Abilify And Teens (Page 2) (Top voted first)

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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Do NOT give your child that medicine

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16, depressed,
5mg abilify
1 day
shakes
confusion

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When I was 16 I was diagnosed bi polar/depression & put on Abilify 5mg & SeroquelRX 200mg. I took both for about 6 months. In 3 months I told my Dr I felt like the meds were not helping. She upped the Abilify to 10mg and Seroquel to 400mg then to 600mg. Two months later I tried to commit suicide for the second time in my life and Im only 20!! I would sleep for what felt like days at a time. I then gradually got off the Abilify and never took it again. Half way into my 11th grade year I dropped out. Before I turned 18 I had my first symptom, I flat out fainted while doing my make up in a bathroom with my best friend. A few months later I had a panic attack while sleeping that literally made me sit straight up and gasp for air..I was so loud I woke up my boyfriend next to me and he was totally freaked out. I can remember that I was dreaming about a spider and it was just about to land on me when I started to panic. Then about 6 months later I had a 2-3 min tonic-clonic seizure where afterwards I pissed my pants and stopped breathing all together. Thankfully a friend was right there to do mouth to mouth. I sat up within seconds completely confused to what just happened. It was very scary and just felt unreal. I also have a social anxiety problem where I sometimes don't want to walk in a gas station! I also have restless leg syndrome every few months & that sh*t is annoying. But Im still standing strong, Im not going to let that pill take over my life. Im not completely happy but I can feel the spirit bringing me more in touch with myself & life. I do meditation & yoga & that helps me a lot. I also have an amazing boyfriend who always is there for me no matter what the situation. He is my angel & I couldnt do it without him, he gives me the strength and courage to keep living.

So all I can say is, a drug is a drug no matter what the label. Everyone is effected differently and it's all at your own risk. Abilify works great for some people, but for the others it's a long, dark and scary road. Sometimes all someone needs is to be reassured that they will be ok, that life is beautiful and full of great things if they can just make it to the next day. To everyone who is suffering from depression my heart is with you I know how it feels to want to die but face that obstacle when it comes to you, don't bring it upon yourself. Think of your favorite memories, your favorite foods, the people you love/the people who love you, listen to music, write down how you feel in a journal/diary, connect with people over the internet, express yourself with some paint, go for a swim, lay in the grass and look up at the endless sky. Step by step you can over come your fears and insecurities, everything takes time and it will all be worth it in the end. <3minnie

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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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This is a very dangerous drug, My son was put on it and he had a major nervous meltdown. His doctor did not do enough research to give him this drug and overmedicated him. He diagnosed my child as bi polar without doing any diagnostics, Prescribed abilify on top of several other drugs. My son ended up in the hospital and missed twelve weeks of school, he had suicidal thoughts and we had to watch him for those twelve weeks. Every child is different. Hopefully your doctor is not a pill pusher and knows what he is doing. I am happy to say, that we have a new Psychiatrist and a new psychologist. My son is on very little medication (no abilify) and is back in school and very happy. I hope your child is doing well. Just watch him closely on that drug.

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My son was on abilify from age 14 until 16 and currently weaning off. Was on 20 MG and now 10 after several weeks. He has experienced tremors, delay in puberty , and increasing irritibility. Doing better as he weans from this med! The psychiatrist would prefer he remains on the med- sometimes as parents we have to be proactive even when it is against what a physician recommends! We know our kids and must live with them each day- we know best.

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My son has been on aripripazol for a year now. He was 13 years old when he started, now he's 14. He doesn't smile naturally how he used to, he doesn't talk much or make conversations - He just looks and stares. When I ask him anything he takes long to reply and he's always thinking about some thing and can't concentrate properly. He says he feels dumb, has been twice now in hospital over the last year, and now this year he been wants to come off medication. He is missing doses, taking at wrong times, then having hallucinations such as seeing things hearing voices . Last year before he went into the hospital during 6 weeks of holidays, he was playing playstation, shooting zombie games, he would not want to come out with family anywhere. He withdrew himself, sat on the sofa looking at the ceiling mumbling to himself. He did not miss going to school, he would walk out of school - I picked him up from school and he was under his coat in a corner on the floor crying. I was so upset to see him like that . He looked weak to his doctors, had blood work done and was anemic with low B12. Then I noticed changes in his behavior - he started doing fighting moves in the house, passing about throwing water on himself, then outside he stood in the street pretending to fight some one but no one was there. We phoned the ambulance and took him to the hospital. The doctor checked him and said he needs to be sectioned off and they diagnosed him with psychosis . He doesn't like being on this med, he said a few days ago on home leave when I took him out to shop there were lots of people there and he said "I feel weird mum. I feel like killing myself."

