No Brain Zaps???

I have been on Effexor for 2 1/2 months. I am on 150 mg. Today I went without taking any and I didn't experience any brain zaps like I have read other people suffering when they don't take their med. Do you think there is something wrong with me for not having the symptoms all the other people feel?

Everyone responds differently to drugs

Actually less than 1% of people have that sideeffect so you have nothing to worry about.

I don't know if what I felt was brain zaps.. it was more whooshes of my head. I'd move one direction and feel this whoosh. And just all dizzy like.

That's good news

ok I am wrong. I might not have brain zaps but the dizziness and feeling sick and the weird nightmares and restlessness wwhen I am trying to sleep are about to do me in.

never mind, I had to take one, the withdrawals are horrible

i had those brain shocks when i was withdrawing from Prozac. it didn't bother me very much. they only lasted for 2 or 3 days and then they went away.

I got the impression that you'd simply forgotten a dose, or something like that. Going cold turkey is not recommended, if you're trying to discontinue using this drug. You should plan to taper your dose down by increments over weeks. That will reduce the severity of any withdrawal symptoms, but you're still likely to have some.

Lar

I had to go cold turkey between medications. Apparently you need a clean out period and cant just switch instantly. I'm currently withdrawing off Luvox and its day 3... argh the whooshy zappy stuff has gotten worse. And twitching too... bring on tomorrow when I start back on the efexor

What are "brain zaps"?

the patient can feel little electrical zings in your neck, skull, etc. they suck.

i know very few who hasn't had them when going off of effexor and several other drugs. it is a huge pain in the ***. also my head felt "whooshy" and felt like my brain was rolling and tumbling.

you don't want brain zaps........

Oh, ok, thanks for clarifying, Pat.

I'm pretty sure I've had them before.......and yeah, they do suck.

Des

OH the lovely brain zaps. I got those yesterday too. I was feeling otherwise ill and took medicine to deal with that and was so fixed on that that I forgot my regular medicines. BIG nono! And I had to endure it til today when it was time to take meds. My dH worrys about what this med is doing to my brain that it causes this much trouble when I dont take it. I dont know.

I'm having 'brain zaps' worse than ever at the mo (have experienced them many, Many, MANY times but not as constantly as now). Worse when tired. Am just wondering if anyone has found any form of relief from them, or has any suggestions (OTHER than getting more sleep lol) on how they might be reduced/lessened? Any help or input would be much appreciated thanks. (It's not related to withdrawl either- have only reduced the dose 1x in 2 years, and that was last year)...

I've never had brain zaps on Effexor XR, but I remember reading how everyone was saying that if you miss your dose by even ONE hour, you will experience withdrawal symptoms. So if you take your dose at 9am, but make sure you don't vary from that.

Well, when I was on the lower doses, I would start to "withdraw" hours before my morning dose. I would start getting really hot in bed, be dizzy when I rolled over, even have to get up for diarrhea! And I certainly wasn't late with my dose, so I couldn't understand why that happened.

When I went to 300 mg, I found that it all cleared up. I could even be late for a dose, and not feel any type of withdrawal symptoms. Everybody is different, I guess.

God bless,
Sandy

Brain zaps are not fun at all! I only find I start to get them if I miss a whole days dose (when i switched meds for awhile) I had worse brain zaps on Luvox than efexor though

I only got these with Effexor...<shudder>

I only got a few brain zaps after I had been on 150 mgs of Effexor for about 4 weeks. When I accidently forgot to take my medication for a few days, my OCD was 10 times worse than it ever has been but no brain zaps. It was like someone was just going through radio channels every second and made no sense at all. Don't just drop off the meds, scary business.