Posted by MoparFan91 on September 1, 2005, at 7:25:56
I'm Bipolar Ultrarapid/Ultradian cycling w/ OCD. I currently take Lamictal 300mg and Topamax (Going to 100mg).
I've been on 2.5-5mg of Abilify for over a month or so. Minimal side fx except for some insomnia and very mild akathisia at times on 5mg. I was on 10mg/day one other time, and side effects were intolerable.
Abilify had a good pleasant antidepressant effect and postive effect on motivation early on, for like the first week, in this trial. However, as I started to take it longer, I started to get some bad negative effects from the drug. They were the following:
Changes in perceptions and ways of thinking
Warped thinking
Extreme guilt feelings
Fear
Thinking that my employers are out on a conspiracy against me
Some occasional feelings of rage
Constantly second guessing things I was doing/saying
Fear of people/increased social phobia
Unbelievable agitation
Anxiety beyond belief
Paranoia (thinking that others were saying cruel things about me or talking behind my back)
Dysphoric mode
Ultra-sensitivity to stimuli such as sounds/sights
Noises seem amplified
Mad as a hornet and argumentative
Irritability
Emotional lability at timesYes, this is basically what appears to be schizophrenic-like symptoms that are drug-induced. I wasn't having these before Abilify. I was more care-free and laid back around people and didn't really have those feelings hardly. I had just the severe depression at times with occasional suicidal ideation. Overall, these symptoms really interfered with my job, and I had to take a leave of absence from work. Due to missing too many issues I've had, I will have to be moved to a different department at my job.
All of these symptoms above were magnified a little when Luvox (which I stopped the other week) was mixed with the Abilify. We replaced Luvox with Topamax.
Well, I stopped taking the Abilify as of today. I talked with my doctor last evening and he said to discontinue (at least for now).
Ok here's the skippy: Abilify at that dose has the following functions:
Dopamine D2 agonist (due to preferential D2 antagonism at autoreceptors)
Dopamine D3 agonist
Serotonin 5-HT1A agonist
Serotonin 5-HT2A antagonistIt seems like those aformentioned symptoms above are happening due to excessive elevations in my dopamine levels due to Abilify's D2/D3 agonism. Now, there's my problem, most likely. Althougth dopamine is implicated to be the "Pleasure chemical", for me, at least in this case, it seems to be the "fear chemical" or the "emotional pain chemical". Basically, it's like my bad feelings are being amplified. I read somewhere that dopamine is implicated in fear, libido, and sensitivity. All in all, we really shouldn't be tampering with my dopamine that much.
This experience is what got me attracted to GABA supplements. I experimented with taking GABA bonded with Niacinamide and Inositol, and that helped calm me down. For a while, I had to take that 4 times a day just to keep me calm and keep my brain from going into overdrive. GABA keeps dopamine in check.
Here's the good side of Abilify for me:
The Serotonin 5-HT1A agonism and 5-HT2A antagonism components of Abilify gave me the antidepressant effect and got me out of the deep depression. That was probably responsible for the initial good response.Now, what I would want to do is find a drug that would selectively do those two things meaning a drug like Abilify that doesn't tamper with my dopamine.
Something that I might want to do is ask my doctor about add the following 2 herbs: Dong-Qaui which has 5-HT1A agonist propertes (like Abilify and Geodon), and Feverfew which has 5-HT2A antagonist properties (like all of the atypical antipsychotics). Linkadge mentioned about them on the alternative board.
Does anyone know of a drug that selectively does 5-HT1A agonism and 5-HT2A antagonism without messing with dopamine (or norepinephrine for that matter)?
Anyone ever had a similar problems with Abilify or any other dopamine drug such as Mirapex, Wellbutrin, Selegeline, any MAOI, etc. for that matter?
poster:MoparFan91
thread:549604
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050901/msgs/549604.html