that in my head, and I had trouble having conversations sometimes. :p

[NuttyBuddy]

Hi,

I just saw this brought up again. I gave it the college try, 1 month, and bagged it, I could not stand the racing, not thoughts, I was just on fast forward all day, and up at 5am, and I am a recovering AA and I need peace, this was just too much, I switched to Seroquel, we will see, this apparently is the only thing that has worked in the line of A/P's for the last year.

[Pamster]

Hi NuttyBuddy,

For some people abilify doesn't work well, I know they talk about it making you drowsy possibly but I never felt that when I was walking up the dosing scale. Glad Seroquel is helping you so far. Weight gain was a concern with that for my autsitic son when we had him on it and he seemed to develop a ravinous appetite. Best of luck with it. I know medications affect people differently and if it's the only thing to help then stick with it. :)

[Me BP?]

Right now I'm not really sure if it's working or not. I've only been on 15mg two weeks and I know it takes time. I just keep having this VROOM VROOM in my head and my mind seems so muddled. I've barely slept for 3 days but hmmmm that could be because I have poison ivy too and I'm taking steriods for that. Today has been a dark gloomy day and that sure doesn't help my mood any. :( I see my pdoc tomorrow and I'll see what he says.

NuttyBuddy I'm glad that you've found the right combo. I hope it continues to work for you. :)

[butterfly]

I have been on abilify 25 (pm)and lexipro 40 (am) for over a year. It is Great--but I am more prone to depression. The mania is very, very rare now. But, I know how to lift the depression (from therapy) and it usually works. Got my bag of tricks.:) I was also taking seroquel but went off of it about 6 months ago.

[DiMarie]

I recently attended a Mental Health and family support conference for NAMI Stae in Pa.

The Doctor that spoke was chief of staff at Norristown Hospital, Mia Marcovici M.D.

In speaking to consumers and the families she did state that with Bi-polar that just Abilify will not work, taht there needs to be other medications used to help life. To creat a level where one understands a better cognitive reaction, feels like normals. This means often I would guess introducing the medications one at a time to make sure if there is psychosis, or other reactions one knows which may be causing.

My daughters bi-polar flared recenlty and she was treated with Effexor, which I took without reactions. However, she has bad reactions to SSRi's and psychosis. When she was removed from it she did better. The clonopin and trazadone seem to help with mood swings or manic's.
The Clonopin is making her sleep more though.

At the conference, there was a representative from Abilfy there. I picked up a pen, insert to alerts on the med, and listened as folks either told them it worked great, or they had problems. His consenses was that, yes it can be very helpful for many, but for others they have problems.

ABILIFY (aripiprazole) 5-10-15-20-30 mg tablets

The trials they state were for 4 and 6 weeks...not long term. The advise doctors to monitor the patient for benefits of longer mainatince use...there were no trials in more then 6 weeks!

Dosage and administration-
Schizophernia
The reccomended starting and target dose for ABILFY is 10 or 15 mg/day adminsitration once a day schedule without regard to meals. ABILFY ahs been systematically evaluated and shown to be effective in dose range 15 - 30 % mg/day, when admisnistered as the tablet formulation however, doses higher than 10-15 mg/day, the lowest doses in the trial were not more effective than 10-15 mg/day. Dosage increases should not be made before two weeks.

Bipolar disorder:
In clinical trials, the starting dose was 30 day/mg based on assessment of tolerability. Aprox 15% of patients ahd their dose reduced to 15%. The safety doses above 30 mg/day has not been evaluated in clinical trials.

One warning is Hyperglycemia... My daughter did have problems on Seraquel and zyprexa with this problem big time. HEr sugar was up to 480! She is not taking ABILFY....

Another caustion was Hypotension...perhaps related to the adrenic receptors antagonism.These were observes as a drop of 30 mmHg in systolic blood pressure when changeing from supine to standing postion.

Some cognitive warnings and Body Temperature regualtion, ability to reduce the bodies core temperature. eg- exersizing or in extreme heat.

