Stress Center Peer Support

My new doctor is recomending I take abilify...a low dose mood stabilizer for anxiety/depression. My pharmacist says this is a psychotropic and thinks may be too strong for me after I questioned her about it. My doctor says it can be used successfully in small doses for people with anxiety/depression. Has anyone tried a mood stabilizer for anxiety/depression and had success? Bad side effects?? I'm so scared. My current med lexapro is no longer working well for me.

Hi diva,

I take Lamictal/lamotrigine as a mood stabilizer. I like it. I slowly went up on it, and by slowly I mean 25mg increases every three weeks because I always have problems with side effects. My GP said the longer you take to increase it, e.g. trying 3 or 4 weeks instead of the standard 2, the side effects won't be as bad as they otherwise might be for you. Sound advice I must admit since it worked well for me each time I increased the med.

Sometimes medications stop working for you after you've been taking them for a while. It's happened to me on several different occassions. Don't be afraid to try something new as it may just work wonders, and if it doesn't just keep trying. Sometimes it takes a while to find a med that works for you; everyone's biochemistry is different.

xoxo

Have you tried another SSRI besides Lexapro? Did you try dose increases on the Lexapro? There is so much experience with SSRIs for depression/anxiety, maybe think about trying a different one other than Lexapro (or maxing out the dose on Lexapro) before going on Abilify (of course I don't know anything about your med history)... Is your new doctor a psychiatrist?

I am on Zyprexa and my moods have really leveled off- to a higher than medicore state- Thank goodness. It's easier to talk me out of a down spell too. I did try abilify, had no problems with it and it was ok for me, but this is working wonders.