Jeanned'Arc Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 Sorry to barge in with this as my first post.I'm bipolar. I take lithium which works well but recently, after a long time of trying to find the right cocktail of drugs, my psychiatrist added in aripiprazole which is actually working wonders for my mood. The downside is I seem to be having a strange reaction to it and I was wondering if this is something that is commonly experienced by others.Basically, my mind is moving fast and my mood is creative. Mentally, I'm highly energetic as in, almost a mild and safe hypomania which feels good. I know this is stable compared to how I have been and no psychotic symptoms. However, my body is utterly exhausted. It's as if I'm gifted with boundless energy but stuck in the body of somebody who can barely lift their limbs.I wake up at 6am each morning unable to get back to sleep despite being so tired because my mind is in a whirl.My muscles feel stiff and I cannot focus enough on anything long enough because of this push/pull force of the energy/tiredness.Does this sound familiar to anyone? I haven't spoken to my psychiatrist about it yet. I've only been taking it for 2-3 weeks and I really want this to work. It's by far the best thing I've tried since I was put on lithium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 I think my fatigue may be due to Abilify, but I don't have boundless mental energy. Both mental and physical energy are extremely low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt07 Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 Perhaps the physical exhaustion is due to lack of sleep or lack of quality sleep? Abilify can certainly keep your mind active even in the absence of sleep. The insomnia and early awakening usually goes away in a few months or less, but you might need a sleep aid to get you to that point. I take Remeron (a very sedating AD, probably contraindicated in BP) which allows me to get 8-9 hours of sleep. I do relate to a lot of what you wrote because my mind can keep going and going and going and my body just feels like crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saintalto Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 Abilfy gave me energy, but it was channeled into my nerves. I always felt shaky and anxious when I was on abilify, and that constant heightened anxiety made my body very tired. I used to lay down a lot during the day and just stare at the ceiling because I felt tired, but I couldn't nap. That nervous energy never ebbed, regardless of anything I did, so I was taken off it for this reason. I don't remember if it affected my nighttime sleep. I was on quetiapine at the same time when I was on abilify, so I think I was able to sleep okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissaw72 Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 It's as if I'm gifted with boundless energy but stuck in the body of somebody who can barely lift their limbs.The one thing that jumped out at me after I read this ^^ was that it felt very similar when I was on ritalin. I felt like I would jump out of my skin at any moment, but I was just sitting there and could hardly move.I didn't have the symptoms you have now though with Abilify. I would give it some more time; it took 7 weeks almost to the day that I saw a big difference when taking abilify. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanned'Arc Posted August 30, 2015 Author Share Posted August 30, 2015 It's as if I'm gifted with boundless energy but stuck in the body of somebody who can barely lift their limbs.The one thing that jumped out at me after I read this ^^ was that it felt very similar when I was on ritalin. I felt like I would jump out of my skin at any moment, but I was just sitting there and could hardly move.Yes, that's exactly it. I'm wary of calling it restlessness because I'm not actually moving more than usual - it's more of an inner restlessness. I have just increased the dosage a week ago so I'm hoping it will settle down before I have to increase the dosage again. I'm extremely sensitive to APs and had this sensation magnified x1000 with haloperidol and rispirodone (couldn't stop moving, drooling, rigid body) and quetiapine is just a disaster so I'm happy to persevere with this for the moment.At least my mood is good, which is more than what the others did for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gearhead Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 I couldn't make it past 5 mgs a day-I was crawling out of my skin. I was exhausted but my brain would not shut up. It felt as if my my tendons and ligaments wanted to run a marathon but my muscles were all out to lunch. It also gave me akathisia. My doctor got worried and I went off it before anything more dramatic could happen, because I've had med-induced mania before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanned'Arc Posted August 31, 2015 Author Share Posted August 31, 2015 (edited) I spoke to a duty psychiatrist who listened to me for a long time. She thinks it's the spike in my lithium levels (I've recently gone from .5 to 1.0 suddenly) causing the weakness and heaviness (i.e. the undesirable symptoms) rather than the aripiprazole. Which makes sense because the other week when I was experiencing psychotic symptoms I forgot to drink and became dehydrated, had a fever, stomach pain and felt very unwell indeed - not dissimilar to this except my mood was low. I also have a tremor. So she has suggested I lower the lithium for now until I get my next level (annoyingly not until tomorrow because of the bank holiday). I'm also increasing my fluid intake as I'm not drinking enough. Oh, and I went to bed at 21.30 last night to make sure I got enough sleep. I managed to stay in bed until 6.30... not bad.So I'm open-minded. I'll see what my level is tomorrow. If it's OK I'll put lithium back up and put aripiprazole down and see what happens. And speak to my psychiatrist, obviously.Sometimes it feels like ten steps forward, twenty steps back. Edited August 31, 2015 by Jeanned'Arc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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