PingWire Posted October 19, 2018 Share Posted October 19, 2018 I've taken Abilify for almost 10 years. I was originally put on it for anxiety, which was rather unwise. I havn't felt good from doing exercise since being on it. However, It did seem to help with OCD. My OCD used to center around cleanliness, now I don't care much. Now my OCD involves intrusive, repetitive thoughts. I am on 10mg Abilify 300mg Luvox, 50 mg Lamictal, 500mg Depakote, and 50mg hydroxyzine as needed. 5 months ago my Abilify does was increased from 5mg to 10mg. Everything was great for a month or 2, not anymore. I've been told that the intrusive, repetitive thoughts are part of OCD and not schizophrenia. However, I'm wondering if I have schizophrenia anyway since the thoughts are related to my daily activities. Has anyone heard of intrusive thoughts being linked to schizophrenia? If so, would a different antipsychotic be more effective? To complicate things, I am a slow metabolizer. Geodon knocked me out for 18 hours! A prior doctor put me on perphenazine after that because he found an article showing the same problem in someone else, and success with perphenazine. I found an article that stated that perphenazine is metabolized by three enzymes while Geodon is metabolized by one. Unfortunately I don't have those articles now. The downside to perphenazine is that it made me depressed at high doses. I tried risperdal, but It made me anxious. I'm willing to try anything again as long as I'm not asleep for 18 hours. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyRedhead Posted October 19, 2018 Share Posted October 19, 2018 40 minutes ago, PingWire said: Any ideas? If you feel comfortable doing it, it might be helpful to share your diagnosis....I know you mentioned OCD, but have you been diagnosed with anything else? Besides the Abilify that you're currently on, you said you have tried Geodon, perphenazine, and Risperdal,......Have you tried any other antipsychotics? Maybe you could ask your doc about possibly increasing the Abilify?....I have OCD (among other things), and I take 15mg Abilify. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PingWire Posted October 19, 2018 Author Share Posted October 19, 2018 I also have social anxiety disorder. It's not as bad as the OCD though. Other times it the SA has been worse. I tried 15mg Abilify but it didn't help with the thoughts. It might have helped for a week at most. I recall feeling insensitive to those close to me, not good. To complicate things, I'm taking one college course (I'm sticking with it) and my pdoc wants me off Abilify completely before starting a different AP. I might have to find another Pdoc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyRedhead Posted October 19, 2018 Share Posted October 19, 2018 (edited) 26 minutes ago, PingWire said: To complicate things, I'm taking one college course (I'm sticking with it) and my pdoc wants me off Abilify completely before starting a different AP. I might have to find another Pdoc. If in doubt about your pdoc, it might be a good idea to get a second opinion.... Edited October 19, 2018 by CrazyRedhead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceberg Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 7 hours ago, PingWire said: I also have social anxiety disorder. It's not as bad as the OCD though. Other times it the SA has been worse. I tried 15mg Abilify but it didn't help with the thoughts. It might have helped for a week at most. I recall feeling insensitive to those close to me, not good. To complicate things, I'm taking one college course (I'm sticking with it) and my pdoc wants me off Abilify completely before starting a different AP. I might have to find another Pdoc. Well a second opinion is always an option if you are uncomfortable- however that doesn't seem unreasonable, especially when using drugs off label. It might be best to see if you can experiment first with a one at a time system cuz once you start piling up it gets way more complicated. I agree with @CrazyRedhead tho that you could probably try a bit of a higher dose if the side effects are manageable. Are you more concerned with the anxiety or OCD? Seroquel might be a next option because it can hit both. Obviously I can't tell you if you have schizophrenia, but If worried it wouldn't hurt to revisit with the doc. Intrusive thoughts happen with mental illnesses so don't scare yourself by assuming the worst. You said perphenazine was bad at high doses....exactly how high? And did it work at all at lower doses? Because maybe if it did you could try another drug from the same family Does the Luvox help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
de414 Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 I think you could probably go higher on the dosage of abilify. I didn't really feel like it was effective for me until I got up to about 20mg and I have had issues with intrusive thoughts, repetitive thinking, etc etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notloki Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 Abilify tends to have a sweet spot, a very specific dose where it works. Above or below that and it does not work, Perhaps going to 15 mg would help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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