Has anyone successfully withdrawn from Abilify?

My son age 13 has gained a significant amount of weight on Abilify. He’s taking 2mg now. We would like to wean him off but the pill is not scored. Are there 1mg tablets? Has anyone had success weaning their child from this medication ? Thank you!

Hi, I am on 30mgs per day.

I cannot even imagine trying to come off.

The only thing I can say is ask your provider if there is something you can take that will ease the symptoms, don't suffer.

About seven or eight weeks ago, I quit a combination of Abilify and Effexor in a moment of near-suicidal rage. I'm diagnosed bipolar 2, and there's some evidence that Effexor can lead to rapid cycling with this condition. Apparently this is what it did to me. I was in a depressive cycle when I acted rashly. But I also genuinely feel both drugs were making me worse. So my experience was coming off both at once, cold turkey. I cannot entirely say what aspects of my withdrawal (which lasted about a month) were caused by Effexor (which is a monster to quit), and what parts of were me coming off of Abilfy. But the Abilify had stripped me of my personality. Even my psychiatrist, the last time I saw her before abruptly quitting both drugs, sounded ready to take me off of it because I'd become such a zombie. It's a problematic drug. It definitely stabilized me right when I needed it, so I'm not exactly against it. But a few months on it were pretty detrimental to my state of mind. Even my wife told me I wasn't myself anymore. I was just walking around in a haze.

I've been off both drugs for nearly eight weeks now. I do feel like I have my personality back (and that loss was definitely Abilify, as soon as I went on it last fall I began going flat), but I don't advise quitting like I did. It's not medically advised and it wasn't fun (I'm pretty belligerent when I want to do something, which is why I was able to ride it out). I do wish doctors would do a better job of telling patients what they can expect if they go off a drug. I was never told what would happen with either. The Effexor had been prescribed long ago by a different doctor, so it was a legacy drug after my fairly recent diagnosis. My psychiatrist added Abilify to the mix, but I didn't really know the side effects. She did a better job of explaining the good and bad on the one she put me on about five weeks ago, which is a different class of pharmaceutical entirely. I wasn't ready to be medication-free, but this time I felt I made an informed choice. Whatever drug they're giving you, be sure to ask about what happens if you need to quit it. Because this is a game of trial and error, and you might need to get off the drug (as happened to you with Abilify). So you want to be sure going in that it's a good idea. It's hard and discouraging sometimes, but you have to advocate for yourself. That's the system, unfortunately.

I hope you're able to see the other side of this. It can be miserable.

Hi,

I recently stopped Abilify, with my doc’s guidance. It’s been rough. Nausea, fatigue, mood swings, and heavy depression and anxiety. I’m considering ketamine infusion therapy. Has anyone had an experience with ketamine, and doing it during drug withdrawal? I see my doc on Wednesday, but would love to hear from others. Thank you.

I would love to know more about this therapy as well. Hope you can get some feedback for all of us who are interested in alternative treatments.

@joy1976 It's great that you have an appointment with your prescribing doctor in a few days.

I've done a lot of reading in reliable and valid sources (peer-reviewed research literature and university websites) about ketamine infusion. I don't know anyone personally who has had ketamine infusions. Ketamine is not FDA approved for mental health at this point in time. From what I have read in the research literature there haven't been enough well-controlled clinical trials conducted to know about the effectiveness of ketamine infusions.

Have you reviewed the research literature on ketamine? Here is my go-to site at Johns Hopkins University:

What to know about ketamine from Johns Hopkins University:

-- https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2024/what-to-know-about-ketamine

Will you talk with your doctor about your interest in ketamine infusion?

I had 6 ketamine Infusions a couple years ago. It didn't help with my severe depression and anxiety. It still is worth a try for people with severe depression

One thing everyone should know is that it may take you on a weird audio and or hallucinatory trip. The trips got worse after 3 increasing doses . I got through the 6 doses only because I could open my eyes and see that I was still in the room. If an infusion gets too wacky you can quit at any time. Also ketamine is not fda approved for depression.

Thank you for the link, I’ll check it out. Yeah, I’m going to bring it up at the appt. But here’s the thing…the office that does my medication mgmt? They also do ketamine infusion therapy, lol. So that makes me wonder 🤔. I trust my doctor, but I’m going to keep that in mind as I try to find out more. We will see (nervous laughter).

Oh thank you for your message. I have no experience with ketamine or any other psychedelics, so I appreciate you sharing yours. Prev when I read about ketamine, it seemed as if it’s useful as a crisis intervention. I’m not there, yet. But I don’t know how this abilify withdrawal is going to pan out. I feel like every day, it gets more intense. I will def keep your suggestions in mind as I continue to ponder. I like the idea of doing it at home tho. My best friend is pretty versed on this subject and she’s shown interest in helping me too.
😻

I’m sorry it wasn’t helpful That’s a bummer, because it isn’t cheap.
I’ll def keep what you’re saying in mind. Thank you for the information/feedback :).