RubyJ: tapering off Abilify

[RubyJ]

@ChessieCat Thanks for the suggestion - I can't refill my prescriptions too early, my insurance will refuse saying I still have medication left.  But yes, I should have done it earlier than I did--I know this in my head but don't always act on it.  After this episode hopefully my motivation will be higher!

 

So I moved into my friend's house for a couple months last week, no posting while things were getting settled.  Morning anxiety persisted through the moving process but has finally begun to subside.  My mood is still more low than normal (although today is a bit better) so I'm going to wait a bit more before tapering again.

 

I had a check-up with my sleep doctor, and I told him about my increased sleepiness since tapering Abilify and also that I'd had trouble with the taper.  I don't expect he knows much about antidepressants but he said the two things very well could be related.  He suggested raising my amphetamine dose and I agreed.  In my head, I tend to separate my sleep disorder from depression and other issues.  I mean, I separate it from my allergies because they're not even occuring in the same system.  But it is true that antidepressants and stimulants are both CNS agents and maybe separating them isn't exactly the right tactic . . . 

 

So I took the increased amphetamine dose for the first time this morning.  When I woke up the second time, the anxiety upon waking had worsened again.  The two things are almost surely related.  But if it really does improve my ability to function during the day, I guess it's a trade-off I'll have to take.  Bleh.  I'll see how the rest of the day goes.

[RubyJ]

I've decided to put off tapering until after: my friend's baby is born + I travel mid-May.

 

Anyone have any tips on traveling overseas with liquid meds?  Never done it before.

[manymoretodays]

Here is what we have RubyJ.

http://survivingantidepressants.org/topic/11814-traveling-with-paxil-or-other-meds/

 

There are some members experiences and tips there.

 

And then you can always do your own search.......just plug the topic in followed by survivingantidepressants.org to see if we have anything on a particular subject or question.

 

I flew not too long ago and put my liquid minerals in my checked bag.  A friend suggested wrapping the lid area in tinfoil and it worked!  I was amazed......no spillage or leaks this time.

With your expensive liquid Abilify though, I wouldn't take chances.......bring it carry on.

 

 

On 4/17/2018 at 10:13 AM, RubyJ said:

 

 

So I took the increased amphetamine dose for the first time this morning.  When I woke up the second time, the anxiety upon waking had worsened again.  The two things are almost surely related.  But if it really does improve my ability to function during the day, I guess it's a trade-off I'll have to take.  Bleh.  I'll see how the rest of the day goes.

 

Possibly......as far as the two things being almost surely related goes.  I'm always fairly trusting of intuitions(that sense of my own body, mind, health)  as well.

 

And thank you for posting your interactions list.  I did see that.  And I know that you have stated your trust in........I believe your Sleep doctor, and that he or she does look at drug interactions for you.  I just wondered if you had shared that list with either of your prescribers.  4 possible major interactions!  Something I hope that you will consider in the future.

 

Meantime, Bon Voyage.......be safe,

Love, peace, healing/inrecovery, and growth,

mmt

 

[RubyJ]

Thanks for the link and tips.  I'll try the tinfoil -- I got a smaller medicine bottle so I don't take the whole thing with me -- the Rx label was on the box and not the bottle so taking the original bottle wouldn't have benefited me anyway.  Still putting it in the carry-on, of course.  Only thing I'm worried about is them not liking the look of the oral syringe.  But the flight is so long I have to have it so I can take my dose at the right time.

 

I didn't see any benefit (still needed 2 naps a day) from the increased dose of amphetamine so I called the doctor and he dropped me back down to my previous dose.  I think that was the right decision. 

 

On ‎4‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 11:02 AM, manymoretodays said:

And thank you for posting your interactions list.  I did see that.  And I know that you have stated your trust in........I believe your Sleep doctor, and that he or she does look at drug interactions for you.  I just wondered if you had shared that list with either of your prescribers.  4 possible major interactions!  Something I hope that you will consider in the future.

 

For my next well-woman visit I could take the printout with the interactions -- don't know if it would help but it might be good to try.

