Aripiprazole (Abilify)

[Middleway]

Well, I suffer from severe depression, ocd, anxiety, social phobia. I have reached the utter end of the road and been on every psych drug imaginable, the only real sucess I had was with the old MAOI Nardil but it was a nightmare for side effects.
I have always refused Neuroleptics but having finally found a decent shrink that I trust after ten years of searching (thank god) I trust him enough to follow his advice and have started on 2.5mg at night.

The first day I felt like shit but since then...wow. I am much more settled and generally calm and my crippling social phobia has eased right off.

However my hips hurt and my legs ache.
Anyone elxe have any experiences to share?

 

[misk]

DO NOT TAKE THIS DRUG. My doctor put me on this 3 weeks ago for sleep.

it helped me the first week. But the other 2 weeks and up until now are living hell.

It has gave me restless leg syndrome and thee SHARPEST pain in my legs and back.

I asked the doctor when it would stop and she told me its permanent.

Then she proceded to put me on some shitty medication that is suppose to help my RLS and pain but it hasnt done SHIT for pain RLS.

my advice is to stay away from it.

Once it starts it never stops.

thank you SO much for posting this!
i have RLS and my psychiatrist is trying me on all anti-psycotics one by one and they have all made my RLS worse due to decreased dopamine production/release amongst other things.
im also developing ticks and twitches, i was hoping this drug would not have the same outcome as from what the OP said it does not have the same effect on dopamine as other anti psychs.

ill make sure to tell my DR when he brings it up.

has anyone else experienced RLS or akathisia?

 

[Middleway]

I refused neuroleptics for ages, finally I relented and tried Seraquel which gave me auditory hallucinations when I had NEVER had any psychotic symptoms before.

Out of desperation I agreed to try abilify, I lasted a bit over a week. I have un underlying OCD trait or tic (lets just call it a staring compulsion) that is so socially inappropriate that I can't work, I can't socialise I can't do anything. It only ever happens when I am really unwell ie. panic attacks/major depression.

Abilify brought it out and pounded me with it like being pounded with a hammer. Only 2.5mg at night did this. I havn't taken it for 3 weeks and it STILL hasn't gone away.
I have never contemplated suicide whilst feeling so basically well ie non depressed but this is just a constant battle to fight this impulse that effects every part of my life.

So now I am bombing myself up on high doses of clonazepam, clonadine, and lowered my antidepressants as being depressed might quell the anxiety as it is the anxiety about doing it that re-enforces the compulsion/tic.

This is horrible, I am so scared it has made me permanently like this.
I knew I should have trusted me instincts.
FUCK ABILIFY

 

[Mr Blonde]

^ Have you spoken to the doctor seriously about this? It could be tardive dyskinesia, which although often permanent can be controlled.

 

[Ashlie]

I had some sciatic issues prior to starting it and it most def worsened it - I also have back ache legs ache and sharp spasm pains all over my back now as well

 

[S.M.F.G]

horrible medication in my experience, typical zombie-like anti-psychotic effect. That said my problem isn't bi-polar disorder or schizo. It can be really good for some...

I had the same problems when perscribed this also, may work for some if the condition is right. But the doctor i was seeing @ the time was just playing guessing games in hindsight, threw all sorts of shit @ me that just made me worse.
And abilify was one of those.

 

[ShaggyFin]

I used to have to take Ceroquell at night and in the morning, and Abilfy in the morning, because I was diagnosed manic (for having sporadically evolving religious beliefs, as I was studying stuff from all over the world and was 15. And I don't got to sleep easily, I usually have to "fall" asleep). I had a prescription of 300 mg of Ceroquell once in the morning once at night, and 15mg abilify in the morning and a few mg of Benztropine if I ever got leg pains, which I did from Abilify.

When I took abilify, I would say I was "Abilified" and I felt drunk honestly. But like giddy drunk. I was young and stupid and a friend asked to try one, so I gave him one. He said he went blind for a few hours (so he said) and everything was grey, but it felt like ecstasy... But he never wanted to take it again.

Every one in a while I would get the negative effect of leg cramps, I'm not sure if it was the Ceroquell or Abilify, but it happened after I added Abilify. I took Dramadone ONE time as a kid and the same thing happened. It's like my legs can NOT get comfortable and my knees hurt so bad I have to bang them together to ignore the pain.

Since then I have seen commericals saying that Abilfy is supposed to be added for anti-depressant, not anti-sporadic behavior. And it's called "Aripiperazole"... Does this mean it is related to BZP??!??!?!?!??

 

[lovepsychadelics]

BZP as in benzylpiperazine or BZ the antichloronergic deliriant? Restless leg syndrome or muscular cramps? There is a possibility it's the anti psychotics but low levels of potassium, magnesium, co-morbidities such as poor circulation or renal/hepatic impairment may be contributing factors. Abilify is a great antipsychotic and just so you know HEAPS of medications have a piperazine ring in them so they are technically distant relatives. By heaps I mean it's a basic core chemical structure for drugs like Sildenafil (viagra), Hydroxyzine (antihistamine), Amoxapine (antidepressant) and yes abilify does have a piperazine ring in it's chemical structure,. THIS DOES NOT MEAN SHIT. Some people will have 0 issues with this drug and some will have issues it's just down to the individual. Sildenafil is the generic name of Viagra it has a piperazine ring in it but the generic name does not seem to include this so stress less there are heaps of piperazine derivatives in everyday medications and industrial application.

Side effects affect most people to some extent regardless of the medication in question. If your worried about the leg issue try not taking you abilify and see if that helps. Also diet may reduce the side effects. Do some research and find out alternative medications or psychosocial intervention strategies that may help remove or reduce your medication dose/reliance. When informed see your GP and lay it on him. They are usually good if you front up armed with knowledge and say "Doc this is not working for me and these are the reasons I feel this is not working for me". Just because something may have a piperazine ring does not make it dodgy or a bad medication as some other medications are made up from far more toxic chemical rings (eg fluro-acetate/chlorine/etc). Abilify is not something that should be a first line of treatment for depression however in my opinion. Abilify should be used in treatment resistant depression (when more typical antidepressants have been trialed and failed) and psychotic depression imo. BTW dextroamphetamine can be prescribed in very rare cases for depression.

 

[KitCat]

I was in a hospital once and they started two fellow patients on abilify... oh dear, insanity ensued. Apparently it gave them the worst akasthisia ever and they wanted to claw chunks out of their legs and punch anyone in sight.

 

[lovepsychadelics]

Some medications do make patients more unwell. To be honest it's often difficult to gage the possible side effects until it's to late I've seen someone collapse with a heart attack from clozapine... These are usually rare however every person is different.

 

[lemmon]

I'm upping up this thread, the psychiatric system is annoying as shit. Abilify is damn annoying and so useless… Just to say I missed an appointment and got sentence to one month inside a little shitty place they would call a schizophrenic ward. Two of the people there were sentenced to 10 months there. The little hammer got slammed over absolutely nothing, and yes the psychiatrist and socials workers are directly stealing money from the patient by this concept. The place was filled with fake patients that would be allowed to leave during daytime. What about your experience with Abilify?