Tiger2018 Posted March 19, 2018 Share Posted March 19, 2018 I just recently went from 2mg times 2 of risperidone to 5 days of 2mg once a day and now im on 2mg only abilify and im noticing symptoms. I am more agitated, restless, bad insomnia, feel clammy, sweaty and get hot and cold with temperature changes. I also want to just lay in bed all day. I am just saying the switch hasnt been easy. I am wondering if anyone has experinced these withdraw symptoms or the symptoms of adding or switching to Abilify. Tommorow I was told by my doctor to half the abilify. I take it once a day in the morning. Any help would be appreciated. I dont want to be so alone as I feel my mental illness has really isolated me. Please comment with advice and help below thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Discomfort Posted March 19, 2018 Share Posted March 19, 2018 I made the switch from 2 mg risperidone to 10 mg aripiprazole last year. The aripiprazole did make sleep difficult but that did wear off. Unfortunately the best thing you can do is try to ride it out and see if these side effects will wear off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notloki Posted March 19, 2018 Share Posted March 19, 2018 There is definitely a sweet spot for Abilify and Abilify needs to be introduced by slow titration and at a low dose to avoid some side effects. 2 mg risperidone is more like at least 10 mg Abilify. Getting on Abilify can be rough to do. Most seem to experience insomnia. It does go away for most, it did for me once I was on a stable dose and had finished titration. So you really have to hunker down and get through the titration. I took a benzo while I was titrating, that really smoothed over things. Bumped up the sleeping meds but I found Abilify insomnia hard to treat, even high doses did not yield good sleep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gearhead Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 Is your doctor taking you off both risperdal and Abilify, or increasing your dose of Abilify? I’m having trouble following you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonderful.Cheese Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 Abilify is definitely a different kind of med than risperidone IME. I think you will notice the difference between the two. IME I found risperidone to be mildly calming by a tiny bit and abilify to be activating at first. But I also started on a much higher dose of abilify. I think I started on 10 or 15 mg. But I was in a state hospital at the time. So they could monitor me closely. (This was 10 years ago) I now take 35 mg of abilify and 30 mg is the max dose recommended. (I have treatment resistant schizoaffective disorder bipolar type) I don't know how it affects me anymore but when I first was getting on it and the dose was being increased from 10-15 mg to 30 mg slowly, I was restless and pacing and anxious and had to take a med for sleep and anxiety, etc. Those start up side effects have long gone away. (I have a separate anxiety disorder so I still have anxiety, but that's a whole different story.) Anyway, keep in close touch with your Dr. 2 mg is a really low dose. But I don't know what you are taking it for so ymmv. And the ride up to a good dose of abilify is hard I do agree but can be worth it. But it could also be too that abilify is just not the right type of med for you. Only your Dr will figure that one out. I'm sorry you feel isolated. I do too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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