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The Big & Dandy Brain Zaps / Brain Shivers Thread

I've had these a few time while falling asleep. The instant I'm slipping into a deeper state of sleep after just consciously laying there very relaxed I'll be shocked out of it and awake again by a buzzing zap. Its like sound is being stretched out in the matter of a moment to slap me back to awareness.
 
Xorkoth said:
I get those badly after MDMA and very occasionally at other times, but not really during psychedelic experiences. I never got a single one, ever, until I did MDMA one time last year and found it had totally changed for me from a euphoric, empathic substance into a demon. For two weeks after that experience I was very depressed and anxious to the point of crying in despair daily, and I was literally getting at least one "brain zap" every minute, all day, every day. It was so bad sometimes that I would feel like I was falling through reality or something. Sometimes they would happen many in a row, where it was a constant wave of "zapping" for several seconds. It was very frightening. Since then I've associated those "zaps" with something being wrong.
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That sounds fucking terrifying.
 
co.1nspire said:
I've had these a few time while falling asleep. The instant I'm slipping into a deeper state of sleep after just consciously laying there very relaxed I'll be shocked out of it and awake again by a buzzing zap. Its like sound is being stretched out in the matter of a moment to slap me back to awareness.
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used to happy very often to me

scary as fuck
 
I get them from doing lowish (no more than 400mg) doses of dxm 2 or more days in a row also.
 
Xorkoth said:
You mean when you're about to fall asleep and it suddenly feels like the world fell out from under you and you jump awake in terror?

I've gotten those all my life here and there, but the brain zaps are much different if you ask me. The brain zaps feel extremely wrong and worrying to me. They're actually at least 50% of the reason I won't use MDMA anymore (the rest is because additionally it makes me horrendously depressed for at least a week afterwards).

And I agree, it does feel sort of like hitting your funny bone, but in your head, and it only lasts momentarily.
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I think it is called a jolt when you wake up from a dream suddenly and violently. i fucking love that feeling
 
i was once in a dream an i heard this really loud beeeeep inside my head an i was dragged out of the dream instantly to being fully awake, scared me sensless!
 
Xorkoth said:
You mean when you're about to fall asleep and it suddenly feels like the world fell out from under you and you jump awake in terror?

I've gotten those all my life here and there, but the brain zaps are much different if you ask me.
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Hmm, first time I've seen someone mention what I think sometimes happens to me. It's happened for as long as I can remember even as a young child.

It's like you just hanging out nodding off or really relaxed, then time skips a second and it feels like I don't know where the fuck I am and the worst terror I've felt comes over me. It's maybe happens 2-3 times a year so it's hard to pin point what was going on when it happened, but I'm pretty sure your describing the same thing.

I've never felt the desire to try MDMA, and after reading these posts it turns me away to it even more. Doesn't sound like something too benificial to your brain.
 
I just saw this post- I had this happen to me a while ago- I posted this on another board late in February:

I dont know what other A/D this may pertain to but I do know it DOES happen.

I was put on Lexapro back in March 06. I was just over a methadonecrap detox but I had some emotional issues, (long story but its over now).

Two months ago I told my shrink, (and this was after I researched and heard too many horror stories about Lexapro and SSRI w/d's) that I wanted off the Lex. I dint feel I needed it anymore and I did not want to have any w'/d's, never again, for anything.

Well, low and behold two weeks ago he said ok- but dont worry about tapering anymore- I was at 20 mgs and dropped to 10 mg for the previous month. I was told- just stop I'll be ok. LOL- this is what the same dude told me when I jumped off methadonecrap at 9 mgs. LMFAO!

YEA, RIGHT! Wtf? About a week after stopping the Lex I endured major brain shivers, as its called. Its like electricity 'zaps' flowing through your body, beginning at the head- always begins at the head. Much worse when walking. Then it happens approx. every 30 seconds. I was unbalanced, dizzy, and yea, cant sleep again- crap. Almost every description of the 'shivers' I had- for about 10 days. Today is the first day where its VERY minimal- maybe 10 times today day vs all day before now..

This a link to a description of the 'shivers'- you can find much, much more info. with google.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_shivers

I'd think long and hard when deciding to begin an AD.

Edited on Feb 25 2007 7:37:23 PM
 
Has anyone experienced these after repeated AMT and/or DOC use? I would suspect AMT moreso than DOC. I've been getting them rather strongly the past few days after using AMT a couple of times over the weekend and generally using AMT and DOC as my most common psychedelics. I feel fine emotionally, but I've been getting a lot of shivers/zaps. The feeling is a bit like when you yawn and that space behind your ears opens up, except it includes dizziness and doesn't make the sound. I'm wondering if this is due to serotonin depletion or something else entirely. It's the exact same kind of "zapping" as MDMA causes me, except it's not accomanied by depression or imbalance. It's just annoying and I wonder if AMT causes serotonin depletion or something.
 
I've had them on a few 4-AcO-DMT trips. Dosage doesn't seem to matter, as I've had them at doses as low as 12mg and had 24mg trips with none (I've only dosed higher than that once, and did have brain shivers at 30mg). They either don't show up at all, or I'll get several over the course of maybe half an hour.
 
I'm pretty sure I got them on a (for me) high dose of mushrooms a few years back. However it could be that those zaps were me balancing on the threshold of egodeath a couple of times...
I remember thinking 'that can't be good', although I could handle a couple of them... better than the raging trip that enveloped me meanwhile :')
 
Perhaps they are mild seizures....pure speculation, but I've experienced it heaps of times, recently during benzo w/d...... perhaps its a rapid fluctuation in brain wave frequency? Or the sensation of adrenaline or glutamate priming receptors for firing or heaps of receptors firing simulataneously..... In other words, wtf is it?? :)
 
YES i get these too.. Ever since I've started taking higher doses of Effexor I've experience them a lot too. Atleast I always know when I have forgotten my pills :\
 
willow11 said:
Perhaps they are mild seizures....pure speculation, but I've experienced it heaps of times, recently during benzo w/d...... perhaps its a rapid fluctuation in brain wave frequency? Or the sensation of adrenaline or glutamate priming receptors for firing or heaps of receptors firing simulataneously..... In other words, wtf is it?? :)
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The Wikipedia entry linked to in the original post concurs that the symptom is most likely epileptiform in nature. It also describes the subject experience in a fairly wide range of terms, varying from as severe a description as a sudden jolt followed by disorientation, to a staticy blanket being dragged across the surface of the brain. As far as lessening the symptoms:
There is hypothetical and anecdotal evidence that Omega 3 fatty acid supplementation can be very helpful to alleviate the symptoms of brains shivers. Anticonvulsant medications such as gabitril are also hypothesized as a useful treatment.
 
^^^Lol, should have read the original post then! :) My bad....
 
I never knew about these "brain shivers." I am just glad I don't have them. To be merrily going about your day and then all of a sudden "somone opens up my skull and draggs a staticy blanket across my exposed brain," thatd just be like wtf?
 
The feeling is definitely worrying. It doesn't hurt or really impede my day or anything when I get them, but something about it feels quite incorrect. I would like to discover what the hell they are. I can't recall ever getting them before MDMA use. I haven't used MDMA in months, and much longer before that, but yesterday I was getting them pretty bad. Today I don't seem to be getting them at all.
 
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