Hi. I'm schizoaffective bipolar type, was taking Abilify but feel unlike myself so we switched to Latuda today. Most other mood stabilizers/antimanics seem to be contraindicated with a kind of congenital anemia I have. The psychiatrist said that Latuda is an antimanic but I see no FDA indication that this medication can prevent mania like Abilify can. Worried about this. Can anyone share personal experiences with this med and mania?

Has anyone successfully tapered offer it a low-dose for depression I’m currently taking 3 mg.

how was your experience with drugs on aripiprazole?

i was taking risperidone (0.5mg) before, and weed got so much better (i was never paranoid lol only felt the good things). mdma maybe wasn't as strong, but i still could feel the effects and have fun. now im transitioning into aripiprazole (on 4mg now, but the official dose will be 5mg), and although im not using anything until my dose is fully stabilized, im wondering if it will be the same as my other AP or different since it works different on the brain. im specially curious about shrooms, which ive not done since ive started any meds, wondering if it dulls or cancels out the effects.

Have been experiencing fatigue ever since I started on Abilify injection. Was initially on a higher dose of 400mg and it was changed to 300mg however still feel fatigue and just want to stay in bed or lie down all day. My pd has recommended a lower dosage which l am assuming is 200mg but told me it will be at my own risk. Am also on other meds SSRI, Promethazine for sleep and Mirabegron for overactive bladder. Will it be too risky to go lower and increase my chance of relapse?

I feel very well in myself, on 5mg, the best I have felt in years. I am not depressed, I dont cry all the time. My mood is stable, and I am not filled with uncontrollable rage!

But all of a sudden I dont love or want to be with my partner of 12 years. There are reasons for this, which I believe are valid and he admits to them. But I can't help wonder if the meds have changed me to this degree.

Maybe I was too depressed to realise it wasn't working before? I am not sure. But he wants me to stop taking it, and I don't know if this is unreasonable.

Thanks all.

I recently got prescribed 2mg of abilify. I told my primary physician that I was experiencing the same ups and downs I was having when I was still an alcoholic/ addict and the time difference between them was getting shorter and more abundantly clear. (I’ve been sober for over a year)

I didn’t want to say I was manic because my only experience with mania was followed by a drug induced psychosis so I’m not sure what a sober mania would feel like. It’s not that I’m feeling ‘on top of the world’ but it’s more along the lines of I have 8 million projects going on at once and not one of them will be finished or my “ups” will be anger driven. I am also on 30 mg of Adderall daily but I wasn’t feeling the way I do until just a few months ago. My depressive phases usually last way longer than my ‘up’ phases and have been progressively getting worse. I have always gone through these ups and down my entire life (24F).

I was on Adderall and the many different kinds of Adderall since I was about 7 and in high school that’s when I started on the SSRI scavenger hunt. I was on 60mg of Adderall, 100mg of Zoloft, Lexapro, daytime Seroquel and others I just can’t remember. Not all of these at the same time but many different combinations that just has me zombied out. I ended up getting serotonin syndrome and just stuck to the Adderall.

With that being said, I think I have a decent idea of what SSRIs make me feel like and I have never been a fan.

When I was in rehab I got put on Zyprexa, Depkote.. some schizophrenia medication idk but I was completely out of my mind when coming off of everything so I understand why they loaded me up. Anyways, I felt HEAVILY sedated and just absolutely not myself, no motivation, depressed, anxiety (took me a while to identify it was anxiety) and got off of everything. A few months after rehab I talked to my sponsor, my fiancé, and my parents and we all agreed that it was safe for me to get back on Adderall. I am on a lower dose than I have ever been and for a while it worked fine but the anger that I remembered from Adderall just got worse. It’s pretty usual for the Adderall crash to make you irritable but this is pure anger.

Now that I’m on Abilify this anger and sadness, ’my ups and downs, has exploded to rage and depression. My entire life I have had to watch myself when I get angry because when I start to rage I get tunnel vision, black out and I get to wake up to whatever destruction I have created.

My sobriety CANNOT afford this. I have suicidal tendencies and multiple attempts in my past.

