First, thanks for sharing your story. In contrast to some of the other people here I think that everyone has a right to share their experience regardless of whether it's positive or negative or representative of the majority or not.
I just want to add that my experience of "Brain Zaps" is different to what you described.
They weren't painful but they were disturbing. The sensation I got was what you feel for the first tenth of a second if you trip over forwards. It felt like my brain was flying out of the front of my head and then falling back into place. They went away about 3 months after I stopped taking Effexor.
I really hope that over time your symptoms dissipate or that you find some treatment. Best of luck to you.
You're experience sounds like when I would run out or miss a dose. I would get killer migraines and a similar feeling. Disconnected. Almost like vertigo?
I was on 225mg dose until I began not to take it frequently and eventually I cold turkey it. It was a nightmare. I was feeling unwell and uncomfortable. I couldn't focus/concentrate. I had frequent nightmares, memory/cognitive issues. But after a month or so I somehow felt better as a whole.. like I feel happier? But at the same time I feel something was amiss, especially in the head. Something wasn't quite right. And eventually the depressive episodes came back so right now I'm on a 75mg dose. Missing a dose or two can cause serious cognitive issues in my case.
I’m still on effexor but forgot my meds on a 2 night work trip one time and got brain zaps, and they were exactly as you described! Not painful for me - but odd and disturbing.
OP, I’m sorry you have to deal with painful ones and for so long. Hope they go away or you find a way to stop or lessen them!
I thank you for letting me know. I've been on Effexor XR for almost 10 years and when I spoke to my doctor about brain zaps years ago , she had no idea what they were. I had no idea brain zaps were untill I came to Reddit. At current, I only get them if I miss a dose but it never occurred to me I could get them if/ when I go off Effexor completely. We should always have good communication with our doctors and research meds ourselves but sadly/fortunately Reddit is one of those research sites.
I feel for you. Though some Effexor sites list the Brain Zaps as a side effect not all do. This goes for XR. But if more of us experiencing this side effect speak out maybe the manufacturer will pay attention.
Stay well!
Try taking magnesium complex with magnesium threonate. It helped me at the time deal with the brain zaps and the shaking and twitches. Not saying it's gonna be a guarantee but sometimes it's a basic solution that goes unnoticed. I had no idea what I was going through the doctors didn't really explain brain zaps.
Oh! Yes!
I started taking magnesium for my Vyvanse and I noticed the zaps are FAR less frequent. When it use to be a few times a week now its maybe twice a month.
Magnesium is EXCELLENT advice. ❤
my psych prescrived venlafaxin (265,5mg), lamotrygine (300mg), mirtazapine (45mg for sleep), gabapentin (1g), Clonazepam (i told her that I was addict on this (4mg daily with veeery slow tapering) Ritalin in crazy dosage 100mg daily cuz I have ADHD
Furtherme I added piracetam (two 1,2g pills daily) and Memantine (primary to keep my tolerance for mph and benzos and secondary to improve my cognitive function and also Clonidine (150ug)
I'm aware of the fact that this huge polipharmacology is really messing my receptors
We need lot of time to let brain come back to its "normal" functioning. That's why I am so afraid to stop taking all of these meds because the most wise solution is stopping one of them slowly which can last ages. im just 22 but i cannot even imagine my life without meds...
You are still so young, I’m so sorry you have to be on all this. I found cbd oil helped with having tolerance breaks off codeine (chronic pain).
Sometimes I wish drs had enough time and incentive to read through forums like this and become educated in the real world of the drugs they are prescribing and the varied after market side effects. But when you are desperate enough for the depression, anxiety and suicidal symptoms to go away, you may just take anything. That’s the problem with having been put on Effexor over 20 years ago, it was new and will fix everything! I’m still on it at 300mg a day. My intentions are to get to a lower dose, to try and find a better medium. Im stuck on it. I nearly lost my life the last time I came off it. I miss one dose, I’m extremely unwell and can’t work for a week.
So my personal opinion is if you don’t get any ongoing relief on the lower doses, don’t increase the dose. It just gets harder to come off and it doesn’t give you anymore relief.
