Symptoms: Akathisia, Cognitive impairment, Insomnia, Suicidal ideation, Dyskinesia
I had a major psychosis/psychological break about 6 months after my 11th child was born. I had been having subclinical depressive symptoms for at least 5 years previously. The depression paper scale tests they give in the hospital probably could have caught this earlier, but I was afraid to say yes to some of the questions.
When my mind broke, I had auditory and visual hallucinations, had anxiety, could not sleep at all, could not eat due to extreme digestive issues, was generally completely detached from reality. Abilify at 15mg was prescribed. I got akathisia and could not sit still. A dosage decrease to 10mg stopped it temporarily. Then a few years later I got uncontrollable smacking of the lips. Another dosage reduction to 5mg controlled that.
Finally a change in doctors allowed for me to discontinue that medication. This dropped my anxiety levels tremendously, and so I have not had any more akathisia. My initial diagnosis was bipolar 1, but my history now indicates I probably had postpartum depression.
My current medication is 2x a day lithium 30mg and 1x a day Wellbutrin 150mg XL. Removing synthetic folic acid from my diet and supplements has improved my mental status.