19th Abilify Update - Feeling Okay - Sudden Wave of Depression
On the morning of September 24th, I experienced a sudden, strong wave of depression accompanied by mild anxiety. It was not my regular taper withdrawal, and prior to this, I was actually feeling more like myself. I suspect my aripiprazole levels dropped because I used a flashlight to check the suspension over three days after it was prepared differently (pill crusher was not smooth so I couldn't make fine powder I just soaked the powder / let the suspension sit for 1 hour thats why I had to check with a flashlight to see whether there are big particles sitting on the bottom or not), which likely degraded the medication. The depression gradually decreased over the next two to three days and is now gone.
Currently, my sleep is good, and I haven't had any morning depression, anxiety or restlessness for the past few days. My plan is to taper aripiprazole to a level where I can also reduce procyclidine. Because procyclidine increases my heart rate, I cannot stop propranolol yet. Once I lower procyclidine, I will taper propranolol. I want to taper propranolol as soon as possible because it cannot be made into a liquid suspension and can only be roughly cut into quarters. It is a confusing process, but I am managing it. Today, I plan to reduce my aripiprazole dose from 5 mg to around 3.5 mg.
guava378’s taper progress
- Aripiprazole / Abilify:
17-May-2026 (15mg -> 10mg)
11-July-2026 (10mg-> 7.5mg
17-Aug-2026 (7.5mg -> 5mg)
28-Sep-2026 (5mg -> 3.6mg)
10 months - actively tapering
- Procyclidine 5mg - 10 months - actively tapering
- Propranolol - 20mg - 13 months - holding
- Xanax - 0.25mg - 8 months - holding