Jump to content



Photo

Brain Zaps


  • Please log in to reply
15 replies to this topic

#1 conbon

conbon

    Newbie

  • Members
  • Pip
  • 3 posts
  • why_joining:
    Cymbalta withdrawal symptoms

Posted 15 October 2010 - 09:53 AM

How long do the brain zaps last?

#2 gettingthroughit

gettingthroughit

    Member

  • Members
  • PipPip
  • 20 posts
  • why_joining:
    I've been on cymbalta for aprox. 2 years for anxiety. I gained 45 pounds and noticed a change in my personality that I did not like. I have been trying to get off Cymbalta for months with horrid side effects. Looking for support and answers to get through this.

Posted 15 October 2010 - 03:35 PM

Not sure how long they last, but a high quality Omega 3 supplement eliminated mine. I take 2 capsules with each meal of the Barlean's brand. I bought it at the Vitamin Shoppe.

#3 cookie

cookie

    God-like

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 1,050 posts
  • why_joining:
    In the future I would like to stop cymbalta

Posted 15 October 2010 - 07:01 PM

Dear Conbon:
Ask your doctor about B vitamins, specially Vitamin B12. It is better to obtain this vitamins through food than it is to take supplements

#4 Beth83

Beth83

    Newbie

  • Members
  • Pip
  • 3 posts
  • why_joining:
    I don't think the Cymbalta is helping like it used to, but am scared to even suggest switching because of side effects.

Posted 21 October 2010 - 10:28 PM

Can someone explain what you all mean when you say brainzap? I think I have a good idea, but want to be sure.

Thanks!
Beth

#5 Beth83

Beth83

    Newbie

  • Members
  • Pip
  • 3 posts
  • why_joining:
    I don't think the Cymbalta is helping like it used to, but am scared to even suggest switching because of side effects.

Posted 21 October 2010 - 10:29 PM

Dear Conbon:
Ask your doctor about B vitamins, specially Vitamin B12. It is better to obtain this vitamins through food than it is to take supplements


#6 conbon

conbon

    Newbie

  • Members
  • Pip
  • 3 posts
  • why_joining:
    Cymbalta withdrawal symptoms

Posted 22 October 2010 - 01:31 PM

Can someone explain what you all mean when you say brainzap? I think I have a good idea, but want to be sure.

Thanks!
Beth

It fells like a small electrical current in your brain.

#7 Beth83

Beth83

    Newbie

  • Members
  • Pip
  • 3 posts
  • why_joining:
    I don't think the Cymbalta is helping like it used to, but am scared to even suggest switching because of side effects.

Posted 01 November 2010 - 04:47 PM

Apparently what I experience are not brain zaps. I have no idea what they are and they are so hard to explain. Initially I said I felt light headed and that is true, but it is more than that. As odd as it may sound, it is like a phasing out for a moment, but not really. It not as if I become unaware of my surroundings but eberything seems so far away. Does this make sense to anyone?

#8 DLAO83

DLAO83

    Member

  • Members
  • PipPip
  • 19 posts
  • why_joining:
    I am getting off of cymbalta and would like to hear and respond to others

Posted 01 November 2010 - 07:28 PM

Apparently what I experience are not brain zaps. I have no idea what they are and they are so hard to explain. Initially I said I felt light headed and that is true, but it is more than that. As odd as it may sound, it is like a phasing out for a moment, but not really. It not as if I become unaware of my surroundings but eberything seems so far away. Does this make sense to anyone?


It makes sense to me- its like being disembodied. I feel like that too sometimes, disoriented and foggy and disembodied. It's like observing yourself doing things from afar almost.

Brain zaps... to me are like little mental seizures/shivers. It's like that *POW* feeling I get if I hit my head too hard, only like twenty of them all at once in a shorter span of time. To me it feels like my brain is spasming.

The two are very different for me, I don't know how it is for everyone else though.

#9 cookie

cookie

    God-like

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 1,050 posts
  • why_joining:
    In the future I would like to stop cymbalta

Posted 01 November 2010 - 08:25 PM

Apparently what I experience are not brain zaps. I have no idea what they are and they are so hard to explain. Initially I said I felt light headed and that is true, but it is more than that. As odd as it may sound, it is like a phasing out for a moment, but not really. It not as if I become unaware of my surroundings but eberything seems so far away. Does this make sense to anyone?



Is it like Depersonalization??? like you are watching a movie??? like your surroundings look weird?

Brain Zaps, are like electrical sensations inside my head.

#10 Cymbalta4IED

Cymbalta4IED

    Member

  • Members
  • PipPip
  • 24 posts
  • LocationSoutheastern US
  • why_joining:
    Prescribed Cymbalta 8 months ago. I have bad reactions when I miss a dose. Want to learn more about the medication that I am on an other options.

Posted 02 November 2010 - 08:38 PM

Can someone explain what you all mean when you say brainzap? I think I have a good idea, but want to be sure.

