this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2025
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kitty-cri-screm kitty-cri-screm kitty-cri-screm its worse when you live in the deep south and there actually are a fuck ton of bugs every summer so you have plausible reason to assume they actually ARE landing

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[–] AernaLingus@hexbear.net 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Yeah, I had brain zaps during and after tapering off my SSRI a while back. It definitely freaked me out, but they went away after a few months.

[–] WIIHAPPYFEW@hexbear.net 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] BlimeyGumshoe@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Some can be fucking rough

Coming off cymbalta I couldn't drive for weeks due to the severity of the brain zaps. The zaps lasted nearly 6 months in total.

That was tapering too. At the end I was opening capsules and counting those little fucking balls to keep it manageable so I could still work.

[–] WIIHAPPYFEW@hexbear.net 2 points 4 weeks ago

waitwaitwait are yall talking abt the phantom bug feeling i have or the microheadaches (which i dont have) i read abt when i looked brain zaps up

[–] propter_hog@hexbear.net 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'm SSRI detoxing and it fucking sucks. I started titrating down over a year ago and got completely off close to a year ago. Still get brain zaps daily.

[–] SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

How intense are the zaps? I've thought about if I lose my medicaid I might have to talk to my doctor about coming off mine.

[–] Shaleesh@hexbear.net 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It depends on how high your dose was and it can vary from barely perceptible and infrequent to nauseating and near-constant. Tapering off can help make it less intense but at some point theyre going to be unavoidable. SSRIs are ass.

[–] SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Shit, how long does the paws last?

[–] propter_hog@hexbear.net 5 points 1 month ago

I was on the max dose of Zoloft, so my experience isn't typical. It has seriously sucked. I compare it to my brain rebooting, and sometimes the "sound" of the zap (really just the same experience but in my audio nerves) is nearly deafening. It wakes me up at night. Meanwhile, my optic nerves react as if my eyes just quit working. Makes driving unnerving.

[–] Shaleesh@hexbear.net 4 points 1 month ago

From every account I've heard (including my own) it depends on how high the dose and for how long you were taking them. In my experience going cold turkey was pretty similar to quitting nicotine, the first two weeks being the worst but everything after that being much easier. You can expect to get occasional zaps for a long ass time after that. I will occasionally feel something and go "wait was that an ssri zap?" even two and a half years off lexapro.

[–] BeamBrain@hexbear.net 7 points 1 month ago

They call 'em the zaps. Not fun.

[–] Mindfury@hexbear.net 6 points 1 month ago

SNRI brainzaps are shit, it's what I imagine actually taking psychic damage is like - sonic strikes right in the core of your head