Abilify and Effexor

I was on both those drugs at one time. At first it was just Effexor, then I completely lost my mind on that. The doctor I had at the time completely changed tune after that. She essentially said that all she wanted me on to start was antipsychotics/bipolar meds. Then eventually she let me have an antidepressant again. I remember coming in and she treated me like I was a drug addict for wanting to sleep through the night, or energy to get things done, or to feel remotely functional again. She told me I needed to do it myself, which I obviously couldn’t do. Abilify never had anything but bad effects for me. I felt numb, detached, and I could not eat. People kept trying to force me to eat and it didn’t work because I was depressed AND my stomach hurt.

So I dropped off my meds and spent about 4-5 months in depression coma. Then I finally hired a new doctor. I told him EVERY drug I had been on in the last 7 years of treatment. He started me on abilify and a different anti depressant. Then once those started to take, he agreed to treat the energy issues. Oh and he treated the sleep FIRST, because sleep was the biggest issue in my spiral. Again, abilify did nothing for me. Worst my new insurance made it too expensive. So after a few months I asked him to take me off of it. He agreed.

I only recently found out that the manic issues can come from Effexor, which strongly makes me think that was the source of my breakdown. If I had known that I would have asked for abilify, because before my breakdown I had a job and a life, after my breakdown more than a year of pain and depression, not just the illness but the life shattering consequences of one breakdown. So I’d say that is the conversation you need to be having with yourself and your doctor. The lesson is to never START a med without checking side effects.

Oh, also if you need Effexor to live put the local psych hospital on speed dial and take a few personal days and check yourself in during your manic episode, trust me it’s better that way. Also that motivates doctors just as well as screwing up things on the outside, and on the plus side the only long term consequence is a few lost days. Better than lost job and life.