Can someone tell me - Relapse or Withdrawl?

OK. Good luck in whatever decision you make.

Wow I wish I could try this - my pdocs usually make me take both APs while switching - the side effects are unbearable when I cross over.

Good luck @saphire2014 , you are going through withdrawals - it should pass as soon as you are introduced to the Abilify

1 Like

Alaska won…

Okay. You can ignore the q on another thread then. Yeah, I understand the problem with Invega paliperidone and cardiac stuff. Two or three days seems right. Wave is right about the passing of the w/d symptoms.

@notmoses my pdoc said that Abilify was activating and to take it early in the day. I took Abilify 12 years ago but can’t remember how it was. My question since you do seem to be knowledgeable is what is activating. I think it means it’s like caffeine and gives you energy and will affect your sleep if you take it late in the day. But I am not sure and I forgot to ask my pdoc.

For me it is not so much activating but rather just not-sedating. I was quite sedated on risperidone and feel rather normal on 15mg of abilify. Not hyped or anything - I was recommended to take it in the mornings as well and stuck to that routine.

I am asking because the delivery of my medication won’t be until 6pm today and I am wondering if that is too late in the day to take it.

For me personally taking it at around 6 wouldn’t keep me from sleeping, but things can differ from person to person and the activating/sedating effects of the various meds in my experience seem to be more present when you just start taking a new med. So it kind of depends on what you are worried about most. A good sleep is great, and if your symptoms are manageable and don’t keep you from sleeping I would say wait till the next morning. If you feel your symptoms are rather bad, then don’t worry about the night and pop the pill - for all you know it doesn’t keep you from sleeping either.

I wish I knew that just taking one would eliminate these symptoms. I’d give up a night of sleep for that right now.

Antipsychotic drugs are addictive. They are the most extreme legal drugs. Withdrawals happen if one goes cold turkey.

They ■■■■ with homeostasis big time. Normal people are out cold like they just stepped into a UFC fight without any training or conditioning when they take what I take. I haven’t even taken my morning Geodon, just my morning Xanax, which would knock a normie out like Mike Tyson fighting Justin Bieber.

Why did you quit your meds cold turkey? Doctors practically forbid that.

My pdoc had me lower down to the lowest dose and then had me stop. He told me he thought I was stable enough to go without. But if I felt I needed something after being “clean” for at least three days I could safely start the new antipsychotic without any cardiac issues.

I’m thinking of changing the time of day I take abilify. Abilify is activating in lower doses, and now that I’m on a lower dose, taking it at 10pm is probably keeping me awake till 4am, but then I get really tired, so I’m considering taking it at 6pm.

It’s actually sedating in higher doses, so taking at 10pm made sense when I was on a higher dose as it got me off to sleep.

My pdoc says to take it early in the morning with my am meds. But then again he is giving me 5mg.

Yes, I’m on 5mg too. 5mg feels like having a lot of coffee for me.

That explains his comment about “knock off the coffee after one cup instead of six you have been having.”

Please be aware of, and plan for, a relapse. The sooner you get it (treatment), the less the damage to your brain:

and

It’s my full intention to go on the back up antipsychotic Abilify that he gave me. Three days off is enough suffering for me, it would have only have been two but the pharmacy didn’t stock the drug so they had to order it. The pharmacist just called and said it just came in and he will have it delivered to me in a couple of hours😃.

1 Like

Caffeine’s CNS stimulation is much more “spikey” and immediate than Abilify’s, which seems to be a longer, flatter wave that builds up over period of use (somewhat like the older anti-D’s). That said, I agree with your doc and others here about taking it in the early part of one’s waking day.

Coming off an anti-psychotic can be an arduous experience. I would keep in touch with my doctor if I were you.

Finally today I got my Abilify from the pharmacy. Any idea how long it will take to be back to “normal”?