Abilify

Today marked a new beginning. Or the beginning of a new beginning. You get the idea. I started out on a new medication. Just a small percentage of the dosage i'll eventually be taking, but it's a start nonetheless.
It all seems very strange at the moment. I can remember the first time I took lithium. An ungodly high amount mind you. I ended up at 1500 milligrams a day on that one. Then came valproic acid which is basically a synthetic version of lithium. It was supposed to lessen the side effects. Wrong. Then we moved onto to depakote. That one was a 3 times a day doozy. Much better on the side effects mind you but not my much. And finally came depakote ER. Pretty much the same as depakote but in an extended release formula that I only took once a day.
Now I don't want to leave you with the impression that I every really "took" these medications like I should have. I always played at it. It was never a regular routine. And so they all eventually faded away just like I did.
Now comes the new kid on the block. Abilify. I am starting at 5 milligrams a day for the first week and will slowly move up to 30 milligrams in approximately 2 months. 30 milligrams?! I was always on some 4 digit number in milligrams. But this is different. Along the lines of the way I feel about this whole bi-polar situation. So maybe, and i'm hoping it is, this is a good sign. That I was right about this really being different than every other time. I'm sure hoping it is.