lexapro brain zaps

I was on Lexapro for about two or three years for mild panic attacks. It never helped, but it made me feel hyper and emotionally numb. Recently under a psychiatrist's supervision, I tapered off Lexapro from 20mg to 5mg over about eight weeks. He put me on 250mg Depakote to "balance" my moods "just in case"......I felt fine and stable the whole time.

I've had these before, for me it was definitely from coming off Lexapro. I was prescribed Lexapro for anxiety, tried it for awhile, and while it semi-controlled my panic attacks, I didnt like the way I felt on it, so I stopped. When I started getting the "brain zaps" I did some research and figured out that it was from the Lexapro withdrawal. They lasted for a few months - 3, maybe?

I'm suffering with the brain zaps after coming off of Lexapro. I tapered off the Lexapro, incrementally and very, very slow. The withdrawal symptoms didn't start right away with my last dose which fooled me into thinking I would miss that part. But, alas not to be. Anyway, it's been 28 days with the zaps, shakiness, and irritablility. I started taking Primrose Oil and doubling up on my fish oil (2000mgs) around 10 days ago.

There was a thead on this elsewhere but it would not allow me to post as it had reached its daily limit. I've seen a lot of posts where people are complaining of brain zaps while going through SSRI withdrawal. I'm actually experiencing them while I'm on one! I've been taking Lexapro 20mg or about a year now and have been experiencing ocassional brain zaps. Anyone having this problem while under current treatment -- not withdrawals?

Thanks for all the responses - it helps to know I'm not the only one experiencing this ****. I went to my doctor yesterday and told him about the withdrawals I had when I stopped taking Lexapro. I almost fell out of my chair when he told me he had never heard of 'brain zaps', and that since Lexapro left the system in three days, the symptoms I had couldn't be from withdrawing from Lexapro! So, I guess I'm on my own with this one.

I take 200mg of Lamictal in the morning and another 200mg at night along with 20mg of Lexapro. I think the brain zaps are related to the Lexapro because that's one of the medications that are typically mentioned whenever I've done research, but the Lamictal is an anticonvulsant so now I'm getting all paranoid that my brain is having mini -siezures.

I have been off of Lexapro for one week now and I'm having a lot of vertigo, dizziness, and "brain zaps". Is/Are there any supplement(s) I can take or anything I can do to help relieve any of this? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I never knew how to describe what I was feeling till I read about brain zaps. They come and go, may have them one day and the next day they are gone. Had them for all ten years. Why do they come and go? and is their anything I should do?

hate to tell you, but my therapist tried to take me slowly off lexapro, and i was never able to get off of it because it kept giving me these brain zaps for months and months. i am still on a low dose just to keep the brain zaps away. it is a horrible drug in my opinion.

I have read a lot about individuals coming off medication (antidepressants and such) and experiencing brain zaps but I have them and am not taking any of those medications. I had a bout with them about 3 years ago which lasted daily -numerous times a day - for about 2 months. They are back again and have increased each day for the last week. I had spoken to my doctor about them the first time around and she didn't have an answer nor did she pursue it.

I was on 100mgs a day with Pristiq for a year and when it came time to switch meds, I honestly thought I was going to die. The withdrawl and brain zaps were much stronger than I had ever felt before. It took 6 full weeks for them to go away and I tapered slow too. I would rather chew on tin foil than go thru that again.

My question is sort of 2 fold. I've been taking Lexapro at a dose of 40mg and also Ativan PRN for the last 5 months. Before that, I was misdiagnosed with Bipolar disorder and was being treated with 800mg of Seroquel XR daily, 4mg of Klonopin, and 150 of Effexor XR both daily as well. I went through Hell going cold turkey off the Seroquel, while weening from Effexor. I traded the Klonopin off for Ativan and weened it down from 2mg daily to now taking it as needed (generally .

I have a hard time believing this because these symptoms feel like little brain zaps that you get from lexapro withdrawal. I recently went down to 5 mg and the symptoms seemed to worsen. However, going up to 20mg made me feel weird. Currently I am transitioning to Cymbalta and I am off lexapro. It has only been a few days but the brain zaps are terrible! Can anyone please help me figure out what is going on, and how long I might experience these horrible symptoms!?

