nicolee Posted May 4, 2018 Share Posted May 4, 2018 (edited) Hello All! I saw the pdoc yesterday because I am definitely hypo, and knew that I needed a med adjustment to prevent full blown mania. She increased my abilify yesterday from 5 mg to 10 mg. I took the new 10 mg dose this morning. Can any of you give me some insight on how long it usually takes for the new dose to "kick in"? I know that everyone's experience is different...I'm looking for anecdotal advice. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help! Edited May 4, 2018 by MiaB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiaB Posted May 4, 2018 Share Posted May 4, 2018 Hi nicolee I'm moving this to the antipsychotic forum, since you are specifically asking about abilify. Mia (mod) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt07 Posted May 4, 2018 Share Posted May 4, 2018 Be careful with Abilify. It has been known to push people upwards. I think in the long run it will help even out mood, but in the beginning it can really give you a kick. I am not bipolar, but when Abilify started to work for me, it put me in a state which could be described as hypomania. Of course, I loved it and it certainly pulled me out of my depression. But now it mostly keeps me from falling into depression. The "bliss" went away for me after about 10 weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Marshall Posted May 4, 2018 Share Posted May 4, 2018 (edited) It takes long time for me to calm down on Abilify, last time was about 3 months. Hope it will go faster for you. I could function normally after a week, but full recovery took longer. Edited May 4, 2018 by Dr. Marshall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gearhead Posted May 5, 2018 Share Posted May 5, 2018 I would also say be careful about using Abilify for mania. It can be very activating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HydroCat Posted May 5, 2018 Share Posted May 5, 2018 Not bipolar myself, but taking Abilify as augmentation. I found it more activating at lower doses, going higher is more “stabilizing”. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonderful.Cheese Posted May 6, 2018 Share Posted May 6, 2018 (edited) @nicolee I was in an extremely deep depression and 30 mg of abilify finally pulled me out of it. This was 10 years ago. However, I did not find abilify to prove useful in preventing mania for me IME and, later on, while IP, they added a high dose of seroquel to squash the full blown mania that I eventually started to experience. I have remained on both 30 mg of abilify and anywhere from 600-800 mg of seroquel (ir or xr, currently xr) to control mood and psychosis. I have schizoaffective disorder bipolar type. (I also eventually had to have invega at 6-12 mg added to control additional psychosis that was not being controlled by the other two AAP’s) Edited May 6, 2018 by Wonderful.Cheese Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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