My worst symptom is thought and emotion broadcasting. I currently take Risperdal, but plan to get Abilify and maybe Seroquel today. Which of the APs is better? Any other things I could ask my doctor about?
It’s unfortunately a question of what’s best for you. One man’s saviour med is another’s downfall. It’s all personal trial and error.
I’m on abilify and it’s keeping me stable. When I was on seroquel I went bananas. But some people here swear by seroquel.
I have noticed that not very many people use seroquel on it’s own though. They use it with their main AP.
Please remember that the theraputic dose of abilify is 10mg. That’s the dose at which it begins to act as an AP. 5mg is just an add on to an anti depressant.
4 Likes
@Lexicon Work closely with your doctor.
Abilify and Seroquel are both good meds but they are two very different drugs on how they will make you feel.
Abilify can be activating and Seroquel can be sedating.
Talk it over with your doctor.
Good luck!
This post is very informative, thank you. But I’m still confused about what you meant about the dosages. I saw my pdoc and was prescribed Abilify 5 mg. Is that a good dose for me?
This medication was unbelievably expensive, even with insurance. I was surprised by that.
Your doctor will probably increase your Abilify to 10 mg in a few weeks. They usually like to titrate you slowly.
1 Like
Abilify doesn’t act as an antipsychotic at 5mg. It only begins to act as an antipsychotic at 10mg. So the sooner your doctor puts you on 10mg the better as you’re effectively off meds on 5mg (if you’re taking nothing else)
My prescription says to take one for the first however long, and then to increase my dosage to two per day (making 10 mg). I’m glad that it was prescribed that way because I have a lot of anxiety about starting a new medication. My Risperdal is my comfort zone but I’ve heard so many success stories with Abilify.
1 Like
Ok, that sounds like a very good plan. Abilify raised my blood sugar so my doctor put me on metformin to counteract it. So make sure you get blood tests every 6 months. Research shows that abilify has a good chance of raising it.
The only other complaint I had with abilify was anxiety and restlessness. I take l-theanine to manage those.
Best of luck with it, I hope it works for you.
I have never tried Abilify. I take a very low dose of Risperidone (1mg) and it is working OK for me. Good luck with your med adjustment!
I was actually prescribed half a pill (2.5 mg) for the first week, and a full 5 mg after that. So the dose I’m on is just for mood stabilization then, right?
Risperdal and Vraylar work best for me.
Yes 5mg isn’t going to act as an AP. If you need an AP then query this with your doctor.
5mg doesn’t act as a mood stabiliser either but has some anti depressant effects. Its normally combined with an anti depressant though.
I’m quite sure what I need. I wouldn’t say that I’m always psychotic but it seems like I am hallucinatory or delusional very often.
On risperidone I have some strange symptoms like my eyes burn if I don’t take a shower everyday. Also there is itching in a certain area of my body. Anyone else have these symptoms?
I never had any weird symptoms like that.
But after a day of Abilify, I’m having an easier time distinguishing sane reality and my delusional mess of a mind and the weird hellish fantasy stuff my mind makes up lol.
I have never tried Abilify. I take 1mg a Risperidone every night which is barely in the therapeutic range but it has kept me out of the hospital for over a year. I tried taking more but the side effects are too harsh.
Like I said, though, no psychotic breaks for over a year.