Mental Health Combination help

[Vrachox]

I am currently on 150mg effexor,10mg abilify,4mg klonopin,36mg concerta.

I am struggling with lack of motivation and energy also anhedonia, i have chronic pain for years.
I am going to my doctor im few days who listens to my advices so what to change,,i am contemplating switching from effexor to amitriptiline or duloxetine,,also concerta to 54 mg and abilify cut in half(5mg).
Anybody has any advices,,tnx

 

[Jerry Atrick]

I am currently on 150mg effexor,10mg abilify,4mg klonopin,36mg concerta.

I am struggling with lack of motivation and energy also anhedonia, i have chronic pain for years.
I am going to my doctor im few days who listens to my advices so what to change,,i am contemplating switching from effexor to amitriptiline or duloxetine,,also concerta to 54 mg and abilify cut in half(5mg).
Anybody has any advices,,tnx

Hello there and welcome to Bluelight!

Please remember a couple of things when asking this type of advice. First and foremost, none of us here are doctors and therefore can only provide subjective anecdotal information that may or may not work for you. Second, the side effects of psych meds affect each person differently, so once again the subjective anecdotal information may not even apply to you in the same way it applies to someone else.

The only medications you mentioned that I have experience with are Abilify and Duloxetine. Do you mind sharing why you are prescribed Abilify? Do you have bipolar or schizophrenia? The reason I ask is because according to my psychiatrist and a google search, the lowest therapeutic antipsychotic dose of Abilify is 10-15mg. Anything lower than that and it mainly just works as an antidepressant. As far as I know, the only reason Abilify even exists in 2mg and 5mg pills is to titrate up to 10-15mg when one first begins taking this med.

As for the Duloxetine, I was on the max dose of 150mg for several years and it seemed to help in conjunction with Abilify (my dose of Abilify has been 30mg, the max, for over 10 years). The last time I went to the psych ward they took me off Duloxetine and put me on a mood stabilizer instead and I've been on that for a year now.

Maybe others with experience in taking the medications you mentioned can provide their own experiences. Please be wary of the ones who make broad sweeping generalizations like "none of them work" or "they are all poison" or " they all have terrible side effects." Like I stated previously, we are all different and these meds affect each of us differently. So broad sweeping generalizations are pretty useless around here.

 

[bingey]

Im on a high dose of antipsychotics and struggled with low energy , now they added methylphenidate and that seemed to even things out nicely. So perhaps upping your concerta dosage will do the trick.

 

[Vrachox]

Hello there and welcome to Bluelight!

Please remember a couple of things when asking this type of advice. First and foremost, none of us here are doctors and therefore can only provide subjective anecdotal information that may or may not work for you. Second, the side effects of psych meds affect each person differently, so once again the subjective anecdotal information may not even apply to you in the same way it applies to someone else.

The only medications you mentioned that I have experience with are Abilify and Duloxetine. Do you mind sharing why you are prescribed Abilify? Do you have bipolar or schizophrenia? The reason I ask is because according to my psychiatrist and a google search, the lowest therapeutic antipsychotic dose of Abilify is 10-15mg. Anything lower than that and it mainly just works as an antidepressant. As far as I know, the only reason Abilify even exists in 2mg and 5mg pills is to titrate up to 10-15mg when one first begins taking this med.

As for the Duloxetine, I was on the max dose of 150mg for several years and it seemed to help in conjunction with Abilify (my dose of Abilify has been 30mg, the max, for over 10 years). The last time I went to the psych ward they took me off Duloxetine and put me on a mood stabilizer instead and I've been on that for a year now.

Maybe others with experience in taking the medications you mentioned can provide their own experiences. Please be wary of the ones who make broad sweeping generalizations like "none of them work" or "they are all poison" or " they all have terrible side effects." Like I stated previously, we are all different and these meds affect each of us differently. So broad sweeping generalizations are pretty useless around here

Tnx for response i am not and never was psychotic,,abilify was prescribed alongside effexor for stubborn depression.
But effexor doesnt work anymore i want another antidepressant

 

[Jerry Atrick]

Tnx for response i am not and never was psychotic,,abilify was prescribed alongside effexor for stubborn depression.
But effexor doesnt work anymore i want another antidepressant

If you've never been psychotic, then 10 mg of Abilify may be your ceiling as opposed to it being my floor.

I never had lack of motivation or anhedonia from 30 mg of Abilify although I had all that and worse from Risperidone injections. But like I said previously, we all have different reactions so I'm not sure if Abilify is or isn't the culprit here.

Whatever the case may be, you are doing the right thing by communicating with your doctor to find something that works better for you. In my opinion, doing so is preferable to just continuing taking something that can potentially make things worse.

 

[Vrachox]

Tnx for response.
My next combination will be.
Tianeptin + concerta + abilify + klonopin.
I am not experienced with tianeptin but i tried every ssri and snri that exists with minimal help