What is abilify

Second-generation antipsychotics are a newer class of antipsychotic drugs. They cause fewer side effects than the first-generation antipsychotics do. Because there are many different mood disorders, there are also many different drug classes used to treat them. For example, mood stabilizers, such as lithium , are drugs that help make your mood more consistent.

In addition, Abilify is also not an antidepressant medication. Examples of antidepressants that are used with Abilify include:.

Controlled substances are more likely than other drugs to cause dependence and withdrawal. So you may have some symptom relief in the first day or so after your first dose of Abilify. Alcohol may cause dizziness, sleepiness, or trouble focusing. It may also decrease your blood pressure. Abilify can also cause these same side effects. Drinking alcohol and taking Abilify may increase your risk of these side effects.

Using more than the recommended dosage of Abilify can lead to serious side effects. Do not use more Abilify than your doctor recommends. In clinical trials , both intentional and accidental overdoses of Abilify in children and adults did occur. You can also call the American Association of Poison Control Centers at or use their online tool.

But if your symptoms are severe, call or go to the nearest emergency room right away. Abilify can interact with several other medications. It can also interact with certain foods. Different interactions can cause different effects. For instance, some interactions can interfere with how well a drug works. Other interactions can increase side effects or make them more severe.

Below are lists of medications that can interact with Abilify. Before taking Abilify, talk with your doctor and pharmacist.

Tell them about all prescription, over-the-counter, and other drugs you take. Also tell them about any vitamins, herbs, and supplements you use. Sharing this information can help you avoid potential interactions.

If you have questions about drug interactions that may affect you, ask your doctor or pharmacist. Abilify may interact with drugs that belong to a class of medications called benzodiazepines. A class of drugs describes a group of medications that work in the same way.

Both Abilify and benzodiazepines can cause tiredness. Taking Abilify with a benzodiazepine may worsen these effects. In some cases, your doctor may recommend that you take Abilify along with a benzodiazepine. However, because of the increased risk of side effects when doing this, your doctor will monitor your blood pressure.

If needed, your doctor may adjust your dosage of either Abilify or the benzodiazepine drug. Doing this can help to lower your risk of side effects. If you have any questions about the interactions between Abilify and benzodiazepines, talk with your doctor or pharmacist. Abilify may interact with certain antidepressant drugs.

And Abilify may sometimes be used in combination with an antidepressant for other conditions as well. This way, your doctor can determine if there are any drug interactions that may affect you.

Specifically, Abilify may interact with certain antidepressants that belong to a class of drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors SSRIs. Taking either of these drugs with Abilify may increase the level of Abilify in your body.

And this could increase your risk of side effects from Abilify. If you have questions about interactions between Abilify and certain antidepressants, talk with your doctor or pharmacist. Abilify is broken down in your liver by enzymes certain proteins.

Taking Abilify with any drugs that affect these enzymes can alter the level of Abilify in your body. In some cases, the level will be increased, but in other cases, it will be decreased. Below, we describe these possible interactions with Abilify. If you have any questions about which drugs may interact with Abilify, talk to your doctor or pharmacist. When this occurs, the level of Abilify in your body will be increased. And you may have an increased risk of side effects from Abilify.

Some medications induce prompt CYP3A4 to work faster than usual. When this occurs, the level of Abilify in your body will be decreased. And in this case, Abilify may not work as well to treat your condition. Abilify may interact with certain blood pressure medications , causing your blood pressure to become too low. This effect happens because Abilify can also decrease your blood pressure.

The combination of Abilify with a blood pressure medication can even cause very low blood pressure that may become dangerous. Abilify can interact with some recreational drugs, which may increase your risk of side effects from Abilify. In addition, pain medications may also interact with Abilify. In these cases, the pain medications would be considered recreational. Examples of pain medications that are sometimes used recreationally include:. All of the recreational drugs listed above may cause your heart rate to be slower than usual.

These drugs may also cause decreased blood pressure , sleepiness, and slowed breathing. Abilify can also decrease your blood pressure and cause sleepiness.

