answer this

i was asking about the weird feelings or zaps i get when im trying to go to sleep.does anyone know if they are harmful.or if they can cause seizers.i heARD THAT THEY CAN CAUSE DAMAGE.and sometimes when im not doing anything or thinking about anything i get the burning in my head.or feel cant breath.or shake.can anxity strike when your not even thinking about anything.

[mammo]

Anxiety can come at any time.  As for damge being caused by the barin zaps, I don't know but I'm sure others will know.  Take care...

[greenlydia]

So many of us on this forum know exactly what you mean when you say "brain zaps!" What we don't know for sure is what they are or why they happen. There are a number of causes we have all speculated about, but to the best of my recollections, there has never been one certain answer.
I have never Googled "brain zaps," but I did just now and what I found, I have copied and pasted below. I ONLY went to Wikipedia and I ONLY looked at the first mention of "brain zaps," so what I'm saying is that EVERYONE should take this information with the usual grain of salt. With time and effort, one could research this weird sensation in far greater detail and at far more reliable sources than Wikepedia.
This particular blurb refers ONLY to w/d symptoms of SSRIs, but I also get them from time to time and I'm not on an AD. I am on an antianxiety med but I'm not tapering from it so I'm not experiencing any w/d. Like I said, grab your salt shaker, read it and perhaps it will give you a direction for further research or prompt you to ask your doctor. (If he leaves the room, make sure he knows how to spell "Wikepedia!")
Peace
Greenlydia

"Brain zaps" and sensations
Symptoms described as "brain zaps", "brain shocks," "brain shivers" or "head shocks" are a withdrawal symptom experienced during discontinuation (or reduction of dose) of antidepressant drugs.[8][9] The symptoms are widely variable in description and of unknown etiology;[9] common descriptions include dizziness, electric shock-like sensations, sweating, nausea, insomnia, tremor, confusion, and vertigo.[8][9] The MedDRA "preferred term" for coding these types of symptoms in adverse drug reaction reports (for use in pharmacovigilance databases such as under the Yellow Card Scheme), is paraesthesia.[10][11]

In a 1997 survey, a "sizable minority" of medical professionals were not confidently aware of the existence of antidepressant withdrawal symptoms.[12] A 2005 review of adverse event reporting showed that descriptions of "electric shocks" from patients on paroxetine had been reported more frequently than some other symptoms.[10]

    

[Julie359]

Hiya, yeah i am more than aware of the 'brain zaps' caused by the Paroxatine i was on, but the only time i use to get them was either when i forgot to take a dose or two and when i was tappering off, even when done very slowly i still got them bad.  I do not know if they do any perminant damage, i surely hope not.  

As to why you are getting them, it may be that the drug has a short time span within the body and especially if your body is metabolising it very quickly it may be that by the time you go to bed your body is in need of more?  Just an idea please do not take this as being right, it may not be.  

I really think it would be worth while to ask your doc about this as he may come up with a solution to stop these zaps.

[Paxiled]

Are you guys saying you get brain zaps without going without medication?  The brain zaps caused by going off something like Paxil are believed to be caused by the serotonin receptors that the body no longer needed while on the med begin waking up again when the med is absent.  If there's no med withdrawal, then this is weird indeed.

[Julie359]

I'm confused by this cause i thought that anti-d's actually stimulated the serotonin receptors to work more effectively, not causing them to be put to sleep, so to speak....???

[blueeyes000]

i was on paxil back in october.and yes i did stop on my own.only on fpr a month.but dont think would still have side effects

[Paxiled]

Hi, Jules.  No, they don't stimulate the receptors to work more effectively, they prevent the normal breakdown of used serotonin so it washes longer in the neurons.  That produces the response, but it also alters the normal way the body works.  By using serotonin longer, other receptors that are not targeted by the med since it's washing longer in other receptors shut down; the body assumes, apparently, they are no longer needed.  When the med is stopped, the body tries to return to normal functioning and those dormant receptors start waking up.  That's believed to cause the brain zap portion of withdrawal.  That's why the meds are called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors -- they inhibit the reuptake of serotonin selectively, meaning affecting selected receptor sites, reuptake being the body utilizing an enzyme to break up the used serotonin for the purpose of flushing it out of the body as the body prefers fresh serotonin, not used serotonin.  The meds are stronger than the natural system by keeping the serotonin at the neuron longer, but other receptors shut down.

[blueeyes000]

i looked up anxity and the site i found had 100 symptoms of anity.and zaps in any part of the body was one of them.so i dont know what to think.going to see a phycoigist on april 2nd and go from there

[Julie359]

Hiya hun and thank-u for helping me fully understand it better, but Wow, well that makes sense then regarding the brain zaps and why they occur.  So is that why when a new drug is introduced to the body it can cause so many side effects, becuase it is turning off those receptors and so changing the way in which the brain is working?  Or is that more to do with how the body is metabolising the drug and how it is effecting other organs such as the Liver?? Cause in my understanding if the liver can not breakdown the chemicals in the drug wouldn't that cause more severe side effects due to not being flushed out of the system properly or have i got it totally wrong???  LOL......