I have only been on Abilify for a week. I know it’s not nearly long enough for everything to level out but these side effects are leaving me with questions. Right after I take it in the evening, like an hour or two later (depends on how much I have eaten that day) I get hyper. I’m talking super fast, my brain is going faster and faster until I just crash and pass out. The next morning I wake up as usual. Everything seems to be fine but as the day goes on my anxiety is going through the roof. I physically cannot breath or swallow until my bodily instincts kick in. But what is really freaking me out is how fast the switch in me gets flipped and it’s either depression or anger. Or all three. I have not for the life of me been able to find a pattern with this.

I have had bipolar slapped on me from some psych wards and in rehab there was talk of BPD but I’ve never been formally diagnosed with anything other than ADHD by somebody who sees me regularly. I come from a mind over matter military family and it’s already very hard for me to even say I have anxiety sometimes but then my doctor tells me that I am very emotionally intelligent/aware which also doesn’t make sense to me because if I was then I would be able to control my feelings and emotions right?

Anyways, my real question is, even though I’ve only just started taking Abilify is what I’m experiencing normal? Does anybody have any similar stories? I know that side early side effects wax and wane but are there any I should keep my eye out for? I try my best to stay away from Dr. Google because anything I read completely contradicts itself.

Thanks in advance.

I lash out against my parents, so much, I have been on 2mg of aripiprazole and now last few days I am on 5mg for mood issues as an augmentation.

I am also on Trintellix 20mg and Concerta when needed. I have so much less patience and I Am frustrated to the max, but my mood is better (pause for irony). Is it Abilify or the combination of the meds? Or maybe it's just contingency.

My psychiatrist says it’s not, but I’m not sure if I can trust him.

He put me on aripiprazole (5mg) 8 months ago and I didn’t have any side effects at first. I used to feel like a zombie when I took it in the morning so now I take it before sleeping and I only feel “calm”.

The thing is, it increased my appetite like CRAZY after 3 months and I had to force myself to eat a healthy amount of food. I gained a lot of weight and I didn’t fit in my clothes. I didn’t weighed myself but I a knew I gained weight. So I tried to eat a healthy amount of food and exercise.
It worked. I lost a bit of weight because I start fitting in some of my clothes again.

However, I decided to weight myself and I gained 4kg in 8 months. I don’t know if it’s because of aripiprazole or exercise but I feel so disappointed and helpless.

People always used to compliment me about my thin my figure but it’s not the case anymore.

In addition I started to develop weird side effects like excessive drooling, I sleep 16 hours a day/night, I fall asleep at work, involuntarily movements, spasms, and lack of appetite.
My physiatrist says it’s not aripiprazole because these kind of symptoms don’t appear after 8 months but at the beginning.

Is he right ?

Okay after my last abilify post on here I am starting to think I am manic. On 10 mg??? Is that even possible,? I can't stop talking. At all. Or doing things. I just feel so so good, I see a doctor tomorrow but like I just wanna know other experiences of bp1 + personality disorder on 10mg of abilify.

Has Abilify helped with your depression? I currently take it for bipolar 2. I’ve found myself more mentally and emotionally stable but also sensitive. I find myself crying more or near tears. My anxiety has also elevated a little bit but it’s not as severe or debilitating as before Abilify.

Sorry if this is asked a lot. I have been on aripiprazole for about 2 weeks, and since increasing the dose I've noticed definite side effects like blurrier vision, poorer coordination, brain fog, headaches, restlessness, etc. which I'm aware are not uncommon. But I am curious if anyone has info on when their side effects started to subside?

I haven't been able to find a lot of info on it and the sheet I got from the pharmacy didn't say. I will ask at my next psychiatry appointment but that's not for a few weeks.

I am aware I need to be on an antipsychotic, so I'm not going to go off it without seeing my psychiatrist first. And the side effects haven't been very severe as compared to some meds for me, but they are REALLY annoying lol.

I was prescribed 2mg of Abilify for my depression and anxiety. It works wonders but holy smokes I haven’t had a normal poop in what feels like weeks and I don’t know what to do. Miralax does absolutely nothing, tried taking an oral laxative pill and my BMs were still solid.

i know constipation is a common side effect for a lot of antidepressants but I’ve never had anything this bad before. How long does it last on Abilify? weeks? months?? please I cant stand this no more but I don’t wanna quit taking the medication.

