Hi, I’m currently under Abilify Maintena 300mg, but the main problem that I have with this med is that it causes hypersomnia and it seems that this fatigue induced problem worsen my negative symptoms. I mean, I do not feel any negative symptoms when I feel awake. But being in the state of being awake doesn’t happen that much.
Exercising helps me to deal with hypersomnia, but the fact is that I’m a college 2nd year student and I have a be “productive” and my schedule doesn’t really allow me to exercice that much.
That hypersomnia really annoys me, I always feel tired under Abilify, and that the main reason that I want to switch.
So, I’ve heard that Clozapine was most effective against negative symptoms than Abilify and that tiredness is a little more “bearable” that the fatigue induced by Abilify.
Is that true ? To be honest, I want to give it a try and was thinking to talk about switching with a pdoc, but … only for a limited time. Also, I’ve heard that this med can be lethal in some conditions and that we have to do blood test every week.
Apparently, cariprazine will be commercialized in April 2018, but in Germany, haven’t heard anything about France (where I live), but it won’t be that long after Germany, I guess. So I was wondering, is this a good idea, or should I be stuck on Abilify until Reagila (cariprazine name in Europe) will be in stock ?
I wouldn’t switch to Clozapine for 6 months while waiting for a new med to come to market. Clozapine has a rare, but potentially fatal, side effect that will require blood draws (weekly to begin). It’s more of a med for people who’ve tried all of the other meds with no benefit.
How about bridging the 6-month gap with another AP?
Do you have any idea about which other AP cause less fatigue than Abilify ? I want to switch on clozapine because hypersomnia induced by Abilify is really unbearable and I can’t keep up like this since I’m a college student and I really cannot wait that much time, the result is that I will fail my year
I would imagine that Clozapine is much more sedating than Abilify.
Like @kindness said.
Can you switch over to another AP?
Clozapine is more of a final long term drug.
I did a search on APs and sedation, and there really isn’t one that is much less sedating than the others. Two options I can think of: 1) stay on Abilify and add L-theanine/caffeine (2:1 ratio of L-theanine to caffeine), or 2) if you have sza/bipolar, stay on Abilify and add Lamotragine.
Do not make any changes to your medication regimen (including supplements) without the approval of your psychiatrist.
There aren’t a lot of alternatives in France (Solian, Clozapine, Risperdal, Zeroquel Abilify and Zyprexa are the the only 2nd generaiton of AP available in this country), I already took some Xeplion and was feeling really off due to it, unmotivated, tired, unable to experience feelings, it was such a terrible experience and I don’t want to live this once again.
I’m already drinking a lot of coffee and green tea in order to stay awake. I noticed that green tea works more than coffee (because the effets of caffeine tend to decrease with the time the more you drink so that’s why this molecule is almost not working anymore on me), but it’s not satisfying enough either to stay awake.
Also Lamotragine is not used to treat fatigue in France, only epilepsy.
Usually doctors want you to fail on at least 2 APs (less than 20% reduction in symptoms) before they will do clozapine because of the risk, although as long as you do the blood tests, it’s pretty safe.
Hi there im from Belgium, also on Abilify maintena is ■■■■ giving less problems then other meds like risperdal and clozapine but its still ■■■■
im also interested in cariprazine
do not fall for the lamotrigine thats experimental for psychosis and might ■■■■ up your glutamate system like it did to me as in lamictal induced psychosis, a 2 month therapy with sarcosine reversed serious damage to my glutamate system permanent. a year witouth seroquel yay still of that nasty med also bad for the heart and heavy ■■■■■■■ sedation from this crap.
I started Clozapine two months ago and am doing ok on it although Ive been told it can take six months to achive maximun effect. Yes the weekly blood tests are a pain in the a**.
Thanks everyone for the replies. I’m bumping this topic because I want to know if low dose Olanzapine mixed with Abilify could be a good idea to feel a little bit tired.
Update : I feel really tired this month too and also experiecing huge lethargy since a few weeks. I’m unable do the chores and going to school. Maybe the culprit are negative symptoms that worsen my fatigue and not Abilify. But isn’t this med supposed to tackle negative symptoms ?
I will ask a pdoc if lowering the dose could be a good idea like 150mg a month.
What do you think ?
