![]() 1 Pharmacotherapy is an important evidence-based treatment. But I got so inactive and ate too much at the hospital so I gained weight.Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. Because before I was court ordered there I used to be very active at my job and I also ran 5 miles like 5 days a week! I was very fit back then. I gained weight when I first got on it but I was very inactive in a long term state hospital for a little over 9 months, so I blame that. I don’t notice any side effects from it either, which is a huge bonus. So it must at least be somewhat calming in my system. But Abilify doesn’t cancel out the zyprexa, like you’d think it would if it were super stimulating to me. I also am on zyprexa though with it so YMMV. It doesn’t jazz me up or keep me awake or stimulate me at 30 mg IME. I, in fact, take Abilify all of my dose at bedtime. And some of that can be contributed to the BP aspect of my illness (SZA BP type). But I don’t get them as severe as a problem as mikl did. ![]() Like do get some impulse issues with things like spending. I don’t remember quite what I was started on but it may have been 10 mg then rapidly increased to 30 mg. I was never really on anything lower than 10 mg, so I can’t comment on that. I got better and could go back to my hometown within a month! It really got me out of a severely long state hospital stay. I took it while it was brand name even! Then I stopped it briefly due to high cost (it was like $400 back then and I had good insurance), then got on it again and have been on it steadily for 11+ years now. Sorry for the long-winded post! I hope you get the relief you need from your depression and have taken 30 mg of Abilify for 11+ years. But it is a possibility to be considered I believe and something to keep a watch out for. Everyone is different. Not everyone will experience this side effect. I mention all this as a caution about this medicine as well as any other dopamine partial agonist (Rexulti, Vraylar, etc.), as well as the dopamine agonists (Mirapex, Requip, Neupro, etc.). In retrospect, I would probably say that 10-15 mg was probably actually when my spending got out of hand, just that it was a lot more subtle for me than the flagrant excessive spending I had in the higher doses. I wasn't necessarily sedated or calmed per se, but rather I just felt like everything had receded into the background for the most part, both side effects and depression (until the depression came back on 15 mg). It was a damn good medicine for me, but I just can't sustain spending the amount of money I was with little to no income at the moment. I will say 10-15 mg was rather innocuous as far as side effects vs benefits went the most recent time I took Abilify. It's better than it was while I was on Abilify, but still not where I was before I started high-dose Abilify. I'm not even on Abilify anymore and I have problems with impulsive spending sprees from time to time (regardless of whether I'm hypo/manic or depressed). I tolerated it okay, but like I said, when I got to 30 mg, the impulse control disorder started rearing its ugly face. The most recent time I tried it, I was actually on it for about two years and escalated the dose much slower than the first time. Eventually I climbed to 15 mg that summer, and akathisia hit me like a sledgehammer and I had to stop taking it. When I started it the very first time back in summer of 2015, 2 mg made me literally hypomanic/manic and borderline psychotic-I had an abundance of positive symptoms for the first time in my life at that point, and to be honest, it felt pretty damn nice! Then as I got used to it, 2 mg was worse for me than before I started it, so we went to 5 mg, which helped a little but I developed akathisia, so back to 2 mg. My case is rather unusual because I developed an impulse control disorder from Abilify once I hit 20-30 mg, but I felt extremely stimulated at the high end of the dose range, especially at 30 mg.
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