Sleep problems with aripiprazole

[Southern Discomfort]

I just started taking aripiprazole at 10mg last night. I found it very hard to sleep. I spent hours trying, on several occasions I was just about to fall unconscious only to be dragged out of it. No one bothered to tell me when I should take the damn things so I had to turn to the internet. So I'm thinking of giving it a go in the morning instead, missing tonight's obviously. What's the experience of others? Do you find it to loses the activating effects by night time? I'm guessing it's one of those 'unique to everyone' bullshit things, because medication, fuck you.

I'm supposed to be taking out the risperidone at some point if the aripiprazole works. I'm a bit concerned about my ability to sleep afterwards as I had trouble before I was on it. I never use to have problems but now it's not so simple and shutting my eyes. 

Also, has anyone found the insomnia effects go after a few weeks?

 

Thanks, guys.

[Eilatan]

I take 10mg aripiprazole in the MORNING.  As directed by my pysch. He even kept reiterating it was a morning med NOT a nighttime one.  

Works for me anyway x 

[Southern Discomfort]

On 2017-4-1 at 2:14 PM, Eilatan said:

I take 10mg aripiprazole in the MORNING.  As directed by my pysch. He even kept reiterating it was a morning med NOT a nighttime one.  

Works for me anyway x 

I wish all doctors had the sense to tell their patients when it take medicines like that. It was all very complicated. At first I thought I would have to wait a few days or weeks before I got the prescription and get a blood test first, then he gave the prescription to me, then I needed to ask someone if that meant I could just start it. It just was not clear enough. I need clear instructions.

Thanks for your input.

Edited May 24, 2017 by Southern Discomfort

[Eilatan]

1 hour ago, Southern Discomfort said:

I wish all doctors had the sense to tell their patients when it take medicines like that. It was all very complicated. At first I thought I would have to wait a few days or weeks before I got the prescription and get a blood test first, then he gave the prescription to me, then I needed to ask someone if that meant I come just start it. It just was not clear enough. I need clear instructions.

Thanks for your input.

No problems!  Glad to have helped. Yeah my pysch is good. Although he's moved on and I'm getting a new one soon so I hope they are as savvy! 

Ps aripiprazole really works for me. Hope it works out for you too.  

X 

Edited April 1, 2017 by Eilatan

[rowan77]

When I was on Aripiprazole I took it in the morning as directed by pdoc. If I ever took it in the evening I would not be able to sleep

[jt07]

Because of it's incredibly long half-life taking it in the morning is only going to be marginally helpful. Unfortunately, the insomnia side effect takes forever to wear off (took a year or more for me), but I had another med that offset the insomnia - mirtazapine which is a very sedating antidepressant. To be honest, I personally never minded the insomnia side effect because my depression is such that I sleep too much as it is.

It's an activating med for a lot of people, no question about it. I've often said that if it's antidepressant abilities occurred immediately after taking a tablet then it would be listed as a controlled substance. It's like speed to me.

[melissaw72]

At first I was taking it at night because it made me so tired.  A couple years later I realized that it was activating, so I switched it to taking it in the morning.

[Southern Discomfort]

Okay! Now I don't know what to believe. Urgh, I don't want to not be able to sleep and I don't want to have to take yet another medication. Hopefully it'll just be a temporary side effect that wears off in a few days or weeks like the hunger with risperidone did. That would be great.

I'm going to stay positive though and hope if I take it in the morning everything will be okay.

[notloki]

At first I had trouble sleeping, even taking it in the AM. Heroic doses of benzos would not induce sleep. It took about 2 weeks for this to settle down and then I went back to sleeping normally.

[melissaw72]

3 hours ago, Southern Discomfort said:

Okay! Now I don't know what to believe. Urgh, I don't want to not be able to sleep and I don't want to have to take yet another medication. Hopefully it'll just be a temporary side effect that wears off in a few days or weeks like the hunger with risperidone did. That would be great.

I'm going to stay positive though and hope if I take it in the morning everything will be okay.

I think it is one of those things where each person is different ... and YMMV.

[jt07]

I'll give you something positive to chew on. If it kicks in for you and if it affects you as it did me, you will feel so good that insomnia won't appear to you to be as big of a deal and you will find ways to deal with it even if it does mean adding another med to help you sleep. When aripiprazole kicked in for me, it was pure bliss.

