Experience with Abilify?

[PhoenixRising36]

My son's meds have been changed again. Sigh. You all know how exasperating it is trying different meds over a long period of time, to have little to no results. The newest medication prescribed is Abilify. I am reading the side effects, and WHEW....I am terrified. Obviously, his medical/support team believe the potential benefit outweighs the risk, but still...I'm concerned. And we don't make these decisions lightly.

I wanted to ask this community what your experiences have been with this medication? I know every child is different, but I would greatly appreciate any feedback or experiences. Thank you so much!

[DecaturDAD]

My son has taken Abilify for a few years now. We went that route only after many other attempts -counseling and medication- to help him with emotional control, but nothing seemed to work, at least not for long. He’s had no adverse side effects that I can identify, and it definitely helped with his emotional control issues. A very low dose, 5 mg, was what we started with, and it definitely helped. Good luck!

[Maryca1974]

We were scared starting abilify with our son 3-4 years ago. But it made a big difference for him, in terms of anger management. He was very unstable and the benefits have outweighed any side effects. He actually didn’t have any noticeable side effects(weight gain, etc) but he does get blood work regularly to keep track of the non visible ones). He’s 16 now and on a bunch of meds to keep him functioning academically and emotionally. I don’t love the idea, but we had to do it to keep him and our family safe. We just say to ourselves “We have bad genetics and blood chemistry, we have to treat it.”

[Sk8te]

My 6 yr old started at 1mg and it was a miracle after 20+ meds already tried. A miracle in our family. I had my baby back FOR A MONTH! Then it wore off w a vengeance. Had to have his medication compounded to 1.25 and it never worked. He became a wreck. Just took him off of the medication 2 weeks ago. 😔

[katcald]

My daughter took it when she was 13 to help her depression/anxiety and it was great foe a month and then stopped working. We tried it again when she was 15 and she had the worst side effects. She kept telling me she felt uncomfortable in her own skin and couldn’t sit still. It’s called Akathisia and it was horrible. They had to take it off of her.

[sceller in reply to katcald]

And sometimes this particular side effect does not ever go away - it can be permanent. This is why anti-psychotic drugs need to be used with great care and by mental health professionals who are very good at keeping tabs on possible side effects.

[katcald in reply to sceller]

That’s scary. Thank you for letting us know that.

[anirush]

My grandson was on Abilify for awhile but it did not work as well for his anger as Risperdone which also had scary side effects. But I could not have my house destroyed by his tantrums.