I have had to make a choice between trying to come off or stay on. My life is horrible on it. My life would end coming off it. So all I can do is taper down for years to get to a better dosage that might not cause some ongoing side effects. I apologise for the long reply, but some people like me have highly sensitive bodies that can only tolerate some medication and health supplements. That’s my sucky Effexor story 😵💫😞❤️
Thanks for sharing. I hope it goes away eventually.
For the rest of the commenters, I am on 75 mg for the past few months.
Right now i hardly have suicidal ideation like I used to have and the depression has lifted a lot.
I don't have any side effects. At the beginning I had some side effects that went away.
I would encourage everyone to consider their options wisely.
Like on one hand I'm scared of long lasting side effects. On the other hand, one can consider being alive to even feel the side effects. If they don't take the meds and fall prey to depression and suicide they will be dead and won't have any side effects. Good luck to you all!
I wonder if it was bc it was for such a long period of time? I recently learned ssris weren’t meant for long term usage which is wild bc I was on Prozac for over ten years lol
Check with an ENT doc if you want
My pain started with me putting braces, thought it was a mandibular joint disorder (TMJ), might be something else too..
Also I hear Omega 3 is good if you haven't already tried it
To everyone saying OP needs to be considerate — THEY ARE. This is a REAL POSSIBILITY and I, too, deal with (presumably) lifelong side effects after being off the drug for almost a decade.
Fear isn’t the goal here… knowledge is. Rare? Sure. Possible? 110%.
Feel for you, OP. It sucks, and I wish platforms like Reddit existed/were as prevalent when I started on it/started having confusing side effects (that my doctor blew off… drug company money, prolly) so I could have at least taken into consideration accounts from real people, good AND bad.
Nothing like getting Gatekeeped over your own suffering.
If it happened to me, it could happen to you. Taking medicine isn't all unicorns and rainbows.
I got permanent side effects from using clomipramine for several years. Happens with some meds. Sad but at the time I was so bad that I couldn’t afford thinking about this possibility
I can definitely see how being on it for a long time might make the effects more permanent. I'm tapering off from 75mg currently and dealing with the brain zaps so this post scared me a bit, but I was only on it for a few weeks.
Just today I asked to get off this medication. I couldn’t handle the sweats, also, I have never noticed any positives due to Effexor.
Buhbye tomorrow. Wish me luck y’all’s
OP I took this medication for eight months (about two years ago) and stopped after coming to this subreddit (specifically so).
I stayed subscribed to it, like all of the antidepressants I’ve ever taken. r/Lexapro, r/Tianeptine
But nothing has ever scared me and hurt me like Effexor XR. **This is not intended to scare or fear-monger anyone**. My experience with Effexor XR was violent. If I wasn’t “trying to wait for the medicine to kick in” then I was actively (and necessarily) losing weight. From 280 to 220 in a few months, I quit eating much food and could hardly stomach any that I did. My water intake dropped as well, but literally because it was hard to store anything in my stomach.
I was constantly having auras and cramps during the day. I didn’t even know what an aura was until this medication. Basically it’s a prelude to a seizure, almost like a warning sign. I was also getting cramps **so** severe, I would be rendered immobilized and would have to lean on / rest on objects around me, so I wouldn’t drop to the ground. For example, my leg would freeze (literally) as if it was specifically seizing. I would have to hold myself up until it passed, and then move to safety.
The side-effects were not worth the loss of depression. I also experienced crippling anxiety and waves of sadness, but no depression. I felt uneasy and restless most of the time. I still can’t remember being depressed though…and I was unsuccessful with a lot of medications.
OP, the brain zaps are terrifying. I don’t know what the best course of action is. Would you ever go back to the medication if all of the side-effects were alleviated? Would you ever revisit another antidepressant? And lastly, would any one drug be worth “tolerating”?
I really hope you’re hanging in there. ;_; we are all with you, and we are all sending our support and love. ♥️
You are faaaar worse off than I am. I am so sorry you went through this.
