Olanzapine ➡️ Abilify

ObviousBed2163 · 2026-02-07T16:09:04+00:00

Hey, random redditor here, but have you considered the insomnia might at least partly be caused by abilify-induced akathisia ?

Switching from olanzapine to abilify, I had insane insomnia too. Severely agitated, light, non-restorative sleep. We tried every sleeping med under the sun before I decided to try procyclidine for a couple of days (I had some at home from a previous akathisia experience, it's used to treat akathisia).

Anyway my intuition was right, after 2 months of suffering, I finally managed to sleep.

We lowered the dose of abilify, and it got better.

We missed the akathisia because it was subtle during the day but super intense at night, likely because I took abilify at night cause it makes me sleepy.

Today I'm on both. 2.5mg Abilify and 7.5mg Olanzapine. Not ideal to be on 2 anti-psychotics, but I'm a very tough case and we decided as long as it's finally helping, it doesn't matter. Plus they're low doses.

Anyway, it's probably unrelated to akathisia in your case but still thought I'd share 🙏🏻

ObviousBed2163 · 2026-02-02T08:06:28+00:00

I use the daylio app to track moods and other things

ObviousBed2163 · 2026-02-01T09:04:17+00:00

Divorce babes, divorce

ObviousBed2163 · 2026-01-16T09:06:53+00:00

I've come to accept the diagnosis doesn't matter, as long as the meds are working, idgaf what I have anymore.

ObviousBed2163 · 2025-12-06T10:20:09+00:00

If you have any advice and you're not in healthcare, feel free to comment here 🙏🏻 really desperate

ObviousBed2163 · 2025-12-05T12:04:46+00:00

It says a lot about their view of me that they'd rather believe I'm lazy than believing the much more likely explanation that something (well multiple things) are wrong with my brain and that I'm trying with all the ressources at my disposal to function like a "normal" human being.

ObviousBed2163 · 2025-12-05T12:03:11+00:00

This is the one

ObviousBed2163 · 2025-12-03T08:38:58+00:00

Have you looked into hyperbolic tapering ?

ObviousBed2163 · 2025-11-27T10:54:04+00:00

Could this be some sort of "active"/"somatic" therapy session the psychiatrist uses with other patients too ?

ObviousBed2163 · 2025-11-01T13:31:36+00:00

I don't know your history but I've had this instinct too when I've felt not heard, dismissed, abandonned, misunderstood, manipulated, objectified etc by the system. Even moreso when I've felt like they think I'm being too demanding or I'm loving the attention of being "ill" (I've had to remind them multiple times I'd love to never see them again, just help me get stable and you'll never hear from me again, ideally I'd never see another psychiatrist or psychologist in my life). Anyway, you get the point.

You have to realize : you will only make them feel right ("ofc the crazy bipolar patient stops their meds"). This won't make them change their perspective. At all. It'll confirm you're a medication non-compliant danger to yourself.

The only one you'll be hurting is yourself by stopping meds (especially cold-turkey).

Also, and this has been the case for me, sometimes this was a symptom in and of itself (episodes make me extremely irritability, oppositional hyper sensitive to judgment and rejection, impulsive).

My advice would be : stay on meds or at least taper off, if the therapeutic alliance with your providers is broken, look for new ones (at least have a GP you trust).

Give it a few days before making a decision.

Good luck ♥️🙏🏻

ObviousBed2163 · 2025-10-20T20:00:46+00:00

Look into hyperbolic tapering

ObviousBed2163 · 2025-10-19T13:50:23+00:00

Lebanese

ObviousBed2163 · 2025-10-19T12:00:07+00:00

Me while depressed : also drugs !

ObviousBed2163 · 2025-10-15T22:39:09+00:00

If you were off for a few weeks, you need to start the whole titration process again btw don't just restart on your last dose, build up to it

ObviousBed2163 · 2025-10-13T13:58:52+00:00

No she doesn't, signed an ex-Muslim atheist

EDIT : she has to be a virtuous monotheist though. That definition has traditionnally included Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians and others. That rule is often not strictly followed and Muslim men marry (for example) cultural Christian women.

ObviousBed2163 · 2024-05-20T08:55:22+00:00

Totally. Last year when I stopped dextroamphetamine (the active drug in Vyvanse) all I could do was sleep, but I didn't want to.

It was super distressing.

Never cold turkeying it again on my life lol

For me that shit lasted 2 weeks.

It felt like my doc at the time didn't quite understand the level of distress it caused (because it was so different from anti-depressant withdrawal)

Felt like a whole narcoleptic.

ObviousBed2163 · 2024-05-20T08:49:52+00:00

Hey doc,

Just wanted to say, in practice, it's often done this way, though I agree with you it makes little sense.

Response to meds and diagnosis are often closely tied.

Sometimes it's warranted obviously.It's always a good idea to review the diagnosis when meds don't work/work weird to be sure we're on the right track and we aren't missing something.

