# Describe a Brain Zap please



## Still Searching (Sep 12, 2011)

I'm on Paxil, just started about 1 month ago. Its a very low dose and I will probably increase it. When I come off of it someday I'm worried about brain zaps. 
What do they feel like? How long do they last? Do you have any warning that its about to happen? 
Thank you...


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## QuietBoy99 (Sep 7, 2010)

Great question. Brain zaps don't really hurt but you can definitely feel it when it comes. For me it goes like this "Zap Zap" literally. Til this day I still get brain zaps even after being off of medications for many years. Scary.


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## CD700 (Apr 22, 2010)

I have read a lot about them
Never had them but kind of want one to see how they feel.
They usually go away pretty quickly


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## coldsorehighlighter (Jun 2, 2010)

For myself, they were like...short bursts of white light mixed with dizziness...very strange and uncomfortable. Thankfully, they're short and not physically painful.


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## The Professor (Jul 31, 2011)

Still Searching said:


> I'm on Paxil, just started about 1 month ago. Its a very low dose and I will probably increase it. When I come off of it someday I'm worried about brain zaps.
> What do they feel like? How long do they last? Do you have any warning that its about to happen?
> Thank you...


I dont remember having any bad physical side effects from paxil, just some very big mental changes. Given you are at a high enough dose, it will def. change you and make you take more risks. It is very gradual though, you won't even know it's happening and you won't know that you have become a completely different person. Basically it made me a boss, very popular and cool and tough. I got off it though thinking I didn't have SA anymore, and slowly realized it made me do some really stupid things (dangerous drug combinations). My life on paxil is hard to explain, I'll make a post on it some day. But basically I was living the hell out of my life. The world seemed dark to me though, literally, looking back on my time on paxil it was like my vision was made to see darker, which went hand in hand with how I felt about the word. However, I did really trust people and was incredibly social.


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## Kat01 (Oct 17, 2011)

*The Paxil brain zap*

Hi,
I was on Paxil for 9 years for anxiety and weaned myself off of it due to the numbing side effects (physically and emotionally). These side effects don't happen right away and you may not notice them. Since I quit I've been talking openly about it to friends and I'm amazed at the number of people who are taking it or have taken it. Everyone I know has had similar experiences. I've posted my withdrawal experience on the quitpaxil.org forum ("I'm in Hell").

The zaps are a horrible, horrible feeling. I describe them in my quit paxil posts but it's like a wave of electricity that starts in my head (face) and flows through my body, for a fraction of a second and mine were accompanied by dizziness. It may sound intriguing if you haven't had them but once you have, you will wish you didn't know.

My doctor put me on Paxil because it is "good at what it does" but it also is supposed to be the worst for withdrawal when you quit (something the drug companies don't want you to know). The psychiatrist that my family doctor sent me to, to monitor the weaning process was telling me that there are other, newer drugs that don't have such bad side effects and don't cause such horrible withdrawal when you quit.

I'm now working on managing my anxiety, without drugs, by treating the cause rather than the effects.

I hope this helps,

Kat


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## Still Searching (Sep 12, 2011)

The Professor said:


> I dont remember having any bad physical side effects from paxil, just some very big mental changes. Given you are at a high enough dose, it will def. change you and make you take more risks. It is very gradual though, you won't even know it's happening and you won't know that you have become a completely different person. Basically it made me a boss, very popular and cool and tough. I got off it though thinking I didn't have SA anymore, and slowly realized it made me do some really stupid things (dangerous drug combinations). My life on paxil is hard to explain, I'll make a post on it some day. But basically I was living the hell out of my life. The world seemed dark to me though, literally, looking back on my time on paxil it was like my vision was made to see darker, which went hand in hand with how I felt about the word. However, I did really trust people and was incredibly social.


Your experience on Paxil sounds really interesting. I'd like to hear more. After just a month, I'm not sure what to expect, but where I'm living I can't take more than 25mg a day. So I'm not sure what effects it will have on me once it kicks in. If it makes the SA more manageable then hopefully its worth it.


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## Still Searching (Sep 12, 2011)

Kat01 said:


> The zaps are a horrible, horrible feeling. I describe them in my quit paxil posts but it's like a wave of electricity that starts in my head (face) and flows through my body, for a fraction of a second and mine were accompanied by dizziness. It may sound intriguing if you haven't had them but once you have, you will wish you didn't know.
> Kat


From what everyone says, they do sound truly horrible. I'm just glad they are not painful. I hope that weaning off them extremely slow will help alleviate the zaps.


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## swim (Apr 4, 2011)

I had brain zaps when tapering paroxetine a long ago it's like a spark right inside your head that switches on a chain saw.


