Yeah I had it the first time I came off Sertraline. I've come off of it twice now after two really stressful periods. I've found when the zaps come ( …
Wondered if anybody else has experienced brain zaps from SSRI withdrawal (as well as feeling all out weird AF) and am after any recommendations on lessening this or just making it a bit more bearable. Also wondered if smoking weed would make it worse or not and interested to hear other peoples experience in general on this. Had been taking sertraline for a year before this. Cheers :)
Was on citalopram for about five years…a bit too long. I came off them last year and the brain zap was brutal, felt like I’d been switched off and back on again in a flash. Not a nice feeling but knew about it beforehand. It lasted about two months, glad I came off them. Now it’s just meditation and yoga and definitely more stoned as well lol. Good luck you’ll get there…
It details how Niacin has been used in orthomolecular medicine in treating mental health issues with nothing short of astonishing results.
And see this study on the protective qualities of Manganese bisgylcinate during cessation of certain pharmaceuticals, published in the journal of orthomolecular medicine.
I quit sertraline in december and it was rlly tough. The brain zaps were so bad at night when I was trying to sleep. It does get better and I don't regret coming off it. Cannabis has fully replaced it (for anxiety, depression, low motivation). Good luck bigga, there is light at the end of the tunnel!!
Cheers bud for the kind msg. So good to hear you got through it ok. Yep brain zaps making me feel jolty as fuck but really reassuring to hear from another’s experience that it will get better.
I've taken SSRIs during 3 different periods of my life and every time I stop taking them I have brain zaps! For me, cannabis makes things a little worse, but nothing unbearable. The good feeling it produces surpasses the bad, by far! The worst part of the zaps happened in the fist week. After that it becomes much less frequent and it eventually disappears completely. Good luck!
I had this with mirtazapine it's when latency in the brain mismatches latency of reality causing a type of mini-seizure to correct for the mishmash of brain signals. If you're thinking of using cannabis use a very low dose to see if it causes any interactions, if you're tapering down you could end up with serotonin syndrome if you use too much cannabis which is god awful. If you stopped completely cannabis can help regulate dopamine which will help serotonin uptake and also help relax brain signals stop your feeling jittery.
Yeah I had it the first time I came off Sertraline. I've come off of it twice now after two really stressful periods. I've found when the zaps come ( mine come after about 5 days at first ) I take one ( 50mg ) and then the gap between the zaps gets bigger and bigger over a month or two until they have faded completely. Hope that helps.
I was on Sertraline for 6 months after seemingly being misdiagnosed. They made me feel terrible, and the nightmares were absolutely awful. I stopped in May/June, and the brain fits started, and gradually got worse until they stopped about 3 months later. They got so bad that it was almost continuous micro-blackouts, and the supermarket was like being in a massive strobe light factory. Tried something else that nearly made me face plant the floor after that. Stopped after 1 tablet. St Johns Wort is probably best swerved too, and Amytriptline both nightmare inducing! Now decided its the lesser of 2 evils to not take anymore pharma and just suffer....