Adventures in Abilify – Day 8 – Caffeine and Agitation

Caffeine is definitely out. Coffee makes me restless to the point of not being able to sit down. Tea seems to have less effect, so it’s definitely coffee. Still, nausea does not subside with tea, but it’s been going down. I think it’s just a reflex reaction to all the drugs that I’ve been pumping into my body. Overall, it was a rough day since I was experimenting with caffeine all day. It’d probably be better if I didn’t increase my lamictal at the same time. Changes in lamictal always makes me more sensitive and less addicted to caffeine, so my reaction is probably pretty strong compared to other people.

In light of going on Abilify, this week has felt very long. My sense of time is mildly screwy since I feel like I’m two or three days ahead because of how long my days feel. It’s not a bad feeling. I often get anxious when I feel that I don’t have enough time to complete things, so it’s definitely reducing my anxiety in that respect. I also haven’t noticed any trending on my anxiety scale, so it doesn’t appear to have any side effects of anxiety, which is a huge plus.

Looking over the uses at RXList, I know now that this would be a horrible drug for containing a manic episode in my life. It has an upping effect to the point that I went to a pharmacist to make sure that it doesn’t cause manic episodes in people with BP I. I guess it did make me sleepy for a few days, but now it’s reversed its effects. All my previous antipsychotics seem to be better since when I was manic and I took it in the morning, I was pretty much functionally normal for the entire day, even if I was mildly sleepy.

In light of everything I’ve gone through in the past week, I’d definitely put abilify at the end of a list of antipsychotics, just like my psychiatrist did. There are others that have milder side effects and are easier to adapt to, I’d take those first any day over this past week which has been a hassle of constant monitoring and odd side effects of nausea, weight loss, caffeine reactions, agitation, sleepiness, changes to my sleep cycle, and changes to my time cycle. It’s been a powerful drug, and I think that it will work in the end better than the others, but it has required much more investment on my part than any other drug that I’ve taken yet.