[jt07]

Well, it only kicked in when I got to 10 mg, and my doctor did a slow titration so for me it was 8 weeks. Since the OP is starting at 10 mg, I expect it will be considerably less for him. I've heard that it works in a week for some people. This is definitely dependent on the person.

[Southern Discomfort]

Well after 24 hours of not taking it I was able to have a pretty good night's sleep. Hoping that 12 hours will be fine too! Just taken another dose this morning.

 

7 hours ago, Dphxa said:

How long does it usually take to kick in?

 

I'll let you know if my tics lessen!

[melissaw72]

8 hours ago, Dphxa said:

How long does it usually take to kick in?

It took 7 weeks to the day for me to finally feel a difference.

 

@Southern Discomfort  I hope things start working out for you and that you find a med combo that works, without the insomnia.  I am glad you were able to get some sleep!

Edited April 2, 2017 by melissaw72

[Flash]

19 hours ago, Dphxa said:

How long does it usually take to kick in?

I didn't get any effect until I hit 15 mg, so 3 months at least. I got akathisia at 10 mg, which 1 mg of cogentin controlled really well, and I didn't need it anymore after a month or two. It contained my psychosis very well, but its effect on my depression was less remarkable, perhaps even nonexistent. I lost 66 pounds on it and never had any bloodwork issues. I took it in the morning. I don't think it would have mattered, though, as I didn't find it activating or sedating. 

It made my hair fall out, unfortunately, and I just couldn't deal with it anymore. It's a pretty rare side effect AFAIK, although I have a friend whose daughter had the same issue. But she was able to go back on it at a lower dose (5 mg, I think) without suffering any hair loss. My hair didn't stop falling out until about 2 months after I had completely discontinued it, perhaps even a month later. My dermatologist warned me that it might not grow back, and his warning seems to be the way things are working.

It's a bit better than it was at its worst point, but not back to where it was before. I just let it grow out ever since, though. I have this big wavy puff of hair now that probably scares children and small woodland creatures. But it surprisingly doesn't really get any more messed up even when I walk all the way across downtown with the wind blowing it around. And because it's so wavy and crazy, it hides the hair loss reasonably well. and before long, birds might be making nests in it. LOL. 

AFAIK, Abilify takes longer to act than other APs. It's considered by some to be an evolution over the other atypicals. I'm not nearly as experienced with meds as other people here, however, so don't take my word for it. And I don't do the kind of research some people here do. I just keep track of the meds that didn't work or I couldn't tolerate and put trust in my pdoc to select the next ones.

Edited April 2, 2017 by Flash

[Southern Discomfort]

I had a hard time last night. Quite broken sleep. I have no idea how much sleep I got but the night did seem to last quite long. Had to go to the toilet twice, I'm on another medication to stop me having to go at night, never had to go twice though so that was nice. 

I don't know. Just have to keep with it and hope it goes away. I must say though that this is probably one of the better side effects to get from some I've seen listed here and on the PIL so I'll consider myself somewhat lucky.

[jt07]

I'm glad you're sticking with it SD. As I mentioned above, if it affects you in any way like it affected me, being worth it would be an understatement. 

[Iceberg]

For me 20 and above was actually sedating...15 and down was activating....all of the above caused terrible akathisia 

[mikl_pls]

Most people almost invariably need a sedating antidepressant, Z-drug, benzo, etc. to help them sleep at first. Trazodone, mirtazapine, doxepin, Ambien, Restoril, you name it... Sometimes people even take low doses of Seroquel with Abilify, which seems kind of silly to me.

[Iceberg]

You might even be able to get away with Benadryl....it's no ambien but it works for some 

[Southern Discomfort]

1 hour ago, mikl_pls said:

Most people almost invariably need a sedating antidepressant, Z-drug, benzo, etc. to help them sleep at first. Trazodone, mirtazapine, doxepin, Ambien, Restoril, you name it... Sometimes people even take low doses of Seroquel with Abilify, which seems kind of silly to me.

 

56 minutes ago, Iceberg said:

You might even be able to get away with Benadryl....it's no ambien but it works for some 

 

I hate that I'm temporarily on 4 medications at the moment, I couldn't deal with having more. If aripiprazole isn't something I can get along with then I'll just cut it out and go back to just having some days where I find it hard to stop ticcing. After being fairly acquainted with the 'start low, go slow' rule the idea of being on 2/3 of the maximum dose of an antipsychotic is a little intimidating.

[Iceberg]

The max dose of abilify? 

