Posted by SLS on December 29, 2008, at 7:24:11
In reply to Re: Abilify - Low Dose (5mg) for Depression? (nm), posted by grock$ on December 20, 2008, at 12:19:24
I have been pretty lucky when choosing my doctors. The doctor who put me on Abilify started me at 20mg. He told me that I might as well get through the side effects and allow them to pass. He said that the low dosages would not be any kinder to me with respect to side effects. He was right about 20mg being an ideal dosage to initiate therapy with. The only side effect I experienced was some restlessness.
It takes quite a few days for a dosage of Abilify to reach equilibrium. If nothing else, 20mg makes a good loading dose. Abilify has a half-life of 72 hours.
Is it necessary to break through an individual's therapeutic window for the side effects to dissipate? I keep hoping that people will react better to the higher starting dosages like I have. However, it is possible that my need for 20mg is a characteristic of my idiosyncratic bipolar diathesis. My observations in a population of 150 mentally ill patients is that 10-30 is the dosage range used for both affective and schizoid disorders. Only one person did I see develop true akathisia. I didn't see any of the type of incidents at the program that are reported here commonly as negative reactions to 2-5mg of Abilify.
Again, it is my hope that many more people could be helped by Abilify if it were taken at higher dosages. 10mg is too low for me to glean an antidepressant effect. 20mg seems to be just right. 30mg would probably be unnecessary, but I never experimented with it. I haven't had the need. I feel pretty wonderful.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:336016
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20081223/msgs/871267.html