Hello everyone,

I am new here and I decided to join after reading all of the wonderful helpful posts I saw so many other people on here posting. I am sorry this is so long, but I would really be extremely thankful if anybody could give me a few suggestions or help in any way...

Maybe someone can help me here too, I am so desperate I don't know what to do; I don't think my doctor knows how to help me because I have such difficulties accurately communicating exactly what it is I'm feeling (and part of the problem also is the fact that I get so nervous during my appointments with him, I often leave out very important information or inaccurately describe something, or say something I didn't mean and couldn't figure out how to take it back)...

I'm a 20 year old college student; I have Asperger's, but it was only recently diagnosed so I've been suffering frustratedly for years with incorrect diagnoses and medications...I feel so happy to have finally found an accurate diagnosis to my problems, however, I still have not found exactly the right therapy and treatment...

One of my main problems is that I've always suffered very badly from severe bouts of anxiety and nervousness repeatedly. Sometimes I experience the anxiety around large crowds or during exams, which is to be expected, but I also experience it a lot during other strange times of the day, like when nothing particularly important or nerve-racking is going on. It is just a very bad general nervous and distressing feeling that constantly plagues me. It bothers me so much that I can't even carry on a normal day because I am worrying or feeling very irritated so much. I also have difficulties with attention and concentration, and also irregular periods of mania and depression.

So far I've been prescribed Abilify (I am not sure what exactly it is supposed to treat, either anxiety or mania) and med's for ADD to help with concentration and attention. My memory and attention problems have definitely improved, but my anxiety has not gotten any better, and since my experience with Abilify, it's gotten worse. After I had been taking 2 mg Abilify when I first started it, I was bumped up to 5 mg, then 10 mg. At 10 mg, I had an adverse reaction so bad, I had to go to the ER. It was the most frightening experience I've ever had, I can't even describe the symptoms, it was like akathisia (like VERY INTENSE nervousness, paranoia, jitteriness, inability to sleep, eat, talk with anyone) in its most extreme, with facial and neck tics and throat swelling, hands tingling, dizziness, etc... The hospital staff was terrible, they did not take me seriously; they gave me a little Benadryl and just instructed me to keep taking the Abilify as usual (I had the better sense to stop it, anyway). For the next 2 weeks, I felt so absolutely terrible, all I could do was lay in bed doped up on Benadryl and sleeping aids, waiting for the medication to wear off. It was like this never-ending, overpowering sense of dread and impending doom and extreme malaise; my mother had to give me some of her sleeping pills because I was so frightened to let myself fall asleep from the disturbing fear that I was going to die in my sleep or go into a coma and never wake up.

Needless to say, I was so scared by this episode that I was too terrified to try the Abilify again, even at its lowest dose. I tried a few other antipsychotic medications (I stayed the longest on Seroquel but eventually stopped it because of the weight gain), also I tried Wellbutrin and Lamictal (before I had seen this psychiatrist, in the past I had tried over a dozen different medications (Zoloft, Effexor, Lexapro, Prozac, Remeron, and so many others that I can;t even remember!) None of these worked as well as the Abilify did for the very short period of time I was taking it. So, I decided to try it again in very small and gradual increments, but even then I started experiencing slight muscle tightness and general uneasiness and anxiety. My doc gave me Cogentin for the muscle tightness but this does not seem to help with the anxiety and nervousness Abilify gives me. Lately, I've stopped taking the Abilify, despite the beneficial long-term effects it gives me. I have since become scared of starting it back up for fear I will experience another bad reaction like I did over a year ago.

Now I do not know what to take for my anxiety, which is definitely the biggest problem for me now. I don't know if I should continue on the Abilify since it helps stabilize me and prevents me from feeling so depressed or manic and hysterical. But if I do stay on it, I would definitely need some other medication in combination with it to help with both the nervousness the medicine produces and my general high anxiety and tension I experience naturally. So far I have not found anything to help with this unpredictable anxiety.

