Abilify/Aripiprazole Experiences

Please post your Abilify/Aripiprazole experiences here, positive or negative.

My experience:
Abilify helped me combat depression, but was ineffective for mania. Eventually, though, Abilify "pooped out" on me at the max dose of 30mg and did nothing for my depression.

I did not have any side effects at lower doses. No akathisia, no weight gain, etc.. I also did not feel sedated. However, starting at 20mg, I would get double vision and my eyes would move uncontrollably upward if I took it during the day. Taking it at night resolved those issues. The only downside is that taking Abilify at night can keep you awake, so you may want to switch to taking Abilify in the morning if it keeps you awake at night.

I only took Abilify for a very short time. It made everything I ate taste metallic.

My pdoc started me at a very low dose, 2.5 mg because she thought I might be sensitive. It was a good thing because I was very sensitive and had akathesia and double vision even on that low dose. I was only on it a week or so. It was my 2nd AP and I was taking it with Geodon (I think I was going to wean off Geodon but it didn't work that way).

I’ve had great results with abilify....it’s the only med I’m on and at 7.5mg. Now I do have some weight gain but it’s minor compared to risperdal or other APs. I have bipolar I with psychotic features so I need an AP. Other side effects include heat intolerance. I always wear a hat and carry water due to that. And I’m not sure if it’s the AP or the psychosis but I had some mild cognitive issues that were corrected by fish oil. Anyway I’ve been stable for eight years.

I take abilify along with some other meds and it has been helpful, haven't had any issues on it so far

I was put on Abilify along with 300 mg Lamictal maybe 10 or 11 years ago. It started out FANTASTIC! I was feeling great, back to work full-time and kicking butt on a project, taking ballroom dance classes a couple times per week, and lost some weight (probably because of the dance). Unfortunately, "fantastic" that keeps getting more fantastic eventually turns ugly, for me. I ended up hospitalized with severe mania and psychosis, that turned into mixed features with psychosis. I believe that episode was one that created a year and a half of rapid cycling (meaning four episodes in a year). I think I had a series of five hospitalizations spurred by that combo. I had had two or three before that. Lamictal has always been too activating for me at high doses. It's even activating at low doses, but other meds keep it in check. I can't say if Abilify was activating, too, or if it was just not strong enough to keep my mania in check.

I do remember getting akathisia from Abilify, but no other side effects. I don't remember how, but at the time I somehow managed with it. Maybe my psychiatrist gave me some medication that helped it? I don't remember. I never had double-vision from it, but I do totally understand double-vision since I had that later down the road when I started Tegretol XR. It was a side effect of Tegretol XR that did eventually fade away.

I've been on Abilify several times in several forms (pill, injectable and ODT) I've been on 10-20 mg in pill/ODT form and 400-mg/monthly shot (at different times). Currently I'm on 15 mg ODT. It doesn't work completely for me but it helps with no side effects. It's the only medication I'm currently on. My eating increases for about a week every time my dose is increased but there has been no lasting effects.

I just started taking Abilify a month ago. I started at 5mg., then in 10 days increased the dose to 10mg. I gad been experiencing intense mixed states and Abilify seemed to smooth those out quite a bit. It also lessened my anxiety pretty decently, which is great.

I asked my pdoc if she would let me increase to 15mg. She agreed, and that night I started the 15. First of all, I had tremendous difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep. The next day I learned that Abilifiy can be activating for some people, so on the third day I took it in the morning.

That night I was at the computer when I had a sudden feeling of not being able to finish something I was posting because I felt so jumpy and on edge. Next, I had to stand up and move - I mean had to. I felt like my body had been possessed by some entity that was forcing me to do anything but be still. The sensation was intense and absolutely awful. I recognized that what I was experiencing was akathesia.

I had had no idea of how miserable akathesia is. How uncontrollable.

Told my pdoc and she was kinda "hmm...well, take whichever dose you think is most helpful, but I want you to take Cogentin with the Abilify."

So here I am, not knowing whether or not to take the Abilify/Cogentin, and whether the benefits of Abilify are enough to justify taking another med to treat a side effect.

I felt mentally “ twitchy” on it by day 3-4 , i felt totally disconnected to the world and had to quit it maybe 2.5 weeks on it.

The constant insatiable hunger was not tolerable, at all.

I was on this for 6 mths. I hated it.
Main side effects:
Like Christina, mentally ‘twitchy’
Severe agitation
Severe irritability
Easily angered
Felt like I was in a mixed episode

i got foggy and dizzy on this

I’m allergic so within a few days my throat
Was killing me and I could barely swallow. I thought my tongue felt swollen too. Went to urgent care and the lady freaked out...

I was on 10mg Abilify and felt more stable. Pdoc raised dose to 15mg. For the pasrt 2 days I've had some paranoia...it seems associated with fans...feeling a creepy sensation that there's someone inside of the fan watching me (I know, sounds kinda funny, but it is so darn unsettling).

I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced something like paranoia from a higher Abilify dose?

I've been taking Abilify for several months now. I have not had any feelings to get up and move, but I have possibly had tremors, though that could be from my lithium. But the tremors started when I started the Abilify, and after I had already been taking lithium for 5+ years, so I am suspicious.

I am on 20mg, and it makes me slightly drowsy, but not bad. I just take it at night time and have no issues with further drowsiness. I think it makes me sweat a little more.

Overall my experience is positive, but it's not a heavy hitter like lithium. So I don't feel like it would prevent much. Mainly when I started it, it just kept me from getting overly frustrated and crying all the time, but didn't keep me from a light depression, so they had to add lamictal which has helped really well for that. So I'm not totally sure the Abilify is doing much.

Even at 20mg I have no big issues, no dizziness or eye problems. Nothing that would keep me from taking it. They did put me on 30mg for a little bit to try to combat the depression, and I felt a little *too* good. Felt too much like hypomania or maybe even mania, and my tremors were worse, so we backed off back to 20mg pretty quickly. I just felt amazing all the time. Not like I was doing anything weird, but I definitely felt elevated in a mood sense.

I was on 30 mg for quite a long while. Did pretty well with it but developed a tremor that just kept getting worse and worse. Everyone tried to tell me it was my lithium. Stopping that was not an option. Stopped the Abilify and the tremor went virtually totally away. Mood-wise, doing fine without it. The lithium is what really keeps me going.

I gave it a month; I really tried. No more. Every day I was feeling worse on Abilify. Felt like I had the flu (nauseated, absolutely exhausted and sleepy, achy, but so hungry - I gained 5 lbs. my first 2 weeks on Abilify!). I'm done with the stuff. I haven't fwelt any benefits that are worth feeling awful. Oh - and this past week I started feeling paranoid. Another med bites the dust