[jt07]

I'm on the full max dose of Abilify but that's because I also take Tegretol which cuts the amount of Abilify in the blood by more than fifty percent. But still I do take the max dose of an antipsychotic. It doesn't bother me because it really helps unlike so many meds that I've taken in the past. However, it appears that you are taking Abilify for tics and not depression or other mood disorder. I can't tell you how it works for tics, but if you have any depression you might find yourself feeling better than you've only dreamed possible. I literally could be a spokesperson for this med.

[Iceberg]

Yeah idk the top for tics but for BP it's 30 and my doc goes up to 40 

[mikl_pls]

5 hours ago, Southern Discomfort said:

 

 

I hate that I'm temporarily on 4 medications at the moment, I couldn't deal with having more. If aripiprazole isn't something I can get along with then I'll just cut it out and go back to just having some days where I find it hard to stop ticcing. After being fairly acquainted with the 'start low, go slow' rule the idea of being on 2/3 of the maximum dose of an antipsychotic is a little intimidating.

 

You could always go with haloperidol or pimozide... lol

[melissaw72]

I go between 15-45 mg Abilify.  Right now I am on 15 mg.

[dancesintherain]

deleting the not relevant posted in the wrong post post 

Edited April 4, 2017 by dancesintherain

[jt07]

7 minutes ago, dancesintherain said:

they don't mke caffeine free coke zero.

it's also probbly good newsm butu right now I think it's bad news,

Huh? You ok, dances?

[dancesintherain]

so sorry....writing at 1:00 in the morning is never a good plan (though 2:30 probably not much better)

this was supposed to go in the minor complaints thread and aiso supposed to have a second line that made sense which I can concoct in the morning

thanks for checking jt.

[mikl_pls]

9 hours ago, melissaw72 said:

I go between 15-45 mg Abilify.  Right now I am on 15 mg.

45 mg Abilify ?

[melissaw72]

2 minutes ago, mikl_pls said:

45 mg Abilify ?

I know ... I didn't know much about it back then, and he raised it to 45 mg.  I was on it for awhile at that dose, then went back to 30 mg for awhile.  Knowing what I know now, it is a really high dose.  Over the max if IIRC.

[Iceberg]

Jesus...and u tolerated that ok?! 

[notloki]

19 hours ago, mikl_pls said:

Most people almost invariably need a sedating antidepressant, Z-drug, benzo, etc. to help them sleep at first. Trazodone, mirtazapine, doxepin, Ambien, Restoril, you name it... Sometimes people even take low doses of Seroquel with Abilify, which seems kind of silly to me.

 

Agreed.

[melissaw72]

2 hours ago, Iceberg said:

Jesus...and u tolerated that ok?! 

Yes, I did.  Idk why he had me on such a high dose.

[Southern Discomfort]

On 04/04/2017 at 3:29 AM, mikl_pls said:

You could always go with haloperidol or pimozide... lol

Short answer: No. 

Long answer: Noooooooooo.

 

On 04/04/2017 at 2:55 AM, Iceberg said:

Yeah idk the top for tics but for BP it's 30 and my doc goes up to 40 

 

The PIL just lists it as 30 mg. I don't know the target dose for adults with tics and Tourette's because every damn websites lists only for children and adolescents! Bastards, it affects adults too! Kids who have Tourette's go up to become adults with Tourette's.

 

 

I have actually have good - or the normal amount of sleep again. Had it for the last two days. I'm really happy about that. Hopefully if I do go up to 20 mg it'll remain the same! Yeah, so far so good!

I do tend to get a tired around 3 PM though.

[Southern Discomfort]

On 04/04/2017 at 1:21 AM, jt07 said:

if you have any depression you might find yourself feeling better than you've only dreamed possible.

 

What I might ask is to reduce or even remove the lamotrigine if I got to 20 mg of aripiprazole. Risperidone and lamotrigine at these levels fully controls my depression, that might drop once risperidone is removed since they work with each other. But it will be interesting to see if aripiprazole is capable of taking over lamotrigine's job and then I'll just be on aripiprazole and tamsulosin hydrochloride! Which would be great. 

I am dealing with five mental conditions I don't think I need a whole cocktail of medicines to deal with them all. I can deal with the anxiety by myself now mostly I think and AAP helps in terms of Asperger's with not wanting to be around other people.

