Thinking of Stopping Abilify 2 mg

[lisa2712]

I’m on an Abilify 2mg trial (again) and I’m on Day 5. It feels like this medicine doesn’t agree with me. Like I want to cry sometimes, because I feel crappy on this, and I feel sad at times. I have social anxiety, and this raises my anxiety, to where I don’t want to go out around people. Tomorrow I’m starting an art class, and I was scared thinking about it and being around people. 

I’m thinking of stopping this med, because I don’t want to have a tough time tomorrow at art class, I’d like to feel kind of comfortable going out again, and I don’t like this feeling the Atypical Antipsychotics give me, where I want to sob because it feels like this med doesn’t agree with me. And yes, normally I do have lots of trouble in art class and trouble getting out around people due to social anxiety. But I’m used to my normal anxiety discomfort I get around other people, but I’m not used to this weird feeling I get from Abilify and Vraylar. 

The same thing happened on my Vraylar  trial. I took it for 1 week and I couldn’t leave the house because my Social anxiety increased. When I finally did get out to a restaurant, I was nervous, and feeling weird.

 

[argh]

abilify, vraylar and rexulti are dopamine agonists, not antagonists. that means that the MOA purportedly provides some levels of activation of the dopamine receptors. I.E instead of dopamine causing 100% of the D2 receptor, abilify would block the actual dopamine and activate it up to 70%.

Perhaps you need a full antagonist. I've seen risperdal mentioned as quite the potent one. It allegedly is the most tightly bound of the AAP to the dopamine receptors vs typicals which have tight D2 binding as the rule.

Is there a reason why you aren't going with 200mg of lamotrigine? While some respond at lower doses, myself included, the generally accepted dosage for mood disorders is 200mg, unless your sig is old i see 125mg.

cymbalta is an SNRI, so it has some effects on noradrenaline. That could be causing some of your panic/activation too. Would a pure SSRI like luvox which is FDA approved for anxiety possibly work better?

Edited July 16, 2019 by argh

[lisa2712]

10 minutes ago, argh said:

abilify, vraylar and rexulti are dopamine agonists, not antagonists. that means that the MOA purportedly provides some levels of activation of the dopamine receptors. I.E instead of dopamine causing 100% of the D2 receptor, abilify would block the actual dopamine and activate it up to 70%.

Perhaps you need a full antagonist. I've seen risperdal mentioned as quite the potent one. It allegedly is the most tightly bound of the AAP to the dopamine receptors vs typicals which have tight D2 binding as the rule.

Is there a reason why you aren't going with 200mg of lamotrigine? While some respond at lower doses, myself included, the generally accepted dosage for mood disorders is 200mg, unless your sig is old i see 125mg.

cymbalta is an SNRI, so it has some effects on noradrenaline. That could be causing some of your panic/activation too. Would a pure SSRI like luvox which is FDA approved for anxiety possibly work better?

My main issue (as far as I can tell) is social anxiety. In my 20’s I was agoraphobic for a few years. 

I have tried Risperdal, and it had an uncommon side effect for me. My right ear and some of my right face around it became numb. I told my psychiatrist office this, and they told me to go off it.

I haven’t gone higher than Lamictal 125 mg because any higher and I get neck stiffness and pain, a dystonia reaction. My doctor suggested taking Cogentin for this, and trying Lamictal 150 mg + cogentin, but I also tried Cogentin before (10 years ago) and it gave me a very dry mouth. I’m still thinking of trying Cogentin again and using lots of Biotin spray. (And on Abilify, I am salivating a ton!) 

i also recently tried Trileptal 125 mg, twice a day, and I didn’t have any problems on it, except for some neck pain (but not as bad as on Lamictal 150 mg), and after my morning dose I became a little tired and didn’t make much sense when I spoke, because I was tired. But I’d prefer those side effects over the side effects and feeling I get on Abilify or Vraylar. 

I haven’t tried Luvox, but I’ve tried most of the SSRI’s, and they all did the same thing. None of them helped me more than others. 

[argh]

24 minutes ago, lisa2712 said:

My main issue (as far as I can tell) is social anxiety. In my 20’s I was agoraphobic for a few years. 

I have tried Risperdal, and it had an uncommon side effect for me. My right ear and some of my right face around it became numb. I told my psychiatrist office this, and they told me to go off it.

I haven’t gone higher than Lamictal 125 mg because any higher and I get neck stiffness and pain, a dystonia reaction. My doctor suggested taking Cogentin for this, and trying Lamictal 150 mg + cogentin, but I also tried Cogentin before (10 years ago) and it gave me a very dry mouth. I’m still thinking of trying Cogentin again and using lots of Biotin spray. (And on Abilify, I am salivating a ton!) 

i also recently tried Trileptal 125 mg, twice a day, and I didn’t have any problems on it, except for some neck pain (but not as bad as on Lamictal 150 mg), and after my morning dose I became a little tired and didn’t make much sense when I spoke, because I was tired. But I’d prefer those side effects over the side effects and feeling I get on Abilify or Vraylar. 

I haven’t tried Luvox, but I’ve tried most of the SSRI’s, and they all did the same thing. None of them helped me more than others. 

lyrica is approved for anxiety in the EU, could try it as off label

gabapentin works too. it helps with my anxiety and for give provides an antidepressant effect.

if trileptal is promising why don't you go with tegretol? That's the "parent" of sorts of trileptal and is more effect according to most.

geodon is supposedly the most weight neutral AAP as you are concerned with weight. @DammitJanet is on it, she might be able to help

[lisa2712]

8 minutes ago, argh said:

lyrica is approved for anxiety in the EU, could try it as off label

gabapentin works too. it helps with my anxiety and for give provides an antidepressant effect.

if trileptal is promising why don't you go with tegretol? That's the "parent" of sorts of trileptal and is more effect according to most.

geodon is supposedly the most weight neutral AAP as you are concerned with weight. @DammitJanet is on it, she might be able to help

I can try asking for Lyrica. It’s weird that it’s approved in the EU for anxiety, but not in the US. 

Yes, my new psychiatrist recommended for me to try Gabapentin (Neurontin), but I ended up deciding on Trileptal. On my 2nd visit, the ARNP changed it to Abilify.

I was also on Tegretol about 15 years ago. I remember feeling out of it. I’m not in a rush to re-try Tegretol again, but if it’s recommended, then I’ll re-try it. 

Geodon is in the AAP class, so I’m guessing I’ll have trouble tolerating it. 

[Catwoman]

I was thinking about risperidone, but I see you've already been on that med. What dose did you take?
1 mg or lower generally doesn't give you much side effects. 

[lisa2712]

8 hours ago, Catwoman said:

I was thinking about risperidone, but I see you've already been on that med. What dose did you take?
1 mg or lower generally doesn't give you much side effects. 

I took the lowest dose of Risperdal. I think it was 0.25 mg or 0.5 mg.