Duloxetine withdrawal - 'brain zaps'?

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I stopped taking Yentreve (duloxetine) about a week ago. I keep having sudden crackle/fizz sensations in my head - sometimes three or four in a row. Did a quick google and they seem to be known as 'brain zaps'.

Anyone else had this?

Any afternoon crowd with experience?

I had this when withdrawing from sertraline. I found it really scary at first but they stopped after a few weeks

Yep I had them after stopping Venlafaxine. Worrying at the time but more annoying/uncomfortable than anything, they stopped after a few weeks. The accounting sensation I had of being able to hear my eyeballs moving in my head was more upsetting for me. Mention it next time you have a GP appointment so they have a record, may help them choose a different family of meds if you need others.

Yes I've had them when I miss a pill or two of venlafaxine. (Or a week!)
I got them A LOT when I first came off of escitalopram and have had a long time playing with doses etc of venlafaxine to sort me out.
I find them quite enjoyable now I don't get them very often

I'm about to stop taking duloxetine as I can't handle feeling the way I do anymore - as if I'm watching myself from outside, my emotions are off, no sex drive at all. I've stopped taking it before and the brain zaps were awful. Stupidly I started taking it again. I'm only on 30 mg as it affected my sleep on a higher dose. I'm going to try taking it on alternate days for a week to see how I get on.

I can't open the capsules to tip the beads inside out.

Anyone else withdrawing from this drug?

I'm persevering with this .. But after cutting to a capsule every second day I got the brain zaps so have had to resort to opening the capsules and tipping some beads out and doing that every day.

yes, with venlafaxine which is another SNRI.

I would slow down your withdrawal if possible, sometimes these side effects can last a long time.

The Royal College of psychiatrists are in the process of updating their advice on antidepressant withdrawal to acknowledge that for some people the symptoms can be severe and long lasting and not mild for a couple of weeks as previously believed.

There are a lot of good online patient led groups on antidepressant withdrawal if you need more advice.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-48457980

Oh god I’m currently reducing my dose of venlafexine 😩 if I’d known the withdrawal was so bad I’d have refused them. The brain zaps, buzzing feeling in my face, anxiety and confusion ugghh 😭

I was on the lowest dose of venlafaxine and withdrawing from that was tough. I couldn’t open the capsules, so took one every other day for a week, then every two days. When I got to every four days I stopped.

I took high quality fish oil and B complex vitamins to help.

I know they work well for some but I don’t recommend Venlafaxine to anyone.

Thanks for the link.

I wouldn't have taken them either if I'd known how hard it is to come off them. No one even mentioned it and the leaflet didn't make it clear either.

I'm on duloxetine and have tried to come off before without success, it's really not nice. The fuzziness if I miss a dose is horrible, spinny headband general woolly feeling is just not nice. To be honest I'm dreading coming off them.

@OkPedro

I'm a member of a group on facebook called effexor (venlafaxine) tapering, withdrawal syndrome and protracted w/d. It has helped me so much. The withdrawals have been hell, including the brain fog type of cognitive problems you describe.

The advice is to come off duoxetine very very slowly. Just google withdrawal symptoms. I was awful on it, got brain zaps even when on it, I went cold turkey before reading you shouldn’t I wasn’t on them that long though thankfully.

I’m so glad to be off them now though.

Thanks gingerkittykat I’ll have a look for that on fb

I had this when weaning off sertraline, I tried to do it too quickly and had to wean over about 4 months. I was off all ADs from March 2018 until I went back to the GP today. Hoping I don’t have so many side effects from taking them this time.

I was on Duloxetine and it really is horrid coming off it. I started off reducing my dose, but probably not gradually enough and then I ran out and couldn't bring myself to go back to the GP for more. The brain zaps lasted a couple of weeks if I remember correctly, but I was so glad to be free of it once I was off - it was worth persevering through the relatively short term withdrawals. I just had to keep reminding myself they zaps were a normal part of coming off the drug and nothing to panic about.

Yep I have this is a miss a dose. It’s a fucker. But this is really the only drug that works for me. That a concoction of others

I'm ok at the moment taking one capsule a day with half the beads removed, just a bit of a headache.