Looks like clinical trials for adverse effects were at 180 days for 5235 patients and 1 year for 1558 patients.
1523 Abilfy 849 Placebo

Nervoous system
Agitiation- 24 vs 24
Anxiety 20 vs 18
Insomnia 20 vs 15
Somnolence 12 vs 8
Akathisia 12 vs 5
Lightheaed 11 vs 8
Extrapramidal Syn 6 vs 4
Tremor 4 vs 3
Increased salvation 3 vs 1
Blurred vision 3 vs 1

Digestive
Nausea 16 vs 12
Dyspepsia 15 vs 13
Vomiting 11 vs 6
Constipation 11 vs 7
Body as a whole
Headache 31 vs 26
Asthenia 8 vs 7
Accidential injury 5 vs 4
Peripheral Edema 2 vs 1

Cardio vascular
Hypertension 2 vs 1

There were no indications in use with other medications, there were no studies to say it is safe for nursing, there indications of some problems with pregnancy. On test mice and rabbits!!!
One was in birth weight, and in females delayed vaginal developement.

That the risk of using ABILFIY should be weighed during the pregnancy when the benefit outweighs the risk to the fetus.
Hope you feel better soon.
Dianne

[Pamster]

Thank you for posting all this, I am one of the ones it's working for but I have been taking wellbutrin and elavil for a lot longer and had those in my system when I got started on abilify. Now my son only takes abilify but I am guessing the lamictal and topamax he takes also interact with the drug and help keep his moods more even.

Again thanks for posting all that, I am sure it was a lot to type and it was eye opening. I definitely do feel it's working for me but I didn't start noticing its benefits until about 15-20 mg's a day. However I don't know if I can continue taking it though if it's not been tested for long term use, that bothers me...:(

[DiMarie]

pamster,
The test for long term use that were followed look like for adverse reactions. The short term test groups were short term 4-6 week. So for the good points it is short test frame, the year long advers is what you should look at.

There should be some more long term uses test I hope, for the promising or propblems one would have.

Onething for sure for the most update information, call the pharm co. incformation line to talk to reps of any of your concerns.

I hope taht good results are with you,
Dianne

[Persevering]

Our dau takes this (she's adopted) and it has been VERY helpful FOR her. At first it upset her stomach and she had to take something with it to help with that.

[Pamster]

pamster,
The test for long term use that were followed look like for adverse reactions. The short term test groups were short term 4-6 week. So for the good points it is short test frame, the year long advers is what you should look at.

There should be some more long term uses test I hope, for the promising or propblems one would have.

Onething for sure for the most update information, call the pharm co. incformation line to talk to reps of any of your concerns.

I hope that good results are with you,
Dianne

I haven't had any adverse effects with it but I worry about taking it long term, it didn't seem like the info you posted had anything on longer term usage. So just judging by the short term use and the fact longer term use can increase the risk for that movement disorder I am somewhat leery about it. Where did you get all that info? I would like to find out more about its long term effects, but if there aren't studies for it then there's nothing to find out. :o

[DiMarie]

pamster,
I got mine in a package with a pen advertising it at a conference.
It is probably the insert that come with the packet of pills.
Maybe their web site has more information.

I remember once talking with my attorney about several of his patients that had a nonspecific seizure disorder. Can't think of the word they use when there is no physical reason, like a no-epilipsey....Dang, it will come to me later.
No reason could be found, but they were all patients of a pain mangement doc with a Dr in Neuorlogy and psychiritry. He did use high doses of neurontin...So it was thought, off the record, no medical diagx, to be the high dose, of neurontin that was in common.
Di

[potatobug]

hi-

I have been taking abilify for more than three years now.I had started it with topamax and remeron,now I take 20 mgs(doc just upped it-10 morning 10 eve)It has been the one medicine that has worked for me and been constant all this time, though I have had several mixed and depressive episodes over the last four years.( I had my daughter in 2004, went through PPD, discovered I have hypothyroidism...etc...).The abilify seems to level out my mood especially during the two doses I take during the day.I can't take a mood stabilizer at this time( I am currently 8 months pregnant)and have recently been eased off celexa(which brought on a whole new set of problems).Thus it seems only the abilify is helping me at this time.I also take 125 mgs of seroquel which is supposed to act as a mood stabilizer but for me is essentially a sleeping pill and does nothing more, but working in conjunction with abilify maybe this does have an antidepressive affect.I was in the hospital for a week-I just got out last monday-for anxiety and depression.Though my medication was not changed, I started taking the abilify in the morning rather than at night and it seemed to make a small difference.Since I am pregnant, the medicine is in a precarious state of "almost working",and my mood is very unstable, but my doctors seem so afraid of what may happen with the baby(I too worry about the meds and the affect on my baby, but I feel I need something to help)that they are acting too slowly and are being ultra conservative.

Anyway that is my experience with abilify-so sorry for the length of my post!

Patty