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## Nogy (Feb 13, 2011)

For me they just felt like a really sudden jolt of lightheadedness. Thats honestly the best i can describe it. They weren't painful, but was definately uncomfortable. They lasted about a week after i quit paxil cold turkey


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## The Professor (Jul 31, 2011)

Kat01 said:


> Hi,
> I was on Paxil for 9 years for anxiety and weaned myself off of it due to the numbing side effects (physically and emotionally). These side effects don't happen right away and you may not notice them. Since I quit I've been talking openly about it to friends and I'm amazed at the number of people who are taking it or have taken it. Everyone I know has had similar experiences. I've posted my withdrawal experience on the quitpaxil.org forum ("I'm in Hell").
> 
> The zaps are a horrible, horrible feeling. I describe them in my quit paxil posts but it's like a wave of electricity that starts in my head (face) and flows through my body, for a fraction of a second and mine were accompanied by dizziness. It may sound intriguing if you haven't had them but once you have, you will wish you didn't know.
> ...


Honestly, the cause for most of us is a chemical imbalance in the brain. I'm not taking anything now for SA but I'm realizing it is the ONLY cure (or close to a cure). By playing around with the neurotransmitters you can correct the problem. Unfortunately, scientists don't know enough yet to have an actual, sustainable, and safe cure for SA. And if they do, the government doesn't want to make it available because of the potential for abuse of some of these drugs that can help with SA much better than SSRIs! (dopamine and opiate based drugs) SSRIs basically make it so you don't get emotional highs or lows, making you better able to handle stress and anxiety but at the cost of being emotionally numb, which sucks, but for me I'm beginning to think it's worth it.


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

Put it this way.

Stand up and look straight ahead. Imagine someone smacking you on the top of the head. That "flinch" (not the smack itself) is what you'd feel. A temporary cringe.


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## lela (Sep 25, 2011)

i had these zaps, how can i describe them? a strange sensation in the head, absolutely painless, for a millisecond only. when i got off paxil, i had them for a short time, and they didnt bother me much. i started with paxil now, some years later, again, and the zaps which will come when i get off it again some day really are of no concern for me. i think its always about how you think about it. i was "oh, a zap, means im getting off paxil, great", so it didnt bother me. after some weeks it was over also.


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## gillettecavalcad3 (Jul 9, 2009)

Brain zaps are pretty awesome


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## crayzyMed (Nov 2, 2006)

It goes zap


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## jonahbruhh (Aug 23, 2011)

*zappppz*

Their is no Accurate time that it will go away. My pshychiatrit said it would take a month. It took 2 days. You dont want to experience it, it sucks nuts


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## Xande (Jul 18, 2011)

Never had brain zaps, but doesn't sound too fun though haha.

Everyone is different though and some people get can get meds with little or no side effects, while others experience more. Paxil and Effexor are known as two anti-depressants that are difficult to withdraw from for some though.


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## spartan7 (Feb 25, 2011)

*I only got Brain zaps on MAOI's. Its a Zap in your brain, not really fun. Lasts a second. You basically go "Oh ouch brain zap" and its gone. Not fun though*


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## Talathena (Nov 12, 2012)

The best way I describe it is when I turn my head quickly or move my eyes quickly its like my brain can't process all of the information at once. *Zapzap!* a momentary feeling of lightheadedness. It's awful and very disorienting at times..not physically painful but mentally terrifying. Like you aren't in control for a second.


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## ndsxy01 (Jan 12, 2013)

*Superb*



Talathena said:


> The best way I describe it is when I turn my head quickly or move my eyes quickly its like my brain can't process all of the information at once. *Zapzap!* a momentary feeling of lightheadedness. It's awful and very disorienting at times..not physically painful but mentally terrifying. Like you aren't in control for a second.


Hi Talathena i have been trying to explain exactly how i feel but cant,however you have hit the nail on the head completely.That is exactly how i feel.Do you ever feel like its something serious like a brain tumour or something? Does it make you feel like you are going to have a seisure and pass out?(not that ive had either)TOUCHES WOOD.I have been on citralex for about 2 years i suffer from panic attacks/anxiety.I just worry about my health and stuff thinking i have all these health problems.Is there a trigger for dizzyness ie tiredness,lack of drinking etc etc?How are you managing now?

Regards Steve


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## gilmourr (Nov 17, 2011)

For me it's when I turn my head or use my peripheral vision. Which is pretty frequent. It basically is a quick little hiccup that runs from your head through your body out towards your arms. It doesn't hurt at all, it just feels like a very low current just went through your body in a second. 

It's uncomfortable, but not painful imo. I don't know if they go away because I've never been off meds long enough for them to stop. But I'm sure they would. Just takes a while for your brain to adjust to lack of serotonin.


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## Tangerine (Feb 16, 2010)

It's a feeling that starts in the center of my brain and expands outward. it's like a tingling sensation mixed with a sense of spatial distortion, and falling inwards. I absolutely ****ing hate them. Like an electrical shortage would feel.


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