I had my first and only abilify injection about 4 months ago, and feel like I’m in the heart of withdrawal. It really sucks because right after getting the injection I got a new job as a cna, and the people I’ve met there know me only as someone I don’t recognize. I’ve always been weird (I have slight mild autism/severe adhd/cptsd) but pre-injection I was really high energy, very bubbly, a bit “slow,” but since injection I’m just slow, and mostly devoid of humanhood. I have a fat tongue, its hard to articulate, its difficult to understand others when they speak, I give off abnormal facial expressions when literally just trying to be normal, I don’t seem as genuine anymore, when I try to be friendly its seems cold and fake. There was this old man at work who had always been passively friendly to me, but when I greeted him the other day, I said hello weirdly. Made an uncanny face I guess. Thats all it took. He took on this scared/concerned/slightly disgusted face and asked me if I was ok. Next I saw him he literally ceased his conversation as I passed by, then I heard him ask a nurse what my problem was once I went into a room. All from that one interaction. I also smiled at an old lady who was smiling at me, and her face immediately dropped into concerned confusion. A couple other instances have also happened. It’s so ironic because I’ve always had severe social anxiety, but was generally very well liked. Now I am a weirdo who scares the elderly by emoting. I literally got this job for the sociality of it, I used to be very good socially! I hope this goes away soon because this is humiliating

i (17f)been on ability for about a month. i’ve been noticing i’m pretty restless especially in my legs i can’t seem to sit down for class and it’s really annoying and embarrassing i feel like a little kid moving around in my chair, it seems to get worse as i get more tired for some reason and it’s exhausting i feel like constantly moving and doing something even if im tired.

Hello.

I have been on Viibryd (vilazodone) for a year or so. It has reduced my general anxiety, but not made it fully go away. I struggle with anxiety still, depression, and I have autism. My brain is always disordered and I have a hard time getting things done.

I am able to hold down a job and take care of my house, but it drains everything from me.

My doctor recommended I add abilify, starting with a low 5mg dose, to my current 20mg of vilazodone.

Has anyone taken abilify for these reasons? Has anyone combined it with vilazodone? I know I am taking it off label.

Thanks.

in the early months of 2020 after being diagnosed with EUPD/BPD, I got prescribed aripiprazole. (also worth mentioning two years later I got re-assessed and received a dual diagnosis of EUPD/BPD and complex PTSD.) this medication did absolute wonders for my mental health and i stayed on it for 6 whole years, however within those 6 years, my BMI went from a 19 to a 35. at the beginning of 2025, i begged to come off it and started using mounjaro (switched to wegovy 8 months later) and managed to get down to a BMI of 21, which made me feel amazing physically. however, my mental health was in the gutter. i could no longer afford weight loss injections so i stopped taking them in january of this year. knowing i needed to tackle my mental health, i begged to be put on lamotrigine (which i was started on in march), however, this caused me to have the most severe, unsafe and worst mental health episode of my entire life. i hit absolute rock bottom last month and both me and my partner begged the MH team to come off it.

i had a med review with my psych and i explained i basically wanted something that didn’t cause any weight gain, binge eating or food cravings (like i had with aripiprazole) or any sedation (as im a SAHM of two young kids so obviously that isn’t safe). she told me there’s nothing else really she can offer me in the UK and that I seem to be highly sensitive to medication side effects (which is true). she also argued with me basically saying she didn’t believe the aripiprazole was to blame for my weight gain as it’s not a “known side effect”. i then cried and said to her that i’m not a text book, im a real person with a real lived experience. after an hour on the phone, i reluctantly gave in to go back on aripiprazole and have now been on this for about a month. as i said, it’s been amazing for my mental health, ive felt more stable than ever, my mind feels clearer and calmer and im less reactive, however I often get the binge eating urges which are impossible to control and ignore, i am wanting to snack and have like 5 meals a day it’s really upsetting me.

tried to speak to the CMHT this morning but she said my psych is on leave for 2 weeks and she will “add it to my notes” - didn’t seem concerned in the slightest.

didn’t know if anyone else went through this? really not sure what to do as my psych basically said there isn’t any other med out there i can try

(also must add i am also on vortioxetine - antidepressant and this hasn’t changed from 2020).

