Brain zaps

[jimnyc]

Anyone else ever get them? Chances are, unless you're on some sort of meds that alter the 'ol noggin, you haven't. I've been dealing with this for like 4 days straight now and it sucks! This happens to me once every few years for now reason. It also happens should you be a knucklehead and stop taking your medications.

This is one sorta explanation, based off of quitting the drugs, which I have not.


Antidepressant discontinuation syndrome is a condition that can occur following the interruption, dose reduction, or discontinuation of antidepressant (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antidepressant) drugs, including selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_serotonin_reuptake_inhibitor) (SSRIs) or serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin%E2%80%93norepinephrine_reuptake_inhibito r) (SNRIs). The symptoms can include flu-like symptoms and disturbances in sleep, senses, movement, mood, and thinking. In most cases symptoms are mild, short-lived, and resolve without treatment. More severe cases are often successfully treated by reintroduction of the drug, which usually leads to resolution within one day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antidepressant_discontinuation_syndrome

And another explanation:


Common withdrawals: electric shock-like feelings, dizziness,
insomnia,sweating, nausea, tremor,vertigo , nightmares, and confusion.

And another:


Brain zaps, also known as "brain shocks," "brain shivers," or "head shocks" are a fairly common withdrawal (http://www.wikidoc.org/index.php/Withdrawal) symptom experienced during discontinuation (or reduction of dose) of SSRI (http://www.wikidoc.org/index.php/SSRI) and SNRI (http://www.wikidoc.org/index.php/SNRI) antidepressant (http://www.wikidoc.org/index.php/Antidepressant) drugs. The symptom is described as brief but repeated electric shock-like sensations in the brain and head. The effect is not only confined to withdrawal periods for all sufferers, but also are experienced while actually taking the prescribed medication (although less commonly), and have been known to continue for years after withdrawal from the associated medication.

http://www.wikidoc.org/index.php/Brain_zap

[Abbey Marie]

I have not, but it sounds difficult to deal with. How long did it last in the past? Hopefully you will be better very soon.

[jimnyc]

I have not, but it sounds difficult to deal with. How long did it last in the past? Hopefully you will be better very soon.

It's usually only a couple of days to a week maximum in total. Individually they only last for like a single second. But over the time of a day, they take their toll. Just an exhaustive feeling. It's usually when your eyes need to refocus that it happens. If I turn my head quickly, and go from looking at something 5 feet away, to something 10 feet away, that refocus can make me dizzy or give me that brain zap, even if just for a quick second.

It does feel much better today though, so hopefully it's going away now.

[NightTrain]

No, it's never happened to me... this is the first I've ever heard about it.

Maybe a phone call to the doc is in order, just to be safe?

[jimnyc]

No, it's never happened to me... this is the first I've ever heard about it.

Maybe a phone call to the doc is in order, just to be safe?

I really need to see my regular doctor. Well over 40, been avoiding that prostate discussion for a long, long, long time. Time to finally get it done, as well as a battery of blood tests. Make sure I'm not dying!

These zaps are "normal" for folks on some sort of anti-depressant drugs. While they are helpful, they DO alter your brain, so you know weird shit might happen from time to time. My biggest issue is missing doses, or thinking I missed a doze and then doubled up. And this goes for all of my meds! LOL And yes, I have one of them weekly planner things, just get lazy often and think I don't need it. :)

[NightTrain]

I really need to see my regular doctor. Well over 40, been avoiding that prostate discussion for a long, long, long time. Time to finally get it done...


Yeah... about that.

I had it done last year.

Walked into his office, did the paperwork and then the Doc came out to take me back. He shook my hand and introduced himself - and the fucker's hand wrapped all the way around mine! Literally I had a flashback to when I was 6 and shaking a grown man's hand. I shit you not, his fingers were like bratwursts.

Now, what the hell would prompt such a monstrous man to take up that particular medical field? His professors should have taken one look at the man back in college and explained to him the glaringly obvious - unless he's going to cater to gay pornstars, he should reconsider.

Be sure you find a petite Asian doctor, and not a steriod loving lumberjack like I was referred to! I highly recommend Dr. Chang there in NYC.

[Jeff]

Every 11 PM Jim, that is the time I take my last pain pill of the day and if I am not doing something, say just sitting in front of the TV that is how it starts, so every night at 11 I ride up to the store and see some friends, seems like as long as I keep busy I am fine.

[tailfins]

Anyone else ever get them? Chances are, unless you're on some sort of meds that alter the 'ol noggin, you haven't. I've been dealing with this for like 4 days straight now and it sucks! This happens to me once every few years for now reason. It also happens should you be a knucklehead and stop taking your medications.

