Amphetamines and other drugs eliminating brain zaps

[Cyanoide]

We've had a discussion about this issue in the PD forum but I hope to maybe get some answers or theories here. The issue will also go too much off-topic there.

I'll quote myself and add a few things.

I am now (very) slowly tapering down from escitalopram (Cipralex) to avoid nasty withdrawal symptoms and especially brain zaps. I taper down only 1 mg per week. I still do get brain zaps now.

However, there'a very strange thing here. Stimulants like speed and MPA completely remove the brain zaps (not caffeine though). Every time. This baffles me because one would think they'd either have no impact or make the brain zaps worse since they mainly act on dopamin receptors and shouldn't have much affect on serotonin receptors. The same reason why speed works with SSRI's but MDMA not.

Does anyone have any theory to what could be the reason for this? The brain zaps reappear as soon as the simulants effects are over.

(I know it's not a good idea to take drugs while on SSRI WD but I fortunately don't have much stimulants left either).'

I've previously tried every method and supplement to reduce the frequenqy and intensity of brain zaps on SSRI WD', but nothing have helped. Now I've discovered amphetamines are the perfect cure for them.

Edit: I want to add that I emphatically do not recommend using amphetamines to counter brain zaps. Amphetamines have a long range of problems and eventually when using them frequently I'm sure the other SSRI WD symptoms will only be worsened (more anxiety, restlessness etc). I've just discoverd they have this property for me (maybe others too?). I'm just interested in the brain zap peculiarity.

I would add that also MXE does this. Another user had the same experience, but also with alcohol and other dissociatives. So it seems it is not an idiosyncronatic reaction that only occurs in me.

The reasons for brain zaps are not completely understood yet. Only that they occur especially on SSRI withdrawal and have to do with the brain's serotonin balance and "transporting" (I'm not a native English speaker, hence some weird choices of words) of serotonin. Also, some users experience brain zaps on MDMA and psychedelics. It is clearly a serotonin related issue, and that is why I find it so strange that amphetamines that mainly act on dopamine receptors (while effecting serotonin and norepinephrine to a much lesser degree) can have such an impact on brain zaps.

 

[Albion]

The only times I experience brain zaps have been after heavy binges on MDMA, mephedrone and 6-APB. I've never been put on SSRIs as a treatment for depression, but it appears that they are often protracted out over a much longer period of time for people coming off a regime of taking SSRIs. For me, they begin two days after using the drugs I mentioned. They clear up almost exactly a week later.

As I said, methoxetamine eradicates them completely. As does alcohol and stimulants like MPA, cocaine etc. It would appear that being under the influence of any drug helps. Even SSRIs, at least in the short term (obviously they get worse again after). Perhaps if we actually understood why zaps occur in the first place (is there even a proper scientific name for the phenomena?), we'd be able to understand why they're sometimes avoidable.

 

[Cyanoide]

The only times I experience brain zaps have been after heavy binges on MDMA, mephedrone and 6-APB. I've never been put on SSRIs as a treatment for depression, but it appears that they are often protracted out over a much longer period of time for people coming off a regime of taking SSRIs. For me, they begin two days after using the drugs I mentioned. They clear up almost exactly a week later.

As I said, methoxetamine eradicates them completely. As does alcohol and stimulants like MPA, cocaine etc. It would appear that being under the influence of any drug helps. Even SSRIs, at least in the short term (obviously they get worse again after). Perhaps if we actually understood why zaps occur in the first place (is there even a proper scientific name for the phenomena?), we'd be able to understand why they're sometimes avoidable.

The mecial term seems to be:

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.

. IMO paresthesia is a misleading term and does not describe the symptom accurately. Pareshtesia is the feeling of tingling, tickling etc, something we all sometimes experience. My first doctors had never even heard about the brain zaps. It was only when I got to specialist psychiatists I met professionals who truly understood how frequent they are on SSRI withdrawal and that they are a real, occuriing thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_zaps#.22Brain_zaps.22_and_sensations

I've also experienced brain zaps while on various SSRI's and not on withdrawal, although they are very infrequent. On WD, they are very frequent (at worst I've had 10 in a minute from venlafaxine).

 

[atrollappears]

Dopamine can induce the release of GABA. Also, noradrenaline can dull sensory input.

 

[Dronedout]

Some stimulants would definitely make brain zaps worse, I used to experience them every time I tried to sleep when I used to use mephedrone daily.

 

[SpunkySkunk347]

I've had to go through withdrawals from SSRIs and SNRIs more than several times...
The "brain zaps" were definitely the worst coming off of Effexor.
However, I never considered them painful or even uncomfortable, they were less than a minor inconvenience and merely concerning (as any foreign bodily sensation would be).
They felt more like momentary twitches than 'zaps', and were usually felt when I was having what is commonly referred to as a "brain fart"; I would be thinking about something, then out of mental fatigue I'd lose motivation to continue thinking about it, then I'd forget what I was even thinking about, and right before I tried remembering what I was thinking about I'd get a 'brain zap'.

It felt like either my brain trying to reboot, or not knowing whether to be excited or inhibited, or something like that. If you speak computer lingo, it felt like my brain just used task manager to end a process, and the "brain zap" is like when a CPU had to de-corrupt itself from the .exe being ended abruptly