 

Thank you very much for your well-wishes and I wish you well too!

[RubyJ]

I haven't updated in a while, partially because I ended up staying steady at .5mg/mL for much longer than anticipated because stuff kept happening and I was worried about tapering again.  In August, I went from .5mg/mL to .3mg/mL and that went quite well.  Very few symptoms at all.  I held for about a month and a half.  In mid-September I then tried to go from .3mg/mL to .1mg/mL and I obviously didn't think that one through.  I just tried the same reduction amount I had done before instead of remembering things like percentages . . . it didn't go as well and I had to reinstate to .2mg/mL, where I am still.  I'm thinking of going to .14 mg/mL as my next dose down.  My reasoning is that .15mg/mL would be a good step but my syringe has lines only for every 2 hundredths of a milliliter and I don't want to try to eyeball .15mL.  I want to try to round down because I want this to end sometime this decade . . . maybe I'm being too impatient?  I'm thinking of starting the taper this week but I should've done it on Monday so now it seems like I am just going to have to pick some arbitrary day.  Maybe Wednesday. 

[ChessieCat]

You are so close to getting off I don't think it is worth risking making larger than 10% reductions.  Especially when you have the ability to create the required doses because you are using liquid.  Many members find that the lower their dose gets the slower they need to go, by reducing less and/or holding for longer.  It is best not to reduce by more than 10% of the current dose.  You are currently on 0.2mg/mL.  The next taper dose would be 0.2 x 0.9 = 0.18

 

Because you are now working with very tiny doses you may find it easier to dilute your liquid so that you can measure more precisely.

 

questions-and-answers-about-liquid-medications

 

I find this one difficult to understand but it may be helpful or you might know someone who can assist: serial-dilution

 

If you need more assistance with this, please let us know and we can get the math-savvy mods onto it.

 

[manymoretodays]

Hi RubyJ,

And good to see you updating. 

12 hours ago, RubyJ said:

it didn't go as well and I had to reinstate to .2mg/mL, where I am still.  I'm thinking of going to .14 mg/mL as my next dose down.  My reasoning is that .15mg/mL would be a good step but my syringe has lines only for every 2 hundredths of a milliliter and I don't want to try to eyeball .15mL.  I want to try to round down because I want this to end sometime this decade . . . maybe I'm being too impatient?  I'm thinking of starting the taper this week but I should've done it on Monday so now it seems like I am just going to have to pick some arbitrary day.  Maybe Wednesday. 

If I were you I wouldn't get arbitrary.

How did it not go well?  What kind of symptoms did you experience?

When did you reinstate at .2 mg or .2 mL?

I see September noted........do you remember when in September?

And then what is your W/D stable like?

Is your syringe like the ones pictured below?

 

6 hours ago, ChessieCat said:

Many members find that the lower their dose gets the slower they need to go, by reducing less and/or holding for longer.  It is best not to reduce by more than 10% of the current dose.  You are currently on 0.2mg/mL.  The next taper dose would be 0.2 x 0.9 = 0.18 

Yes, I think you should stick with the 10% or less going forward.  And HOLD for at least a bit longer.   I don't want a repeat of last October.   I'm also torn though, as you may remember, you are on a polypharmacy cocktail that comes up with 4 major interactions!!   RubyJ's drug interactions from drugs.com

 

Let us know how you are, if you don't mind answering the questions I asked above.  Thank you in advance.

 

Love, peace, healing, and growth,

mmt

 

 

Edited October 24, 2018 by manymoretodays
wording changed in the final purple section

[RubyJ]

 

Sorry about the length I took to respond!  I'm at my parents' house this week and I knew if I responded in the morning my dog would be sad because her walk would be late, and then I didn't get on the laptop in the evenings.  I want to be completely off this medication so bad, so it's hard to keep going slow, but I know it's better in the long run.  So I'll do 10% from here on out even if it's slow.

 

On ‎10‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 5:09 PM, ChessieCat said:

If you need more assistance with this, please let us know and we can get the math-savvy mods onto it.

