Abilify - FREE Information on Bipolar Disorder Treatment
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ABILIFY (aripiprazole) is a prescription medicine for the treatment of acute manic and mixed episodes associated with Bipolar I Disorder.
What can ABILIFY do for me?
In clinical studies with ABILIFY, manic symptoms improved for many patients within several days. Of course, different people respond to medicines differently. It’s important that you give ABILIFY a chance to start working, and to continue to talk with your healthcare provider about how you’re feeling.
What Is Bipolar Disorder?
Bipolar disorder, formerly called manic-depressive illness, is a condition that affects more than two million Americans. People who have this illness tend to experience extreme mood swings, along with other specific symptoms and behaviors. These mood swings or “episodes” can take three forms: manic episodes, depressive episodes, or “mixed” episodes.
The symptoms of a manic episode often include elevated mood (feeling extremely happy), being extremely irritable and anxious, talking too fast and too much, and having an unusual increase in energy and a reduced need for sleep. It’s also very common for someone to act impulsively during a manic episode, and engage in behaviors that are risky or that they later regret, like spending sprees. And in over half of all manic episodes, people are troubled by delusions or hallucinations. For example, they may think they have a relationship with someone famous, claim to be an expert in an area they really know nothing about, feel paranoid (unusually fearful), or hear voices that are not there.
The symptoms of a depressive episode often include an overwhelming feeling of emptiness or sadness, a lack of energy, a loss of interest in things, trouble concentrating, changes in normal sleep or appetite, and/or thoughts of dying or suicide.
A mixed episode includes symptoms that are both manic and depressive.
How can medicine help me?
Although there is no cure for bipolar disorder, medicine can play a key role in helping you manage your symptoms and extreme mood swings. It can help make your behavior more even and predictable.
Many people act very agitated, uncooperative, and aggressive during acute manic episodes, which can be frightening. Medicine can help get these behaviors back under control. Once that’s achieved, your healthcare provider may recommend continuing medicine (along with psychotherapy and support from your family and friends) to help you stay stable.
But taking medicine as prescribed and staying on it can be hard. You may feel like you don’t need medicine when your symptoms improve. And because the side effects can be bothersome, you may want to stop taking medicine altogether. It’s important to continue taking your medicine until you talk with your healthcare provider.
If you have questions about how your medicine is working, you should be talking to your healthcare provider.
How does ABILIFY work?
The exact way ABILIFY (or any other medicine for Bipolar I Disorder) works is unknown. However, experts believe that ABILIFY works by adjusting dopamine, instead of completely blocking it, as well as affecting serotonin.
Ask your healthcare provider about ABILIFY (aripiprazole) if:
- You’ve been diagnosed with a manic or mixed episode of Bipolar I Disorder
- You are troubled by the side effects of your current medicine
- You think your current medicine is not working to control your symptoms
- You are thinking of stopping or have stopped taking your medicine
- You and your healthcare provider think it’s time to try another medicine
Tags: Abilify, Bipolar Disorder Treatment