I was wondering, does anybody else here also take Abilify, and if so, have you ever experienced any of these same symptoms? Does anybody take Abilify in combination with some other med(s) to help with anxiety? I was thinking that if I stopped the Abilify, what other non-antipsychotic medication might help with my constant nervousness and irritability? I say non-antipsychotic because I've already tried too many of the other antipsychotics and I seem to experience too many side effects for them to be beneficial. I don't know if I should be on some sort of long-term mood stabilizer, if there is such a thing, because that's the effect in the Abilify that seemed to help me so much. I really don't think SSRI's are strong enough, and antipsychotics give me side effects similar to what I experience naturally!! But, I don't know, that's why I'm hoping anyone with even a few of these symptoms or experiences will be able to give me any advice! I really hope someday I will be able to find the correct combinations of medication to help me carry on normally in life, because I know they're out there somewhere.

Thanks so much for listening if you have made it this far, ha ha!...I would really appreciate any form of advice or suggestions form anyone's own personal experiences. I could talk privately through email or messaging with someone if anyone would want that also. Thanks to everyone in advance!! :)

Hi Rylan,

At one time my pDoc had me try Abilify to augment my treatment for dysthymia and Anxiety/Panic Disorder. No specific side effects, nor did they seem to be doing anything for me either.

And I take mirtazapine (Remeron) for the anxiety piece and it works great for me. From what you have said, perhaps if you can too find something for the anxiety/nervousness, then you could ask your doctor to try the Abilify (at a low dose) again for the positive results that you initially experienced. Of course, now that you are nervous about taking it, you might find it difficult to take any dose without some apprehension.

In the mean time, it is too bad that it seemed so wonderful for you at first only to backfire at higher doses. I am blessed, my pDoc has an advanced degree (PhD) in Psychopharmacology which he teaches at Stanford University, and he is an advocate of stopping dose increases when the desire effect has been obtained. And only when the benefits start to wane does he consider upping the dose a little more. In other words, he tailors one dosage to effect rather than the recommended "therapeutic" dose.

Keep us posted, I look forward to watching your road to recovery, no matter how small the steps. This is a caring community, you will find that to be true that longer you stick around. There is a lot of information to be found here, we have an articles library and each forum has pinned (hte push pin icon) topics that are very useful. Have you seen the 'wikipedia' article on AS? PM me if you have any trouble finding it.

Peace and Love.... wayne

Hi Rylan,

I'm new here too. I've taken Abilify for several months for depression. I also have anxiety and panic. My cocktail for depression and anxiety is: Abilify, Zoloft, Klonopin, Tenormin.

The akathesia is a side effect of Abilify for some people. It hasn't happened to me though. I really haven't had any side effects, except for a little dopey feeling every time I up the dose. I just started on 15 mg yesterday. My counselor/nurse practitioner said that the movement issues go away after a little while if a person can stay on Abilify. But it sounds like you had an allergic reaction to it, if you had swelling of your tongue and throat? I'd definitely ask my doc or pharmacist about that immediately.

I don't have ADD or Asperger's, but the combo of meds that I'm on is working pretty well for my anxiety. Do you have a lot of racing heart and adrenaline feelings? Tenormin (atenolol) is great for that. Zoloft and the other SSRI meds are great for anxiety also. I've been on all of them and found them to be about the same. If you're bipolar though, you'd have to take an SSRI with care. Now if I could only find something more effective for my depression ... Anyway, some long-term mood stabilizers that you might want to ask about (non-antipsychotic) are Lithium, Depakote, Lamictal.

Hope some of this has been of help. Best wishes to you!

This post has been edited by fuzzbuzzle: May 4 2008, 09:00 AM

I know there's a med out there called Cogentin that takes down the side effect that you are describing from the Abilify. I don't think you would want to stay on a med with such serious side effects unless there was a med out there to counteract the side effects. I'm also wondering if there's another med in the same catagory that you could try that didn't have such bad side effects. I think a talk with the doc about this would be in order. I have had to deal with anxiety, and I know how seriously it can impact us and derail our ability to move on with our lives! In my book it can effect some of us just as seriously as depression!

Jackie

Try Piracetam.

Talk to your doc first