 

I think a smaller syringe is more what I need, like @manymoretodays linked in her response.  I have to go to the pharmacy on Monday and I can ask for some and if they don't have any that small, I can order them.  I knew that I'd need to do that at some point soon.

 

On ‎10‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 11:36 PM, manymoretodays said:

If I were you I wouldn't get arbitrary.

How did it not go well?  What kind of symptoms did you experience?

When did you reinstate at .2 mg or .2 mL?

I see September noted........do you remember when in September?

And then what is your W/D stable like?

Is your syringe like the ones pictured below?

 

Yeah, arbitrary is bad.  I'm thinking of going down to 0.18mL starting Monday.  Easier to keep track of that way.

 

So it's really good that I took everyone's advice and started a notebook just about w/d and tapering -- my memory of not that long ago apparently is worse than I thought  

According to my journal, on June 11 I went down from 0.5mL to 0.3mL.  I didn't note down anything serious in the period after that - some anxiety and insomnia but seems to have been mild.  On July 14th I tapered from 0.3mL to 0.1mL.  My entry for July 26th mentions that I'd had about a week of insomnia and impulse control issues, and then that day was depressed and teary.  On July 27th I reinstated up to 0.2mL.  On July 31st I wrote 'other symptoms persist during the day, esp. mania (med. to mild).'  I don't have any notes until August 5th, where I noted severe anxiety upon waking.  Then there's nothing until August 26th, as the symptoms gradually faded.  I think my notes could improve a little in detail but I'm glad I have something, even if it's sparse!

 

I think the lack of symptoms from 0.5mL to 0.3mL made me overconfident >.<

 

So I've been at 0.2mL since July 27th, which is longer than I initially remembered.  I think it's probably been long enough to do a 10% taper.

 

My w/d stable is usually (unless it's a bad day) like normal, with a few more mood swings.  And the way I wake up anxious still persists when stable - although it's pretty mild.  It didn't happen at all before I started going off the Abilify.

 

My syringes are 10 milliliter syringes, not 1 milliliter.  I'll try to get some 1 milliliter now that I'm this low.  So the 10 milliliter syringes have marks for 1 through 10 and then hash marks for every two tenths of a milliliter in between.  So 0.12, 0.14., 0.16, 0.18, 0.2, etc.  I can do the next dose (0.18 mL) with my current syringes but will need new ones soon.

 

Thanks so much to both of you for your support and replies.  I'm leaving my parents' house tomorrow so should reply a little faster, I think.

[Cleerity]

On 10/27/2018 at 7:02 PM, RubyJ said:

So I'll do 10% from here on out even if it's slow.

 

Hi Ruby:  Just stopping in to say that I was glad to see you decided to go with the 10% decrements.  I will be doing the same. \ Wishing peace and healing...

[manymoretodays]

Hi RubyJ,

If no luck getting smaller syringes at the pharmacy........try your vet's office.  They often carry the smaller oral syringes too!

Glad you had a nice visit with parents.

L, P, H, and growth,

mmt

[RubyJ]

I may try that --- it turns out I had the right size of syringes, they just didn't have a tick mark for each hundredth.  So when I asked for more at the pharmacy, although they are from a different manufacturer than the ones I already had, they still only have the tick marks by 2's as well.  *sigh*  Since 0.18 is an even number I'm okay for now anyway.

 

I started my taper to 0.18mL on Tuesday; on Monday I had already taken the regular dose before I remembered that I was going to taper that day.  So far so good, although too early for symptoms.  I also had a super stressful day yesterday when I discovered that Social Security had denied my continued disability benefits because 'my condition has improved'.  Since there is no medical evidence to that end, I'm baffled.  In fact, I've gotten a bit worse . . . so I had to start the appeal process and it's all very frustrating.  They did something super weird, too, they decided to investigate my depression even though it's not a limiting factor (which I wrote on my form) and even scheduled a mental competence exam.  I have a physical disability, and it almost feels like they got distracted from the real problem?  Argh.  I mean, I passed the mental competence exam, so they said 'we found you have no severe mental disability' and it made me feel like they are themselves incompetent -- that was never an issue!  Focus, people, focus!  I did talk to a really nice agent at the local office yesterday which helped lower my stress level, since I feel confident that the right paperwork has been filled out for now at least.  I know I can't talk to my doctor about writing a letter explaining how they are wrong until Monday so I've managed to mostly let it go for now but it's hard. 