This is one sorta explanation, based off of quitting the drugs, which I have not.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antidepressant_discontinuation_syndrome

And another explanation:



And another:



http://www.wikidoc.org/index.php/Brain_zap

Do they interrupt your sleep? Have you come up with some trick to distract yourself from them? Can they be gotten used to? Are they distressful or can you figure out a way to enjoy them? One reason I ask this is because crowds or noise and movement from different directions make me dizzy. If I can sit down, I can just zone out and enjoy the dizziness.


Every 11 PM Jim, that is the time I take my last pain pill of the day and if I am not doing something, say just sitting in front of the TV that is how it starts, so every night at 11 I ride up to the store and see some friends, seems like as long as I keep busy I am fine.

Congratulations on outsmarting your distress!

[Voted4Reagan]

Every 11 PM Jim, that is the time I take my last pain pill of the day and if I am not doing something, say just sitting in front of the TV that is how it starts, so every night at 11 I ride up to the store and see some friends, seems like as long as I keep busy I am fine.

Bad feet... bad back... bad knees...

All I take is Coffee and Advil....

[Jeff]

Bad feet... bad back... bad knees...

All I take is Coffee and Advil....

Well Brother that is great, I am happy for ya, but you have no idea how bad it can get, I am on all kinds of pain meds and can barley walk tonight. Yup I use to say the same as you, but it caught up to me.

[Voted4Reagan]

Well Brother that is great, I am happy for ya, but you have no idea how bad it can get, I am on all kinds of pain meds and can barley walk tonight. Yup I use to say the same as you, but it caught up to me.

oh trust me Jeff.... It is horrible. I just refuse to take the pain killers. i just try an go until I drop.

It is so bad I can barely sleep 5 hours a night. I constantly wake up in pain. But have seen too many of my friends get hooked on the meds....

I'd rather feel the pain.. and not have to worry about Detoxing.

[Jeff]

oh trust me Jeff.... It is horrible. I just refuse to take the pain killers. i just try an go until I drop.

It is so bad I can barely sleep 5 hours a night. I constantly wake up in pain. But have seen too many of my friends get hooked on the meds....

I'd rather feel the pain.. and not have to worry about Detoxing.

Bro as I said you have no idea.

I have been where you are, hell I would take a shot or drink out of my mason jar for the pain, but when the Docs run all kinds of test and tell you all they can do is treat ya with pain meds and it can get so bad you will wind up in a chair yea, Don't get me wrong during the day I am hurting but take it, at night when my back hurts so dam bad I literally can't breath, my legs feel like they are going to explode and my feet feel like they are in the fire, yea you have no idea, check into it if ya don't believe me, check and see how many off themselves just for the one of the issues I have.

Not real sure how old you are but I am guessing 40's ??? Give it time, it's coming. You live in the city if I remember correctly, kind of a yuppie life style ( no offense but it just is ) try running a few days straight in a TT without stopping, standing to piss in a bottle and ya don't eat this way ya wont have to shit. The way I( choose to live my life has put me where I am today, and I wouldn't change it a bit) I messed around in school so I took the highest paying job I could get, a over the road trucker, see you call 5 a night not sleeping, I call that a fucking dream, the average night I go to bed between 3 and 5 and never sleep past 6 ( I can't, I start taking pills at that time, but hell I am up at the latest a quarter to ) I would give my left nut to sleep 5 hours a night, the usual is 2 to 3 ( on a good night ) many nights there is no sleep at all ( yup the pain is that bad ) My buddies all ask me to call them , hell I am the club alarm clock. :laugh: ( See when i was on the road 5 hours sleep all week was about average, and before ya tell me about the laws, hell ask Jim the hours I ran, I would talk to him during the week and he couldn't believe how many miles I would cover in a day, and ya can't do that from the sleeper ) Again years of abusing your body like this take a toll. But I hear ya detoxing sucks, but ya see they actually have me prescribed to take 4 pills a day, I only take 3, they have me taking a muscle relaxer all day as well as the other meds, I take it at night only, when the pain is so fucking bad all I can do is sit and think about eating a bullet.

