Penny Century Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 hey my doctor put me on a low dose of abilify because my sleep is disregulated in the up for a week (with only 2-3 or no hours of sleep a night), mind racing manner. and because i have so many thoughts that i can't tell what my thoughts are, let alone sit and read a book. i know it's only been 2 days, but i'm so sedated that now reading is problematic because i can't stay awake, and as i'm on page 102/796 in a book i need to finish by tomorrow morning, this is a problem. is this something i'll get used to and it will go away? or is this the type of side effect that just is how it is? (i guess this answers my worry that it will agitate me, at least...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LunaRufina Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 I started to take it at night and it's much better. I do think it improves with time though. When are you taking it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penny Century Posted January 14, 2007 Author Share Posted January 14, 2007 I started to take it at night and it's much better. I do think it improves with time though. When are you taking it? night. he told me to take it at night. it's only been 2 nights now of taking it, and i know i need to be patient... but i'd prefer to be patient knowing that things will improve hopefully, yanno? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Elvis Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 FWIW, I had minimal cognitive side effects from Geodon. Abilify is just weird and I'm not entirely comfortable with how it's been handled by the drug company people. It's like somehow they got it approved before finding any useful indications. "Hey, look at this drug, it's a neuroleptic that doesn't do dopamine blockade!" "But what's it's good for?" "No, no, don't you get it? It's cool!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spanophile Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 I'm on Abilify at night to help me sleep too. I think it's odd because everwhere I look it says that Abilify actually is activating and not sedating! It works for me though with the sleep. I take 5mgs and when I'm really wacky I take 10 or 15mgs. It's not working enough on my hypomania though. I want to jump out of my skin, climb the walls and generally just run around and scream. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penny Century Posted January 15, 2007 Author Share Posted January 15, 2007 I'm on Abilify at night to help me sleep too. I think it's odd because everwhere I look it says that Abilify actually is activating and not sedating! It works for me though with the sleep. I take 5mgs and when I'm really wacky I take 10 or 15mgs. It's not working enough on my hypomania though. I want to jump out of my skin, climb the walls and generally just run around and scream. how is your daytime sedation? what about cognitive and weight side effects? (i'm super paranoid because i was on zyprexa 10 years ago and my blood sugar is *still* weird and type ii diabetes runs in the family, but my doctor said abilify is ok weight/blood sugar wise... but i always wonder "does that just mean we don't know it's not ok yet?" i mean i didn't find out zyprexa was bad until i'd been off of it for 6 years.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penny Century Posted January 15, 2007 Author Share Posted January 15, 2007 FWIW, I had minimal cognitive side effects from Geodon. as much as i love my brain and need it, i'm actually more worried about blood sugar... not that i know what geodon does in regards to that... Abilify is just weird and I'm not entirely comfortable with how it's been handled by the drug company people. It's like somehow they got it approved before finding any useful indications. "Hey, look at this drug, it's a neuroleptic that doesn't do dopamine blockade!" "But what's it's good for?" "No, no, don't you get it? It's cool!" my doctor says he uses abilfy in 4 other patients with issues like mine (basically overly anxious unsleeping ptsd type things) and that he's had good results. i've only once seen a pharma rep in his office, and he joined in when another patient and i started laughing at the reps claims that paxil was more effective than effexor, saying to the drug rep "hey, i trust my patients more than i will ever trust you." he's also once gone off about his dislike of drug reps. additionally, he said he based his use of abilify on his friend's (a head of a giant med school i won't name) successful use of it. so... i mean, for me i don't mind that it doesn't really fit into a category. actually he said "it's supposedly an atypical antipsychotic, pft" as part of our discussion. i don't need an AP really. nor do i necessarily need a mood stabilizer. i'm still not dx'd bp (and have only been dx'd bp by one doctor, and that doctor based his dx on a yes/no questionare, not on his observations of me). right now the idea is that the agitation and brain roar come from extreme anxiety and lack of sleep, and he felt that adding abilify would result in fewer side effects than raising my lyrica... i hope he's right. uh... i don't know if you actually asked for said explanation... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spanophile Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 I am BP II and while Abilify helps me sleep, it doesn't seem to do much else. I don't notice any cognitive effects and have yet to gain weight. If it causes weight gain you better believe I will gain weight. I tell my pdoc all the time that I don't care any more if I go nuts I'm sick of these drugs making me fat. I think I would rather be skinny and crazy than fat and sane. From what I read though Abilify does not cause the weight gain/diabetes like the other APs do. I don't like drug reps either - doctors should base what they give us on whether or not it actually works rather than the fact that the more prescriptions they write the better their dinners with the drug reps will be! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penny Century Posted January 17, 2007 Author Share Posted January 17, 2007 I don't like drug reps either - doctors should base what they give us on whether or not it actually works rather than the fact that the more prescriptions they write the better their dinners with the drug reps will be! hehe, when i asked him if he was getting free coffee mugs for writing this rx he was like "are you kidding? coffee mugs? more like gourmet dinners and golfing, maybe a trip to cancun..." i think he was kidding about the trip (i hope) and he was kidding about all of it as he doesn't really see reps (his free sample selection is fairly non existent) but it's just sick what reps do. That money could be spent on research. That money could just not be spent and they could lower the cost of meds. rant. rave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimpmaster Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 I know its not ideal, but you have to give the drug some time to stabilise in your system. It could take 3 or 4 weeks. Its possible that abilify isnt for you, but you have to give it time. It does tend to be stimulating for most people - eventually you may get this effect too. Definitely talk with your dr about the short term fatigue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spanophile Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 My doctor gave me over 4 weeks of Abilify. I'm happy about that - it's expensive!! I've only seen an Eli Lilly rep in the house and he acted as if he owned the place and had free reign to go anywhere he wanted. Very scary! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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