I tried Abilify and it almost sent me to ER. I am sure that’s a rare case.

I am on 5mg of Abilify along with 20mg of Lexapro per day. The Abilify made, for me, the Lexapro more effective. I had mild side effects when I started, mainly dizziness, but I have none presently.

I was on abilify for awhile and it caused me to have
Suicidal thoughts.

@desirea

Lyrica put me in the hospital for a few days when I tried it.

Jim

I am sorry to hear that @jimhd.

@desirea, Was the almost ER visit related to thoughts you were having or some other physical symptoms?

I have just began taking abilify for what my psych thinks, in addition to my anxiety and depression, she would add OCPD and ADHD to my diagnosis. It is causing higher blood sugar, blood pressure spikes, and an almost chronically elevated pulse rate. Has anyone experienced similar feelings and does it get better as your body adjusts to the drug?

Hi, @gman007 — thanks for sharing your journey with Aripiprazole (abilify) so far. The side effects you mentioned would get my attention, too.

I merged your post with this other one, as members here are talking about this medication and experiences with it.

I'm hoping some members who have mentioned this medication, like @paulaselbe @jay_baruch @jimhd @lafaye @godsgirl1969 @desirea @jess123 @lilgrizz, might join in and comment about whether they, too, had higher blood sugar, blood pressure spikes and elevated pulse rate with this medication.

Has your doctor weighed in at all about these side effects so far, @gman007?

Yes, I did try Abilify and I felt so bad mentally that I almost went to ER, it was that bad.

I ended up with serotonin syndrome…

Thanks Lisa, she wanted me to definitely not increase my abilify and if these side effects do not ease up, we will try something else. She also wants a report every couple of days. She also made a change to my benzo script short term as I came off klonopin much too fast. On my next visit, she is gonna do a DNA swab to see if that points us to a medication that would be better suited to me for my depression. I will update as time goes by.

@lafaye Abilify did the same to me as well as serotonin syndrome. I was told to give my body time to adjust. Being the compliant patient-All I really need now is an attitude adjustment and some VERY good headphones to obliterate noise pollution.
I am sorry this medication did this to you. Thank you for stating thus as it is reassuring to know I was not the only one with suicidal thoughts with Abilify. This was in 2008, but I remember that medicinal induced nightmare. Being repetitive-we are not all wired the same.

Wow, @gman007 — sounds like you are blessed with a really good doctor who is very on top of things.

Please do update about how the side effects with the Aripiprazole (Abilify) go and if they get better for you. Have you had the experience before of having rough side effects in the first few weeks with a medication that eventually simmered down?

Would also be great to hear about how the DNA swab process goes for you.

@lisalucier; yes I have been blessed with some very caring and involved physicians. I have had to do some filtering, but usually end up with those that seem to be good matches for me. The one exception is my pain management doc who is treating everyone as a druggie and basing treatment on what the DEA is saying at any point in time and that is very sad for patients who will be in pain for the remainder of their lives absent some miracles of medicine. I am also excited/interested to see the results of the swab. I have never had major side effects when beginning a new med, but this is complicated by withdrawal from klonopin and even though I am taking another benzo, they are not all the same in terms of targeted symptoms, strength, half-lifes, etc…so we'll see about the simmering down of side effects.

I am on 15mg of ability right now, it works great for my bipolar disorder. Im the most stable I've been in years.