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Tapering: Abilify

holding

1 posts

Dd1959

March 22, 2026··
I am supporting my 29 year old daughter taper from 10 mgs abilify. She is currently at 5 mgs after 2 month taper. She does have symptoms enhanced agoraphobia and leg pain . I am holding for a couple of More weeks at this spot to see if her symptoms subside. Does anyone else have experience with agoraphobia and abilify?

Abilify — 5mg — 1 year — holding

4 Replies

Based
BasedStaff6mo ago
Community AnchorEffexor
Hi Diana! Welcome o the community. Psychological symptoms are a common occurrence unfortunately. Hopefully someone from the community will be able to share more.

Creator of Taper Community, here to help you.

Catina
Catina6mo ago
Community AnchorEffexor
"I am supporting my 29 year old daughter taper from 10 mgs abilify." — @Diana
Hi Diana, and welcome! Your daughter is fortunate to have such a caring and supportive mom. ❤️ I don't have personal experience with agoraphobia and leg pain, but these drugs can cause all sorts of symptoms when tapering down. It might be wise to hold her where she's at for awhile until things improve a bit. It takes time for the brain to adapt to the chemical changes. Is she on any other drugs or supplements? Is she staying away from anything that could impact her CNS such as alcohol, nicotine, weed, and sugar? We have some information on muscle pain if you'd like to review it: https://taper.community/thread/4b24f178-40ff-4176-bff3-44b116e205d4 We're glad you're here, and we'll be happy to help you with your daughter's taper. Catina ❤️

Venlafaxine (tapering) - Current dose 17.92 mg
Trazodone - 50 mg
Levothyroxine - 25 mcg

“Your brain and body know how to heal. Trust the process and keep going.”

Please Note: I am not a healthcare professional. Any advice given is based on personal experience and that of others in the lay withdrawal community.

Jules
JulesStaff6mo ago
Community Anchor
Hi, and welcome 🤗 your daughter is super fortunate to have you in her corner while tapering. Abilify is one of the drugs I don’t have experience with (ask me about 21 others that I took haha) so I can’t speak to that. I can speak to the leg pain though. I’ve suffered from it for many years and figured it had to do with the psych drugs. What has helped me is (not medical advice) is curcumin. It can help with any inflammation that might be present, maybe lessening the pain.
G
Gaucho5mo ago
LighthouseLexapro · active
Hi Diana, you’re doing a really thoughtful job supporting your daughter with this. Holding at 5 mg to let things settle makes a lot of sense. If I may, one thing I wanted to ask about is how you described her agoraphobia as “enhanced.” Did she struggle with that before starting Abilify, and was the medication helping with it? The reason I ask is that after a fairly large reduction like 10 mg to 5 mg over 2 months, it can sometimes be hard to tell whether symptoms are from withdrawal, a temporary nervous system destabilization, or a return, or relapse, of something that was already there, or a combination of those. Also, with her leg pain, it might be worth exploring some more what it actually feels like for her (aching vs. restlessness vs. needing to move), just to better understand what’s going on there rather than assuming one cause. Withdrawal can show up as neuromuscular sensations or pain. You’re wise to be holding and observing at this time. Often the most helpful next step is just giving it some time and watching whether things gradually settle at this dose. Going forward, once you resume the taper, you may find that smaller, more gradual reductions of your current dose(for example, something like 5–10% at a time with holds that last a few weeks or so) are easier on the system than larger cuts, especially when symptoms emerge.

Lexapro — actively tapering | with clinician

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