Abilify 20mg starter dose?

[jennyj]

Went to pdoc on monday after a bad reaction to Trileptol, took me from hypomanic to severely depressed w/thoughts of suicide.

So she decided to try me out on Abilify this week, 20 mg at night. I am so damn tired, I wake up probable 6 times a night, which is more than what it was and I cry alot.

My Ativan as needed, seems to be needed everyday to keep me from freaking out on people.

So how long does it take to adjust to abilify? Is this a huge starter dose? I dont know if I havent given it a long enough chance to get over the adjustment period or if I should just quit.

Anyone else with experiences on high starter doses? or just what ur experiences have been could b helpful

thanks

[newbie9999]

When i was on abilify, i started at 5mg. 20mg seems like a lot to start with....maybe ask pdoc about it.

[OreoKitty]

I started on 15mg and had some weird effects that went away quickly. Then bumped right up to 30mg no problem.

Oreo

[crazynotstupid]

I dunno, maybe I'll be corrected here, but I think with the AAPs you can tend to start pretty high. Especially they'll do this when there's some, like mad problem and they have to bring you down quick (i.e., I was all manic once and got hit up with 10mg zyprexa, half the max dose).

Personally I'm not terribly concerned about the dose. I'm a bit concerned about why you're no abilify--is it just for the depression? Abilify is only approved to treat depression in conjunction with an antidepressant. No AD, no relief.

Oh yeah--

I wake up probable 6 times a night, which is more than what it was

Abilify can also cause insomnia. Generally it's not known for drowsiness except at higher doses--I wasn't drowsy til I hit 30mg, which is the highest recommended dosage.

[confused]

When I first started abilify I had to take it in the morning or I couldn't sleep. Now, I'm able to take it at night, but I take different meds.