[jt07]

I should have said that, for depression, Abilify works best with an antidepressant. I know you don't want to take a whole bunch of meds, but I don't consider 2 or 3 meds to be a big cocktail (ha! Look at mine.). An SSRI would probably help you both with depression and also maybe with tics.

[Flash]

6 hours ago, jt07 said:

I should have said that, for depression, Abilify works best with an antidepressant. I know you don't want to take a whole bunch of meds, but I don't consider 2 or 3 meds to be a big cocktail (ha! Look at mine.). An SSRI would probably help you both with depression and also maybe with tics.

That combo worked really well for me (15 mg abilify plus 300 mg doxepin). I didn't even need a regular mood stabilizer, as the abilify filled that role, and I had Zyprexa for any pop-up mania, mixed, or psychosis. It's a great med, if you can tolerate it. I think many people jettison it too quickly, either because they're not seeing results or they're having akathisia. The latter can be treated with cogentin or propranolol, which you'll probably only need for a while. The former has a simple solution: increase the dose. It was JT who encouraged me to to do that, and I told his suggestion to my pdoc, who was ready to quit it. I'm thankful to him for that. I got a whole year of stability as a result, which was a great gift. So thanks, JT!

[Southern Discomfort]

16 hours ago, jt07 said:

I should have said that, for depression, Abilify works best with an antidepressant. I know you don't want to take a whole bunch of meds, but I don't consider 2 or 3 meds to be a big cocktail (ha! Look at mine.). An SSRI would probably help you both with depression and also maybe with tics.

Dunno. I feel like it would be a waste to give up lamotrigine for trying different antidepressants. I get no side effects at all on lamotrigine so I don't see the point of giving it up if I still need it. Hopefully aripiprazole will help with the days were tics are just relentless because that's the whole reason behind this move. Most of the time they're okay, present but I can tolerate them very well, I'm also very confident with them around other people. As strange as it may sound after having Tourette's for two years I guess I would sort of miss it if they went, it's just another part of me now.

[RedPandaPop]

I started Abilify 2 mg in Sept after taking a year hiatus from anti depressants and after moving states. At first it was awesome...I was getting stuff done, my anxiety was non existent. Then as my dose got bumped up to 5 mg I became lethargic, moody, gained weight, anxiety was back and....could not sleep. At all. I'd be up for 72 hrs at a time, and when I did sleep I had awful dreams. 

Recently, I started splitting them in half, taking one half in the morning and the other at night. That seemed to do the trick for awhile, but then I was right back to not being able to sleep. So I went back down to just taking half of the 5 mg pill in the morning and then THAT seemed to start working. After a few days into that I was pulling all nighters again every other night while having tons of anxiety. 

I can't even imagine taking a higher dose at this point. 

Its also caused some other side effects that have caused me to not want to take it at all, but that's for another topic. 

So, for me, I've had sleep problems with it regardless of when I take it. I've actually become full on nocturnal because of it. I'm at a tipping point with it, and to be perfectly honest, I haven't taken it in 4 days in order to see if another side effect would start to subside (which it has so far, so I am almost certain it is the Abilify). 

I wish I felt the way I did when I first started on it. 

[Southern Discomfort]

On 23/04/2017 at 4:45 AM, RedPandaPop said:

At first it was awesome...I was getting stuff done, my anxiety was non existent.

Yeah, I've been a lot more productive that I ordinarily am. I can't say my anxiety has gone but I'm at a lower level of anxiety at the moment because I've changed my situation a little.

 

I'm wondering what it's going to be like at 20 mg, which is my target dose. I'd like it to actually help with the tics by that dose. That would be nice. I don't actually get any side effects at the moment at 10. A friend is at 25 mg and he seems to be coping just fine, I hope I'm the same.at 20.

[dtac]

The insomnia was the primary reason I had to get off Abilify. I couldn't sleep at all if my dose was above 2mg, and that level didn't really do enough to kill my depression. There were no sedative drugs that could induce sleep for more than 45-60min. At 2mg, I could get maybe 5-6h of sleep a night, but it wasn't very deep sleep.

[CrazyWhiskers]

I never had any problems with sleeping and abilify. Mind you I take nozinan and that knocks me out every time guaranteed.  I only had those really bad headaches... I couldn't make it past two weeks. So sad because it was a perfect drug for my bipolar. 

[Southern Discomfort]

I don't know if risperidone is counter acting the aripiprazole's activating effects. I don't plan to be on risperidone for much longer and I'm a little worried about find out what it's done for me.