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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by n_shrimpie on February 6, 2012, at 12:16:34
I started abilify 2 mg two weeks ago, and one week in upped it to 5mg (3 days ago). I did feel like i was crawling out of my skin for the first 10 days, but my motivation increased tenfold. however, today i'm feeling much calmer but totally unmotivated, and on the 5 mg i've had bad insomnia. why am i less motivated and more tired on the lower dose? now that my blood levels are closer to 5mg (takes 2 weeks for dosage to reach blood level)i feel tired and unmotivated. also on 10mg prozac and 400 mg lamictal.
Posted by Christ_empowered on February 6, 2012, at 17:45:10
In reply to abillify/lamictal dosage, posted by n_shrimpie on February 6, 2012, at 12:16:34
Abilify is an antipsychotic. Also, it has a long half life, so the dose tends to build up in your system. Really, really low doses are good for depression; if you push it too high, it becomes more of a tranquilizer, and you lose motivation.
Posted by mellow on February 6, 2012, at 23:52:18
In reply to abillify/lamictal dosage, posted by n_shrimpie on February 6, 2012, at 12:16:34
The 400mg Lamictal probably isn't helping you much in the energy department either. That's not an obscene amount of Lamictal, but most doctors target their dose at 200mg.
I wonder if the abilify at 5mg is amplifying the effects of the other drugs perhaps. Web MD has a free interaction checker. You could see if any of your drugs raise the blood level of the others. It's a fine line with antipsychotics. You have to find the sweet spot that controls symptoms, but doesn't make you exhausted.
good luck
mellow
Posted by stewie on February 10, 2012, at 14:27:00
In reply to Re: abillify/lamictal dosage, posted by Christ_empowered on February 6, 2012, at 17:45:10
I THINK that 1 mg of Abilify just may be helping with the depression for me.
I felt happy on 5 mgs several years ago, but could not handle the akathisia I developed.
Even 2 mgs were making me kind of hyped up in a bad way. But 1 mg...not too bad. It still gives me mad insomnia, and vistaril, klonopin,neurontin -- they do nothing for insomnia now :(.
I have had to resort to a muscle relaxer that my husband has (it starts with a "t"). I get a few hours of sleep with it... in the end, I guess I average about 5 hrs/night. I would like more because coffee is tearing up my stomach!
But it is pretty cool to feel less dark and heavy. I didn't even know how depressed I had become. I stopped trying with meds for about a year. I had previously been on lamictal and celexa, which pooped out several times in my life.
So maybe the low dose abilify really can help. I might have to try and go lower and see if it helps me to sleep. I do need more sleep....> Abilify is an antipsychotic. Also, it has a long half life, so the dose tends to build up in your system. Really, really low doses are good for depression; if you push it too high, it becomes more of a tranquilizer, and you lose motivation.
This is the end of the thread.
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