Abilify and birth control

[fromtheashes095]

So after much debate and discussion with my husband and my shrink, we have switched out lamictal for abilify, and so far, so good.  Definitely not doing the ultra rapid (ultraradian) cycling that I was doing w/in a week of starting lamictal, but then, I'm only on 2mg of abilify at this point, about to go up to 5mg (my shrink is apparently very

Comments

[happyhijabi]

I have never heard of anything. About abilify just be careful of akathisia the higher your dose gets, some of their literature puts the numbers for those with it as an add on for depression as 25% having akathisia as a side effect and for bipolar 19%. Here is more about akathisia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akathisia
My current pdoc hates abilify because of the high rate of akathisia. So just be on the lookout. :-)

[becoming_rachel]

I haven't heard of any correlation between Abilify and Birth Control pills. I would ask your doc or the pharmacist. I find pharmacists are often the most helpful with med interaction knowledge. I usually call up a local pharmacy with these sort of questions.

My doctor is the same with the lowest possible dose. For example, right now I'm on 500 mg of Depakene and it shows as theraputic in my blood levels, so he says we'll leave it alone.

[littledeadgirl7]

just be careful of anxiety with low doses of abilify. My doc said most start at 15 to avoid anxiety that can come with the lower doses. (weird, I know)

[fromtheashes095]

Interesting. So far my anxiety seems to be decently managed by my twice-daily dose of buspar, but that could explain why I've been slightly more anxious since starting the abilify.

[xemptyxabyssx]

My doc always told me that Lamictal causes the BC to be less effective, so usually go for an high dosage of BC. Then there is also the birth defects it can cause like most mood stabilizers.

Don't know if it effects Abilify, but my issue with it was tardive dyskinesia. The eye twitching and muscle spasms were becoming more frequent and TD can become permanent.

[xemptyxabyssx]

oh yeah...meant to add. that is why I stopped the Abilify because of that.

[fromtheashes095]

yeah, my doctor mentioned the possibility of that to me as well, so we'll see what happens on that front, since so far, abilify is a wunderkin compared to lamictal in my system.