The Diabetes/Abilify Connection
Abilify TV commercials now mention the fact that the drug can cause Diabetes in some patients but some of them have already learned that the hard way. As recently as three years ago my son went on the mood disorder drug to treat Asperger’s Syndrome. The drug did wonders. He went from being an angry, confused adolescent to a confident young gentleman. The transformation was incredible.
The major down side with the drug is the fact that it increased his appetite causing him to gain weight. In hindsight we can see that either us as his parents, or his pediatric psychiatrist should have questioned the weight gain. Though I mentioned the problem his doctor was convinced he looked good. But the 50 pound gain caused him to become Diabetic.
He had an unquenchable thirst, was irritable, and tired all the time. When I took him to his primary care doctor his sugar was well over 300. A couple of days stay in the hospital confirmed he has Type II Diabetes and he had to start giving himself insulin shots. His new diet was highly restrictive and he started a regular regimen of exercise right away.
He lost the weight and was able to switch to oral Metformin. About a year later he was able to go off of the Diabetes medication all together but for the rest of his life he’ll have to watch his diet carefully.
Shortly after our incident doctors that prescribe Abilify began closely monitoring weight gain in patients, and have even given Metformin to some to prevent Diabetes onset. My son will graduate this year on the honor roll and he’s looking forward to his future without undue anxiety. But the trade-off has been huge.
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It is good that this article is published so that those in the same boat will watch out for the connection between Abilify and diabetes. At least now the physicians who prescribe Abilify are monitoring their patients for weight gain which looks like is the side effect of the drug and could lead to diabetes. We all learn from each other so this is a good thing.
Evelyn Guzman
http://www.free-symptoms-of-diabetes-alert.com (If you want to visit, just click but if it doesn’t work, copy and paste it onto your browser.)
Teri,
What dose did your son take, and for how long?
It's very scary when new drugs, especially the most promising ones, have some sort of negative side effect that turns out to have lifetime consequences for the patient. I'm very glad he was able to lose the weight and get off the diabetes medicine.
For others who use Abilify or who have family members who use Abilify (which is the brand name for aripiprazole), here is the patient information sheet. It's very easy to toss these because they're folded in a million ways and they're printed in tiny type. It's often easier to read on a computer:
http://www.drugs.com/abilify.html
Adam was and still is on 7 mg's a day. His Diabetes is under control and he's doing well mentally. We feel at this point that what's done is done and look to a positive future.
Drugs can be scary it's true but many times the good outweighs the bad for some.
I am surprised the prescribing doctor did not tell you that this drug can cause hyperglycemia, and to know what signs/symptoms to look for?!
Here is more information about hyperglycemia from the American Heart Association.
And, just to make sure that this information is accurate for future readers...Abilify does not "cause" diabetes, but it can cause hyperglycemia (increased blood sugar), which in turn can lead to diabetes (inability of body to properly use insulin to lower increase in blood sugar). Is this your understanding of these two extremely-related diseases as well?
yes and Abilify for some causes increased appetite which can also lead to Diabetes. When we went through this the Diabetes issue wasn't something anyone brought up.