Safe Way to Discontinue Abilify

Abilify is used to treat personality disorders, dementia and symptoms of children on the autism spectrum. The reasons behind quitting and the way to safely do so need to be discussed with the neighbor girl's doctor! PERIOD!!!

Asking a Dr is the easiest way.

I have to agree with many others.

The safest way to discontinue use of Abilify is to discuss the procedure with the child's Psychiatrist (who knows the child's health history) who can then create a plan for weaning off of the drug.

Discontinuing the drug without any professional medical guidance is not safe.

I agree with everyone, do not give advise to you neighbor on this. A doctor needs to be consulted for sure. You wouldn't want to be blamed for something really bad happening if this isn't done properly. Nor would you want a child to get hurt.

You NEED to go by Doctor's instructions.
Do not do this, on your own.

The safest way to discontinue the use of Abilify is to do so under the supervision of a doctor. They will most likely decrease the dosage over a period of time until it is safe to completely stop taking the medication.

THere is a reason (medical/psychiatric) that a 9 year old has been on abilify for that long. Under NO circumstances should s/he (or parents) consider discontinuing without the express instructions of a physician. This is a psychoactive substance (It affects the way the brain functions) and you must not discontinue without medical professional supervision.

NO NO NO don't attempt to discontinue a medication especially with a child that isn't the safe way to do it his guardians or parents need to make an appt. with his dr.to discuss the discontinuation of his medication.
Why are you asking this question he isn't your child,if it is a question for his parents they should know better not to discontinue a medication without the proper consent & safe way to handle the procedure & withdrawls this child will endure...

You should never come off a medication like this on your own. Seek a doctor's opinion and advise so they can monitor any side affects he/she may have. Preferably, go to the doctor that put the child on them to begin with.

It's just not safe to go off this medication on ones own.

She has to wean off of it and should only do so with the recommendation of her physician. If she is not comfortable with her physician, then she should find another, and then she needs to begin another regiment of prescriptions (not abilify) to help with whatever disorder she has, otherwise she will not be in good shape.

This article should help:
http://www.ehow.com/how_###-###-####_wean-off-aripiprazol...

abilify is a VERY powerful anti-psychotic, that type of drug should ONLY be discontinued under the close supervision of a doctor. if you want to ask for opinions before speaking to a dr, ask a pharmacist.

First of all, it concerns me that a 9 year old child would be on abilify for several years. Abilify is an antipsychotic that is not generally used to treat children, since there have been so few studies done on the use of abilify in children.

Generally, abilify is used in the short-term (up to 6 weeks) to help lessen aggression in children with autism or bipolar disorder. Abilify is also used to treat schizophrenia, but since that disorder usually doesn't present in children, I'm guessing this child has some other disorder.

Abilify has some pretty serious side effects, including death. Most doctors will not prescribe abilify for children and some won't even prescribe it for adults. It is known to cause death in elderly patients with dementia.

Many doctors, sadly enough, do not learn enough about the medications they prescribe. Usually a drug salesman comes by the doctor's office and gives a sales talk on the particular drug/drugs he/she wants to sell and this is often the extent of the knowledge that doctor has about the drug. A pharmacist is your best bet for learning about any drug, side effects, what it's prescribed for and who should - and shouldn't - take it.

In this case, you do not say why your 9 year old neighbor is taking abilify. But if I were the parents of this child, I would certainly consult with the doctor as to why the child was put on abilify in the first place. I'm guessing that the child must be suffering some bad side effects for you to be asking how to get off the drug.

This medication shouldn't be stopped cold turkey; it's best to titrate down and so the doctor is the best one to give advice on this. If this were my child, I might also get a second opinion on the best way to treat whatever condition this was prescribed for. Children should never be given abilify to treat depression; and there are other, safer, drugs to treat other disorders in children. I wouldn't want my child to be the guinea pig, so to speak, which is what it would become if prescribed abilify. There just aren't enough studies on children yet to prove efficacy of the drug over the more serious side effects.

There are always different circumstances. Usually a doctor will wean the child off slowly, but there are instances of the child having severe adverse effects from the Abilify, necessitating the doctor to have the child abruptly discontinue the drug.

Some children may experience withdrawal effects and some not. For the withdrawal effects, some doctors may prescribe a tiny bit of benzodiazapine or another medication to ease them through the worst of the withdrawal, and some doctors don't even consider the withdrawal and the kid suffers. Some doctors suggest using amino acids (protein) such as Genesa's Total Amino Solution to help ease the withdrawal effects, some don't. Some doctors will use a combination.

If the child is going from the Abilify to a different psychotropic, the doctor may do something called cross-titration, slowly raising one while decreasing the other.

So, as you can see, there is no one single "safest" way because it depends on the circumstances.

You don't. If the child is on the medication for mental challenges such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or any other type of mental disorder such as this and the child stops taking the drug without strict guidance by a doctor trained in the child's particular condition, you could be opening the door to possible suicide and even homicide.

A dear friend of mine has a son with Bipolar Disorder. He is 19 years old now but he knows that he will have to take this medication for the rest of his life as well as see a doctor regularly to ensure his medication levels are where they should be and if not, it has to be corrected. His manic highs and depressive lows can literally cause him to do something that is dangerous that can get him killed as well as others and by the same token, if he hits a manic depressive low without his medication, he could easily commit suicide.

Discontinuing medication such as this is a slippery slope even with the best of doctors on the case but at least when a doctor trained in the condition as to why the child started the medication in the first P., at least the parents can receive information regarding continuing the medication or perhaps changing it to something that may have come out that works better but all in all, this is a discussion that should be kept between the qualified doctor and this child's parents - not a layman who thinks the kid doesn't need it. There are far too many disorders and diseases that appear to be non-existent because you can't see them yet they can be some of the most deadly of all.

A prime example is if you were to see me on the street on a good day when I wasn't hurting and able to get around with only my cane or my guide dog, you would probably think I was perfectly normal so therefore I had no need for the 20-28 different medications I have to take each day depending on the conditions for taking specific medications such as when I need to take migraine medication to stop the migraine before I end up in the ER where I will end up with an injection of Dilaudid mixed with Phenergan that will put me to sleep for 4-5 days straight yet it will abort the migraine; or the medication that helps with the rash I get from Lupus. I use it when needed because the rash comes and goes much like the flow of lupus ups and downs.

In the eyes of an average person who sees me, the only problem I have is blindness yet if you were able to look deeper, you would know that without the medication to control the pain, ease the arthritis, stop the migraines, and slow the progressing of Lupus (SLE) from destroying more of my outer body before it begins to destroy and eventually cause my internal organs to shut down and ultimately take my life... along with so very much more...

Think of people like books. You simply cannot judge a book by its cover and you can't judge people by what you see on the outside on occasion because you have no idea what is happening on the inside where it could very well be a problem that separates the chances between life and death.

Leave this to the parents and the specialists. If the child is on the medication, there is certainly a pretty darn good reason for it.