[RubyJ]

So the news I mentioned in my last post caused me to have a sudden vicious return of my acid reflux and a really strong first day of withdrawal symptoms -- six days later, as per usual -- that thankfully were much worse the first day than the rest.  That's different than usual, since my WD symptoms usually worsen a bit before subsiding, and I am guessing it was due to emotional stress. 

 

After that first week, the taper went well -- until close to the end of November when I suddenly had symptoms again.  I couldn't understand why I burst into tears over failure to deliver mushrooms in time for an early dinner . . . until that evening when filling my syringe, which I had been doing absentmindedly, I noticed that I was only filling it to 0.08 mL instead of 0.18 mL.  I felt like such a noob.  I immediately returned to my target dose but held for longer -- I would have passed the four week mark at the end of November but thought it wise to restabilize and am still at the 0.18mL dose.  However, I think I'm ready to step down again.  10% would be 0.16 mL and I think I'll start tapering down on Thursday, since it's the 20th.

 

I would have done it today except I had a rather stressful day at the airport yesterday and don't know if I should push my luck.  I watched my plane leave without me (I didn't know it was my plane at the time) because the airport didn't update the info board with a gate number or a change to boarding status and I received a text from the airline telling me my flight was delayed.  It wasn't.  No other flights out that day on that airline (small airport).  I am really proud of myself for not crying from frustrated rage and instead remained . . . angry but coherent to deal with people.

 

I realized also when looking back at my answer to what my withdrawal normal is -- I've actually forgotten what normal was like before and so it's hard to describe my base state now in comparison to before I tried to stop the Abilify.  I know some things are different but I can't really describe them.

[ChessieCat]

9 minutes ago, RubyJ said:

when filling my syringe, which I had been doing absentmindedly, I noticed that I was only filling it to 0.08 mL instead of 0.18 mL.  I felt like such a noob.

 

Don't feel bad about this.  Other members have made similar mistakes.  I've done it myself.  I was supposed to reduced from 9.5mg to 9mg but I picked up the 0.5mg capsules instead of the 5mg and for 5 days I took 4.5mg instead of 9mg.  My anxiety increased a bit and I held for longer before reducing again.

 

12 minutes ago, RubyJ said:

10% would be 0.16 mL

 

0.18mL x 0.9 = 0.162mL so 0.16mL is a little bit more than 10% reduction.  It is better to round up than down.  Are you able to measure 0.165mL?

 

The other option is to take 0.17mL and hold for 3 weeks instead of 4 weeks.

[RubyJ]

I thought it was okay to round down from 0.162 but now that you say that it's probably not smart.  I'm not able to do 0.165 mL at the moment.  Doing 0.17 mL and holding for 3 weeks sounds like a good plan to me, though.  I'll need to drop by the vet, though since the pharmacy didn't have syringes with each hundredth marked.  I can probably do it tomorrow.  While I was still at an even hundredth (0.16) I got lazy and hadn't hunted down better syringes.  Sigh.  Thank you as always for your input!

[ChessieCat]

You are very welcome.  I've had to adjust my taper because I have to get 100 capsules of each dose made up of my Pristiq.  I reduce by a certain amount (ie less than 10%) and hold for 3 weeks and then as I get closer to the 10% reduction amount I hold for 4 weeks.

[RubyJ]

Sounds like a good plan, then.

And . . .

Achievement "Obtain Syringe From Vet's Office" unlocked! 

So I can go ahead on Thursday.

