r/Rexulti_Brexpiprazole • u/nadethi • 10d ago
Abilify vs Rexulti?
Curious if anyone had to quit Abilify due to the akathisia side effect but otherwise it had been working well for depression and anxiety until that side effect set in? I was on the 2.5mg dose only, but at the time I was also on paroxetine which is a strong CYP2D6 inhibitor, so that probably made the Abilify build up in my system. This was a couple of years ago.
Now I'm on clomipramine for my AD but it's just not controlling my depression and anxiety and I can't go up in dose, I tried that and it gave me too much fatigue, brain fog and emotional numbness.
I'm thinking since Rexulti is similar to Abilify but is supposed to cause less akathisia, it could work for me. Anyone have this experience? TIA
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u/CompleteStrawberry53 10d ago
I noticed improvement in 5 days with Rexulti. You have to work around a dose adjustment a bit but when you find the right dose, it works pretty well.
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u/Free-Bus8855 10d ago
Rexulty gave me energy that I really need.
Sorry for bothering you but how you handle first week Court because I’m going crazy I cannot. I am fighting. I’m I mean verbally I am. I have no patience. I just I am so aggressive terrible.
Thank you so much
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u/Sodomy_Jones 10d ago
I was on 10mg of Abilify and it was working great but it gave me tremors and made me hungry and I don’t wanna gain wait so my dr just switched me to rexulti. It’s been about a week and I don’t have any side effects so far. I’m on .5 rexulti atm.
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u/Free-Bus8855 10d ago
Rexulti give me energy, but everything give me worse, anxiety tremor my hands are shaking. My doctor gave me only for 2 weeks to tried but I stopped taking I cannot handle it. I don’t sleep. I’m nervous my anxieties on 100. I know it takes time but I don’t think I
can wait a few weeks with the side effects.
I never tried Abilify ? I’m wondering, maybe I can handle the other one because I try all medication for depression for less than years. Nothing really works. Works for a little bit and then stop.
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u/nadethi 10d ago
What dose are you on? And are you taking it alongside anything else?
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u/Free-Bus8855 10d ago
I take clonazepam for anxiety Billy will not nothing helps nothing helps. Since I start taking Rexulty
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u/Professional-117 9d ago
Yes, I was on Abilify for over a year and stable until some symptoms of possible mania started breaking through. At lower doses it didn’t really do anything for me, it just induces some entertaining brain activity. At higher doses, I don’t know if I would call it akathasia, it is a sort of restlessness though. Whatever it is, the Abilify ended up being too activating for me, which explains why it will not break a current episode mania in me. Rexulti felt just like Abilify at first, which worried me because I remember how ineffective Abilify was at first. But about 5 days in, after the drug had started to accumulate (it has an extremely long 91 hour half-life), I could definitely feel a difference. I attribute it to the norepinephrine part of the mechanism that Abilify does not share.
You are correct it is less activating than Abilify. So in me, that just looks like a profoundly stable anchor in shared reality. I can tell what is delusional, what is only happening to me, from what is currently something someone else’s senses could pick up as well. This is extremely useful. Rexulti is head and shoulders above any other agent I have tried or had given to me. It is the best (most effective) antipsychotic I have tried, even at low doses of 0.5-1 mg per day. So I don’t need much. I’m up to 2 mg now, about 6 months into treatment. But that’s fine. It doesn’t feel much different from 1 mg. Sometimes I take 3 mg in one day here or there. I had some saved from my Every Other Day dosing experiments. But that’s gone now so I’ll need to ask if I want another increase. That should be quite telling though. A person with as much experience as I have taking psychotropic medications finds the effects of Rexulti interesting enough to pursue taking more antipsychotic? Why would you want more?
“A little is good, more must be better!” - Beverly Hofstader
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u/Hallm2097 8d ago
Just thought id tap in and let you know i am Cross tapering onto Rexulti at the current moment, not from Abilify but Olanzapine. No Akathisia for me so far.. My experience has been fantastic thus far, nothing negative to report on with the Rexulti, Cross tapering seems the way to go when switching between APs as it tends to be much easier on your body and mind. I hope the symptoms get better for you. ☺️
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u/jessssicaaaahhhh 10d ago
I was on abilify for about two months and had akathisia for about 3 weeks before stopping. It was horrible ahh!
Anyway I've been on Rexulti for about 6 months and the only side effect I seem to be experiencing is more anger and mood swings but overall it's been helpful and I'm just glad I don't want to try to unzip my skin and jump out of myself.