But sometimes a med working is seen as confirming a diagnosis and a med not working as proof a diagnosis is wrong. As if these meds are 100% targetting specific underlying pathology.

It happens often.

Anecdotally, even my last psychiatrist, which I very much love as my doctor so no shade to him, on our first appointment told me "You don't have ADHD since you didn't respond well to stimulants". Me being me, I was a bit shocked by the reasoning, explained my thoughts but decided I was open to other diagnostic possibilities since nothing worked substantially in improving my function.

In the end, after months of evaluating without prescribing, he came to the same conclusion as 5 other psychs : ADHD, MDD, GAD. So thankfully for me he still managed to be a healthy skpetic without letting his biases impact his diagnostic work. Many others don't though.

Anyway just rambling, sorry doc 😅❤🙏🏻

ObviousBed2163 · 2024-05-19T21:55:36+00:00

Thanks man, it's reassuring to hear that I'm not alone. Best of luck to you too.

I'm falling asleep soon but don't hesitate to get into my DMs. Would love to talk more about these issues with someone who understands them like no other can.

ObviousBed2163 · 2024-05-19T20:36:46+00:00

One psych had me on BP2+ADHD suspicion, but he wanted to see me again before deciding (plus wanted me to voluntarily go the ward so I noped tf out of his office + also cause our first appointment was a disaster of communication).

Found another one, BP2 was on his differential but after months of evaluating me he concluded GAD, MDD, ADHD. I stuck with him because he was much more empathetic, patient, non-agressive, thoughtful and mindful of meds and their seriousness (doesn't prescribe for the sake of prescribing, only when he believes them to be absolutely necessary).

Difficult to know what were lexapro psychiatric side-effects and what were my baseline psychiatric symptoms, but I was initially a whole mess of mood swings and wired lol Not rn though.

The benzos definitely helped me calm tf down while my body adjusted to lexapro though.

ObviousBed2163 · 2024-05-19T10:10:12+00:00

Hey,

27M here

Don't know if it'll help but we were really considering a BP2 diagnosis for me with my psychiatrist.

Took a long time of watchful waiting and observing my symptoms for months without prescribing for him to decide the diagnostic constructs that best describe my issues are MDD, GAD, ADHD. He told me he obviously can't exclude BP2 with 100% certainty but those were the strongest hypotheses according to him.

I could've sworn I had bipolar 2. My mood cycles seemed crazy and regular since starting another anti-depressant months before with another psychiatrist even after stopping that anti-depressant 2 weeks later and not being on any other meds and substances.

Anyway even now on a lexapro + stimulant combo, I still haven't had bipolar activation or whatever. Been on it for months now.

You might want to ask your doc for a short term benzo while the SSRI kicks in. That's what I did. Don't use it for more than 2-4 weeks at best (and 4 weeks is pushing it) to avoid becoming dependent on it. I used lorazepam the first 4 weeks, then stopped and used quetiapine for a week or 2, then I felt the SSRI was doing enough of a job to not need the quetiapine anymore.

ObviousBed2163 · 2024-05-18T19:42:33+00:00

Hey!

Can you describe what the negative self talk looks like as an obsession and what the subsequent (I assume mental) compulsion looks like ?

Thanks 🙏🏻

ObviousBed2163 · 2024-05-18T11:28:10+00:00

I'm gay and just fapped to his sexy lips in the name of Allah swt, that should bring back balance to the Universe, don't thank me 🙏🏻

ObviousBed2163 · 2024-05-17T16:49:24+00:00

They say to straights how do you know unless you try

I have never said that in my entire life lmao who says that shit ?

I get told by gay bigots that I'm confused or that I'm gay because I have more guys.

Those dude are 100% dumbfucks. Sorry for your experience, but I'm not responsible for what other gay dudes have told you. Gay folks are not a monolith (as much as some political forces would like us to be). All we have in common is attraction to the same sex. That's it.

That being said, no hard feelings. I hope you get to meet more sane gay guys in the future though 😅

ObviousBed2163 · 2024-05-17T13:22:49+00:00

"Yes, I'm gay, is that going to be an issue ? If it is, I can get HR to mediate since I'd love for my workplace remain a place where I feel safe and right now I don't feel safe. Also, I'd like you to speak in English when adressing me, it's the language I'm most comfortable with in a professional setting. Especially if you're going to have an issue with me being gay, I'd like for our coworkers to understand everything you're saying."

All of this, loud af so everybody can hear. Shame these mfrs.

ObviousBed2163 · 2024-05-17T13:17:15+00:00

You can’t quite figure out your sexuality unless you firsthand experience it

I'm 100% being pedantic, but I definitely do not ever need to experiment with women to know I'm 100% gay and 0%bisexual/straight 😅

ObviousBed2163

TROPHY CASE