Aripiprazole has very significant dose dependent side effects. This is very common with certain anesthetic drugs like intravenous dopamine, fentanyl, ketamine etc. At higher doses Aripiprazole has dopamine stimulating like effects and many people exhibit side effects like insomnia, anxiety, compulsive behaviour (FDA black box warnings for hypersexuality and gambling), prolonged QT, arrhythmias like Torsades, and serious very troubling akathesia that can lead to suicide. Abilify Maintena should be recalled for the new "indication" (bipolar 1, autism, depression) as this is a long acting injection of 300-400 mg in a depot with a very long half life and potentially life threatening drug interactions especially with other prescribed neuroleptics and SSRI/SNRI's.
At 15mg or ~100% D2 occupancy or simply the target maintenance dose for most people I experienced the most iatrogenic harms including compulsive disorders, muscle stiffness leading to frequent nocturnal night cramps (at a rate of about 1-2 times a month continuously), the usual metabolic syndrome (at any dose) of unwavering weight gain which plateaued years ago plus the elevated or 'abnormal' triglycerides and prolactin levels with subtle but noticeable effects of visceral belly fat that never shifts and very mild breast development.
At 10mg or ~80-85% D2 occupancy or a slightly sub-therapeutic dose my compulsive disorders began to subside almost unsurprisingly given the strength of the drug has been reduced but all other issues remained.
At 5mg or 65-70% D2 occupancy or a very sub-therapeutic dose bordering on placebo that's meant to get one started on moving up the strengths my compulsive induced disorders are all but gone but even on this minimum tablet dose the remaining iatrogenic harms are maintained perhaps to a slightly lesser degree but still there.
Let's assume I was to taper further using the available Aripiprazole oral liquid solution (designed for, get this, the elderly and children - with orange or grape flavour - tapering is about to be come 'sweet' in various ways) from 5mg as 5ml drawn from a prescribed bottle and gradually step it down 3-6 months apart 1mg at a time I would next expect a significant drop in D2 occupancy at 1mg to be closer to 40% followed by 20% at 0.5mg and then that should be 'good enough' to ride out any discontinuation withdrawal from, given my last attempt back in 2014 was basically done from a crude 10/15mg i.e. way to high and improperly tapered with pill cuttings and stopped too quick at that time. I remember my recovery back on the drug had to be at an increased dose all the way to 30mg, easing back to 20mg and later 15mg when i had insisted on it - i don't wish to go there again and be so mind numbed that i put my job at risk etc. - where the treatment is worse than supposed underlying condition.
So what do you think the Abilify Maintena 400 mg "convenient" IM injection does to people?
It makes them manic, anxious psychotic, unable to sleep, suffer from severe akathesia and can even lead to suicide. The Aristrada 800 mg dose every 2 months even worse!
Aripiprazole has very significant dose dependent side effects. This is very common with certain anesthetic drugs like intravenous dopamine, fentanyl, ketamine etc. At higher doses Aripiprazole has dopamine stimulating like effects and many people exhibit side effects like insomnia, anxiety, compulsive behaviour (FDA black box warnings for hypersexuality and gambling), prolonged QT, arrhythmias like Torsades, and serious very troubling akathesia that can lead to suicide. Abilify Maintena should be recalled for the new "indication" (bipolar 1, autism, depression) as this is a long acting injection of 300-400 mg in a depot with a very long half life and potentially life threatening drug interactions especially with other prescribed neuroleptics and SSRI/SNRI's.
At 15mg or ~100% D2 occupancy or simply the target maintenance dose for most people I experienced the most iatrogenic harms including compulsive disorders, muscle stiffness leading to frequent nocturnal night cramps (at a rate of about 1-2 times a month continuously), the usual metabolic syndrome (at any dose) of unwavering weight gain which plateaued years ago plus the elevated or 'abnormal' triglycerides and prolactin levels with subtle but noticeable effects of visceral belly fat that never shifts and very mild breast development.
At 10mg or ~80-85% D2 occupancy or a slightly sub-therapeutic dose my compulsive disorders began to subside almost unsurprisingly given the strength of the drug has been reduced but all other issues remained.
At 5mg or 65-70% D2 occupancy or a very sub-therapeutic dose bordering on placebo that's meant to get one started on moving up the strengths my compulsive induced disorders are all but gone but even on this minimum tablet dose the remaining iatrogenic harms are maintained perhaps to a slightly lesser degree but still there.
Let's assume I was to taper further using the available Aripiprazole oral liquid solution (designed for, get this, the elderly and children - with orange or grape flavour - tapering is about to be come 'sweet' in various ways) from 5mg as 5ml drawn from a prescribed bottle and gradually step it down 3-6 months apart 1mg at a time I would next expect a significant drop in D2 occupancy at 1mg to be closer to 40% followed by 20% at 0.5mg and then that should be 'good enough' to ride out any discontinuation withdrawal from, given my last attempt back in 2014 was basically done from a crude 10/15mg i.e. way to high and improperly tapered with pill cuttings and stopped too quick at that time. I remember my recovery back on the drug had to be at an increased dose all the way to 30mg, easing back to 20mg and later 15mg when i had insisted on it - i don't wish to go there again and be so mind numbed that i put my job at risk etc. - where the treatment is worse than supposed underlying condition.
So what do you think the Abilify Maintena 400 mg "convenient" IM injection does to people?
It makes them manic, anxious psychotic, unable to sleep, suffer from severe akathesia and can even lead to suicide. The Aristrada 800 mg dose every 2 months even worse!
Apparently there is a once a year injection available too.