Aripiprazole: Uses, Side Effects, Interactions, Pictures, Warnings

Aripiprazole drug is used in treating psychiatric disorders like bipolar diseases and schizophrenia. The drug is classified under the antipsychotics (Bando et al., 2015). The activity if the drug is majorly happening when the antagonism at D2 receptors combines in the mesolimbic pathway and 5HT2A receptors in front of the cortex. The drug acts by binding the number of the CNS receptors leading to the partial D2 agonist, partial 5-HT1A agonist, and 5-HT2A antagonist (Bando et al., 2015). The affinity of the drug to histamine and alpha adrenergic receptors is moderate. The main effect of the drug is that the antagonism at the D2 receptors relieves the positive symptoms while negative symptoms of schizophrenia are relieved by the antagonism at the 5HT2A. The unexpected effects of the drug are the suicidal though that may sometimes occur in some patients after using the drug. Other unexpected effects can include shaking, repetitive movements, fainting, and seizures among others. 

The side effects of the drug in adults include weight gain, headache, insomnia, anxiety, and gastrointestinal effects like constipation. In children, the drug effects are the stuffy nose, sleepiness, and increased appetite (Bando et al., 2015). Aripiprazole interacts with drugs like cold, allergy drugs, sleeping pills, medicines used to treat depression, or anxiety, the high blood pressure medications, fluvoxamine, rifabutin, quinidine and itraconazole among others. The drug can only be used to treat the FDA approved disorders. The non-FDA usage of the drug can result in legal issues (Bando et al., 2015). The aspects of these drugs that was comforting were that the medication is currently been approved by the FDA to treat various types of disorders. However, the aspects of these drugs that I found concerning is that the drug can cause adverse side effects on the patients like the suicidal thoughts in children that makes it be used with a lot of cautions. 

Reference  

Bando, T., Aoki, S., Kawasaki, J., Ishigami, M., Taniguchi, Y., Yabuuchi, T., ... & Takahashi, M. (2015).  U.S. Patent No. 8,993,761 . Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office..