What are brain zaps and Brain shivers?

[Barra]

I am coming off a 2 year stint on Lexapro.(Not sure if it is the same type of drug as this EFFEXOR.) I am 1 week in after weaning myself off over a 2 week period. Brain Zaps are constant and almost makes me feel sick to move - much like motion sickness I guess. Feel exhausted to the point of falling asleep at work these past 3 days and yet not being able to sleep the night through and waking between 2-3am. I am determined to get myself off these damn pills. I cant feel anything - my emotions are so numb. Been through so much crap in the last 6 months and yet I cant feel any emotions. So desperately want to have a good cry but its just not happening.
Makes me feel a little better to know that what I am experiencing is normal. If it werent for the exhaustion I could probably cope. At the moment each waking moment is a struggle and seriously considering taking some time away from work until this settles - wont go down well with the bosses tho!! Im lucky to have the support of my darling boyfriend to get through this. He has been amazing.
Hang in there everyone. cheers

[winky]

THEY really need a Foundation or Institute of Very High Intellect and stuff to study the Brain Zaps.
And since there are lots of people to study this effect to choose from it should be relatively easy to figure it out and then come up with a Solution.

Then they could teach the Answer in the Medical Schools.

[winky]

I quess for most people the Brain 'zaps' go away
eventually. However, one has to wonder what damage
may have been done.

In what area of the Brain the Zaps are happening and are the Nerves permanently damaged or just a little and they rebuild?

[winky]

think this has anything to do with a brain 'zap'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_ion_chann...

i dunno but maybe your Doctor......

[Vicki]

Efexor lawsuits...
http://www.productliabilityattorneyblog.com/2...

[melissa]

Ok so I have been on lexapro for 4 months now. I have been doing well on it. Last week I had to go to the hospital to get my gall bladder removed. It has been 5 days and I missed lexepro for about a week do to all that was going on with me and all the medication I was on I didn't want to take lexapro plus the other medicine I was prescribed from my surgery. I cant describe how I am feeling. My brain is throbbing, I keep getting dizzy, light-headed, can't sleep,crazy dreams,relationship stress(do to me thinking crazy) I told my bf of 5 yrs that I am leaving him hhmm crazy considering we have not had a ny problems and we have a 2 yr old. I feel like I'm going crazy. At first I thought it was from the pain medicine but I stopped that 4 days ago and still feel crazy so I googled and this site is what I have found. I guess it's all from lexapro. I just took a dose today. Hopefully it will help. After restarting the medicine how soon does it take effect I only missed a week. anyone know/

[kimkard30]

omg im trying to get off wellbutrin for only being on it for 3 weeks due to the HORRIFIC anxiety attacks. worse than before i started it and i have GAD, and i keep experiencing these electric shocks in the back of my head!
i called my husband from work to tell him, i thought i was having a stroke.
after googling about this it seems to be these brain zaps that are so debilitating i cant move off the couch!
he is running out now to get omega3 and magnesium malate because we read that will help.
how horrible.

[Tired of these drugs]

I was just on a web site http://www.theroadback.org/effexor.htm that had a suggestion to remedy this. This is an excerpt right from the page -- Brain Zaps - Brain zaps are described by people as an electrical jolt feeling that tends to run from the base of the neck up to the lower part of the skull.

Find an Omega 3 fish oil that is high in EPA and take at least 3 grams of the Omega 3 daily. This may give you a decrease in the brain zaps but you will probably need to order the Omega 3 Supreme, CalesiumD and vitamin E from TRB Health, www.trbhealth.com to fully eliminate the brain zaps.

The Road Back is licensed to use a patent pending application of the Omega 3 Supreme, CalesiumD and vitamin E for the symptom of brain zaps during antidepressant withdrawal.

--
I know I'm trying this as soon as I get home tonight. I had no idea it was from the Effexor I was taking, and my MD switched me cold turkey to Prozac. Wouldn't you think the doctors should get this information and not prescribe these drugs?

