Need advice...which more likely to cause high anxiety remeron or abilify?

[masonmoore0824]

My remeron and abilify were both increased about the same time, and at that time I started having extreme anxiety like 10/10 early in the morning, like 6 am, just while I'm getting up and drinking my coffee (I tried decaf and it didn't seem to help). The high anxiety comes even if I try to relax, think positive thoughts, meditate, etc. I've tried a lot of coping skills. I always have anxiety, but not like this. I asked my pdoc about it and he just told me to keep taking my ativan. That's great and all, but I didn't need to take so much ativan before both of these meds were increased. Some days I didn't need it at all! Now I have to take ativan first thing in the morning or my anxiety is through the roof. I'm thinking of cutting back the abilify first and see if it makes any difference. If it doesn't, may try cutting back the remeron. I know I need them for depression, but this anxiety is debilitating! I can't function when it's like this! Also, is it possible the high anxiety is rebound anxiety from the ativan? Any advice is welcome!

[jessed03]

Out of the two, Abilify is much likelier to cause anxiety than Remeron. It's more activating, whereas Remeron is sedating like a benzo, with no other major mechanism.

One thing about Remeron, is it can sometimes be too sedating, and cause a bit of an adrenaline rush when you wake up. But, unless the dose knocks you totally out, that's pretty rare.

[jessed03]

True 13!

Probably helps to say what dose you're on Mason?

If it's lower (2 and 5mg) it's usually rather activating, if it's higher (10mg+), then yeah it's pretty sedating.

[masonmoore0824]

True 13!

Probably helps to say what dose you're on Mason?

If it's lower (2 and 5mg) it's usually rather activating, if it's higher (10mg+), then yeah it's pretty sedating.


I started on the 2 mg, then went up to 7.5 mg (half of a 15 mg) because that's what I could get from the sample packs. It was when I went up from the lower dose to the higher dose I noticed my anxiety went sky high, even early in the morning with no trigger.

Thanks for the info everyone!