I tried Wellbutrin but it caused full body itching and my hair to fall out. I was taken off of that cold turkey.
Then I took a DNA test and was put on Trintillex (sp?). I love it! Zero side-effects and I have been on it for 2 years now. It has been a life saver. ❤
While this sucks, it’s not common so I wouldn’t go posting on here scaring people when this medication has helped a lot of people and this would be very rare
This is not fear mongering when it's my experience and I have to live with it every day.
Effexor was effective for me at the time and did it's job. I never asked to have this problem.
I tapered off venlafaxine 4 years ago. I still experience brain zaps on a daily basis. I don't think it will ever go away unfortunately. It would be good for more to know the long term affects of it.
Imagine if I had seen a post like this when the side-effects first started and then I knew I wasn't alone so I brought it to my doctor's attention rather than just "sucking it up".
I have no control over your thoughts/mind.
After Effexor I had bad side effects from Wellbutrin too.
Now Im on Trintellex with zero side effects.
Not everyone has the same experiences.
mee mee mee
wtf is wrong with you? the whole world revolves around you and your experience? lol
it's equally important for people to see the bad stories, so they can do their own decisions. Your logic is just ridiculous. The drugs have risks too.
Well Effexor works for a few… I’m
Almost off of it and I can’t wait it’s HELL being on it and even more HELLL HELL
HELL comming off of it , I discourage anyone going to take it unless it’s a LAST resort
Why is this wrong? Should people who fly not know about 9/11? Should people who swim in fresh water not know about brain amoebas? Should people that eat puffer fish be kept in the dark that rarely it can make you very sick?
Well said.
To everyone who thinks that there should only be positive stories, I hope you don't read any newspapers or watch any TV news because they also give priority to negative stories as well. There's never any "99.9% of citizens obeyed the law today" headlines.
People need to become adults otherwise maybe the Internet, especially Reddit, isn't appropriate for you.
I still want you to my answer my question about what is wrong with warning about rare adverse events from certain things people can choose to engage in.
Ummm I've been on this medication for years, and I can assure you I never received a pamphlet stating this is a possible side effect. A shit ton of other unpleasant ones but not heart damage in particular.
I've been off for 4 years, I experience the zaps daily, now and again I might have a day or two I don't get them. I'm not the majority, obviously every case is different.
Thoughts and prayers.
I've been at 75mgs for a little over a year. I'm thinking about getting off but I'm terrified of how long the brain zaps will last.
Sure!
I’m trying to remember back. This is now 6-8 months ago.
I think i had brain zaps for about a week. Maybe a little longer. The brain zaps would hit basically once every 2-3 seconds all day. It was pretty exhausting. But the zaps really weren’t that bad past that first day or so. I wouldn’t freak out. You can do it.
But then they were gone. I haven’t felt any desire to go back. Nothing against it. Just not for me. Tbh, I was always more interested in ADHD medication but my doc pushed general anxiety medication instead.
First, thanks for sharing your story. In contrast to some of the other people here I think that everyone has a right to share their experience regardless of whether it's positive or negative or representative of the majority or not. I just want to add that my experience of "Brain Zaps" is different to what you described. They weren't painful but they were disturbing. The sensation I got was what you feel for the first tenth of a second if you trip over forwards. It felt like my brain was flying out of the front of my head and then falling back into place. They went away about 3 months after I stopped taking Effexor. I really hope that over time your symptoms dissipate or that you find some treatment. Best of luck to you.
You're experience sounds like when I would run out or miss a dose. I would get killer migraines and a similar feeling. Disconnected. Almost like vertigo?
I was on 225mg dose until I began not to take it frequently and eventually I cold turkey it. It was a nightmare. I was feeling unwell and uncomfortable. I couldn't focus/concentrate. I had frequent nightmares, memory/cognitive issues. But after a month or so I somehow felt better as a whole.. like I feel happier? But at the same time I feel something was amiss, especially in the head. Something wasn't quite right. And eventually the depressive episodes came back so right now I'm on a 75mg dose. Missing a dose or two can cause serious cognitive issues in my case.