[ChessieCat]

On 12/18/2018 at 7:11 AM, RubyJ said:

Doing 0.17 mL and holding for 3 weeks sounds like a good plan to me

 

Don't forget to listen to your body, keep notes and hold if you are symptomatic.

[RubyJ]

So far, so good.  It's been 10 days and no signficant symptoms, just a little extra teary.  For example, my dog ate my pizza last night and I cried.  I really wanted to eat that pizza.  She pulled it off the table -- 10 years old, and never took anything off the dining room table until yesterday.  She obviously also really wanted to eat that pizza.  (At least she didn't eat the stuffed crust!)  Anyway, been keeping short notes and still planning to hold until the 3 week mark.

[ChessieCat]

7 hours ago, RubyJ said:

For example, my dog ate my pizza last night and I cried.  I really wanted to eat that pizza.

 

I had a similar experience.  On Christmas Eve I went shopping to get a few things  and bought a few (literally) special things for myself for Christmas.  I decided to get double smoked ham and because I couldn't get a fruit cake I bought a walnut and carrot loaf, which was quite expensive (in hindsight I should have gone to the cake shop).

 

At dinner time I decided to make up my salad and another one for Christmas Day, either to take on the picnic or to eat later at home.

 

I didn't really enjoy the salad and as I got to the end I realised this and stopped to think, then all of a sudden I realised that the ham was not double smoked.  It was regular soccer ball ham.  And I nearly burst into tears.  I was so disappointed.  Then to top it off I cut myself a slice of carrot loaf, it was dry and there was only tiny little specks of carrot and no walnuts in the cake (only on top).  I checked the label and it contained 4% dried carrot and 6% walnuts.  I felt really ripped off.  Because I had only bought a few things I felt really annoyed about the cake.  My solution was to grate up a carrot (fortunately I had a couple of fresh carrots, I don't buy them usually) and chopped up a slice of the cake and microwaved it covered for about 45 secs and added custard.  It was the best I have tasted but was much better than the slice I ate on Christmas Eve, it meant I didn't have to go completely without and I didn't waste it by throwing it out.  BTW the last slice I had I added some sultanas and I regretted not thinking of that before.  It was quite yummy.

 

So, yes, I understand completely about getting upset about the dog stealing your pizza.

[Cleerity]

15 hours ago, RubyJ said:

So far, so good.  It's been 10 days and no signficant symptoms, just a little extra teary.  For example, my dog ate my pizza last night and I cried.  I really wanted to eat that pizza.

 

Hi Ruby.  I was really glad to read that you are doing well, even though the pooch pirated the prized piece of pizza.

 

I also still find myself with some tearfulness.  My eyes water over even when nothing happens or is in my thought process.  And when I watched a couple episodes from the "This is Us" series on the Hulu channel the other evening, I was moved to tears a few times over. 

 

I have been surprised by how potent this medication apparently is, given the symptoms it produced in me just from making the crossover to liquid. 

 

Best wishes,

 

Cleerity

[RubyJ]

I had no problems from 0.17 to 0.16 but actually forgot to taper again at the four week mark.  I tapered to 0.15mg/mL last Tuesday and I am feeling some symptoms.  Unfortunately, I ran out of my dextroamphetamine for a few days, and that may have made this taper more difficult.  I don't get much withdrawal from the dextroamphetamine when I run out but perhaps it could have made the effect from the taper more noticeable?  (I actually started the refill process two and a half weeks before I was out of pills but I had a fun run in with bureaucracy.) 

 

Unfortunately, I ran out of my Abilify liquid on Saturday -- I was going to return home on Thursday but I can't drive without my dextroamphetamine and then my car had to go to the shop so I can't get anywhere until it is fixed -- and the bureaucracy that caused the delay on my dextroamphetamine has delayed a new fill on the Abilify liquid -- I have plenty back home but I tried to call it in where I was so I could get it while my car is out of commission . . . but prior authorization apparently.  I'm feeling like I'm going to have a rough few days at the end of the week but I'll have to persevere -- my car should be able to get me home by Thursday, so at least I won't miss for a whole week.  Ugh.

