Question on the drug "abilify" ?

Question

In early 2006, January, my aunt died

It devastaed my family and myself, at the time I was on olanzapine but was feeling its effects wearing off.

At the end of 2006, I was put on abilifiy, but I still have rarely taken it for the year I am supposed to have because of the side effects I felt.

However, now I am noticing I am getting extremely angry and painfully unhappy, a serious lack of peace.

I am even feeling suicidal, althoguh I don't think I will go through with it.

My question is, is the abilifiy likely to alleivate my pain to some extenet and should I begin taking it immediately? Because I feel unhappy 24 7 and have broke down privtaely a few times

I can't concentrate, I can't function, i worry over everything, I feel everybody has it in for me.

I don't know how much of this is true and accurate or how much I am imagining

Sometimes think it would be easier just to jump off a building

thanks......

thanks xxxx

Answer 1

Side effects suck in general... but suicidality sucks more. Take the Abilify and give it a few days for the side effects to lessen. I know they're horrible but you're in a pretty bad space and you can always go off the Abilify later if you need to. Meantime, let your prescribing psych or your therapist know what you're going through. You're in dangerous territory when your'e having some suicidal thoughts, feelings that people are against you, and some major upheaval in your life. Take care of yourself, you never know what good things life has in store for you.

Answer 2

Abilify helps me as an antipsychotic not as an antidepressant or antianxiety med. It keeps away the delusions, etc. It sounds like the Abilify may help you in some departments but I know that alone it is not enough for me. I was suicidal and having panic attacks everyday. I need to take a combination of Effexor, Klonopin and Abilify to feel stable. I think of Abilify as my 'anti-crazy' pill while the Effexor lessens my depression and suicidal feelings.

The initial side effects I had from Abilify were horrible. I needed to wait about 3 weeks and get up to 20 mg before I began to feel 'normal' again. I take 30 mg now and feel fine.

Answer 3

I can't tell you exactly how you'll react to taking Abilify. I've been taking it for a couple years and it helps a lot in conjunction with my other meds.

Side effects often wear off after the first few weeks of taking a new medication. If you're already miserable, why not start the Abilify and see if it helps. Either it'll help and you'll start feeling better, or it won't and you will have survived another several weeks feeling only slightly worse than you would have anyway. The only way to know if it will help you is to take it.