Aripiprazole - Abilify

Now I found the Abilify thread on the other forum. Impressive niveau. I read there that you’re not in the FB group @leokitten, but on the FB group are this patient with a degree in bio-engineering that have been able to measure or somehow find out that they’re low on dopamine, high on serotonin and low on GABA. GABA is good for calming. I buy and try.

 

Without doing a spinal tap and microdialysis of neurotransmitter metabolite levels, how are they doing this? Likely more just talk and educated guesses than real knowledge about what’s happening in their brains? A specialist doctor cannot usually even order a test to measure this.

 

They/she didn’t say, just that it was this place she went to. https://labomgd.ch/catalogue-danaly...Tx7gzbI_YFW0W7Dtillg6tYxCD4TcCo_bmL_b_gHWJCsE
Unfortunately only in French. She is looking for persons with interest in this, and is on FB. I do not have insight to understand much of it.

 

Under neurotransmitters from the link above, it says:

The Neurotransmitter assessment covers the following neurotransmitters:

Adrenaline and Noradrenaline and their metabolite MHPG and VMA
Dopamine, its precursor DOPA and its metabolite HVA
Serotonin, its precursor Tryptophan and its metabolite 5-HIAA

BDNF "Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor"

GABA and Glutamate

 

From my understanding urine metabolite testing of neurotransmitter levels does not give a reliable or accurate indication of brain neurotransmitter levels, because it indirectly measures whole-body neurotransmitter levels, and we know there are many tissues other than the brain which utilize the same neurotransmitters for various functions, so I would have not idea how to interpret the results of such tests.

 

@leokitten

Agree. I had neurotransmitter tests done 20 years ago. It was recommended to take all sorts of supplements to "balance" them out. I was desperate because I had severe insomnia at the time. I tried for one month and stopped. Enough.

 

Was that by spinal tap?

 

No, it was through a urinary organic acid test.

This is the supplement I took.

 

I just remembered I had a full urine OAT test too, from Genova Diagnostics in 2014 (over a year into having ME). Almost everything normal range, including neurotransmitters. A few energy production and detoxification metabolites were too low or too high, but in the end I thought what actionable thing am I supposed to do with these test results? I felt it was just a way for these specialty test companies to make money, because nothing is usually actionable really.

 

@leokitten

Mine were within range, but on the very very low single digit marks.

 

Since the effect seem to lessen, I increase to 1mg/day.

 

Don't forget that there appear to be numerous reports of Abilify seeming to "stop working" after a few months, so increasing the dose may not have any effect - at least, not the intended one.

 

From my experience the effect doesn’t lessen, it’s just stabilized, or plateaued, now. During this first 1 1/2 months since going to 0.5 mg, each week I got more and more ME symptom improvements, and now the level of improvements have stabilized so it might feel like it’s lessening but it’s just plateaued..

 

I wish that is was like that, but it isn’t. I notice most in sleep, now that I have gone up to 1mg, again, I can fall asleep 11 on the evening and sleep to 10 the next day, and the days are better because of that. Instead of having trouble falling asleep before midnight even if I am very tired.

Yes I know. But I am still quite low on dose. And upping to 1mg did have the effect I wanted.
But then it is about tolerance, how long before I have to increase still? From the experiences in the study, I can go up to 2mg, double if what I am taking now. I just have to wait and then see.

From the FB group I think I read that the supplement inositol could help not building tolerance. So I will try that. GABA, btw, was no use.

 

I wish you the best @benji! Hopefully it lasts much longer than 1 month, looking back it seems you started a month ago.

 

How are you doing now @chelby? Didnt hear anything from you in a long time. Is abilify still helping ?

 

Aripiprazole as a Candidate Treatment of COVID-19 Identified Through Genomic Analysis

https://www.frontiersin.org/article...AJf33hf9qEGsgC3Ux09818WlDc8-p5K-UB7q6py4yf7qU


Background: Antipsychotics modulate expression of inflammatory cytokines and inducible inflammatory enzymes. Elopiprazole (a phenylpiperazine antipsychotic drug in phase 1) has been characterized as a therapeutic drug to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection in a repurposing study. We aim to investigate the potential effects of aripiprazole (an FDA approved phenylpiperazine) on COVID-19-related immunological parameters.

Methods: Differential gene expression profiles of non-COVID-19 vs. COVID-19 RNA-Seq samples (CRA002390 project in GSA database) and drug-naïve patients with non-affective psychosis at baseline and after three months of aripiprazole treatment were identified. An integrative transcriptomic analyses of aripiprazole effects on differentially expressed genes in COVID-19 patients was performed.

Findings: 82 out the 377 genes (21.7%) with expression significantly altered by aripiprazole have also their expression altered in COVID-19 patients and in 93.9% of these genes their expression is reverted by aripiprazole. The number of common genes with expression altered in both analyses is significantly higher than expected (Fisher’s Exact Test, two tail; pvalue = 3.2e-11). 11 KEGG pathways were significantly enriched with genes with altered expression both in COVID-19 patients and aripiprazole medicated non-affective psychosis patients (p adj<0.05). The most significant pathways were associated to immune responses and mechanisms of hyperinflammation-driven pathology (i.e.,“inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)” (the most significant pathway with a p adj of 0.00021), “Th1 and Th2 cell differentiation” and “B cell receptor signaling pathway”) that have been also associated with COVID19 clinical outcome.

Interpretation: This exploratory investigation may provide further support to the notion that a protective effect is exerted by aripiprazole (phenylpiperazine) by modulating the expression of genes that have shown to be altered in COVID-19 patients. Along with many ongoing studies and clinical trials, repurposing available medications could be of use in countering SARS-CoV-2 infection, but require further studies and trials.

 

How are things, @leokitten ?

 

I can also update, there’s a bit of time since the last one.
I have taken Abilify for a bit more that 2 months and I am still having good effect. But I have had to increase the doses regularly, around every 2-3 weeks to maintain the effect.
I have had the effect since the start at 0,25mg/day. Now I am on 1,75mg/day. So I am enjoying better shape and do things that I need to do, in my apartment, and I am a little social. From before; being exhausted in bed 22-23 hours per day, now I feel better and can do things, but I am still in bed a substantial part of the day.

 

I've just started taking it. One 16th of a 5mg pill. Every second day. It's been a bit rough as I'm so sensitive to medications, not feeling well, not able to do my usual but bearable. My doctor thought maybe day on day off might be making it worse so from tomorrow going to take every day.