I’ve been on celexia for about ten years now, and it has made a huge difference in my quality of life, however I can expect a dip into deeper depression about three times a year. I’m interested in hearing if anyone has used this along with their existing anti depressants. I’ve seen the spots on tv, and I realize that none of you are my doctor, etc.
Thanks ahead of time for any info!
Not too bad. Didn’t make me totally wacked-out.
But it did stop my bowels up really bad. That always sounds hilarious from the perch of regularity, but when it’s 2:00 AM and you’re giving birth to a cinderblock, it’s hellish. I was drinking Smooth Move tea and prune juice at every turn and I was still messed up. And I was on a small dose!
I also had blurry vision for awhile. And some funny mouth movements (which is why I had to stop taking it).
But it did lick down some of the involuntary movements I deal with.
When I was on it, I was EXHAUSTED all the time. When I was fighting not to fall asleep at the wheel on my commute - both to work and hone- I spoke to my doctor and we decided it wasn’t for me. But other than that, it seemed to help a bit. Nothing amazing, but a bit of help.
My doctor put me on it in addition to the Lexapro I’d been on for many years (which replaced the Celexa I’d been on for even more years). I started taking it and then [blank space in time] and suddenly I was on the phone with my psychiatrist, who called to see why I was trying to renew a previous unsuccessful prescription, something I had no memory of doing. In other words, the Abilify caused me to have a very comprehensive episode of amnesia. I think I lost a couple of weeks, no memory of it at all.
Not sure if the combination of Abilify and Lexapro was responsible for that or if the Abilify just aggravated my existing memory issues (from ECT), but since you’re going to be taking the same basic combination (citalopram/escitalopram plus the Abilify), I would suggest you have somebody monitor you pretty closely for behavior changes or changes in cognition, at least for the first couple of weeks.
Thanks everybody!
I haven’t decided to try Abilify yet, I wanted to get some opinions from dopers before I dove in.
I don’t think I could handle the exhaustion. We have a four month old at home, and I’m already on the bleeding edge of sleep deprivation as it stands now. The missing time is also pretty frightening. I may just have to deal with the occasional dips into deeper depression, which is what I’ve been doing for the last ten years or so.
thanks again!