Discontinuation of Celexa and Brain Shocks

I used to get these also but very rarely. They came before I was about to sleep only when I was very very tired. I would get in bed close my eyes and ZAP that would get me right awake at first I got scared but then my mom told me that she also get these so I never made a big deal about it.

I had and still have depression and anxiety, I never took meds.

Yanick

Yep, I still have them... and when I brought them up with a doctor I got the same response. They said they have never heard of anything like it and treated me like it was all psychosomatic or, like I was a hypochondriac or something. Really pissed me off!

Ive never used Celexa, but ive had those brain shocks since i was 14. i still get them and i hate them.
Maz XX

Boy...I wonder if this is what I am experiencing.  I have been on Lexapro for over a year and started to taper off slowly...am down to a little under five mgs now.  For the past two weeks I have had these sensations that are so disturbing...feels like and adrenalin rush when I turn my head in either direction and I hear a heart beat or a 'woosh' sound in my head..a zap or a fullness feeling...can't really describe it.  It's almost like an exaggerated startle sensation.  I have been under a ton of stress lately and don't know if it's  an over load of adrenalin, or the drug.  I have also been struggling with fibromyalgia and Meniere's Disease lately so...who knows?

donna

Donna, you are experiencing the same thing. Visit my links bellow and you will find other people who have experienced these after taking anti-depressants.

Pink I had to edit the forum but the other is okay

Thanks for sharing with us

ANY questions......email me


Found this article:

http://depression.about.com/cs/citalopram/a/celexa.htm

And this Article:

http://theblondepharmacist.wordpress.com/2007/11/17/brain-shivers-brain-zaps-brain-shocks/

All about this same experience. So many people are experiencing this from anti-depressants, and doctors don't know what it is. I think that there should be some kind of study to figure out what it is.

Post Edited By Moderator (Howlyncat) : 3/8/2009 4:51:32 PM (GMT-6)

Hello everyone. I'm so glad to have found a site with a current discussion about this topic.  I've been tapering off of Celexa for over a month now.  My anxiety/depression symptoms were fairly mild when I went on the drug about two years ago and I had absolutely no problems while on it, even switching bath and forth from Lexapro didn't bother me.  I was on 40 mg when I decided to go off so I could try to get pregnant.  I even scheduled an appointment with a psychiatrist to advise me.  He said I might experience the head zap things, which I figured would be a very rare side effect.  He told me to cut down to 20 mg and then to 10, then to none.  I don't blame him, but the jump from 40 to 20 mg was too much to handle. 

After reading what some of you are saying about your doctors not mentioning the zaps, I am impressed that mine knew about them, but those came much later.  What happened first was a crazy reaction that no one I contacted had any experience with.  I have had TMJ for a long time and have always had a bit of a sensitive tooth from grinding during stressful periods.  I have gotten pretty good at realizing when I am doing it and not doing it as much.  But, when I went off Celexa it was though I was clenching and grinding involuntarily.  I had severe headaches that started in my jaw and radiated through my jaw and into my neck and into my eye socket...only on the side where I've had problems with clenching before.  about every two hours there would be an almost migraine type of headache sweep through my head, originating in my jaw.  This stopped when I went in for urgent care and was told to go back up to 30 mg!  The next week or so was still excruciating, though, as my muscles, teeth, gums, etc. felt like they were still in spasm or bruised internally or something.  I couldn't have water or food even go near that side of my mouth for over a week.  It was very bizarre.  If you looked closely at my face, you could even see it was a bit swollen on that side.  I am assuming that all of this happened because of the anxiety levels getting screwed with and my tendencies toward clenching and TMJ.  It was terrible. 

Because of this experience, I guess the brain zaps that I'm now experiencing are less bothersome.  They are weird, though, and I'd really hate to think that they will be here for any length of time after I am off Celexa.  I took my last pill about 5 days ago.  The zaps have been here for a few weeks.  I'd like to think that I won't need to get on anything ever again.  I've had about 5 or 6 brain zaps in the time I've written this.  I don't experience them as electrical as much as a pulsing feeling...one or two pulses through my head for a fraction of a second and makes me a bit dizzy and ends in my eyes and makes it fuzzy for about a millisecond. 

I hope it stops soon.  I will definitely think twice about getting on any drugs like this again or suggesting that friends or family might benefit from taking them.  Not that I do that a lot or anything. 

Yikes, that's what I take now. Sounds really awful and scary. It's really helping me though, I sure hope I don't ever get those. But as with someone with health anxiety I'm really gonna "try" and not worry about it! LOL
I sure hope you can find some answers and stop having those!

I asked my therapist what these were - I just weaned off of Lexapro (metabolite of celexa) and I had them for about a week. They were constant and uncontrollaby miserable for 2-3 days. I don't know if this makes sense, but this is what he told me they were:
When you are on an SSRI, your brain develops new paths in your neurotransmitters in your brain. The SSRI creates new pathways that help your serotonin levels etc. When you stop taking the SSRI, your brain is forced to create new pathways - the old ones "don't work". So you feel this "whoosh/zap/shiver" feeling as your brain adjusts and makes new neuro-paths of it's own without the medication.
Mine personally have pretty much gone away (it's been 8 days), but I will sometimes just a small one at night before bed as well.
They are so uncomfortable and impossible to describe!

Hey Y'all! I have been having these zaps for at least 10 years. I used to have them when i was tired or resting, and i got the exactly same zaps when i stopped my zoloft, so yes they are the same zaps. Some time ago i took a natural supplement with tryptophan and b-vitamins which raises the serotonin levels and whenever i forgot to take it, i would get these zaps. I read somewhere that serotonin is importaint for blood vessel contractions and that lack of serotonin makes the blood vessles spasm. I am not sure if this is what causes the zaps or not. My teeth sometimes move back and forth when i have the zaps when i am tired which is wierd, i loose control over them.

Now for the interesting part: Gluten allergy can cause neurological problems. And yeast can cause the same immune reactions as gluten. Only about 20 % of people with gluten intolerance get symptoms from their stomage.

My zaps come when resting after eating yeast and things that share particles with yeast, like vinager, mushrooms, msg, grains and milk. And from antifungals like fex. coconut milk. Ow no not from milk. From that i get what feels like having coca-cola bubbles in the brain the day after i have eaten it. I also get cracking joints which is just wierd but probably thyroid related.

When i dont have these things in my diet, i am zap free. I have also seen that i can eat these things in the morning and not have zaps in the evening. I hardly ever have zaps when i am up and moving about.

I also cry for no reason about 3 days when i have eaten gluten. Watching romantic movies is impossible then.

When we are tired serotonin is transformed into melatonin which decreases serotonin levels, i have been thinking if it can somehow be related to this. Also if you have a vitamin b deficiancy serotonin will be transformed into vitamin b and this will decrease serotonin levels. For all Y'all having day zaps, maybe this can be why if not medicine related.

Hope someone finds this helpful
Cheers!

Hi Lem97
Welcome to the forum I am glad you have found us and good to meet you. Sorry to here you are feeling more depressed I would suggest you go and speak with your doctor about how you are feeling. If you don't want to do the medication route there are lots of different types of therapy you can do such as CBT which you could ask your doctor about.
I would suggest you start your own thread as this one is an old one from 2009 that way I am sure you will get a lot more responses to your question.

Hibee
PS Copy and paste your post into a new topic with a new heading I know a lot of members have been on citalopram myself included. I have always switched from one medication to an other and have had all sorts of side effects/ withdrawal effects which usually calm down after a couple of weeks.