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Abilify (aripiprazole). One of the more recent atypicals. Abilify can't make up its mind as to what it wants to do. Unlike all antipsychotics, be they atypical antipsychotics or standard antipsychotics, Abilfy blocks the D3 dopamine receptors instead of the D2 receptors, which explains why Abilify tends to be "activating" (i.e. it wakes you up) instead of sedating. Not only that it barely does anything as an antihistamine, and being Benadryl on steroids is one reason why other antipsychotics knock you out. Like most of the other atypical antipsychotics Abilify blocks the 5HT2A serotonin receptors.
Then Abilify gets weird. It is makes some of the D2 dopamine and 5HT1A serotonin receptors more sensitive to those neurotransmitters. The result? Like Geodon, Abilify is almost like Symbyax - a combination antipsychotic and antidepressant.
When they wrote "novel" in the PI sheet, they really meant it! One other thing that makes Abilify unique, and even more like Symbyax and its old-school precursor Etrafon / Triavil, is that Abilify is the only medication on the US market approved as an add-on to antidepressants to treat major depressive disorder. So it's FDA-blessed mix & match Symbyax for depression, while Symbyax is approved only for bipolar depression and most everybody has forgotten about Etrafon / Triavil.
You'd be better off trying this med in the morning instead of at bedtime like all the other antipsychotics. Best evaluated on a day off, just in case it turns out to be sedating after all, because it does hit serotonin and histamine receptors, albeit nowhere near . In addition to the usual side effects for antipsychotics, Abilify is known for eye twitches and this weird acidic burp that usually goes away.
Abilify's initial dose is 10-15 mg, taken once a day and you should wait at least two weeks before increasing the dose. Abilify has a maximum dosage of 30 mg a day.
Abilify has a half-life of 75 hours. As such you might be able to start out taking it every other day like I did.
Bristol-Myers-Squibb.
Full US Prescribing Information
UK Summary of Product Characteristics (What doctors read)
UK Patient Information Leaflet
Remedy Find rating of Abilify for Bipolar Disorder
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Created 16 November, 2003
Last updated Sunday, December 06, 2009
Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009 Jerod Poore. All rights reserved.
Almost all of the material on this site is copyright © 2003 - 2009 Jerod Poore. Except, of course, the PI sheets, those are the property of the drug companies who developed the drugs the sheets are about. And any documents that are written by other people which may be posted to this site will remain the property of the original authors. You cannot reproduce this page or any other material on this site outside of the boundaries of fair use copying without the express permission of the copyright holder. That's usually me, so just ask first. That means if want to print out a few pages to take to your doctor, therapist, counselor, support group, non-understanding family members or something like that - then that's OK to just do. Go for it! Please. As long as you include this copyright notice and the following disclaimer, I'm cool with it.
All rights reserved. No warranty is expressed or implied in this information. Consult one or more doctors and pharmacists before taking, or changing how you take any neurological and/or psychiatric medication. Your mileage may vary. What happened to us won't necessarily happen to you. Nobody on this site is a doctor, therapist, or a pharmacist. We don't portray them either here or on TV. Only doctors can diagnose and treat an illness. Some doctors tend to get pissed off by patients who know too much about medications, so tread lightly when and where appropriate. Diagnosing yourself from a website is like defending yourself in court, you suddenly have a fool for a doctor. Don't be a cyberchondriac, thinking you have every disease you see a website about, or that you'll get every side effect from every medication. Self-prescribing is just as dangerous. All information on this site has been obtained through personal experience, the experiences of my friends, the experiences of people reported on online support groups, and from sources that are referenced throughout the site. Know your sources! As such the information presented here is not a substitute for real medical advice from your real doctor, just a compliment to it. No neurologists, psychiatrists, therapists or pharmacists were harmed in the production of this website. All brand names of the drugs listed in this site are the trademarks of the companies listed after them in the pages about the drugs, even though those companies may or may not have been acquired by other companies who may or may not be listed in this site by the time you read this. Always read the PI sheet that comes with your medications and never ever throw them away. If you didn't get a PI sheet, demand one. Loudly. Crazy Meds is not responsible for the content of sites we provide links to. We like them, or they're paid advertisements, or they're something you should read to make an informed decision about a particular med. Sometimes they're more than one of those things. But what's on those sites is their business, not ours. Very little information about visitors to this site is collected or saved. And from time to time I do look at search terms used to find it in an effort to make the information I present more relevant. Use only as directed. Void where prohibited.
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