Question:
I went to my pdoc today in a sorry, sorry state. My medication
regimen of Neurontin, Topomax, Lithium, Klonopin, and Remeron is doing
nothing, and I've been suicidal for weeks and psychotic for the past
few days. I have reason to believe that I am on too many mood
stabilizers, because sometimes if you're on too many, it can stabilize
you too low. Anyway, he put me on that new drug Abilify today. I
can't find much info on it, other than it is new and that it is mainly
used on schizophrenics. Is anybody here on it? Anybody know any good
information on it...like mainly, could it help with my suicidal
thoughts?
Answer:
Try a search on google. I was able to find some information about it there.
I know most of the info is regarding schizophrenia but it probably can cross
over to BP like the atypicals. Hope things get better for you. It sounds
like you are in a scary place right now. Abilify supposedly has the least side effects without the ballooning
and weight gain
I know several people diagnosed with Schizoaffective disorder who have
been put on abilify.
They are hopeful and grateful to be off the other drugs.
They have reported nausea, some anxiety ,grouchyness and irritability,
but seem happy to continue and are doing OK
The most commonly reported adverse events with an incidence of greater
than 15 percent and
greater than placebo in short-term clinical trials with Abilify were
headache (32
percent), anxiety (25 percent) and insomnia (24 percent ). For more
information, please
see full prescribing information.
http://www.healthyplace.com/Communities/Thought_Disorders/schizo/news... Abilify, the new schizophrenia drug, could represent a breakthrough
for the 2.4 million Americans suffering from the disease.
Abilify was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on
Friday and could be in pharmacies two weeks from now. The drug, which
was invented by Japan's Otsuka Pharmaceuticals and co-marketed by New
York City-based Bristol-Myers Squibb has much less severe side effects
than current anti-psychotic treatments. Better yet, it works
differently than existing drugs--leading some researchers to call it a
breakthrough.
"The side-effect profile looks amazingly clean," says Jeffrey A.
Lieberman, vice chair of psychiatry at the University of North
Carolina in Chapel Hill Medical School. "It's almost
too-good-to-be-true clean."
Abilify, or aripiprazole, doesn't appear to cause weight gain like Eli
Lilly's Zyprexa, nor does it stiffen muscles like Johnson & Johnson's
Risperdal. It also doesn't cause the cardiac rhythm disturbances that
have plagued another entrant, Pfizer's Geodon.
That's good news, especially given some studies showing that one-fifth
of all patients go off their medicines because of side effects. But
clinicians like Lieberman and George Washington University's David
Daniel are excited for another reason. They say Abilify is a new kind
of schizophrenia medicine--only the third such advance in more than 50
years.
One of the main ways schizophrenia drugs differ is in how they inhibit
a brain receptor for dopamine, a key neurotransmitter that is
overactive in some parts of a schizophrenic's brain. The oldest drugs,
like Haldol and thorazine, clomp onto the receptor like glue,
completely shutting it down so tenaciously that they work for some
time after patients stop taking them. Second-generation drugs
introduced in the 1990s stick to the receptor some of the time, but
not always.
Abilify sticks to the receptor but does not shut it off entirely.
Instead of turning the patient's overactive dopamine receptor off, it
dims it a bit. This should, at least in theory, make patients' brains
function much more like those of healthy people.
There may be a big therapeutic upside. Serious symptoms like
psychosis, hallucinations, voices and an inability to distinguish
fantasy from reality are treated by existing drugs--perhaps more
powerfully than by Abilify. But schizophrenics also suffer from
depression and an inability to feel emotion--symptoms that existing
anti-psychotic drugs don't treat. By making the dopamine thermostat
more normal, Abilify seems to treat the second set of symptoms as
well.
One qualitative aspect of the drug is that many of the patients will
experience a sense of becoming alert, in touch and connected to other
people," says Daniel. "These are the patients whose families will tell
you that you've given their son or daughter back."
Donald Hayden, who heads Bristol's American division, sees this
difference as one of Abilify's major selling points. Doctors emphasize
that no one drug will treat all schizophrenics and that psychiatrists
will take time to get used to prescribing Abilify. At first, it will
probably be used for patients who went off their pills because of side
effects or for whom other medicines didn't work. At some point,
however, it may be the drug doctors reach for when confronted with a
new case of schizophrenia.
"Ultimately," says Lieberman, "if it works like it's advertised and
like the studies indicate, then it's a strong candidate for first-line
treatment because you're putting people on it and never exposing them
to side effects."
If you participated in the Abilify clinical trials or have comments on
this new schizophrenia drug, how about sharing them on our bulletin
board.
More on Abilify:
"Abilify" (Aripiprazole) Gets FDA Approval
Bristol's Schizophrenia Drug, Abilify, Gets Conditional OK
"Abilify" (Aripiprazole) Antipsychotic Drug; Pre Approval Data
Bristol-Myers's Antipsychotic Produces Fewer Side Effects
Bristol-Myers: Aripiprazole Effective vs Schizophrenia
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Daddy, what does "FORMATTING DRIVE C:....." mean ? So far all it's doing is making me unbearably nauseous. exercise really helped me when i was younger. before the s
"caught" me and put me on meds. haven't been able to get off them.
don't waste your time telling me all the problems with going off meds.
i'm diagnosed with bipolar, but i'm looking into schizoaffective. i
just started taking abilify today. causing a little nausia already. the s are not s, I thought that once, I also thought I wished
I had never been "caught". However had I not hit that saftey net I may well
have hit that ground with full force and I would not be here now talking to
you and living life. life has its ups, it has its downs we just feel them
harder than some. Once I was almost nothing, now I am something more I thank
those you and I both called s once.
