Aripiprazole for OCD causes sleepy feel. Please suggest medicine to increase alertness.

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I read your query and understood your concerns. First of all, why have you stopped Fluoxetine? Who advised that? Were you seeing a psychiatrist? Who has advised Aripiprazole? Do you have any improvement in your mood fluctuations from it? Aripiprazole as such does not cause sedation and excessive sleep. It is usually an activating drug. Are you taking any other drug or Benzodiazepine? To increase alertness, one can take Modafinil but daily intake is not recommended. It can be used on as and when required basis. Nowadays lots of students do this and take for a long time, but as a doctor, I would not recommend that. Instead, you can have activating antidepressant like Bupropion which also increases concentration. Another option is Atomoxetine. Revert with answers. Thank you.

Hi,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

It is good that you are visiting a psychiatrist. Aripiprazole usually does not cause sedation. Other mood stabilizers have sedative properties and will cause you more sedation like Sodium valproate, Carbamazepine, Oxcarbazepine, etc. In my opinion, you should continue Aripiprazole and increase the caffeine intake by taking more tea and coffee during the day time. You need to make some dietary modifications like avoiding rice and heavy lunch in the day time. Meals should be more but in small quantities. Take more fruits and eggs. Avoid food with excess oil, butter, cheese, etc. Modafinil can be taken for a long time but it has many side effects like headache, nausea, restlessness, diarrhea, anxiety symptoms, dizziness, dry mouth, decreased appetite, etc. These are the common side effects. So, you have not many options left apart from Aripiprazole, so I would advise you to continue the same and take Modafinil for increasing alertness but before that, you must try taking more tea and coffee and see its effects. I hope this helps. Thank you.