pompeius Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 Hey everyone, I've been switching off of Abilify and onto lithium over the past few weeks. On Sunday, I took my last dose of Abilify (I titrated down from 10mg to 1.5 mg). On Tuesday, it felt like I got hit by a truck. I've been so depressed that I've spent most of the last few days sleeping. I can hardly drag myself out of bed, and when I do I get winded after only a few hours. I talked to my psychiatrist and she said this was somewhat normal and that it should be (slowly) getting better. I was wondering if anyone else has had this? Does it go away? Is there anything I can do? Mostly, I just want to know what other people's experiences have been. I'm in my last month of graduate school, so this is even less awesome than it would otherwise be. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt07 Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 It is entirely reasonable to get rebound depression going off Abilify. Could you ask your pdoc to keep you on the Abilify for the next month or so until you get out of grad school? Also, apparently, Abilify has been working for you. Why did your pdoc decide to switch you over to lithium? I went off Abilify recently because I didn't like the appetite increase that I got on it, and I thought I was getting some weird psychological effects from it. After being totally off of it for about a week, I started to get depressed also. So now I'm back on it, and not likely to go off again anytime soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llama44 Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 Yes , yes , and yes. I am off of abilify from 30mg down to 15mg for a while then off. I am so freaking depressed. I spend most of my days sleeping and, or in bed as well. I think it's been at least two months for me and it hasn't gotten any better. Talk to your pdoc about what jt said. That's some great advice there. Talk to your pdoc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pompeius Posted March 31, 2012 Author Share Posted March 31, 2012 Thanks for the replies! My pdoc wanted to switch me over because I haven't been able to sleep on the Abilify, even at a low dose. I was also still getting breakthrough psychotic symptoms-- mostly paranoia and mild hallucinations-- so it wasn't even really doing its job. I finally hit the point where the anxiety was just getting unbearable. I even started getting panic attacks again, which I haven't had in a long while. So far, the Lithium has been much better at keeping me grounded and the anxiety has significantly decreased. I can sleep again, too (although, right now I could definitely use a little less of this whole "sleep" business), without having to take Ativan every night. I talked with her on Friday and she said that we should try upping the Lithium and that I should feel a gradual lessening of the depression over the next few days. I'll be sure to check in with he if I don't get any better though, especially since it sounds like the rebound depression can stick around. FWIW, I'm currently at 600 mg Lithium and am on 300 mg Lamictal. Again, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llama44 Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 No problem. I hope you get it sorted out and the lithium works at erasing a great deal of your depression. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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