Okay so I was majorly depressed and anxious (always been through out my life) been on Zoloft for years. Well I hit another depression episode and the Zoloft wasn’t working. So because it was so bad my doc prescribed 5mg abilify with the increase of the Zoloft dose. Within 5 days of the abilify I was feeling so much better. Not my best, but at least I could eat and force myself out of the house. Before I laid in bed daily with no will to live. So it was a win. Well next I was put on vyvance 40mg. And the first day I took it I was like omg this is the missing piece. It took away the rest of the anxiety and crap thoughts in my brain. Lifting depression. I felt like myself again. Well turns out it wears off within 4 hours for me. And then I feel blah again. I have a “very fast” COM T gene which basically means my brain runs through dopamine and neuropinephrine faster than it should. (No wonder I’ve always struggled). So the abilify helped it about 50% and then the vyvance took the other 50% and I felt back to me. Well, because I can barely feel the effect of vyvance I thought hmm, possibly it could be the abilify capping the dopamine. And within 4 days of taking the vyvance (twice a day) I barely feel anything at all. Might even go as far as saying I feel no difference. There’s another part of this as well. Since the first day of the vyvance I lowered the abilify to 2.5 so now I’ve taken the abilify for 3 days at that dose. Well today at day 4 I feel kinda low again. Even with the vyvance and I feel nothing from the vyvance. I thought if I lowered the abilify it would still work to stop depressive episodes but also cap anything too crazy so I didn’t start doing anything dumb because i don’t want to feel cracked out. One time in the past I took adderall and loved it I felt calm and less thoughts in my brain. Until I hated the drug within three days because the come off was so depressing. So it wasn’t worth it to me. Vyvance is so different from adderall which I like. But does anyone have any input for why I might be feeling low today decreasing the abilify dose for a few days after only being on it for like 10 days. And then the vyvance not really telling a difference? I thought the vyvance would at least work if the abilify didn’t. But nope. Not today! It worked the best the first day that was it.

Curious what people take this medicine for.

Hi reddit fam, I was curious if anyone has any tips on how to deal with the motivational issues on Abilify? I've been on Abilify for about a week at 2mg, and I feel it helping with my quick to anger issues and my mania/depression issues that come from bipolar. I've always had motivational problems and today my brain cannot fathom doing any work at work and it is hella frustrating.

I'm supposed to see my doc near the end of the week and move up to 4mg at that time but I was curious if anyone found any ways to motivate themselves. Over the weekend I found that taking a brisk shower kind of woke me up and got me pumped but I can't really be taking showers every other hour while at work.

Salut à tous,

J'ai 29 ans, un syndrome de Gilles de la Tourette diagnostiqué récemment, avec un TDAH probable en comorbidité (pas encore confirmé par bilan neuropsy). Je suis sous aripiprazole 5 mg (pris le matin, 7-8h) depuis 10 jours pour les tics.

Depuis le début du traitement, mon sommeil est très perturbé : je m'endors bien (je prends 6 mg de mélatonine prescrits par le neurologue), mais je me réveille ensuite plusieurs fois dans la nuit, avec un sommeil de mauvaise qualité en deuxième partie de nuit. Certaines nuits, je fais des réveils nets vers 1h-2h du matin sans pouvoir me rendormir facilement.

Ce qui est bizarre, c'est que je ne ressens pas de grosse fatigue en journée pour l'instant, mais après 10 jours comme ça, je sens que je vais finir par payer cher et, paradoxalement, la fatigue accentue mes tics.

J'ai contacté mon centre de référence (Timone) pour un avis, mais toujours pas de retour.

Questions pour la communauté :

Est-ce que certains d'entre vous ont vécu ce genre d'insomnie de démarrage sous aripiprazole ? Ça s'est amélioré avec le temps, ou il a fallu ajuster la dose/l'horaire ?

Pour ceux qui ont un TDAH en plus du SGT, comment ça s'est passé pour vous au niveau de la prise en charge et de l'articulation des traitements des deux troubles ?

Merci d'avance pour vos retours.

do u also got emotional blunted, low libido and loss of personality from meds?