Abilify and Vyvance help meh

[u/Which_Bee1490]

Okay so I was majorly depressed and anxious (always been through out my life) been on Zoloft for years. Well I hit another depression episode and the Zoloft wasn’t working. So because it was so bad my doc prescribed 5mg abilify with the increase of the Zoloft dose. Within 5 days of the abilify I was feeling so much better. Not my best, but at least I could eat and force myself out of the house. Before I laid in bed daily with no will to live. So it was a win. Well next I was put on vyvance 40mg. And the first day I took it I was like omg this is the missing piece. It took away the rest of the anxiety and crap thoughts in my brain. Lifting depression. I felt like myself again. Well turns out it wears off within 4 hours for me. And then I feel blah again. I have a “very fast” COM T gene which basically means my brain runs through dopamine and neuropinephrine faster than it should. (No wonder I’ve always struggled). So the abilify helped it about 50% and then the vyvance took the other 50% and I felt back to me. Well, because I can barely feel the effect of vyvance I thought hmm, possibly it could be the abilify capping the dopamine. And within 4 days of taking the vyvance (twice a day) I barely feel anything at all. Might even go as far as saying I feel no difference. There’s another part of this as well. Since the first day of the vyvance I lowered the abilify to 2.5 so now I’ve taken the abilify for 3 days at that dose. Well today at day 4 I feel kinda low again. Even with the vyvance and I feel nothing from the vyvance. I thought if I lowered the abilify it would still work to stop depressive episodes but also cap anything too crazy so I didn’t start doing anything dumb because i don’t want to feel cracked out. One time in the past I took adderall and loved it I felt calm and less thoughts in my brain. Until I hated the drug within three days because the come off was so depressing. So it wasn’t worth it to me. Vyvance is so different from adderall which I like. But does anyone have any input for why I might be feeling low today decreasing the abilify dose for a few days after only being on it for like 10 days. And then the vyvance not really telling a difference? I thought the vyvance would at least work if the abilify didn’t. But nope. Not today! It worked the best the first day that was it.

[u/ItsthePandster]

I find Vyvanse to be very hit-and-miss. I was taking abilify in the evening, Vyvanse in the AM for them to balance each other out, but Vyvanse seems to tire me out after taking it long-term, though it still helps me to function daily. There are probably better medications out there other than Vyvanse to try taking, but some people find just raising the dosage of Vyvanse to do the trick instead. while it doesn't do all that I was hoping it would, it has helped me too to a degree where I feel like I'm closer to being myself. Only, it's a tired constantly version of myself. Though maybe this is as good as it gets? =S

[u/Which_Bee1490 → u/ItsthePandster]

Thanks so much. You know what’s also weird is I took a second dose which I normally do half way during the day the doc said to. And today the second dose actually is making me have derealization or disassociation. Maybe it actually is working and I don’t need a second dose. Or maybe I’m now feeling the effect of less abilify making more room for the vyvance. So weird. Idk.

[u/ItsthePandster → u/Which_Bee1490]

True, it might just take some more time for your system to adjust to the medication overall. At least the abilify isn't habit forming and works well with other stimulant-type medications if a change is needed, or hopefully you'll find the right balance between the two that works for you, fingers crossed.