Thanks!
Beth


Brain Zaps are like an electrical shock applied to your brain...the sensation may last for a few seconds to a few minutes. The most severe zaps that I have suffered require holding on to something for balance (for fear of passing out) and even pulling off the side of the road while driving (for fear of God knows what!)

#11 crashed

crashed

    Newbie

  • Members
  • Pip
  • 9 posts
  • LocationUSA
  • why_joining:
    missed 3 days of cymbalta; on the way home from work I dont remember driving thru neighborhood, became unconscious, drove up the sidewalk, hit 2 trees and then woke to the car wobbling thru the bushes... thats why u dont want to miss a dose

Posted 07 November 2010 - 10:51 PM

this brain zap is what md feels caused me to crash my car into 2 trees without waking only to finally awake d/t car driving over bushes. i was unaware of the side effects of not taking the med regularly and hadn't picked up med for 3 days. MD thought i may have had a seizure!!! Beware!!! See my story

#12 Dingle

Dingle

    Newbie

  • Members
  • Pip
  • 5 posts
  • why_joining:
    I was told that this was not an SSRI by my psych. I asked MANY times is this an SSRI, knowing that i have problems with this class of chems, and was told this was not an SSRI. Now I know this isnt an SSRI but an SSRI+. Thanks Doc for prescribing me POISON.

Posted 24 December 2010 - 12:14 AM

I have finally found other people that call these sensations as "brain zaps". For many years of my life i have taken SSRI drugs to combat depression and anxiety. I went on prozac (Fluoxetine) for almost five years and went off cold turkey because it was 100% more damaging than it was therapeutic. This caused a withdrawal that lasted for at least two and a half months consisting of these "Brain zaps" and some other mild behavioral quirks. Now im facing the same problem but now compounded by at least twice quitting Cybalta cold turkey. I quit without tapering off because tapering off only prolongs the inevitable; the horrible side effects. Missing only one dose of 30mg Cymbalta, which is the smallest dose of this POISON they make, causes those dreaded "zaps". Hell taking it regularly at the same time everyday the way it is prescribed i exhibited withdrawal symptoms within 12 to 18 hours. Thats what caused my drug pusher (my psych) to increase my dosage to 60mg, the second highest dose they make. Now as I am writing this I am on day 5 of what I like to call my personal hell. The "zaps" have been occuring at least 30 or so times a minute, correlating with any physical movement I make voluntary or not. I have had to take time of work and time away from my family because my psych told me this wasnt an SSRI, "it works differently", they said. Had I known what i know now, I wouldnt have put it in my body. Yes I should have known the first couple of crippling weeks of adjusting to this poison that it was no good but I, being in the mental state that i was in, thought it might help. Well it didnt. Suicidal thoughts that weren't present in the three years without an SSRI started to grow and compile on top of each other with every growing day taking CYMBALTA. By this time it has taken me about two hours to write this because of the withdrawals I am having. All I want now is to quiet this storm that is raging in my head every day. Like I said, I had very similar feelings with Fluoxetine withdrawal, but nothing like this. Yet the FDA allows this chemical to be given to anyone who says they have a certain problem without a way to get out of it from under its very tight grasp. With the 10 or so years I have been given SSRI DRUGS, and they are just as bad if not worse than any other chemical we associate the word DRUG with (CRACK, HEROINE, METH, ect.), and about as easy to get off of the influence of, I have never felt so utterly helpless than I do now. I know from previous SSRI experience it wil fade but how long will it take? How worse will I get? What else is waiting around the corner? Finally is there any Help?

#13 RickWC

RickWC

    Good Friend

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 110 posts
  • why_joining:
    Trying to quit Cymbalta

Posted 24 December 2010 - 11:41 PM

Beth, It's very hard to explain what a brain zap feels like. With each individual there will be different withdrawal effects. No matter what you call them, if you get a brain zap, you will know it. Years ago, I was out on Lake Michigan on a one man Jet Ski. I wear glasses so I had them securely attached to my head. Anyway, I got in the trough of a wave and got hit flat in the face with a wall of water at high speed.

The feeling of the water hitting me full in the face was a huge shock and the sound that it made hitting my glasses was like a loud "zing". That's what a brain zap feels like to me except it is internal and not caused by external stimula.

#14 wonderboy

wonderboy

    Newbie

  • Members
  • Pip
  • 2 posts
  • why_joining:
    withdrawl

Posted 31 December 2010 - 10:28 PM

Can these brain zaps become permanent?

#15 RickWC

RickWC

    Good Friend

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 110 posts
  • why_joining:
    Trying to quit Cymbalta

Posted 02 January 2011 - 11:26 PM

I've never heard of anybody getting permanent brain zaps. They are quite easy to cure, as well. Once they start, just take some Cymbalta and problem solved. Eli Lilly has got you hooked.

#16 madison

madison

    Newbie

  • Members
  • Pip
  • 4 posts
  • why_joining:
    cymbalta withdrawes

Posted 09 January 2011 - 02:27 PM

How long do the brain zaps last?

Don't feel bad i am having them so bad .. really at nite and bruning in my joints , flu like sym. too



0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users