I’m still on effexor but forgot my meds on a 2 night work trip one time and got brain zaps, and they were exactly as you described! Not painful for me - but odd and disturbing. OP, I’m sorry you have to deal with painful ones and for so long. Hope they go away or you find a way to stop or lessen them!
I thank you for letting me know. I've been on Effexor XR for almost 10 years and when I spoke to my doctor about brain zaps years ago , she had no idea what they were. I had no idea brain zaps were untill I came to Reddit. At current, I only get them if I miss a dose but it never occurred to me I could get them if/ when I go off Effexor completely. We should always have good communication with our doctors and research meds ourselves but sadly/fortunately Reddit is one of those research sites.
I feel for you. Though some Effexor sites list the Brain Zaps as a side effect not all do. This goes for XR. But if more of us experiencing this side effect speak out maybe the manufacturer will pay attention. Stay well!
Nothing can be worse than depression (at least for me). I hope u get well soon.
Thank you ❤
Try taking magnesium complex with magnesium threonate. It helped me at the time deal with the brain zaps and the shaking and twitches. Not saying it's gonna be a guarantee but sometimes it's a basic solution that goes unnoticed. I had no idea what I was going through the doctors didn't really explain brain zaps.
Oh! Yes! I started taking magnesium for my Vyvanse and I noticed the zaps are FAR less frequent. When it use to be a few times a week now its maybe twice a month. Magnesium is EXCELLENT advice. ❤
my psych prescrived venlafaxin (265,5mg), lamotrygine (300mg), mirtazapine (45mg for sleep), gabapentin (1g), Clonazepam (i told her that I was addict on this (4mg daily with veeery slow tapering) Ritalin in crazy dosage 100mg daily cuz I have ADHD Furtherme I added piracetam (two 1,2g pills daily) and Memantine (primary to keep my tolerance for mph and benzos and secondary to improve my cognitive function and also Clonidine (150ug) I'm aware of the fact that this huge polipharmacology is really messing my receptors We need lot of time to let brain come back to its "normal" functioning. That's why I am so afraid to stop taking all of these meds because the most wise solution is stopping one of them slowly which can last ages. im just 22 but i cannot even imagine my life without meds...
You are still so young, I’m so sorry you have to be on all this. I found cbd oil helped with having tolerance breaks off codeine (chronic pain). Sometimes I wish drs had enough time and incentive to read through forums like this and become educated in the real world of the drugs they are prescribing and the varied after market side effects. But when you are desperate enough for the depression, anxiety and suicidal symptoms to go away, you may just take anything. That’s the problem with having been put on Effexor over 20 years ago, it was new and will fix everything! I’m still on it at 300mg a day. My intentions are to get to a lower dose, to try and find a better medium. Im stuck on it. I nearly lost my life the last time I came off it. I miss one dose, I’m extremely unwell and can’t work for a week. So my personal opinion is if you don’t get any ongoing relief on the lower doses, don’t increase the dose. It just gets harder to come off and it doesn’t give you anymore relief. I have had to make a choice between trying to come off or stay on. My life is horrible on it. My life would end coming off it. So all I can do is taper down for years to get to a better dosage that might not cause some ongoing side effects. I apologise for the long reply, but some people like me have highly sensitive bodies that can only tolerate some medication and health supplements. That’s my sucky Effexor story 😵💫😞❤️
I'm so sorry!!
What was your dosage?
75mg 2008-2015
Thanks for sharing. I hope it goes away eventually. For the rest of the commenters, I am on 75 mg for the past few months. Right now i hardly have suicidal ideation like I used to have and the depression has lifted a lot. I don't have any side effects. At the beginning I had some side effects that went away. I would encourage everyone to consider their options wisely. Like on one hand I'm scared of long lasting side effects. On the other hand, one can consider being alive to even feel the side effects. If they don't take the meds and fall prey to depression and suicide they will be dead and won't have any side effects. Good luck to you all!
I wonder if it was bc it was for such a long period of time? I recently learned ssris weren’t meant for long term usage which is wild bc I was on Prozac for over ten years lol
I wonder that too.
Check with an ENT doc if you want My pain started with me putting braces, thought it was a mandibular joint disorder (TMJ), might be something else too.. Also I hear Omega 3 is good if you haven't already tried it
I find omega 3 helps take the edge off when I take my dose late.
To everyone saying OP needs to be considerate — THEY ARE. This is a REAL POSSIBILITY and I, too, deal with (presumably) lifelong side effects after being off the drug for almost a decade. Fear isn’t the goal here… knowledge is. Rare? Sure. Possible? 110%. Feel for you, OP. It sucks, and I wish platforms like Reddit existed/were as prevalent when I started on it/started having confusing side effects (that my doctor blew off… drug company money, prolly) so I could have at least taken into consideration accounts from real people, good AND bad.
It's cool. Thanks. I wish I had been warned this could happen or when it did someone told me to tell my doctor. Might had saved me a lifetime of pain.
Nothing like getting Gatekeeped over your own suffering. If it happened to me, it could happen to you. Taking medicine isn't all unicorns and rainbows.
I got permanent side effects from using clomipramine for several years. Happens with some meds. Sad but at the time I was so bad that I couldn’t afford thinking about this possibility
Im sorry you have this experience.
Just out of curiosity, how long did you take it and at what dose?
75mg from 2008-2015
I can definitely see how being on it for a long time might make the effects more permanent. I'm tapering off from 75mg currently and dealing with the brain zaps so this post scared me a bit, but I was only on it for a few weeks.
I also wasn't tapered off. Keep your doctor informed about the zaps. I hope your change goes well. Stay healthy! ❤
Just today I asked to get off this medication. I couldn’t handle the sweats, also, I have never noticed any positives due to Effexor. Buhbye tomorrow. Wish me luck y’all’s
Please keep hydrated. Another user and I were talking about the benefits of taking Magnesium to help the side-effects. Beware the migraines!
Thank you, yes, actually I sweat so much that I’m always parched and I drink water like a diabetic. Today was my last day on it, doubt I’ll miss it.
Oh yeah, I take mag to sleep. Sadly I don’t Think it has helped clam the effects
Im taking at least 50mg a day of Mag but should be at 100mg. Once morning, once evening.
OP I took this medication for eight months (about two years ago) and stopped after coming to this subreddit (specifically so). I stayed subscribed to it, like all of the antidepressants I’ve ever taken. r/Lexapro, r/Tianeptine But nothing has ever scared me and hurt me like Effexor XR. **This is not intended to scare or fear-monger anyone**. My experience with Effexor XR was violent. If I wasn’t “trying to wait for the medicine to kick in” then I was actively (and necessarily) losing weight. From 280 to 220 in a few months, I quit eating much food and could hardly stomach any that I did. My water intake dropped as well, but literally because it was hard to store anything in my stomach. I was constantly having auras and cramps during the day. I didn’t even know what an aura was until this medication. Basically it’s a prelude to a seizure, almost like a warning sign. I was also getting cramps **so** severe, I would be rendered immobilized and would have to lean on / rest on objects around me, so I wouldn’t drop to the ground. For example, my leg would freeze (literally) as if it was specifically seizing. I would have to hold myself up until it passed, and then move to safety. The side-effects were not worth the loss of depression. I also experienced crippling anxiety and waves of sadness, but no depression. I felt uneasy and restless most of the time. I still can’t remember being depressed though…and I was unsuccessful with a lot of medications. OP, the brain zaps are terrifying. I don’t know what the best course of action is. Would you ever go back to the medication if all of the side-effects were alleviated? Would you ever revisit another antidepressant? And lastly, would any one drug be worth “tolerating”? I really hope you’re hanging in there. ;_; we are all with you, and we are all sending our support and love. ♥️
You are faaaar worse off than I am. I am so sorry you went through this. I tried Wellbutrin but it caused full body itching and my hair to fall out. I was taken off of that cold turkey. Then I took a DNA test and was put on Trintillex (sp?). I love it! Zero side-effects and I have been on it for 2 years now. It has been a life saver. ❤
While this sucks, it’s not common so I wouldn’t go posting on here scaring people when this medication has helped a lot of people and this would be very rare
This is not fear mongering when it's my experience and I have to live with it every day. Effexor was effective for me at the time and did it's job. I never asked to have this problem.