I'm going off Lexapro right now. I had been on 20/mg day for a significant amount of time. I started about 3 wks ago by taking 10/mg day. After 6-7 days of that I then switched to 5/mg day for 6-7 days. I had not taken any at all for the past 3 days and about the only thing I have experienced is some of the 'brain zaps' that have been mentioned on here, but nothing too severe. I took another 5/mg this morning to help alleviate that, so, I'm not TOTALLY off of it yet.

now i am completely off and it is a nightmare. it feels like my brain is under the charge of some remote control that gives me instant ZAPS! every few min.. i am also very anxious, very tense and very nervous. i don´t want to take medicine that has such effects on me. but i feel like i want to reach for the pills and start over. it has been a week and i will stick to it,but any suggestions? i have been taking lot of Omega 3, suppose to help. don´t know. any food and shoud eat or avoid?

I am wondering if it is the med mix you are on, you should be able to ask the Pharmacist tech to put the 2 meds in to his PC and check if they interact okay. The 'shivers you describe and I have heard called Brain Zaps, are usually from withdrawal, I am wondering after 11 years if the zoloft is not working, I think you have to get tough on this Doctor or get another opinion, maybe you could use a change from zoloft or a break from them.

m not having any brain zaps or electric shock sensations or anything else like that. Just alot of crying and irritability. Can you tell if it is withdrawal or Anxiety that just wont leave me alone? Thanks for any help you can give me.

http://theblondepharmacist.wordpress.com/2007/11/17/brain-shivers-brain-zaps-brain-shocks/ The more I think about it, the more I think (and hope) that it might be the Prozac finally leaving my system. I'm trying not to get anxious about it, but I can be a bit of a hypochondriac sometimes. So any input will be very much appreciated!

First week was great than blood pressure went up, headaches, and what people are referring as brain zaps, to me they are like a jitter on the right side of my brain and a headache. Doc has increased blood pressure med, it has been one week pressure goes up and down, now brain zaps are gone but headaches have started asking with very dry eyes, like when you state at a computer screen all day and realize you have not blinked. Eyes are not producing tears. My concern is blood pressure.

Not only can you, you probably should. You might also consider magnesium supplementation as well, and a good multi. Anti-depressants, as do all medications, interfere with the body's normal functioning, which includes absorption of certain nutrients. B vitamins are also essential co-factors for producing the neuro-transmitters the Lexapro is acting on, so they should aid its functioning without increasing its functioning.

Guess im just not seeing any benefit there. besides I started having the withdrawal syptoms (brain zaps, dizziness etc.) by the thrid day I was taking a half a pill so sorry but this doesnt really help me much. http://www.drugs.com/forum/featured-conditions/lexapro-withdrawal-24681.html there are almost 10,000 posts on that thread that come from people that have had withdrawals from lexapro for a month to 8 months. and alot of posts made no difference how they weaned off the medication.

I went on lexapro about 2 weeks ago after I bottomed out with depression. I have been on them before, they started losing their effect after a couple of years or so. I may be wrong, but I think maybe you should take them for awhile to stave off any mental depression from the w/d's from your other meds??Anyhow, that's what I'm going to do. It is possible to taper from the lexapro by splitting them in half, but you'll still have some of those annoying "brain zaps".

I am taking Lexapro for five years. It is possibly stop taking it, cold turkey?

But when they switched me over to Lexapro in the middle of that span, I got those brain zaps too. It was like a rapid electrical surge that went up my spine and kind of made a zing in my head. My body hummed. It was because I was changing dosage. So, if you keep going on and off the SSRIs, you will have those brain zaps.

I don't know why you are getting these side effects but I can tell you I got off Lexapro about 3 weeks ago because of sexual side effects. I am now on wellbutrin xl and I feel great! I weened off the lexapro, a half a day for 1 week than a half every other day for one week.

He has a continual noise in his head like a tsh tsh tsh sound and he is very sensitive to noises such as he can feel certain sounds going through his body. Is this sensitivity to noises part of the brain zaps i have been reading about, he does have the brain zap shock feeling also.

I went off Lexapro also and I was dizzy and had Brain zaps.. not sure if that is what you are describing but it was just like a weird buzz in my head and then it was gone... VERY STRANGE! I'm here if you need to talk!

Lately, I have been getting this brain zaps. Feels like a brushing on a snare drum, not a horrific jolt but annoying none the less. I asked my doctor if perhaps the Celexa was losing affect, and he suggested to go up to 30 mg. But I have read that folks over 65 should not take more than 20 mg, I did take 30 though last night and within and hour no more zaps. Not sure what to do?

Lexapro brain zaps

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