[Gracee]

2 minutes ago, RubyJ said:

I had no problems from 0.17 to 0.16 but actually forgot to taper again at the four week mark.  I tapered to 0.15mg/mL last Tuesday and I am feeling some symptoms.  Unfortunately, I ran out of my dextroamphetamine for a few days, and that may have made this taper more difficult.  I don't get much withdrawal from the dextroamphetamine when I run out but perhaps it could have made the effect from the taper more noticeable?  (I actually started the refill process two and a half weeks before I was out of pills but I had a fun run in with bureaucracy.) 

 

Unfortunately, I ran out of my Abilify liquid on Saturday -- I was going to return home on Thursday but I can't drive without my dextroamphetamine and then my car had to go to the shop so I can't get anywhere until it is fixed -- and the bureaucracy that caused the delay on my dextroamphetamine has delayed a new fill on the Abilify liquid -- I have plenty back home but I tried to call it in where I was so I could get it while my car is out of commission . . . but prior authorization apparently.  I'm feeling like I'm going to have a rough few days at the end of the week but I'll have to persevere -- my car should be able to get me home by Thursday, so at least I won't miss for a whole week.  Ugh.

 

Hi RubyJ, I'm so sorry to read that you are going to be hurting.  Is there anyway  someone could bring you your meds or fedex them to you?  Can you call your prescriber to arrange something?   Usually a pharmacy will work with doctor to provide a small supply of what you need as a bridge.   

 

[RubyJ]

Ironically, my dad had a car accident that wasn't serious but did put his good car out of commission so he can't bring it (it's been an overeventful few weeks).  I was sort of thinking of trying to call the prescriber and seeing if they could get me a bridge -- so I think I'll try that tomorrow as you suggest.  Thank you.

[Cleerity]

Hi Ruby.  It was good to hear from you and I hope you were able to get the medication needed to hold you over.  Best wishes, Cleerity

[Carmie]

Hi Ruby, 

 

Did you get your medication?💚

[RubyJ]

So this has been one of those situations where you keep expecting it to be resolved, and then something else happens and but you still think it will be resolved soon so you wait to do things like laundry but then something else happens and eventually you run out of clean clothes.   Okay, that was maybe to specific, but I'm sure others have had that sort of thing happen.

 

Thank you both for your well wishes <3

I did not get any medication although I am thankfully currently only having mild symptoms.  Last Monday and Tuesday were the worst and it subsided to more of a background hum.  I have no illusions that it will stay that way, though.

So . . . Social Security mishandled my paperwork and my Medicare ended up cancelled for two months, including my part D prescription insurance -- so I've been using Medicaid prescription insurance instead.  They have reinstated parts A & B and I've signed up for a new part D plan so hopefully if this situation insists on dragging on longer I may have a new recourse when that takes effect. 
 

When I called to ask for a bridge, I was told that they couldn't give me even just a little, because the bottle cost $1,100 and even a little was too expensive.  Also, I realized later, what are they going to do with a partially fully bottle if I don't get prior approval?  Obviously they don't want to gamble that much money.  So I called the nurse at my provider's office and asked if she could see how the prior authorization was going.  She calls back three hours later, and I think she called them herself even though their office has someone who does them for all the practioners, which I really appreciate.  Unfortunately for me, Medicaid denied the authorization.  They told her that it was too expensive to justify for such a small dose.  They suggested I cut pills into quarters.  I think that indicates that they saw the price tag and balked and didn't really think about the math.  Obviously, a 2.5mg pill cannot be 'quartered' to 0.15mg.  Basic math there.  I said as much to the nurse, and she asked me how bad my symptoms were (it's been a while since I've been in), and I told her, and she sounded concerned but didn't have a solution when I told her I can't go in to the doctor's office because I'm 200 miles away without a car.  I told her I actually had some left at home, I just can't get to it.  I tried to refill the prescription because I knew I'd need a second bottle to finish tapering because my current one expires in August.  So I'd need a second one eventually and I needed some of it right now, and it seemed like such a good idea . . . if I'd still been on my previous prescription insurance.

