Posted by always_doing_laundry on March 29, 2009, at 16:45:32
In reply to Re: Has anyone NOT gained weight on Abilify? » dcruik518, posted by CareBear04 on March 23, 2009, at 19:35:44
My son has been on Abilify 10 mg for at least 3 years. We have tapered off, then gone back on, twice and can report the following observations:
On Abilify, he has night-eating episodes for which he has no memory that are particularly high in carbs (maybe by coincidence or maybe not). He also craves carbs more during waking hours. Maybe independent of the eating or maybe not, even his fasting blood-sugar is high; he has frequent urination; and he weighs 5-10 pounds more.
Even at a tapered dose of 2.5 mg, the weight drops back to his baseline and the bingeing improves/disappears.
Unfortunately, without Abilify at the higher dose, the obsessive features and fears associated with his PDD-spectrum disorder diagnosis ... re-appear, and it interrupts with his daily and social functioning. There also is an agitation/mood factor that Abilify smooths out that reappears w/o it.
We have decided to just monitor the blood-sugar issues and work with the waking diet and exercise as much as possible. Abilify helps him seem "normal"/no more than just quirky ... w/o it, he seems markedly symptomatic.
He also takes Concerta, so the stimulant may offset some weight gain.
poster:always_doing_laundry
thread:886190
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090322/msgs/887625.html