Abilify withdrawal

[kms122]

I have been diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, OCD, and ADHD. I have suffered from them since I was about 12. I'm 25 now, and recently felt some relief from a combination of 100mg of Zoloft and 5mg of Abilify. However, I gained 65 pounds in about 8 months. Also, I felt disinterested in things I used to do. I describe it as being "comfortably numb". So I have stopped the Abilify cold turkey. I googled this, and apparently this is not a good idea. I have now been suffering from severe anxiety, panic attacks, intrusive thoughts, sadness, depression, and disordered thinking. It's debilitating. I have stayed in my house and my room which are the only places where I feel slightly less anxious. At it's worst, I feel like I am being held underwater. It comes in waves. Anyway, has anyone else experienced this? I'm not sure what to do. Do I ride it out? I am talking to my new pdoc about this on Monday. I want to feel like myself again. The weight gain of course has contributed to my depression, which is the main reason I've come off of it.

[gizmo]

You need to taper off any psychiatric medication. When you regulate your brain through chemical intervention, and withdraw cold turkey from said chemicals, your brain is going to freak out quite a lot. And all of it bad. Not only will the symptoms you suppressed return, but you will get other symptoms from your brain trying to regulate the loss of the medication.

The best suggestion is to go back on the meds temporarily and either switch to a new medication, or plan a slow taper schedule.

And remember, just because your current med combo caused weight gain doesn't mean every med will.

[Antigone]

I gained 40 lbs in two months on Abilify and it contributed to my depression and also triggered the crap out of me with my PTSD. I undertsand the need to go off of it. I was on 5 mg and went to 2.5 then off. I went into a crushing depression, but I think that's because my doc put me on Tegretol which did not stabilize my mood, but rather put me into that depression, which is apparently a common side effect? Seemed rather silly to me. It's right there in the pharmaceutical information. So I've tapered off that with my docs schedule.

You should definitely have your pdoc manage titrating off a medication and possibly replacing it. It's never a good idea to just drop your medication. You can experience serious adverse effects, including withdrawals.

Good luck!

[mylo]

yeah, you should definitely talk to your doc before dropping a med. seeing as it's only 5 mg however it shouldn't be as hard to kick. still though, you should ask your doc for a strategy on tapering off...