I really didn't want to pay for FedEx to get some liquid from home to here -- especially because I've been expecting to leave each day for the last several days only to find out I'm not.  He can't mail it USPS, not just because he'd have to lie about the package not having liquid, but because the temperatures here would be too cold and I don't think it would be the same if it froze and then thawed out.

As I said earlier, my car was supposed to be done by the end of the day on Wednesday.  I called at the end of the day Wednesday . . . my engine was not put back together yet, maybe Thursday afternoon.  I'd packed to leave but thought, okay, one more day, it's fine, I can do this . . . My friend drove her husband to work Thursday so she could take me to get my car, but . . . come 5:00pm, not ready.  THEN there was a winter storm warning on Friday for the road I needed to take to get home so I knew I couldn't leave until Saturday but hoped to pick up the car Friday so I could leave Saturday.  THEN I call the shop and the guy is very agitated and apologetic, tells me the valve job is done and they replaced the spark plug wires that were the secondary problem BUT when the mechanic went to start the car for his second test drive, it wouldn't start.  And he can't figure out why.  He apparently called other mechanics to help him, and they hadn't found the problem yet.  I said that that was strange but if it couldn't start then I obviously can't get it, so it is what it is.  He's aware that the car is now three days late and is trying to come up with ways to appease me--he said the mechanic might come in on Saturday, and if he did, the person I was talking to would personally let me know if he fixed it and would let me take it home even though they were closed. 

 

However, because this is my life right now, I got no news yesterday (Saturday).  My father's birthday is tomorrow and we had planned to celebrate together, but at the rate this is going, we'll probably have to postpone.  Although I'm still hoping to get the car tomorrow -- although my mother will have to pick it up for me because she's in the actual city where the shop is and can get their free shuttle--my friend works and will not be able to drive me to get it.  As long as my mother picks it up, she could potentially drive it to me, and I could drive her home, and then I could drive home.  We'll see!

 

I did do a load of laundry last night because I knew that the clothes could dry today since nothing was going to happen.  This has been a comedy of errors, of sorts.  I keep thinking "I'll have the Abilify soon, it'll be okay" and it not happening.  As I said above, though, I'm not actually suffering much yet, and it has been seven days since I stopped completely.  Although I don't think it will last, I'm grateful for small favors.  I haven't updated because I've been expecting the situation to be resolved each day for the last three days and then been disappointed.

[Cleerity]

Hi Ruby,

 

That is a real comedy of things you've had/have going on.

 

I am glad you seem to not be suffering too much.  I hope things resolve peacefully.

 

Best wishes,

Cleerity

 

[Carmie]

Hi Ruby, 

 

I’m sorry you didn’t get your medication. What a story! I hope things work out somehow. 

 

I’m happy to hear your symptoms aren’t too bad at the moment though. Please keep us updated 💚

[Gracee]

Hi Ruby, I have been thinking about you and your ordeal without your medication.   Hope you are OK. 😟

G.

[RubyJ]

Thank you so much, everyone.  I've been waiting to leave every day this week again and been disappointed again, and now that the last problem was resolved, the car has another problem   and won't be done until next week.  My father borrowed a car and drove my bottle of medicine to me today.   (Although looks like my Medicare part D has indeed gone into effect, so I might have been able to get some next week where I am, but it's not a given.)  My symptoms have gotten much worse so it's become even more important that I get the medicine.  My mother triggered a minor meltdown when she told me she could drive me home and then called back to basically tell me that she wouldn't do it because she'd have to see my father.  At this point, I've lost my equilibrium and couldn't take it in stride.  Feeling a bit better now, although trying to convince my dad not to try to drive back over home tonight.

 

My question is this:  I went ahead and took 0.15mL tonight when I got the liquid.  I'm reinstating after 13 days.  Is reinstating at the same dosage the right move, or would it be better to go up, or go down? 