So taking recreational drugs with Abilify may increase your risk of these side effects. However, you should still check with your doctor or pharmacist before using any of these products while taking Abilify.

Abilify is known to interact with grapefruit, which is described below. If you have any questions about consuming grapefruit or any other foods with Abilify, talk with your doctor.

Anything that affects these enzymes can alter the level of Abilify in your body. When this occurs, the level of Abilify in your body is increased. Animal studies have shown that, if used during pregnancy, Abilify may cause:. However, in these studies, animals were given much higher doses of Abilify than humans are given. They can discuss with you the risks and benefits of using this drug during pregnancy.

A pregnancy registry collects information about any effects that a drug may have on pregnancy. The information is then studied to determine whether the drug is a safe option for use during pregnancy.

However, some information shows that Abilify does pass into breast milk. And there are reports showing that mothers who take Abilify have decreased milk supply and that their babies have decreased weight gain. Abilify should be taken once daily. Never change your dosage schedule or stop taking Abilify without first talking with your doctor. Doing so helps there to be a consistent amount of the drug in your body. If you have sleepiness from Abilify, your doctor may recommend that you take your dose at bedtime.

If you have questions about the best time of day to take Abilify, talk with your doctor or pharmacist. As with all medications, the cost of Abilify can vary. To find current prices for Abilify in your area, check out GoodRx.

The cost you find on GoodRx. Before approving coverage for Abilify, your insurance company may require you to get prior authorization. This means that your doctor and insurance company will need to communicate about your prescription before the insurance company will cover the drug. The insurance company will review the prior authorization request and decide if the drug will be covered.

Abilify is available in a generic form called aripiprazole. The generic is considered to be as safe and effective as the original drug. And generics tend to cost less than brand-name drugs. To find out how the cost of aripiprazole compares to the cost of Abilify, visit GoodRx. They may prefer one version or the other. This drug has boxed warnings. A boxed warning alerts doctors and patients about drug effects that may be dangerous.

Before taking Abilify, talk with your doctor about your health history. Abilify may not be right for you if you have certain medical conditions or other factors affecting your health. These include:. When you get Abilify tablets from the pharmacy, the pharmacist will add an expiration date to the label on the bottle or box. This date is typically 1 year from the date they dispensed the medication. The expiration date helps guarantee that the medication is effective during this time.

If you have unused medication that has gone past the expiration date, talk to your pharmacist about whether you might still be able to use it. How long a medication remains good can depend on many factors, including how and where you store the medication. Abilify tablets should be stored in a tightly sealed container away from light.

Avoid storing this medication in areas where it could get damp or wet, such as in bathrooms. This helps prevent others, including children and pets, from taking the drug by accident. It also helps keep the drug from harming the environment. This article provides several useful tips on medication disposal. You can also ask your pharmacist for information on how to dispose of your medication. Abilify is given orally once daily. Abilify should be given at approximately the same time each day to maintain a consistent drug level.

It can be given without regard to food. It is not known exactly how Abilify works to treat psychiatric disorders. However, it is believed that the drug acts as a partial agonist on both the dopamine 2 receptor D2 and 5HT1A serotonin receptor. Schizophrenia, mania, and irritability are all believed to be caused by high dopamine and serotonin levels.

Partially agonizing these receptors reduces dopamine and serotonin activity and may return a person to a less manic or irritable state. Abilify and its metabolite, dehydro-aripiprazole, are highly protein bound. The half-life of Abilify is approximately 75 hours. The half-life of dehydro-aripiprazole is approximately 94 hours. The drug reaches steady state levels after 14 continuous days of dosing. Abilify is eliminated via the cytochrome P system.

CYP3A4 also mediates N-dealkylation. Abilify is not a controlled substance. However, it is possible that people may develop dependence on Abilify while taking it. Dependence of Abilify has not been studied in humans. Therefore, it is not known if everyone who takes the drug will become dependent upon it. Although withdrawal has not been studied in humans, it was present in animal studies.

