Now I’m feeling a bit more activated than before but so far it’s tolerable.
I’ll see how it goes as the days go by
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I take 5 to 7mg of abilify as add on to my antidepressant Nortryptaline and antipsychotic Perphenazine
I started on 2mg and noticed immediate benefit to my feelings and negative symptoms
If I stay on 7mg for a couple months straight it starts to stop positive symptoms more than negatives
I take 24mg of Perphenazine to help with positives and anxiety
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Yeah I’m definitely feeling an antidepressant effect at 2mg @anon40326163
I think I’ll ramp up the doses slow
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I’m so happy for you @Wave
I hope this works out very well for you. It definitely sounds promising so far! I take Rexulti which is similar to abilify.
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Thanks @anon90992146! 
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I just took my second dose of Abilify an hour ago and I am not feeling activated, just feeling very sedated.
I guess because the med has started to build up in my system
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Abilify is not a stimulant, its a tranquilizer. Its a partial agonist so it blocks less dopamine than full antagonists like risperidone. But it still reduces dopamine. It will compete with risperidone at dopamine receptors so if abilify has more affinity it will replace some of the risperidone at the receptors so you may end up with a bit more dopamine.
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When i was on abilify it made me tired and sedated compared to no meds. But less than risperidone. I think if you completely replace risperidone with abilify you will have more dopamine and have more energy theoretically. Stimulants like Adderall and Ritalin increase dopamine and dopamine is a full agonist of dopamine receptors.
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You are so right in that more than one antipsychotics will lead to that the meds will compete for the dopamine receptors. You know Aziz it seems that the way my two antipsychotics compete with each other leads to better symptomatic improvements.
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Yes as they will occupy more dopamine receptors i think.
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I still don’t know why Abilify made me hypersexual. Some studies say its because of some serotonin receptors while others say because of dopamine D3 receptors.
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Yes.
I agree with you that the reason for the hyper sexuality is caused by up down regulation of the D3 receptor.
Just another reason for me to stay away from 3. Gen antipsychotics.
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Good luck on it. It gave me horrible anxiety I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. Hated it. Love my risperidone.
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It gave me horrible anxiety when I was first on it too years ago.
But I was on a different mood stabilizer that interacted with Abilify, today I am no longer on that mood stabilizer.
Currently I am also on Risperdal and I agree it’s a good med but I’m having various long term negative effects from it.
Abilify is so much safer.
I’m determined to make it work
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UPDATE………………….
Abilify is now making me manic
I’m also experiencing a mixed episode
It is starting to activate me too much
Honestly I don’t think it’s going to work out
I’m talking with my doctor early next week
I’m so tired of this
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Wow, that’s a strong reaction to just 2mg.
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Yeah I’m very sensitive to antidepressant type drugs, especially APs with strong antidepressant type properties
Partial dopamine agonists
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I’m so sorry.
I have reacted badly on starter doses of things too. So I totally understand.
Hopefully you find the right option for you. If it helps with hope, Geodon is my 6th AP, but it looks like 200 mg will do the trick. You and your doc will solve the puzzle.
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Yeah I’m going to discuss this with my pdoc on Monday
Maybe I have to have the dose raised?
It’s way too early for me to give up on it just yet. It’s only been 5 days
Well… I’ll have my doctor decide
Thanks @anon28552576 and @everhopeful
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I would ask your dr because I had the same thing happen at 2 mg and my dr said it was probably a coincidence and that mania tends to happen more with 10-15 mgs. It means the abilify dose isn’t high enough, according to my dr.
Seriously just had this convo with my dr a few days ago @Wave
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