Abilify- Stanford Clinic Patients

[Hip]

Thanks, Hip. So Abilify, which is fluoxetine + olanzapine is actually one of the least offenders for sexual dysfunction.

Abilify is not fluoxetine plus olanzapine. Abilify is a drug in its own right.

Additionally, do we know if vulvodynia is considered sexual dysfunction?

I am not sure.

 

[junkcrap50]

Thanks, Hip. So Abilify, which is fluoxetine + olanzapine is actually one of the least offenders for sexual dysfunction.

Do we know if the rate of sexual dysfunction increases based on the number of total SSRI's one is on?



Additionally, do we know if vulvodynia is considered sexual dysfunction?

Since taking 30mg Lexapro (escitalopram) with Abilify I've noticed pain in my vulva. It definitely caught me by surprise and was a bit concerning as I'd never felt that before in my life.

I'm open to the fact the vulvodynia could however also just be part of my ME pain showing up in a different way.

Could be small fiber neuropathy. Vaginal pain is a symptom/presentaiton of SFN.

 

[Hufsamor]

Its real energy but for some it stops working. That has to do with the physiology of every single one. Not the dose or PEM or anything else. I read a ton of stories bc I wanted it to work again and all those factors really don't seem to matter. Pharmacokinetics and pharmacology itself are very complex and tolerance is not fully understood (occurs often in psych drugs - just at see antidepressants)

No explanation for anything here, I’m afraid, so not really helpful.
But I found it interesting nevertheless..

I read just today, an article about the story behind the movie “awakening”, and I came to think of the fact that abilify stops to work for some.

Awakenings" is based on the true story of Dr. Oliver Sacks, whose 1973 book depicts his drug experiments with L-Dopa (which stimulates the body's production of dopamine), which he undertook in the late '60s with survivors of a 1920s sleeping sickness epidemic.

The article I read was in Norwegian, but I’ll try to give a short summary for those who don’t know the story:
Some people who caught this sleeping sickness ended up comatose for the rest of their lives. This dr sack tried this drug which stimulates production of dopamine, and within a few hours, people came alive.
The drug had some terrible side effects, so some people decided to discontinue, and went back to coma.
For the rest, as far as I understand, the doc had to increase their dose all the time, and at the end it stopped working all together and they all went back to their previous state. And they where never able to wake them again.

luckily, the story about me/cfs and abilify is not the same, as it continues to work for some. And the two sicknesses have only a vague similarity.
But never the less…for some reason, stimulating dopamine production seems to be able to make wonders, but it might also stop to work completely, and if it does stop working, it might not be anything to do about it.

 

[Hipsman]

Anyone tried cycling abilify to avoid tolerance? I will try cycling abilify ON/OFF.

I started taking abilify at dose of 0.25mg 3 months ago, then worked up to 1mg around 2.5 months ago. I heard most people develop tolerance at around 4.5 months mark? Should I do 2 weeks on 2 weeks off?

 

[jaybee00]

No this is a bad idea—continued withdrawal from antipsychotics leads to kindling.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindling_(sedative–hypnotic_withdrawal)

 

[5vforest]

for whatever it's worth, my ME specialist suggested that i could try pulsing the Abilify. i am not going to do so, however. seems like a bad idea.

 

[TinaYesen]

Should I do 2 weeks on 2 weeks off?

Seconding this could be a bad idea. Be careful.

I lowered by just 0.5mg (from 1.5 to 1mg) recently and had horrible withdrawal (intense sweats, bedbound, suicidal ideation, intense stabbing head pain, no appetite, confusion, and more) for two weeks. It varies based on individual, time on Abilify, and the dosage, but withdrawal can be very intense.

Please proceed with great caution anyone trying on/off with Abilify.

https://mentalhealthdaily.com/2014/04/16/abilify-withdrawal-symptoms-how-long-do-they-last/

 

[sb4]

@TinaYesen Thats interesting. Has anybody else here had withdrawal coming off Abilify? I might come of it now as if I am experiencing any benefits they are rather mild.