Because people may become dependent on Abilify, the drug may cause withdrawal symptoms when stopped. Withdrawal symptoms may include headache, nausea, or increased heart rate. It is not known how soon these withdrawal symptoms come on or for how long they may last. However, in one case , a man experienced Abilify withdrawal symptoms for approximately 2 weeks.

Due to the risk of withdrawal, Abilify should not be abruptly stopped. Rather, people taking the drug should be instructed to contact their prescriber to discuss discontinuing the medication before actually doing so. If a person desires to stop Abilify treatment, doses of the drug should be tapered, thus decreasing the risk of withdrawal symptoms. People with a history of drug misuse should be monitored more frequently than usual during Abilify therapy.

In some cases, other medications may be more suitable for people with a history of drug misuse. Abilify should be stored in a tightly sealed container away from light. Avoid storing this medication in areas where it could get damp or wet. Disclaimer: Medical News Today has made every effort to make certain that all information is factually correct, comprehensive, and up to date. However, this article should not be used as a substitute for the knowledge and expertise of a licensed healthcare professional.

You should always consult your doctor or other healthcare professional before taking any medication. The drug information contained herein is subject to change and is not intended to cover all possible uses, directions, precautions, warnings, drug interactions, allergic reactions, or adverse effects.

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Abilify aripiprazole. What is Abilify? Abilify generic. Abilify side effects. Abilify dosage. Abilify uses. Abilify use with other drugs. Alternatives to Abilify. Abilify vs. Abilify Maintena. Abilify withdrawal and dependence. Common questions about Abilify. How Abilify works.

Abilify and alcohol. Abilify overdose. Abilify interactions. Abilify and pregnancy. Abilify and birth control. Abilify and breastfeeding. How to take Abilify. Abilify cost. Abilify precautions. Abilify expiration, storage, and disposal.

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All FDA black box warnings are at the end of this fact sheet. Please review before taking this medication. Aripiprazole is a medication that works in the brain to treat schizophrenia. It is also known as a second generation antipsychotic SGA or atypical antipsychotic.

Aripiprazole rebalances dopamine and serotonin to improve thinking, mood, and behavior. This medication sheet will focus primarily on schizophrenia. Find more information about bipolar disorder, depression and autism spectrum disorders here. They should be clear about the limits of the research around that medication and if there are any other options. Schizophrenia requires long-term treatment. Do not stop taking aripiprazole, even when you feel better. With input from you, your health care provider will assess how long you will need to take the medicine.

Missing doses of aripiprazole may increase your risk for a relapse in your symptoms. Do not stop taking aripiprazole or change your dose without talking to with your healthcare provider first.

For aripiprazole to work properly, it should be taken every day as ordered by your healthcare provider. If you are planning on becoming pregnant, notify your healthcare provider to best manage your medications. People living with schizophrenia who wish to become pregnant face important decisions.

This is a complex decision since untreated schizophrenia has risks to the fetus, as well as the mother. It is important to discuss the risks and benefits of treatment with your doctor and caregivers. Symptoms in the newborn may include agitation, feeding disorder, hypertonia, hypotonia, respiratory distress, somnolence, and tremor; these effects may be self-limiting or require hospitalization.

In general, infants exposed to SGAs via breast milk should be monitored weekly for the first month of exposure for symptoms, such as appetite changes, insomnia, irritability, or lethargy. Aripiprazole tablets and suspension are usually taken 1 time per day with or without food. Typically, patients begin at a low dose of medicine and the dose is increased slowly over several weeks. The oral dose aripiprazole usually ranges from 2 mg to 30 mg taken once daily.

The dose of aripiprazole maintena extended-release injection ranges from mg to mg given once monthly; the dose of aripiprazole lauroxil extended-release injection ranges from mg to mg — depending on the dose, it is given once per month, every 6 weeks, or every 2 months.

Aripiprazole maintena requires a two-week oral medication overlap; aripiprazole lauroxil requires a three-week oral overlap. Aripiprazole lauroxil Initio is typically given after an oral dose of aripiprazole along with an aripiprazole lauroxil injection — this allows for a one-day initiation and does not require further oral overlap.

