u/mikesalami

So I don't think I ever should have been put on Abilify, yet I was by my family Dr. when I was having a bit of a frantic time and trouble with my SSRI.

I went on 2 mg first which I supposed slightly helped. Then tried 5 mg which made me EXTREMELY agitated. Kept there to see if it would subside but I couldn't take the agitation so I went back down to 2 mg.

About a year ago I cut that in half and went to 1 mg and it was not a pleasant experience, however I can't remember it that well.

But anyway recently I made some huge progress with my counselor about some really deep fears that have been lingering in my subconscious for a long time. Understanding them really helped with my anxiety and I was feeling very grounded in myself for the first time in a long long time.

So I thought what a good time to stop the Abilify. Talked to a psychiatrist who said it's such a low dose (1 mg) that I should just stop it. So that's what I did... no taper.

First 5 days were ok and I thought it'd go smooth from there. But about day 6 I remember some horrific nightmares. From there for about the next two weeks I went through some extreme irritability / agitation.

That seemed to pass and next came heightened anxiety and rumination about various thing that had not bothered me for a while. Also restless energy in my body, headaches, and pretty bad fatigue.

I had one REALLY bad day after which I was started to lose hope, i.e. am I gonna have to go back on this stuff, how much longer is this gonna last, is it gonna be forever, etc. etc. But deeper down I had a faith that I would come through this and there was no way in hell I was going back on it. I'll say it was also helpful to have my very supportive girlfriend there for me also encouraging me to keep going.

It was the very next night that finally things started to settle down. Anxiety lowered, ruminations were way down, the feeling of darkness was lifting.

It's been another couple days and things are improving. So I figure another week or two and the withdrawal will be pretty much totally done.

As of today it's been about 3 weeks since I stopped 1 mg cold turkey. Tonight I am feeling quite content and relaxed, although I'll admit the daytime was slightly rocky, but still ok.

I do believe my progress with my counselor played a role in me making it through this. Last time when I went from 2 mg to 1 mg it took I believe about 6 weeks for me to feel ok again.

Anyway I just thought I'd share this here because I know people are curious and there are people who are in the process of getting off of it or want to get off it.

I am looking forward to getting off Zoloft next and being totally med free.

Edit: oh yes and I meant to say that one other peculiar symptom has been itching all over my body... I think I only read about the itching in one other thread here

Just watching The Big Salad episode at the moment and am quite annoyed at Julie, George's girlfriend.

George paid for the big salad and should be suitably annoyed she took credit for it, seemingly (seemingly) on purpose.

Near the end of the episode she confronts George about it, asking how Elaine would know George paid for the salad given that she was the one who handed Elaine the bag.

So she KNEW that Elaine would have assumed she bought the salad. Yet she's annoyed the George wanted to rectify the situation.

She's disingenuous, deceitful, dishonest.

Then she tries to brush it off by saying "all I did was hand someone a bag".

Serenity Now!

Anyone else find this intro hilarious?

Axl is just particularly angry this night or something?

Then there's "You dig what the fuck I'm sayin'? HOME FUCK" 😅

Seems like he was just angry that night. He does that same thing Live in Las Vegas 1992.