Abilify?

[KarenB]

Has anyone here taken Abilify, and if so, did it work well for you with whatever symptoms it was prescribed for, and did you have signficant side effects? Did you lose seizure control/see an increase in seizures when on it?

Jon (age 9) was just prescribed it for aggression (which seems to be related to either his seizures or his seizure med -- the one he's on now is Zonegran). He was NEVER aggressive up til age 6, when his seizures started to get bad. Then, when he was put on Trileptal, he became extremely aggressive, but when taken off, he went back to normal. He was not especially aggressive from age 7 to age 8 1/2, when on Depakote, and when on no meds (just the Ketogenic diet), but his aggression returned when he was put on Diazepam and Keppra (and abated when he went off). Now he's only on Zonegran (for about 10 months now) and the Ketogenic diet, and he's been seizure free since January, but in the last month we saw a huge surge in extremely aggressive behavior and impulsive behavior. He's not angry -- he can be playing with other kids and laughing and obviously enjoying himself, when all of a sudden he'll just lunge and attack some poor kid. We'll be walking down the sidewalk and through the mall, and he's reaching out and slapping people as they go by (or throwing items off the store shelves). He's constantly hitting us, scratching, pinching. Yesterday, in speech therapy, he hit his therapist about a half dozen times. Not in a rage or angry, and not depressed. Just violent and absolutely no impulse control.

 

[Cint]

Abilify is an anti-psychotic that is also prescribed for bi-polar disorder. It's also used for autistic children with aggression and temper tantrums.

It can also cause or exaggerate high blood sugar (hyperglycemia), so if you notice any symptoms of increased thirst or urination, excessive hunger and more tired than usual in Jon, then notify the dr. ASAP.

Ten years ago I was prescribed a med similar to Abilify for serious depression. Within two months, I noticed a big change in my vision. My optometrist was the one who asked if I had taken any new meds. When I told her about the drug she said I had symptoms of Type 1 diabetes. I went immediately to my shrink and internal MD. They took me off the drug and ran tests for diabetes. Three months later I went back to my MD and my glucose was still extremely high. Tried several oral meds for the glucose, nothing worked, so went to an endocrinologist and he diagnosed me as having Type 1 Diabetes, although I was an adult. He started me on insulin shots and to this day and for the rest of my life I will be having to take them, thanks to this one drug.

So beware of some of these anti-psychotics! If there is any history of diabetes in your family, make sure you tell the dr.

 

[KarenB]

Thanks Cint. That reminded me to check his blood sugar this morning to get a baseline. It was 76 -- which is right where we want to have it (for a kid on the Ketogenic diet). So, will monitor that closely. Hopefully the Keto diet will help with keeping his blood sugar in control.

He's not having temper tantrums -- never really has. He's not angry. He just hits, slaps, pinches, and scratches everyone within arm's reach.

He's on the Abilify for a 2 week trial, then we go back to see his doc. Hope it works. I hate having him on another med, but he wasn't responding at all to any sort of behavior modification.