 

[leokitten]

Anyone tried cycling abilify to avoid tolerance? I will try cycling abilify ON/OFF.

I started taking abilify at dose of 0.25mg 3 months ago, then worked up to 1mg around 2.5 months ago. I heard most people develop tolerance at around 4.5 months mark? Should I do 2 weeks on 2 weeks off?

We discussed it earlier in this thread or the Abilify tolerance thread that only successful anecdotal reports of cycling to reset tolerance are like 4-5 months on until tolerance and then at least 4-5 months off before going back on again

 

[jaybee00]

Yes, I had pretty serious withdrawal issues, with night sweats, heavy legs, nausea, etc. Similar to benzo withdrawal.

 

[leokitten]

Yes, I had pretty serious withdrawal issues, with night sweats, heavy legs, nausea, etc. Similar to benzo withdrawal.

When after stopping daily dosing did withdrawal effects start to appear?

 

[jaybee00]

It took a while for withdrawal effects to appear...several weeks--probably more than 3 weeks, likely due to long half life of Abilify.

 

[Martin aka paused||M.E.]

I did it cold turkey after 4 1/2 months and did not experience withdrawal symptoms. But I don't experience them from benzos either so I might have kind of a resistance to that.

 

[leokitten]

I’m almost 7 months on low dose Abilify and now I would say I’m starting to feel some significant tolerance or reduction in efficacy. It’s still working well though tolerance has been a very slowly increasing phenomenon, which is different than what many others have experienced. I’m going to take a break from Abilify for 6 months or so, see what happens, and see if I can restart with similar effects.

 

[Hipsman]

Sounds like I'm not going to try NO/OFF cycling abilify then.

Also, I wonder if ISRIB has the potential to reset abilify tolerance? I will try that if I develop tolerance...

 

[J.G]

I’m almost 7 months on low dose Abilify and now I would say I’m starting to feel some significant tolerance or reduction in efficacy. It’s still working well though tolerance has been a very slowly increasing phenomenon, which is different than what many others have experienced.

Well, that's a bummer. Aripiprazole tolerance seems inescapable for all but a very lucky few of us. If only we knew what the mechanism is - there may or may not be more to it than simple receptor desensitisation. What was / is your maximum dosage, @leokitten?

 

[gm286]

I also wish I knew — stopped and restarted the medication hoping it would work. Will update this thread when I wean off my 1ml I am currently taking if there are noticeable side effects. It simply isn’t doing much, if anything. It was miraculous when I started.

 

[leokitten]

I would say the main efficacy change, that at least in my illness strongly negatively affects the other ME symptoms, is related to sleep. After starting Abilify, my sleep immediately and suddenly went from bad ME disturbed and unrefreshing to pre-ME. I had totally forgotten how I used to sleep before ME since it’s been so many years so such a nice change.

I was getting sleepy at the right time, falling asleep really fast after getting tired, sleeping deeply, and waking up refreshed most days. This was with the help of sleep meds but I was using the same rotation of sleep meds pre-Abilify so nothing changed there.

That lasted consistently the first 3 months or so. Then I noticed that this started to change very slowly and become less consistent. So now at 7 months it’s become more or less back to pre-Abilify and while other ME symptoms still seem to be significantly improved by the drug, my sleep is bad again and that just ruins everything else no matter how much a drug is helping other symptoms.

 

[leokitten]

What was / is your maximum dosage, @leokitten?

0.75 mg. I didn’t want to go any higher because I think that would just buy some time until the same tolerance or do nothing at all.

 

[5vforest]

This will probably be controversial but for me personally, I almost wish I hadn’t started abilify. It is too depressing to have something work for about a month and then slowly go back to the way I was before. I also took up some hobbies that now I am pretty much unable to do once again.