[winky]

Tired of these drugs wrote:

I was just on a web site http://www.theroadback.org/effexor.htm that had a suggestion to remedy this. This is an excerpt right from the page -- Brain Zaps - Brain zaps are described by people as an electrical jolt feeling that tends to run from the base of the neck up to the lower part of the skull.
Find an Omega 3 fish oil that is high in EPA and take at least 3 grams of the Omega 3 daily. This may give you a decrease in the brain zaps but you will probably need to order the Omega 3 Supreme, CalesiumD and vitamin E from TRB Health, www.trbhealth.com to fully eliminate the brain zaps.
The Road Back is licensed to use a patent pending application of the Omega 3 Supreme, CalesiumD and vitamin E for the symptom of brain zaps during antidepressant withdrawal.
--
I know I'm trying this as soon as I get home tonight. I had no idea it was from the Effexor I was taking, and my MD switched me cold turkey to Prozac. Wouldn't you think the doctors should get this information and not prescribe these drugs?

The Game from your dearest and TRUSTED Doctors is not to really know anything at all about the various withdrawal problems......

as in What is a Brain Zap or the 20 various other freaky medical conditions.

Thanks to Effexor have weird headaches and permanent eye damage.
Maybe 20 more MRIs and various TESTs can solve something. I doubt it though.
Have not been near the CHEMICAL Effexor for 20 months.

[winky]

I have searched a fair bit on the web and asked several (D)octors for the answer as to what exactly
is a brain zap? We know what they seam like but what causes them. What is the process?

If you can find a Doctor with knowledge please pass it on. Right now it seams like the 8 wonder
of the world. It is quite a various mysterious thing. Must have to be a rocket scienist or something.

As for the brain shivers that is another mysterious thing. You will probably get blank stares and a confused answer to that as well.

Still get those after 20 months as well.

The WARNINGS given were just GREAT and really up front and very ethical...yea sure

[winky]

Maybe when your having Brain Zaps and Brain Shivers
instead of a MRI (which was recommended to me) you should have a

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroencephalo...

or you can talk to about 10 or 20 Great and Brillaint Doctors on the subject and maybe they might acknowledge the fact you are even having them because of the Effexor.

Then maybe THEY will run a couple of studies and such at some place in DC and then THEY will have to discuss their Brilliant findings with each other.

Just a Racket like most stuff nowadays.

[Worrying and exasperating]

The Effexorcist wrote:

Jamie said...."words during conversations are still lacking".....I have the exact same problem
The other night I could not remember the Lords Prayer.....I have known this prayer all of my life

I have frequently found relief in literature-and I'm sure many others have-when undergoing medical treatment,but this vile and insidious medication sweeps such an option right out from under one. I have spent so many days and evenings,during the preceding two weeks,lying on my bed,just gazing at walls or the inside of my sleep-mask; it's torturous and debilitating,and I am hoping that-based on comments gleaned from connected columns in this section-people actually do manage to take successful legal action against this pernicious drug.I wouldn't be confident of doing so,however,as I have been saddened,angered and exasperated by the medical and related workers who glibly reiterate mantras about not being too disturbed by side-effects listed on the packets of medication (I didn't read a jot until after I had experienced the most comprehensive list of effects,and, at first,only looked at information in a casual manner):not one doctor or social care worker believed my account of the effects,each one showing a condescending lack of genuine concern,telling me that they had seen many positive cases,after Venlafaxine had been used. I am seeing a doctor here-my flat-tomorrow,and I am going to dispense with my usual affable humorous attitude;incisive and repeated questioning will be my hoped for approach,as I am sick of being spoken to as if I were some naive teenager.I could write thousands of words about my experiences,but (a depressing feeling,but one that I fervently hope will disappear)have found myself making irritating errors when typing; even this posting has been spasmodic.I would much sooner take Ritalin (as I was prescribed when I lived in Japan,and back in the U.K until two months ago. I might as well mention-while I have touched upon the matter of stimulants-that I was driven,out of utter desperation and debilitating fatigue,to buy amphetamines,hoping that they would override the Venal Inferno.Although I had the obvious come-down subsequent to their wearing off,I managed to get basic,every-day things done (as opposed to dreaming idly about such chores)and felt none of the crippling agoraphobia associated with what is meant to be an antidepressant; staggered as I have been by how grossly inappropriate the description seems,in the light of definite worsening of such a state. Defy the glib, ill-informed doctors who deny that any adverse side-effects can be attributed to Veanlalic.