[Carmie]

Hi Ruby, 

 

You reinstated again a couple of days ago. How are you doing?💚

[manymoretodays]

On 3/8/2019 at 9:29 PM, RubyJ said:

My question is this:  I went ahead and took 0.15mL tonight when I got the liquid.  I'm reinstating after 13 days.  Is reinstating at the same dosage the right move, or would it be better to go up, or go down? 

 

Hi RubyJ,

I think that starting back up where you left off, due to circumstances beyond your control, is prudent.

 

Fortunately,  aripiprazole has a really long half life, compared to most of the drugs we work with here.  Meaning that it takes longer than most of the medications/drugs,  to work it's way completely out of your body.  Hence, it takes much longer for any change in dose to register in your system.  Chances are, there was still a bit of aripiprazole active in your system, which may have helped to starve off more acute or severe W/D.

And then you are also still on your other drugs as well.  I'm going to just list them below, from your signature.

 

Dextroamphetamine 30 mg, started 2011 -- still taking

Wellbutrin/Bupropion 300 mg, started 2005 -- still taking

Prozac/Fluoxetine 40 mg, started 2006 -- still taking

 

Maybe these links will help:

Tips for tapering off Abilify(aripiprazole)

On 3/11/2012 at 5:34 PM, Altostrata said:

Abilify has a very long half-life -- estimated at 4-7 days -- but still needs tapering. From http://www.drugs.com/pro/Abilify.html

 

Washout/and what does half life mean?

 

Thus, the full effects of Abilify, taken regularly, may not be apparent, for 14 days or even longer.

 

So I think you may fare okay RubyJ.  If I were you, I think I would opt for a good hold with the aripiprazole now, of at least a month, and until your situation is a bit more stable.

Does that sound reasonable?

 

Wishing you well, with car repairs, and in getting back on home without further glitches.  Oh.......with your insurance coverage as well.   You've held up well.

 

Love, peace, healing, and growth,

manymoretodays

 

 

 

Edited March 11, 2019 by manymoretodays

[RubyJ]

On ‎3‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 9:08 AM, manymoretodays said:

Wishing you well, with car repairs, and in getting back on home without further glitches.  Oh.......with your insurance coverage as well.   You've held up well.

 

Thanks so much.  <3

 

I did stay at 0.15mL and plan to stay for at least a month, as you suggested.  Symptoms seem to be subsiding slowly.

On ‎3‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 5:00 AM, Carmie said:

You reinstated again a couple of days ago. How are you doing?💚

 

Better now -- it takes some time for changes to appear in my symptoms because of the long half-life but the fact that I wasn't stressing about getting the medicine had an positive effect immediately, thankfully!

[Carmie]

Hi Ruby, 

 

Glad you’re doing a bit better. Keep us updated 💚

[RubyJ]

On ‎3‎/‎18‎/‎2019 at 7:39 PM, Carmie said:

Glad you’re doing a bit better. Keep us updated 💚

 

Thanks so much -- I'm sorry that I didn't reply then, I thought that I did!

 

I've been asymptomatic steadily for at least two weeks now after reinstating, so yesterday (April 24th) I tapered my next step down to 0.14mL from 0.15mL (10% is 0.135 so rounding up got me 0.14).  Hopefully I can stay on track to reduce again in 4 weeks!

 

Oh, and after Medicare part D went back into effect, I had no trouble getting the bottle of Abilify.  Timing . . .

[Carmie]

4 hours ago, RubyJ said:

 

Thanks so much -- I'm sorry that I didn't reply then, I thought that I did!

 

I've been asymptomatic steadily for at least two weeks now after reinstating, so yesterday (April 24th) I tapered my next step down to 0.14mL from 0.15mL (10% is 0.135 so rounding up got me 0.14).  Hopefully I can stay on track to reduce again in 4 weeks!

 

Oh, and after Medicare part D went back into effect, I had no trouble getting the bottle of Abilify.  Timing . . .

 

So glad to hear you’re doing okay Ruby, 

 

I’m so glad too you’re able to get your meds. 

 

Please let us know how you go with the tapering.💚