I want to switch to abilify after these three months with risperidone. The side effects are, for me, unbereable. Not just the fat gain but the muscle soreness. I want to ask, first, some questions:
I would like to know is it normal to have such muscle fragility on risperidone? For example, the other day I tried to do pushups (I used to do tons of them) and couldn’t do a single one. I felt like my elbows were going to explode. Do you feel it to that point?
Is there a chance that I don’t feel so much muscle and joint pain in abilify? Are you capable of exercising on abilify?
Will I experience less weight gain with abilify?
In general, what are your experiences with these medications in terms of side effects. I can’t handle risperidone for long, I hate it as I have never hated anything in my life.
I haven’t taken Risperdal in many years, so I cannot speak on that. As far as Abilify goes, I am currently on 30 mg and I work out with no problems (push-ups, sit-ups, etc). I have also gained no weight on the Abilify. Hope that helps.
Well my experience with Risperidone was different in regards to side effects. I gained weight and was suicidal the whole time I was on it. Recently I tried another -idone, Lurasidone. Same effects as the Risperidone, seriously suicidal. So to try something different my pdoc offered Ziprasidone or Aripiprazole. I decided I couldn’t do another -idone and wanted to try something with a different mechanism.
Thanks for the replies. I don’t like risperidone and hope that abilify be a better choice for me. The reason I asked the pushups is because I have read that people can and sometimes exercise while on APs, but I am sure I can’t with risperidone: the pain and weakness are really, really paralysing and this had never happened to me before.
I’ve been on 5mg of Abilify for a week so far. I’m feeling better now that I’m off Latuda. But still not motivated to do anything. Its not a therapeutic dose and I keep telling myself its going to take time to get the real effects that everyone is talking about on here.
I take risperidone and have been suicidal though I’m not sure I blame the drug; more that I’m just tired of living my lousy life. I’m not even sure what risperidone does for me, though it helped with the positive symptoms, it has some bad side effects such as impotence.
Risperidone pros: Only med to completely get my symptoms under control, no akesthesia or anxiety (I didn’t get muscle weakness or pain on it)
Cons: Gained a lot of weight on it, made orgasm very difficult if not impossible, raised prolactin to dangerous levels
Abilify pros: Improved my mood, didn’t gain weight on it
Cons: Did not work great for my symptoms, intense hunger pangs, akesthesia and anxiety attacks regularly, twitching in hands and mouth, overall just miserable to be on
Thanks all for the answers! I hope abilify doesn’t make me so many side effects because honestly risperidone causes me all the side effects you can name. All of them.
Weight gain in some AP’s is a sign that they will work, but everyone’s different. Your pdoc should have prescribed Cogentin for the muscle pain. Risperdone gives Parkinsons-like side effects.
I’ve been on abilify for almost a year now and the positive symptoms did go away. It’s possible to maintain you weight with abilify. For me, abilify gives me a spark of energy, jitteriness.
Can’t speak for risperdal though, never took it.
I got way worse psychotic on Abilify. It was like torture the whole time I was on it. Risperdal Consta shots are perfect for me. They give pretty good control of my symptoms and I get no side effects. I do yoga every day and I have no problems. I take Geodon and Seroquel too. I lost 50 lbs and have kept it off over the past year while on all three of these AP’s.
I was only on abilify for a couple of weeks so I can’t testify to how good it is. Risperidone works fine for me. The only thing that I think it is doing is I seem to be sleeping about 9-10 hours a day on it. Also there is some itching and a tiny bit of weight gain.
Everyone reacts differently to these meds.
Abilify was too stimulating for me.
I am currently on Risperidone and doing well on it.
Although I must say, Abilify is a pretty safe AP as far as Antipsychotics go.
I lost a lot of weight on Abilify, not so much with Risperidone.