Is it the meds making him say this and the voices in his head? Does he need this med? I am a concerned mother and need advice, please help. The doctor said we need to increase his dose to 20mg, and I said no since he's only a child . Help me any one please tell what your thoughts are?

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I totally agree, that drug is poison. my parents forced me to take it for 2 years from around 14 till 16 and I told them no it's not helping me and they just blindly listened to the child psychiatrist. that drug is the devil. it blocks feeling emotion, love, sensitivity and purpose. you're just a zombie on that drug. all psychiatric drugs are dangerous poisons and no child should ever be given a psychiatric drug ever. you are correct we must stop this madness. we are selling our children to the drug companies!!!

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I am 21 years old, but physically my body looks more like 15, or 16 year old's would. for me abilify made me have this empty feeling inside, (which leads ultimately to binge eating..) I just wanted to get rid of that feeling, and also the anxiety. eating is one of the things that softens the anxiety even for just a moment, for me personally. Sounds like your son may have had a similar reaction to the drug. i have only taken it about 3 weeks, but i can tell you, that it has made me want to eat a lot, when i took less than 15mg. but it also made me not want to sit still, i don't know if thats a lasting side effect, or just in the beginning. it made me extremely anxious.

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My 12 year old niece has been on abilify for 3 years and recently her dosage has been upped to 5mg. She is now having vivid dreams and false memories and seemingly has developed tardive dyskinesia with a facial tic in the form of eye blinking. Allegations have been made of child abuse and we think this drug my be related to these vivid dreams she has been having. Has anyone else had the vivid dreams that seem so real that they make you believe they are?

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My 14 yr old daughter was on Abilify for the past month. By day 2, it seemed that the aliens had come in the night and replaced my screaming, rude teen with someone who could do her homework and respond reasonably to other people. She has apparently been spitting it out for the past week. The screaming mimi is back. She also slaps her brother as she walks by him, and got into a fist fight at the library the other day. She is now openly refusing to take it. She complained that it made her sick to her stomach and sleepy. We started giving it to her at dinnertime instead of bedtime, which eased the sleepyness, and we did not go about 5 mg. At no point did I ever see her vomit or lose her appetite. I miss the reasonable, likeable kid very much. :(

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I just took my 12 year old off of Abilify after 5 months. I didn't think that it was dong anything except causing enormous weight gain and loss of his personality amd sense of humor. He has been off of it for 3 weeks and there is no change what so ever,which leads me to believe that it was useles to him. my nephew was on it and it was causing in increase in his tremors so he is being weaned as well. my friends 9 year old is on it too and she says there has been improvement but also weight gain. It is all so difficult! Good luck to you and your son

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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 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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Put 15 year old son on it two weeks ago. Amazing results within a week. This is a miracle drug for anxiety and depression. Son takes lexapro in the morning and Abilify at night. I have my son back and he is doing well.

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I had a similar situation with my college age daughter. She was 19 Years old and never had mood swings to indicate BiPolar. She had started going to the School counselor on campus, they referred her to a clinic in town where they started prescribing 1 anti depressant - Welbutrin. That interfered with her ability to sleep. She has never had sleeping problems. She kept complaining, with no real change in mood. This was a first episode with depression - she had just broken up with a boyfriend who had been lying to her... Long story short, each time Abilify was added to her meds she became destabilized. She had 3 hospitalizations in the span of 6 months. She would get out of the hospital and be feeling OK - no abilify - then go back to clinic for follow up and they would restart the abilify - it was awful. I finally told her to stop taking the abilify and don't go back to the clinic. This summer she stopped taking all of her medications for mood. She's back at school and so far so good.

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my son is 16 he has bad anger,very defiant does poorly in school, talks about fighting alot i had take him to a therapist and a phsychiatrist he told them he hears voices which he never mentioned to me before they want to put him on abilify i am so afraid about medication about the high risk of suicide i dont know what to do im trying to get any and all information i can get to help me, i told the doctor's when i tell him no about something he cant do or have then hell go into a anger rage if i let him do or get what he wants everything is fine , i dont know if one of his friends said anything about medication cause he is very eager to take it i would appreciate any HELP!

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