I’ve been on Abilify for about three years now. I’m having a hard time dealing with the emotional flatness as well as akathisia (have tried meds for the akathisia, but it they’re not really working). Also, my limbs are slightly shaky.
I’m going to address the side effects with my doctor and consider lowering my dose of 30mg. He has told me that it would be best to wait five years to try to taper off of the anti-psychotic. Seeing as my therapist has told me I’m the least schizophrenic person with schizo she has met, I’m going to ask my psychiatrist what the big difference is between three and five years.
I do not plan on tapering off without the support of my psychiatrist and family.
Does anyone have a positive experience in getting off of anti-psychotics after an extended period of time?
I will regain some energy and mental acuity for the first six to eight weeks after going off meds. After that, my symptoms start to creep to the forefront and my functionality declines while my personality becomes less pleasant. The only problem is that I am personally unable to notice my own deterioration until it is fairly well advanced, as in the “oh crap I think they’re about to admit me and hide my clothes on me again” state of affairs. Which sucks.
I’ve sort of bumped along for up to a year without head meds, but it’s not a pleasant experience. Wouldn’t recommend doing the same to others.
When I had my first breakdown in 2003 I was on various meds until 2007 when I came off meds entirely. The previous year I had gone into remission so the pdoc said we can try off the meds. Well, I was five years without any problems off the meds, thought I never had sz in the first place, but in 2012 I relapsed and had to start meds again. So it worked for a while, but not permanently. Life is too full of stress.
Sorry… but anytime I’ve come off my meds, I’ve ended up in hospital. I am working with my doc on lowering my dose, but I don’t think the near future is going to be med free for me.
Considering I’m more functional then I have ever been in my life, I don’t want to risk it.
No, not med free, but I do take a very low dose of abilify (15mg once day) and have no side effects from this. About six months after getting on abilify 15mg my symptoms stopped for two years. They recently came back for three weeks and have now stopped again.
I think if I went med free I’d probably be fine for quite a while but like Saadiqah said, “life is full of stress” and stress often is accompanied by symptoms with us people.
It took a pretty good while for the med’s to leave my system when I quit taking them, but then I started to hallucinate. I thought I was doing okay without them, but about six months later I started hearing voices.
I have heard from so so so so many people on here (and especially about others on the family side) who suddenly decide they are better and go off the meds. It is kinda like how Christians talk about abstinence being the most effective type of birth control. 99.99% percent effective. The .001% being the virgin Mary. I guess this makes alien (a person on here) Mary. Alien wasn’t sz, but schizoform. I’m counting them though.