But you know what I have it pretty good, there are folks way worse off than me, I remember one 4rth of July when this all started, I was hurting and thinking how I may wind up in a wheel chair and basically feeling sorry for myself, well we decided to take the kids to a fireworks display and once there I seen a lady come in that was in a chair, she had only one arm and no legs, I jumped up to help her and she shooed me away, she said she didn't want to get spoiled. You know I actually have it pretty good, most days I can jump on my bike and ride ( some anyway, some days more than others) we have young men coming back from overseas that will never be able to do that again, so yea I don't belly ache about ooo poor poor me, but when I see someone telling me how they just need a aspirin to get through their terrible pain, well i have to speak up. Bro when is the last day you spent in the woods cutting down tree's all day ? only to haul them out once you are exhausted so you can get it to the house and split it, no no log spliter, a axe and a sledge hammer, yea I was on the road all week and would get home Friday night or Saturday morning, and would leave back out Sunday, so I had one day to do what you have never even thought of doing . And no where I live we don't call the super to come fix a issue, it gets done on the 24 hours off I have, so no time to kick back. Yea all this because I was the cool kid in school, yea a real dumb ass, but hell it serves as a good example for my boys ( who are straight A students because they see what putting your body through hell can do to you ) Now this is all on me and as you know I have never come on here and bitched about po po me, nope I have it good, but when someone thumps their chest and tells me they take a aspirin for the same thing I am going through, na Bro I honestly believe in the shape I am in I would work circles around you when it come to manual labor, city boys have no idea what hard work is, and the sounds of it you have no idea what real pain is, do you honestly think I would go through what I am going through if I could just take a aspirin ??? Come again man, Like I said before you thump your chest you might want to think, because it is obvious you have no idea what pain is.

[jimnyc]

Do they interrupt your sleep? Have you come up with some trick to distract yourself from them? Can they be gotten used to? Are they distressful or can you figure out a way to enjoy them? One reason I ask this is because crowds or noise and movement from different directions make me dizzy. If I can sit down, I can just zone out and enjoy the dizziness.

Yes, they can interrupt sleep. You can almost be distracted from them, if I were to take an anti-anxiety medication and try to zombie out and stare straight ahead, or ahead at the TV. Trust me, you don't want to get used to them, and I don't think you can. That would be like getting used to being dizzy.

It's usually an imbalance of some sort, and you have to wait till it figures itself out and balances out again.

[jimnyc]

Bad feet... bad back... bad knees...

All I take is Coffee and Advil....

Prior to my last surgery, I would have laughed at anyone trying to offer me advil. I took the meds short time and had the surgery. The pain was so bad that the meds only took the tip of the pain off, but not much more. Anything short of surgery was going to leave me in severe pain, with a disc sticking into my spine. If they couldn't repair that, THEN my ass was going to stay on them. Unfortunately, for Jeff, from the way I understand things, there just isn't much they can do. But he also has a perfect storm - crohns disease, neuropathy and then the bad back.

With the prior withdrawals I had, I don't think I would ever want to be hooked on them again. But I also wouldn't want to live a lifetime of severe pain either. Sucks either way you look at it, IMO. But so long as stuck, and until such time that the doctors can find a way to do better, if me, I would at least get rid of the pain. I don't know, just simply no easy answer with this one.

[jimnyc]

Every 11 PM Jim, that is the time I take my last pain pill of the day and if I am not doing something, say just sitting in front of the TV that is how it starts, so every night at 11 I ride up to the store and see some friends, seems like as long as I keep busy I am fine.

Pain pills will work similarly. They are hitting your opiate receptors (sp?) to block the pain, which is obviously fucking with your brain chemistry. When it doesn't get what it wants in a timely manner, not only might you experience other withdrawal symptoms, but the brain starts to readjust again.

[Voted4Reagan]

by the way... I am goin to be 51yo in October... I wish I was in my 40's

[jimnyc]

by the way... I am goin to be 51yo in October... I wish I was in my 40's

Ha Ha, old man! :coffee:

[gabosaurus]

Used to have the "brain zaps" things all the time. Mine was just level of medication in association with other meds I was taking.
Haven't been bothered with them for several years now.

[Voted4Reagan]

Ha Ha, old man! :coffee:

6'2" and 265lbs...

I'll tear your arms off Computer boy and beat you to death with them!!

and I know where you live...... LOL

Nah... I need to break your chops about football... I couldnt hurt you....

[jimnyc]

6'2" and 265lbs...

I'll tear your arms off Computer boy and beat you to death with them!!

and I know where you live...... LOL

Nah... I need to break your chops about football... I couldnt hurt you....

That was the beauty of growing up shy and somewhat of a geek - people underestimated me. :slap:

And they always underestimate my Steelers!! :)

[tailfins]

Yes, they can interrupt sleep. You can almost be distracted from them, if I were to take an anti-anxiety medication and try to zombie out and stare straight ahead, or ahead at the TV. Trust me, you don't want to get used to them, and I don't think you can. That would be like getting used to being dizzy.

It's usually an imbalance of some sort, and you have to wait till it figures itself out and balances out again.

I enjoy watching an art-deco ceiling spin. It's a joy "normal" people don't get to experience.

http://www.davidandnoelle.net/Updates_files/IMG_1436.JPG

[jimnyc]

I enjoy watching an art-deco ceiling spin. It's a joy "normal" people don't get to experience.

Perhaps, until you puke anyway! :puke3:

[Jeff]

by the way... I am goin to be 51yo in October... I wish I was in my 40's

It must of been the picture of the Misses that threw me off, yup you getting there as well. :laugh: