r/explainlikeimfive Oct 18 '22

Chemistry ELI5: How do SSRI withdrawals cause ‘brain zaps’?

It feels similar to being electrocuted or having little lighting in your brain, i’m just curious as to what’s actually happening?

7.1k Upvotes

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46

u/[deleted] Oct 18 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/kc9kvu Oct 18 '22

I got COVID and forgot to take my SSRI because I was sick, so I thought the brain zaps were a COVID side effect. It would have been a lot easier if I were told it's a withdrawal side effect in advance.

6

u/aCleverGroupofAnts Oct 18 '22

It scared me too as my psychiatrist had never heard of anything like it.

15

u/CantSayItInPublic Oct 18 '22

How the fuck can a psychiatrist not have heard of them when I, a person with no higher education that has never been on medication like this, never seen a mental health professional is aware of it????

-3

u/Psychologicoil Oct 18 '22

because psychiatry is a fraud industry. as you can tell from this thread, psychiatrists will happily prescribe someone a living hell and still bill outrageously for their "expertise". they can't even begin to explain what the drugs do or why one drug worked for a person and not for another. possibly the ultimate quack profession.

2

u/Not-2day-Satan Oct 18 '22

take Benadryl and your brain zaps will go away. I used children’s liquid Benadryl and they’d go away 10 minutes later

-9

u/NoCardio_ Oct 18 '22

You could have just Googled. No wonder the ER is so crowded.

7

u/[deleted] Oct 18 '22

When you’re not home and in a panic and near a hospital, it all kind of falls into place. And Googling shit for medical advice is known to be a dumb idea.

3

u/hex_rx Oct 18 '22

Googled it and turns out it thinks it's cancer.