Posted by blackjack on May 30, 2001, at 17:45:47
In reply to Strange med effects???, posted by good4u on May 30, 2001, at 8:53:41
> 1. There is a restless, “over-stimulated” feeling in the front of my head.
That really sounds like activation of a hypomanic or manic episode to me. Many antidepressants will do this, and going OFF the antidepressants won't necissarily make it go away, at least not immediately. Are you diagnosed as bipolar? If not, you should dscuss this possiblity with your doctor. Adding Depakote was on the right track, but man people respond better to different mood stablizers
> In reference to 2. above:
> Two days after discontinuing the Zoloft and 4 weeks after discontinuing the Depakote, I began experiencing a weird sensation in the front of my head. Hard to describe, the sensation would last for about a second and would happen every 5-10 minutes. The feeling was a quick "flip-flop" (sorry, so difficult to describe) in the front of my brain. It was a whirling, spaced out feeling seemingly localized only in that small part of my head.This sounds EXACTLY like the symptoms many people get when discontinuing short-lived SSRI's (usually Paxil, but sometimes Zoloft) and Effexor. This sort of sensation of an electrical jolt or sloshing, especially when you move your eyes quickly, is very common. People call it "brain lightning" or "the zaps." It is often accompanied by nausea, flu-like symptoms, dizzyness, and a general malaise. How long have you been off the Zoloft? Did you go off cold-turkey? The "zaps" usually go away in a few weeks, but can be lessened by tapering you dose down slowly. Some people have found that taking Prozac (which has a longer life in the body) just for a few days keeps the symptoms at bay while your body adjusts to not having the meds. Others have reported that Benadryl helps.
poster:blackjack
thread:64719
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010530/msgs/64790.html