[onionknight]

To anyone who has ever experienced them lowering or being late with a antidepressant dose: what do they feel like for you?

I'm not very regular with the time I take my Effexor, like yesterday, it was around 10am and today, almost 1:30pm, and I'm still in the beginning phase where I'm climbing up to my usual dose. Just recently, it was like a feeling of something surging through my head. I might even describe it as a very loud thought being screamed through my brain, except not audible and more disorientating. It was weird but went away within a few moments, leaving me with my normal headache. For what it's worth, it was really scary because I was afraid my thoughts were going to stop being thoughts and become noise or...I can't even describe it. How normal is how I'm experince these? The other werid thing here is that I'm slowly regaining my ability to "think" properly from the Effexor, so it is helping, but it is causing headaches, some disorientation and weird brain sensations.

To me they really do feel like an electrical shock. If you've ever touched an electrified fence or been zapped by a doorbell switch... that's what it feels like for the most part.
Some of them can also be described as your mind going out of focus for just a second.
Hard to really describe the feeling.
And like you, if I wait too late to take it I get a few zaps. Takes a while for that to subside after the med is taken.

[~JD~]

Brain zaps aren't quite what I would call a "common" withdrawal symptom, but they do happen often enough.

I went through them when I took myself off of Zoloft. If you are weaning off of an SSRI/SNRI, they will probably last the duration of your weaning, and usually a maximum of three weeks after total discontinuation.

I'll definitely agree with calling them "scary" though.
But once you get used to them, (or as "used to" them as one can get) they become more of a nuisance than anything.

You must, must, must take effexor on a pretty regular schedule. Some AD's are forgiving about when you take them, but effexor isn't one of them.

The brain "zaps" are mostly just annoying when you have them. Your thoughts won't become noise, etc. For me, I always experienced them as feeling like a race car zooming through my brain. I certainly associated a sound with the sensation.

If you'll commit to a schedule for taking it, you will be able to pretty much eliminate the brain zaps. Don't forget to have your refills called in so you don't run out between prescriptions--also a no, no.

[onionknight]

I stopped Zoloft cold turkey from 50mg and didn't get brain zaps, but a few hours without Effexor and I get them...Actually, my entire brain feels more sensitive from Effexor.