I started Abilify due to needing additional help with depression. I was taking Trintellix 10mg and my doctor added Abilify 5mg. To be honest, initially it was amazing how it opened up my world and helped pull me from my depression. Through the next 10 years, whenever I began to slip down into depression, my doctor would increase my dose. In July 2022, I was on Trintellix 20mg and Abilify 15mg.

I moved and needed a new psychiatrist and she recommended that I begin to titrate off Abilify because I had not ever experienced psychotic symptoms and I was struggling with impulsive eating, weight gain, and extreme anxiety. We began the taper very slowly and at each decrease, we would wait 3 or more months to see if I had withdrawal symptoms. After one year, I was taking Abilify 5mg, along with Trintellix 20mg and Buspar 15mg, and my psychiatrist suddenly moved and I was assigned a new psychiatrist who did not understand the need for a slow titration. Because I had not experienced any withdrawal symptoms at that point, she suggested decreasing my dose to 2.5mg for two weeks and then discontinue taking Abilify, but remain on the other medications.

Within one week, I was extremely anxious, could not sleep either from insomnia or from muscle spasms like restless legs and back spasms, as well as, whole body stiffness and twitching. I had involuntary mouth chewing and bruxism when I was awake and headaches, lower back pain, and severe overstimulation from noises and touch. I told my new psychiatrist about all of these symptoms and the daily crying spells and she did not believe that it was due to discontinuing Abilify. She increased my Buspar to 30mg and asked me to see my PCP for labwork, which all came back normal.

I have been completely off Abilify for 5 months and some of the withdrawal symptoms are still present. While on Abilify, I was addicted to sweet foods and would eat excessively (I had weight loss surgery in 2015, so this was small portions all day long and mostly sweets). Now that I’ve discontinued Abilify, I can no longer tolerate sweet tastes. It began 2 months after discontinuing when I noticed that I was no longer interested in anything sweet and I barely had an appetite at all, common for weight loss surgery, but not my typical experience. Shortly after I noticed this lack of interest, I began noticing that foods that weren’t actually sweet would then taste sweet to me and I would get nauseous and physically ill. My brain remembers that I like the taste of sweets, but when the food is in my mouth, I do not like it and if I actually eat something with sugar, I will be sick until I can flush it out with lots of water. I have also noticed this week that I cannot tolerate artificial sweeteners. I saw my PCP again and have been tested for diabetes and thyroid issues, but labwork came back normal again.

I still have the mouth chewing and teeth clinching to the point that I’ve damaged some of my teeth and I have daily pain in my jaw and sensitive teeth requiring sensitivity toothpaste. I have a consultation next week for botox shots in my jaw to see if this will relax the muscles and help me stop this behavior.

I’m sharing my experience because there is a lot of misinformation about whether Abilify can give withdrawals, but also I’m seeking advice on what to do or who to talk to about these ongoing issues. I refuse to consider taking Abilify again for any reason, so I would like to hear other experiences to give me hope that this is not permanent damage to my body and brain. Thank you for reading.