People for whom Abilify has stopped working, is your baseline worse than before you started?

[serafim]

There was a poll in the Abilify FB group according to which 58% of the users for whom Abilify stopped working are worse than before they started it, with only a few people being better. It’s hard to follow up with those who responded to the poll because i assume many of them have left the group. So i thought i’d ask here.

Btw. i started LDA two weeks ago and experienced an almost immediate improvement in sensory sensitivity, but not much beyond that. I’m taking extremely low doses once every other day because it causes restlessness and agitation if i take too much. It definitely feels like a stimulant on days when i take it. Interestingly, it seems to improve my insomnia, in that i’m able to fall asleep an hour or two earlier, but it also makes me wake up earlier, less groggy. And it’s giving me stress dreams almost every night. All in all i am still very severe but able to tolerate screens, audio and conversation more

 

[hapl808]

I'm interesting in LDA, but still concerned about stuff like that as I wonder about lasting effects if it doesn't work well for me. Curious how it goes for you. If I could just work on focused tasks on the computer and talk on the phone more without watching my energy, that would be a huge QoL improvement for me. But anything that made me worse might make it hard for me to care for myself (and I have no help, so that's pretty critical).

 

[Treeman]

My wife took it for about 3 months and when she stopped she retained the improvements she had made. Good luck

 

[serafim]

But anything that made me worse might make it hard for me to care for myself (and I have no help, so that's pretty critical).

i understand your concern. it’s a risky medication. it’s very easy to overdo it and crash, which probably accounts for at least some of the cases of people getting worse.

 

[Dude]

My wife took it for about 3 months and when she stopped she retained the improvements she had made. Good luck

Same here, for some weeks it had a profound effect. But then stopped working. But it had increased my baseline to the point where iam able to work for 18h a week. Definitly recommend. Ron Davis said that about 2/3 of People react positivly.

 

[serafim]

@Dude did you continue to take it after the first few weeks or did you quit it?

 

[Dude]

@Dude did you continue to take it after the first few weeks or did you quit it?

It took a few days to kick in. And as far as i remember, worked for liked 4-5 weeks. My sleep got worse again and i thought thats it. Ill then stopped taking it. But stayed at a relativly good level. Not to make false hope, iam still really sick compared to normal people and i mostly work at home. But before that i couldnt even sit straight in chair for more than an hour.

 

[datadragon]

Decreases in levels of dopamine transporter may contribute to lower dopamine function and depression. Perhaps you can consider to try Zinc alongside the meds. Zinc Glycinate may be a good choice for when inflammation levels are high), In the research, The dopamine transporter (DAT) is regulated by Zinc which directly interacts with the protein. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19000913/ This may also help with Vitamin B6, Butyrate and others that also are involved with dopamine where the issue is stemming from. I think for many the issue is attempting to fix/target only the dopamine and not attempting to fix the pathways leading to its decrease alongisde many other separate downstream effects.

Here are some additional info on abilify mechanism of action. A partial dopamine agonist can be considered to be a dopamine modulator adjusting dopamine levels depending on whether they are too high or low (the dimmer switch effect or Goldilocks effect). Also note that the cytochrome P450 enzymes are involved in the drugs metabolism which is why there is a potential for some people to have negative reactions since these enzymes are affected during inflammation as mentioned here previously https://forums.phoenixrising.me/thr...ry-and-improvement-stories.80502/post-2438679 and https://forums.phoenixrising.me/thr...ons-to-ssri-class-of-drugs.11211/post-2444130