Posted by omegon on January 15, 2004, at 16:53:46
In reply to Re: Am I the only one here that likes Effexor? Nope, posted by KimRN73 on January 14, 2004, at 15:39:33
> Can someone PLEASE describe these Brain "zaps" people keep referring to? I think that is what i get but id like to know what they entail if anyone can describe them???? THanks!!!!!
I only had them in a mild way for 5 days (thanks to switching to Prozac rather than coming off efexor completely), but I'll try to describe what I had. It's probably the weirdest sensation I've ever experienced.
Ever stayed up all night, to the point when you get "microsleeps"? - you momentarily fall asleep (for literally a second) then jerk awake again? For me, the "brain zaps" were like a combination of a _mental_ wrenching sensation, like the jolting disorientation of those microsleeps (without the "sleep" feeling, just that of involuntarily having your state of consciousness sharply altered); with a _physical_ (proprioceptive) wrenching sensation, like the world has suddenly, sharply changed orientation around you (earthquake-like) - not really dizziness, just subjective alteration of position; with an _emotional_ wrenching sensation, similar to what people call your "heart skipping a beat", an instantaneous sick feeling, or one of those "oh-sh*t" moments where you suddenly realise you've really screwed something up irrevocably.
It's very brief and feels kind of "electrical"; a muscle spasm of the brain. You can also kind of sense when it's about to happen, though I couldn't really describe how; rather like feeling a hiccup coming.
On most occasions I didn't have the electric-shock-through-every-nerve feeling that I've seen others describe here, though interestingly I did get that a couple of times soon after I started on efexor, while increasing the dose.
poster:omegon
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040114/msgs/301336.html