hi is anyone here on abilify?? i’ve been on it 4 more than a month and i can’t get rid of the boredom. it was supposed to boost me but all i do after work is lay in bed, doing things i used to enjoy (watching animes, videos on ytb) is such an effort for me now and i feel like im forcing myself.
the first time i’ve seen my psychiatrist after starting the meds i mentioned it and she said it was the first time she heard about such a side effect, she also said it will pass. i’m seeing her on the 9th and it didn’t pass even though there were moments when it calmed down (it never disappeared).
now im having a lack of appetite, im planning on quitting next time i see my doctor. anyone here quit abilify?? how long did it take to go back to normal??
I’m on 10mg of abilify(the generic Aripiprazole actually) and have similar issues. But I had the same issues on the invega shot. Major Anhedonia. I’m not sure if it’s the drugs or the sz or a combination of the two but I definitely know where your coming from. I suspect a big part of it is the illness itself, which leaves us without much hope for successful relief from the Anhedonia…if in fact it’s just part of the illness.You could always quit pills if they were the cause.
Its not the meds. I was on Abilify for 8 years 20mg and I quit all meds for 1-2 years. I still had the same problems you have. They’re called negative symptoms and have a bad stigma, ppl think we are chosing to be lazy.
I’m on 15mg abilify, don’t have this effect, but I don’t work so maybe that helps with being motivated for doing other stuff. Give your self some time to recover, how long has it been since your breakdown? Did other meds give you this effect? If it’s only been a month since you have been psychotic it might take some more time to get back on track
hi it’s been 2 months and things have gotten worse since then!! i didn’t try any other medication and i don’t know how to deal with all that. i see my doctor in 2 days
It’s been two months since your psychosis honestly give it some time. You can’t expect miracles. It will probably get better.
I hated these pills as well in the beginning now I’m gratefull they exist. But i never really had too much negative symptoms though only in a full blown episode. Abilify shouldn’t give you this effect it doesn’t block your dopamine totally, it has a blocking effect in the striatum where the dopamine is overactive and a boosting effect in the rest of the brain where it’s underactive. Try to take them for at least 6 months, to stay stable.
Abilify has a high affinity for D2 and D3 receptors, at 10 mg upto 90% blocked. Dopamine is responsible for the reward system and goal orientated behaviour, hence why everything is extremely boring and meaningless on abilify.
It’s a partial agonist not an antagonist so you can still feel dopamine flowing through, at least I can at 15mg. I still get excited about things and can do goal oriented activities like programming. I notice during skateboarding that it’s better then Invega, on invega skating feels dull on abilify it’s better.
Abilify actually boosts dopamine levels in the mesocortical pathway (too low in sz, causes negative symptoms), and blocks it in the mesolimbic pathway (too high in sz causes neg symptoms). Depending on dopamine levels. Partial agonism can be somewhat compared to a voltage controlled resistor when dopamine is high resistance gets higher, when dopamine is low resistance gets lower.
All the AP’s block D2 pathway and most are antagonist meaning even less dopamine get’s through. They act like a non-conductor and block it in both pathways meaning even more negative symptoms.
What are you on right now cabra, anything that’s less “Boring”?
You see I am on a much older depo than you it is said that it can worsen negative symptoms. I have anhedonia and the hole spectra of negative symptoms but it’s the only depo that works for my positive symptoms. Beside of that I also take two atypical antipsychotics. To be honest. When first the positive symptoms are gone then the negative symptoms makes it much to easy to get realy bored.