Posted by utopizen on December 30, 2005, at 7:42:22
In reply to Re: ADHD: Memantine-Emme » theo, posted by Emme on December 28, 2005, at 6:42:12
> Hi Theo,
>
> > What dose of Abilify do you take? Do you take it in the morning or at night?
>
> 2.5 mg in the morning every 2-3 days.
>
> emmeMy stsrting dose of Abilify, while I was taking it, was 7.5mg/day for two weeks, then 15 mg.
I had akathasia, which is a common and treatable side effect of the atypicals. I simply took benzotropine and the restlessness stopped, the pacing stopped.
I took it for a few months. It may have helped me get a bit more energy, enough anyway to ride my bike like crazy (I would roll out of bed and grab my bike at 5 AM each morning, ride it for 2 hours, go back to bed, ride again a few hours later, and then maybe another ride later at night, out of complete defiance of the deep deep depression I was in, for 3 solid months in the summer)
I switched to a doc my doc referred me to, actually, a Nurse Practioner, to get a different angle we agreed might help my cause...
This dude killed the Abilify and Cogentin I took for the Abilify, and the Lamictal I was beginning to take b/c my doc had a conviction all "hard" cases are likely some vague form of bipolar (not a silly one, just his professional bias).
After slashing off these three drugs, he put me on Lexapro, raising it to 45mg eventually.
Besides adding Klonopin a bit later at 1mg 3x/day, this was all I took, and, a few months later, the Lexapro (combined with a 10mg dose of Seligiline I took) entered me into remission.
But Aricept... boy, it gave me energy. Not, "activativing/sedating" kind of energy, just, energy. Thirst for life kind of feeling-- not a clean my kitchen in a manic fit kind of energy.I began writing poetry, made life changes, and, my psychology major undergrads whisper, "that kid is _really_ smart, he's in my psychopharmacology course" and things like that I overheard when I mentioned something pertinent to a lecture now and then in a psychology course.
"The difference between a tranquillizer and a barbituate is that a tranquillizer is defined by the fact it doesn't sedate," I said once first day in abnormal psych when a kid was puzzled over a 1960's case study mentioning a woman on barbituates.
My psych professor was like, "um, yeah, what he said."
(Keep in mind, it's the reason why Meprobromate is not technically a tranquillizer, due to its sedative properties).
poster:utopizen
thread:591702
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051221/msgs/593376.html