[Worrying and exasperating]

I am sick of doctors and related health care workers who all read from the same hymnbook when confronted about the undeniable experiences of taking this obnoxious medication. "Well,I hear what you are saying (the opposite being the case when such glib and vacuous attempts at defending its alleged efficacy are tediously related over the phone-as was so often the case this last week-and they will remain adamantly wedded to theghir wishy-washy assurances,no matter how one endeavours to deconstruct any term "antidepressant."
This is my second posting,as I am trying to articulate my experiences without the annoying typos that make such a process exhausting. Halcyon wreaked havoc on my mind once, but I bounced back.I fervently hope that I can rebound from this pharmaceutical chamber of sweat-drenched horrors. I haven't come across any comments about one side-effect that actually provided curious distraction from the enforced ennui of rotating between two duvets for hours on end :hallucinations. Nothing in the "Cronenberg" major league of body horror,but enough to be of concern.

[Efkan]

Well OK, Magnesium Malate really helped me and it was one of the greatest things I've learn from this site. Anyways, it just relieves the symptom but it just stays there to point of level which won't disturb you as it did before.

I'm still curious about the Brain Shocks which are never explained to us. Actually you can "personally" get messed up with all these hospitals to work on explaining it but the real responsibles are drug firms. They have to explain it to us and the government should not ignore the situation since a great amount of money goes to the anti-depressants.

But about tapering off, the drug firms, again, should produce special tapering-off pills even below 12,5 and less to make it possible to taper it off fluently. Otherwise, we and the next generation will be the worst victims of the drugs, cause withdrawals are helpless and bound to get treated by unofficial cures.

I'm actually paying for Magnesium Malate and the worse is that I have to buy it from the abroad tho' I'm living in a country like "Turkey"... The drug firms are also bound to do something for it, stopping forcing you to take another synthetic material such as Paxil or Prozac (cause they also cause significant withdrawal effects).

Shortly, the symptom is not yet explained officially and the drug firms should do something more than producing and just labeling the symptoms.

[Tiff]

I experience the exact same thing. Its almost done now. I have not experienced it myself for three blessed days. Im on Seroquel XR and Buspar. Before i was perscribed this medication I had brain zaps so often I couldnt sleep or eat. I ended up not sleeping for five days and not eating for two weeks. Had to drink geritol-type stuff. Thank God for this medication.

[Barra]

I spoke to my Dr during the weaning process. It took me 3 months to wean myself off Lexapro - and not with the blessing from my Dr either. It was purely my decision. When I mentioned the brain zaps to him all I got was a smirk follwed by a blank stare - not the most reassuring of responses.
BUT
I am happy to say that after 4 months of brain zaps and feeling like I could sleep for a year I am now free of all withdrawal symptoms and it feels wonderful. I found that while I was on the Lexapro I felt nothing. Times when I should have felt happy or sad there was just numbness. Let say I got good at pretending to have feeling.
To anyone who is wishing to get themselves of these types of drugs - do persist with it because it is worth it! If your Dr is willing to support you and manage you through it then even better. All the best to you all.

[myslf]

Brain shiver absolutely sucks. It's like lightning going off inside your head.

[Heather Mae]

This is my second day off the meds and the numbness and dizziness are crazy> HELP do they go away thats all i want to know?????

[Todd]

I have been on an off Effexor a few times. I found, by accident through switching to Lexapro, that the switch to Lexapro produced none of the hard side-effects of stopping Effexor, which are considerable. When I then stopped Lexapro, I had no side effects from it.

[btdt]

Todd wrote:

I have been on an off Effexor a few times. I found, by accident through switching to Lexapro, that the switch to Lexapro produced none of the hard side-effects of stopping Effexor, which are considerable. When I then stopped Lexapro, I had no side effects from it.

There are a few people in the world very few who seem to have no withdrawal effects from antidepressants I would love to know what you have that I and so many others don't so we can get some. I remain a skeptic too as I wonder if maybe withdrawal just has not hit you yet.