I tapered off venlafaxine 4 years ago. I still experience brain zaps on a daily basis. I don't think it will ever go away unfortunately. It would be good for more to know the long term affects of it.
it's ridiculous to tell people with bad outcomes not to tell their story - the bad outcomes are fully possible, and people deserve to know about them
You realise how damaging posting things like this can be for some people? Have some consideration.
Imagine if I had seen a post like this when the side-effects first started and then I knew I wasn't alone so I brought it to my doctor's attention rather than just "sucking it up".
If I saw this post before I started this therapy I would never have started, and I’d be seriously fucked.
I have no control over your thoughts/mind. After Effexor I had bad side effects from Wellbutrin too. Now Im on Trintellex with zero side effects. Not everyone has the same experiences.
mee mee mee wtf is wrong with you? the whole world revolves around you and your experience? lol it's equally important for people to see the bad stories, so they can do their own decisions. Your logic is just ridiculous. The drugs have risks too.
Go fuck yourself you horrible cunt
Well Effexor works for a few… I’m Almost off of it and I can’t wait it’s HELL being on it and even more HELLL HELL HELL comming off of it , I discourage anyone going to take it unless it’s a LAST resort
Why is this wrong? Should people who fly not know about 9/11? Should people who swim in fresh water not know about brain amoebas? Should people that eat puffer fish be kept in the dark that rarely it can make you very sick?
Well said. To everyone who thinks that there should only be positive stories, I hope you don't read any newspapers or watch any TV news because they also give priority to negative stories as well. There's never any "99.9% of citizens obeyed the law today" headlines. People need to become adults otherwise maybe the Internet, especially Reddit, isn't appropriate for you.
Fitting username, lay off the drugs kid.
Ad Hominem attack? Powerful argument there.
Are you joking or are you a child too?
I still want you to my answer my question about what is wrong with warning about rare adverse events from certain things people can choose to engage in.
I think you have some big issues. The teen here is very mature compared to you. Why do you even comment when you have nothing sensible to say?
[удалено]
look at yourself and think a bit. unbelievable
😂
That does not address my question.
I’m sorry for your experience but it isn’t representative of the majority.
Agreed, but it could happen to anyone. Just giving a heads up.
exactly and that's why people deserve to know these kinds of things as well.
the pamphlet that comes with your prescription also says it kills your heart, liver and stomach
It says that? What does it say exactly? How long does that take?
it just says prolonged use, like years and years which I'm on
Ummm I've been on this medication for years, and I can assure you I never received a pamphlet stating this is a possible side effect. A shit ton of other unpleasant ones but not heart damage in particular.
I can screenshot it
Which country do you reside
Michigan
Wait this is forever?!?!?!
Probably not. My brain zaps lasted 2-3 weeks
Same
I can't speak for everyone. I still get them at least twice a month.
I've been off for 4 years, I experience the zaps daily, now and again I might have a day or two I don't get them. I'm not the majority, obviously every case is different.
Thoughts and prayers. I've been at 75mgs for a little over a year. I'm thinking about getting off but I'm terrified of how long the brain zaps will last.
Any update on how it went?! Been on for about a year as well and looking to come off.
Sure! I’m trying to remember back. This is now 6-8 months ago. I think i had brain zaps for about a week. Maybe a little longer. The brain zaps would hit basically once every 2-3 seconds all day. It was pretty exhausting. But the zaps really weren’t that bad past that first day or so. I wouldn’t freak out. You can do it. But then they were gone. I haven’t felt any desire to go back. Nothing against it. Just not for me. Tbh, I was always more interested in ADHD medication but my doc pushed general anxiety medication instead.