Abilify And Teens (Page 3)

My 13 yr old son has just been prescribed Abilify and I need to know if anyone has experience with their teen being on this.

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i'm 17 and was just pescribed this medication to go along with prozac. it worked great at first, my grades improved and i became more social,but it's been about a month and a half and i feel the effects reversed- i'm more withdrawn, i've been having irrational thoughts, i cant sleep except for during the day and on top of it all i cant stop eating and i've gained about 15 pounds so far. this medicine is definintly not for my, but i have also heardgood things about it too. just do your research.

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i'm 17 as well and me and your daughter are having similar effects. i stopped taking it after i felt the urge to cut-which i havent felt in years. not that i'm just on my anti-depressant, i feel better, not totally not depressed, but i still need to talk to my doctor. Best of luck!

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my previous comment was to autumn, still new to this website..

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My 17-year-old daughter (See post 39) will be tapering off the Abilify. It has not helped her depression the way the advertisements claim, though it seemed as if it would help at first. The helpful effects didn't last long. Besides the one episode of trying to hurt herself (which was very much about her anger in a particular circumstance), she has been very, very tired almost all the time and had her best day in many weeks the day she forgot to take it. Her fatigue is hurting her academic performance which is one of the most important things going on for her right now.

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My son has been on abilify since he was 3 1/2 years old. And this drug has been a blessing. My child hated to be touched, had screaming fits lasting longer than two hours, and hurt himself ad others. He also had many spectrum behaviors (flipping his hands, walking on tippy toes, stemming on things) When i medicated him after the first few weeks he hugged me! i cried I was so happy. He stopped stemming on things and flipping his hands. efore I could not take a different road home or stop at a store without a fit and now I can. He is seven now and is in a regular classroom and is finally declassified from services. Without this med an the Intuiniv he takes he would off never succeeded in mainstream schooling. Granted he is still a quirky kid that has violent meltdowns but it is so much better than before!

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Please check out the previous answers. I have been following this feed for a long time and am a past user of Abilify myself. It seems most of us/our children have had/are having bad experiences with the drug so it is advisable for you to research both the pros and cons pertaining to your Son. If the benefits of Abilify outweigh the risks to your Son's health, than by all means do what ever you have to. I say, read our responses on here and do some research before putting him on the drug. Just an F.Y.I., B-Complex vitamins have proven very effective for mood related disorders in children and young adults and can be an effective alternative [paired with therapy] to harsh anti-phychotic drugs like Abilify. Take your Son to a Naturopathic doctor for a non-"big-pharma" approach to his treatment plan. I have been medication-free for 7 years now and have never felt better both physically and mentally! Do your research... Thats' all I can say. Good luck to you!

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Prozac helped my daughter some but seems to have worn off some too and the response of the doctor is to add "booster" doses first of Abilify and now of Topramax, which is making her feel bad. She will stop the Topramax today. She has felt worse and has had to drop her English class which is not helping the way she feels. I don't think there is harm in these drugs if they work, but somehow when they don't work the solution is just more drugs or higher doses, which seems wrong to me. We do have her taking fish oil and a comprehensive multivitamin but she resists the vitamins. She is 18 now so I can share my opinion but I have to respect hers as well. When I was her age I took amino acids, never would take a pharmaceutical drug. Now I take St. John's Wort. I am not happy joy joy all the time, and I have to work hard to compensate for other ADD and OCD problems, but I have a good life now and in the past without pharmaceuticals. It was not suggested when I was a kid.

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When my parents took me to a crisis center when they were fed up with my daily marijuana use, i got prescribed abilify after the doctor said marijuana will "fry my brain". I stopped using marijuana and tried an abilify with a benadryl at night as that was what the doctor told me to do. It was terrible, I was thinking like I was in school even though I was in bed. I experienced dizziness and loss of appetite. I think I only got 3 hours of sleep that night and experienced muscle twitches the next day. I would never consider my self either bipolar, depressed, or szciofrenic. That will be the last time I ever take abilify.

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My daughter is 13 and just started taking Abilify. She is at a very small dosage of 2.5. In addition to Abilify she is on fluxomamine for anxiety and severe OCD. I was VERY nervous starting her on Abilify but we have seen very positive results and no negative side effects. I think the key is making sure you are working with a really good psychiatrist. We are working with someone I trust and they are watching her very carefully. They haven't treated her ADHD yet but from what we see the medicine is also helping her concentrate a bit more

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Abilify for me is a good tablet keep taking it.

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Do you happen to know if in the year of 2009 if ability was allowed to be prescribed to 14 year old females?

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Yes, I was prescribed abilify when I was 14 in 2004.

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my son 17 was diagnosed as having major depression. He was hospitalized for suicidal ideations. I have been strugglying with having him on medicine. over the summer he has been on ambilify and lexapor. now that school has started up and football he is becoming easily dehydrated and has passed out once so far and has had a anxiety attack while on the field. after reading all these stories im taking him off the medicine immediately

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My son, 16 on Abilify for 10 days Started at 5mg and then uppped to 10 mg for Bipolar rage. On day eight drooling, abnormal gait, waxy flexibility (catatonic). Off Abilify for 4 days and still has abnormal gait. Toxic drug. Would not recommend as first line treatment unless you want to turn your raging teenager into a zombie.

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My daughter has been on it for only 3 months and it has helped so much, but she has gained 30 pounds and I am concerned cuz she is only 14 and 5'3 and 2o9 pounds. Dr said nothing else works as well.

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Yes my son is also 13 and has been on Abilify for about 3 months now. It was like someone turned on a light switch with him. He now is feeling more like himself. The only side effect we are watching is the weight gain.

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Thank you for all of your responses. My son (14) has depression and extreme anxiety and has had extreme trouble transitioning into High School. My psychiatrist has prescribed abilify and serequil on top of other antidepressants without doing any test, and rushing us out of his office. My son has gotten worse and cries all the time and is very angry. We have gone to see a new psychologist and is referring us to a new shrink. This is such a hard process, if anyone had any advice or insight, I would greatly appreciate it. We have stopped the abilify after reading these articles.

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I'm a 12 year old girl, an all A Honor Roll Student, and I have been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome when I was 7, in first grade. My psychiatrist, in my opinion, is very uninformative of information regarding medications that I have been put on. I was first put on Prozac, an antidepressant, which my parents found out did not work well for me. A couple months later, I was taken off of Prozac, and started Risperidone, against my own free will. I researched information about Risperidone, and was shocked to see that I was experiencing symptoms that I did not think much of, until I discovered the source. I experienced extreme dizziness, as well as tiredness, I felt worthless and drained of my energy, and I could not focus well in school, so my grades dropped from A's and A+'s to A-'s and B+'s. I became very concerned at this point, and I begged my parents to take me off of it, as it was interfering with my academic success. Finally, after 6 months, I was taken off of it, which brings me to the present. My Doctor now wants to put me on Abilify, which I have seen many commercials for that describe horrible side effects, such as comma and sudden death. I am especially worried because Abilify is not for minors under the age of 18! My psychiatrist literally talked about it for 5 minutes, didn't give any information AT ALL, and handed my mom and I free test samples. Do not take this medicine!!!

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This has been my experience to a T. I have gone through almost the same exact thing. Just don't take abilify. Nothing good comes of it.

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How is she doing now ? Would you still use abilify for her? My daughter starts Monday and I am very scared for her !
Thanks

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