Only your healthcare provider can determine the correct formulation and dose for you. Use a calendar, pillbox, alarm clock, or cell phone alert to help you remember to take your medication. You may also ask a family member or a friend to remind you or check in with you to be sure you are taking your medication.

If you miss a dose of aripiprazole, take it as soon as you remember, unless it is closer to the time of your next dose. Do not double your next dose or take more than what is prescribed.

If you miss an injection, call your doctor or pharmacist right away. Discuss this with your healthcare provider. Avoid drinking alcohol or using illegal drugs while you are taking aripiprazole. They may decrease the benefits e. If an overdose occurs call your doctor or You may need urgent medical care. You may also contact the poison control center at Do not open the blister pack that contains the tablet until you are ready to take it.

Remove the tablet from the blister pack by peeling back the foil, then taking the tablet out. Do not push the tablet through the foil. Do not break or split the tablet. Place the tablet in your mouth. It should melt quickly. After the tablet has melted, you may swallow or take a sip of water.

Follow your doctor's instructions on how to use the medicine. Aripiprazole may be taken with or without food. If your doctor tells you to take it a certain way, follow your doctor's instructions. The dose of this medicine will be different for different patients. Follow your doctor's orders or the directions on the label. The following information includes only the average doses of this medicine.

If your dose is different, do not change it unless your doctor tells you to do so. The amount of medicine that you take depends on the strength of the medicine. Also, the number of doses you take each day, the time allowed between doses, and the length of time you take the medicine depend on the medical problem for which you are using the medicine.

If you miss a dose of this medicine, take it as soon as possible. However, if it is almost time for your next dose, skip the missed dose and go back to your regular dosing schedule. Do not double doses. Store the medicine in a closed container at room temperature, away from heat, moisture, and direct light. Keep from freezing. It is very important that your doctor check your progress at regular visits to allow for changes in your dose and to make sure this medicine is working properly.

Blood and urine tests may be needed to check for any unwanted effects. For some patients, this medicine can increase thoughts of suicide.

Tell your doctor right away if you start to feel more depressed and have thoughts about hurting yourself. Report any unusual thoughts or behaviors that trouble you, especially if they are new or are getting worse quickly. Make sure the doctor knows if you have trouble sleeping, get upset easily, have a big increase in energy, or start to act reckless. Also tell the doctor if you have sudden or strong feelings, such as feeling nervous, angry, restless, violent, or scared.

Let the doctor know if you or anyone in your family has bipolar disorder manic-depressive illness or has tried to commit suicide. This medicine may add to the effects of alcohol and other central nervous system CNS depressants medicines that make you drowsy or less alert. Some examples of CNS depressants are antihistamines or medicines for hay fever, other allergies, or colds, sedatives, tranquilizers, or sleeping medicines, prescription pain medicines or narcotics, medicines for seizures or barbiturates, muscle relaxants, or anesthetics, including some dental anesthetics.

Check with your doctor before taking any CNS depressants while you are taking this medicine. Aripiprazole may cause drowsiness, trouble with thinking, or trouble with controlling movements, which may lead to falls, fractures or other injuries. Do not drive or do anything else that could be dangerous unless you know how this medicine affects you.

Check with your doctor right away if you have any of the following symptoms while using this medicine: convulsions seizures , difficulty with breathing, a fast heartbeat, a high fever, high or low blood pressure, increased sweating, loss of bladder control, severe muscle stiffness, unusually pale skin, or tiredness.

These could be symptoms of a serious condition called neuroleptic malignant syndrome NMS. This medicine may cause tardive dyskinesia a movement disorder especially in elderly women. Check with your doctor right away if you have any of the following symptoms while taking this medicine: lip smacking or puckering, puffing of the cheeks, rapid or worm-like movements of the tongue, uncontrolled chewing movements, or uncontrolled movements of the arms and legs. Some people who have used this medicine had unusual changes in their behavior.

Talk with your doctor right away if you start having unusual urges, such as gambling urges, binge or compulsive eating, compulsive shopping, or sexual urges while using this medicine.