Experiences with aripiprazole (Abilify) for OCD

[Rarewaxwing]

My older son has just been prescribed aripiprazole to manage his severe OCD. He's also on sertraline and mirtazapine. He tried risperidone a few years ago and it made him feel awful, so he's loathe to try this.

I'd be interested to hear anyone's experiences, good and bad.

I was on aripiprizole for OCD and psychosis. It really helped with the OCD but not with the psychosis so I had to come off it for another anti psychotic. I was also on sertraline at the same time. I hope it is positive for him x

@Scutterbug - thank you so much for your reply. I'm encouraged that it helped your OCD. Did you suffer any side effects from it?

I hope you've been able to find more effective medication for your OCD and psychosis.

@Rarewaxwing it made me quite sleepy but I don’t know if that was in combination with the sertraline and lamotrigine., I’m on risperidone and haloperidol alongside lamotrigine and sertraline now.

@Scutterbug - thank you. My son already gets sleepy because of the mirtazapine, but maybe that's an effect that wears off eventually.

I hope you've found the right combination of meds for your needs. OCD and psychosis must be a very difficult combination to manage.

I’m on Aripiprazole for bipolar so can’t say about the ocd side of things. It started to work within a couple of days and the only side effect was some tiredness during the day.

@Pibolar - good to know tiredness was the only side effect. My son is scared this will make him feel like risperidone did ('like a zombie', he said), so it's useful to hear people's experiences.

the tiredness wore off after a while. It’s activating rather than sedating. It made me feel more motivated and I could actually do a lot more tasks than I previously would, so definitely not zombie like. That’s not to say everyone will be like that.

@Pibolar - very useful to know - thank you.

Hey I have OCD ADHD AND MDD been through erp and all the meds

At my worst I was on 250clomipramine with 40 citalopram ecgs regular. Took a full year of gaining 40 lbs and all sexual function, sleeping 24 a day (seriously) ans 30 Adderall twice a day

After about a year I went into remission I didn't know it was possible so the interventions are based on severity.

Scary one here for moms but ketamine helps in short term for serious obssesions this is knew literature but its a nasal spray and can. Be addictive

Year goes bye I switched to vyvanse and cold turkeyed everything I 5hought I was saved low and behold it came back, fluvoxamine (luvox) blocks sert and has action at sigma one basically protection the brain and neurons from stress of the obsession that's a theory other than sert potency of how it works, yhe higher stress load=higher compulsions no matter what im currently stable on 300 luvox and 1mg abilify with lyrica 100 at morning and night for mood stabilization

Once ocd goes into remission don't let him get off everything, screen shot this and move him to fluvoxamine aka luvox it has benefits barely side effects. But clomipramine and citalopram WAS needed when it was at the worst you have to reach the top to bring it d9wn if kno2 what I mean

So now 300luvox 1mg abilify 100mg lyrica morning and night

Omega 3s 4 grams a day high epa and dha as these help heal the brain and make up alot of your brain lol
Magnesium bisglyixante and zinc everyday
B vitamin complex to get those neurotransmitters working effectively

Also protein is huge in serotonin and dopamine creation I hope this helped you as it took me years and was ready to take my own life it was so bad a while ago

Pls look at my post to your threat

Thank you @OCDmddguy- I really appreciate you sharing your experience. DS decided not to continued with Abilify, so he's just on sertraline and Mirtazapine now. But his OCD remains bad, so he may try new meds in the future and it's really helpful to hear your views.

When manic no side effects, when taken preventative, zombie (bipolar 1)