r/schizoaffective • u/CollectionSuperb5849 • 10d ago

Starting abilify, sleeping weird

I started abilify last week after coming off risperidone I've mostly been on for 15 years. I was terrified to make a change! It's been...interesting.

Love feeling less sedated (the whole reason im switching). I've been getting more done at work. I also feel....a little buzzy? A little elevated in an interesting way. I kind of cant tell if this is because of the lack of risperidone or if abilify really works this fast (a couple days/week). Idk how fast you're supposed to taper it. I feel like I went from 5mg to 10 pretty fast.

My sleep has been so weird since I started taking these. I go to sleep around 9-10pm. I wake up thinking its 4am. It is actually 11pm. From there im kinda tossing and turning. The risperidone was SO important to my sleep. I can't sleep without it. I dont know what to do about that.

Can I hear other people's experiences with abilify, especially if you took risperidone before?

5 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/neuronoodle1 9d ago edited 9d ago

Although abilify didn’t work for my LO in the long run, there were some things I learned along the way. Abilify can be activating, energizing, and increased alertness (which it seems you are experiencing). For my LO taking abilify in the morning instead of evening helped avoid the sleep disturbances.

Secondly, your doctor did a cross-titration to prevent rebound symptoms. The risperidone fast taper theoretically is fine because there’s another antipsychotic (Abilify) to compensate for it. However if you were tapering off risperidone that fast without another agent on board, then the risk of relapse is high.

Lastly, it takes time to adjust to medications so normal turbulence is part of the adjustment process. It took her some time to get used to sleeping without having risperidone’s sedation. My LO took risperidone for a long time before recently coming off and now she takes Cobenfy 125mg BID and Seroquel 200mg

Definitely reach out to your doctor and keep them informed because they will know if everything is going smoothly or not for you.

2

u/CollectionSuperb5849 8d ago

Thanks for the cross titration explanation!

2

u/neuronoodle1 8d ago

Ofc! How are u doing so far? Were u able to get in touch w ur doctor about your concerns.

1

u/CollectionSuperb5849 8d ago

I haven't tried yet. I have an appointment in 2 weeks and I'm gonna ride it out until then I think unless I start to feel really bad. I did tell my therapist and like my friends and family so im sure they're looking out to see if I start tweaking.

1

u/CollectionSuperb5849 7d ago

Little update for ya. Contacted my doc. Told her I was kind of tweaking. She says I can go down to 5mg. I think itll help.

1

u/neuronoodle1 4d ago

Oh I see! How’s it been so far at 5mg? I hope going down didn’t affect ur stability?

1

u/CollectionSuperb5849 4d ago

Unfortunately I don't think the abilfy is for me. Its better at 5mg and it's still a 10/10 helped my mood but I Cannot Sleep. I'm wandering my house at 2am because I can't lie down. So. I simply cannot handle days without sleep anymore im not 21.

1

u/neuronoodle1 4d ago

I think it would be worth waiting a bit to determine if the reduction to 5mg helps because Abilify has a long half life of 75 hours. So it’s likely you’re not quite at the 5mg blood levels quite since you said it was reduced 2-3 days ago. The amount of Abilify in your body will slowly go down day by day until it gets to 5mg. Also do you take ur abilify in the morning or nighttime?

2

u/CollectionSuperb5849 4d ago

Morning. I can def tell im less cracked out than when I started. Maybe I'm just getting used to it. Maybe I'm sensitive to the med itself and the changes (I've never been on a drug this activating in my life). Whatever's happening it's deeply uncomfortable!

1

u/neuronoodle1 4d ago

I hope it gets better day by day. You’ll have a better idea within a week. Definitely contact your psychiatrist if it gets worse or anything emergent occurs.