Re:Experience with abilify and hospitalization

December 24, 2008

Hi Sylvia,

My daughter became very out of control last January and we ended

up hospitalizing her because of a rage over not peeling her banana

symmetrically. We didn't know at the time that she was OCD. She was

on meds (risperdol and trileptal) for intermittent explosive

disorder. I don't know if OCD was her way of coping with anxiety.

I'm still not clear on what comes first. However, the hospitalization

(which she wanted because she felt so out of control) was awful and I

believe it retraumatized her. (She is internationally adopted and

definitely was neglected for her first 11 months of life.)

Meds are an " art " we're told and it took 5 hospitalizations

before they got reasonable (not perfect) results on abilify, lexapro

and now trileptal. Every psych believes she has OCD now and a mood

disorder they are labeling bipolar NOS. The journey has been

horrendous for all of us. I think we all have PTSD from it. So, the

OCD has only come out this last 6 months. Controlling, aggressive,

meltdowns have been present for years. This is why she was on

risperdol and trileptal. It's so hard to know if the meds had kept

things under control, or some of the problems caused by the meds. I

sure don't want to take her off them to try and find out. They did do

a med wash at the last hospitalization and felt the OCD was the main

behavior they saw when she was not on meds. Her OCD is about

organizing her things and being wasteful. The main problem we deal

with is her blaming us when we " waste " or move her things and she then

hits or breaks something of ours. She is not aggressive to anyone else.

So, to respond to your initial question regarding abilify. I

don't think abilify is meant for OCD but I think it has been really

good as a mood stabilizer for my daughter. I would ask your doctor

why he is suggesting this drug. The lexapro is what was given to my

daughter to help the OCD.

Dorelle

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