sapmich Posted December 4, 2010 Share Posted December 4, 2010 I have been taking 150mg/day effexor xr for depression for ten months. It has helped some, but I feel myself sinking back into depression, and friends are seeing signs of psychosis. New pdoc just started me on Abilify 5 mg ten days ago, leaving the effexor dosage intact so he would only be changing one thing at a time. I have noticed some minor improvements, and don't have any major side effects, but I am wondering how long it might be before I can tell if I am getting any benefits. How long did others wait before going from 5 mg to 10 mg? I would like to hear from anyone who has added Abilify as a booster to an AD, or anyone who wants to share their experiences on Abilify for depression, anxiety, or psychosis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notfred Posted December 4, 2010 Share Posted December 4, 2010 Abilify has a long half life so it takes about 20 days to reach steady state after a dose change. You really cannot evaluate a new dose until you are at least at steady state. nf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graduation day Posted December 4, 2010 Share Posted December 4, 2010 Back when I started Abilify, I did 5 mg steps one month at a time. Made sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mj1127 Posted December 5, 2010 Share Posted December 5, 2010 No more than one change a month, and my pdoc has never had me go up more than 2.5mg at a time. The first time, it was 1mg at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sapmich Posted December 5, 2010 Author Share Posted December 5, 2010 The conservative approach makes sense to me. How long until people started to notice a difference with this drug? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sapmich Posted December 8, 2010 Author Share Posted December 8, 2010 Psychotic symptoms have not gone away completely. Pdoc is talking about lowering dosage of effexor. Does this make sense? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saveyoursanity Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 Psychotic symptoms have not gone away completely. Pdoc is talking about lowering dosage of effexor. Does this make sense? It depends. Are you depressed? Effexor at 150mgs SHOULD only be doing norepinephrine reuptake... I don't see why he'd lower the Effexor dosage instead of raising the Abilify. Then again IANAD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lasso Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 Psychotic symptoms have not gone away completely. Pdoc is talking about lowering dosage of effexor. Does this make sense? It depends. Are you depressed? Effexor at 150mgs SHOULD only be doing norepinephrine reuptake... I don't see why he'd lower the Effexor dosage instead of raising the Abilify. Then again IANAD. No. At 150 mg venlafaxine does mostly sri, and some nri. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sapmich Posted December 9, 2010 Author Share Posted December 9, 2010 Yes, depressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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