Hi Julie,

Recently, my daughter switched from Risperdal to Abilify. I am hoping Abilify will be good for her, contrary to what I have heard. Do you have any information regarding the success of bipolar people on Abilify?
T.

Hi T.

Risperdal and Abilify are anti psychotic drugs. They are often used in the treatment of bipolar disorder. If a person is really manic or psychotic and has to go to the hospital, anti psychotic are often use to get the person to come down from the mania and psychosis. The dose is often very high. When my partner Ivan was so sick in 1994, he was immediately put on anti psychotics and mood stabilizers just to get him out of the mania, so this is common.

What a person takes depends on their symptoms. Many people with bipolar disorder do well on a mood stabilizer such as Lithium. I do well on a depression, rapid cycling prevention drug like Lamictal. I can’t take anti psychotics due to side effects. Anti psychotics are often used in combination with other bipolar disorder treatment drugs.

Abilify is a relatively new anti psychotic and is known to have less side effects than some other well known drugs such as Zyprexa, especially in terms of weight gain. This doesn’t mean it’s a better drug than Zyprexa- just that it’s a good choice for many who gain too much weight.

Abilify can be agitating, so that has to be watched. It just makes me sleep!

What matters is that the drug works. Finding a right dose can take a lot of time. It’s a balance between effectiveness and side effects.

So, this is a long answer to a short question- yes, people with bipolar disorder use Abilify. It works for many. It is not a treatment for depression, nor is it a traditional anti manic drug. It is mainly for psychosis.

I suggest your daughter uses her Health Cards for psychosis and sees if the drug helps.

Your daughter has to make sure she is on all of the right meds.

She is so lucky to have a mother who looks out for her!

Julie

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Manic/Psychotic Talk

“He blew a glass jacket. The walls were mayo and I was chewing all of the dirt off of the vegetables.”

The above is known as a word salad ( no pun intended!) - the sayings are close enough for us to understand them – but overall, they just make no sense.

A psychotic friend of mine said the above during an episode.

Psychosis is a fascinating topic- it’s horrible to experience and horrific to see someone go through it- I have been through both.  But after it is over, you can certainly be fascinated by what was said.

Julie

Paranoia is a form of psychosis- so there is a good chance that - if you have bipolar disorder- you have experienced paranoia.

Paranoia is a feeling/belief/thought that you have done something wrong and that someone or some organization is upset with you for doing this perceived something!

It’s easy to see what a mess paranoia can cause. I’m sending out a newsletter on this in a few days. If you go to bipolarhappens.com you can sign up for the newsletter.  
 
Paranoia used to really cause me a lot of trouble. I have worked hard so that I can at least recognize it before it makes me do something stupid! So, I’m paranoid today, but I didn’t do anything stupid!

Julie

Hi Julie,

In your radio show you spoke of your “brain chatter”? Can you explain what you mean by this? (You may have explained it already and I missed it.) For myself, sometimes I just run the same words over and over in my head when I am anxious, maybe in a group of people. I do not believe it to be psychosis (i.e. audio hallucinations), or even a delusion, but one thing I do know it to be: annoying. It is even as if it exists in a certain physical location in my skull.

Weird—huh?

I told my sister about it who said, “No you don’t!”
I lied and agreed with her, “You’re right, I don’t.” 

C.

Hi C.

Ah, brain chatter. This is what I call the brain in a blender feeling I get when I’m sick. I have so many thoughts and sounds in my head I have trouble functioning. It’s like having a group of people following me around while talking to each other through my ears.

I get it with agitated depression – the opposite would be catatonic depression where I don’t really have thoughts at all.

Agitated depression is noisy- there are often comments about what you’re doing wrong and how you’re never succeed. You can hear conversations you have already had or ones you’re going to have.

The brain chatter is really bad when I’m psychotic as the noises are distorted and very confusing. They just won’t be quiet. Sometimes I hear someone talking to me or feel like I’m at a very loud party where I’m not a welcome guest.

You can have manic brain chatter as well.

I simply use the term brain chatter to mean the thoughts, sounds, noises, voices, music, etc in your head that you don’t want there. You didn’t ask for it and you want it to go away so that you can think clearly.

When I started to get a lot better last year, the main improvement was LESS BRAIN CHATTER.

My book Get it Done When You’re Depressed has techniques for getting rid of it.

That’s funny that you had to lie to your sister! We can’t expect everyone to understand our weird brains!

Julie

Dear Julie–I thought for the diagnosis Bipolar II you could not have any hallucinations–is this not the case?  Just wanted to understand.  Thanks, R

Hello R,
Oh yes! All people with bipolar disorder can have hallucinations. It’s a very normal part of bipolar I and bipolar II. There are many different types of hallucinations- from hearing voices that tell you to leave a store to seeing something that isn’t there. People with full blown mania (those with Bipolar I) almost always have psychosis with the mania. When my ex, Ivan was in the hospital for three months- it was to get his mania and psychosis under control.

I have rapid cycling bipolar II and have experienced hallucinations since age 19- I’m now 44.

A hallucination is a form of psychosis. Hallucinations are things you see, smell or hear that aren’t real. Such as seeing yourself get hit by a car or thinking you smell funny.

Many people with bipolar disorder need antipsychotics such as Abilify (Aripiprazole), Risperdal (Risperidone), Zyprexa (Olanzapine) and Seroquel (Quetiapine)to help with hallucinations.

If you have the Health Cards- my treatment system- you can read over the Psychosis Health Card to see all of my hallucinations.

Isn’t it amazing that people are still being diagnosed with bipolar disorder without getting all of the facts!

I have found that hallucinations are usually a result of stress. When I have one, I stop and think- darn it. I’m sick. What caused this? And I look for triggers. Managing hallucinations is possible, but you have to make sure you know what yours- or the person’s you care about actually look like.

Julie