I’m thinking of trying a sub therapeutic dose of my medication to cut down on side effects. I’m on abilify 10mg and want to try 5mg. 10mg is the recommended therapeutic dose for abilify. Has anyone tried this with their medication, and if so how did it work out for you.
One of the biggest mistakes I made, was to go to sub therapeutic levels of the Risperdal.
I went back up on the meds and it’s not working for me, I am cycling back and forth.
This morning I was a happy manic, tonight I am mixed and having some pretty dark thoughts.
Be very careful going sub therapeutic, I personally would not attempt it - it’s like going off of your meds
Well things were going well and I tried that in December. Usually the holidays are cheery. Then there was unplanned stress and I ended up in hospital.
Just talk to your pdoc first before lowering things on your own maybe.
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A few years ago I tinkered with my meds all over the board… and it really didn’t work out for me. There was a lot of positive to negative swing. Nothing felt stabilized. I was still just as delusional as ever.
Voices went from not there at all to far too powerful.
Please keep your doc in the loop. I hope you find the answers your looking for.
Everyone is different. Some can maintain or benefit from a lesser dose however it should be discussed with your doctor. As far as I know the recommended dose of Clozapine is 450 yet my son maintained on 200. His pdoc did a blood test to check the levels in his system and ended up acknowledging that 200 was ‘significant’ and supported the reduction. I don’t know anything about Abilify since my son was only on it a short time. I don’t know if there are tests to check levels of Abilify. Could be a good question to ask your pdoc.
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My Davis Drug Guide for Nurses says to treat schizophrenia 10-15 mg daily; up to 30 mg have been used. If its being used to treat depression the therapeutic dose is 2-5 mg daily up to 5-10 mg. It seems to me that you could check the serum levels of the Abilify in your blood, but I’m not sure the pdoc or insurance would want to.
I used to take only 60mg of Geodon, 80mg is the therapeutic dose. Needless to say, I was not in the best condition and now I take 120mg of Geodon as well as four other medications. Can you say “side effects”? LOL
But seriously, it is better to play it safe and take a therapeutic dose. I take 120mg of Geodon, 160mg is the maximum dose, but I take xanax, ambien, propranolol and prevacid as well. I am well-medicated, that is for sure.
I have had to deal with some issues like sedation and akathisia from my medications. I drink lots of caffeine. I also become agitated when it is time for my next dose of Geodon or Xanax. One morning, I forgot my propranolol. I realized why I felt so tense when I realized that I had forgotten it.
In my opinion, psychiatrists use sub-therapeutic doses to see just how sick the patient is. When I had a terrible incident, my doc quickly doubled my dose of Geodon.
Sub-therapeutic dose was simply “No” for me. It did not work for me, and I do not recommend it.
Mortimer is right. I think that because I am a new patient, my psychiatrist was testing the waters a bit, to see how"sick" I really am - now she is telling me to go up on my meds. Frankly I was testing things out for myself also - now I know that I need therapeutic doses - its a hard lesson for me