"Brain Shivers": What You Get From Eating Your Ice Cream Too Fast? Not Hardly!
Tuesday June 6, 2006
Are brain shivers what you get when you eat your ice cream too fast? Not hardly. Many patients using the antidepressant Effexor experience unpleasant withdrawal symptoms that have been referred to as "brain shivers".
Comments
Several years ago I took Effexor and I experienced severe “brain shivers” and I know they are real. My psychiatrist thought that I was withdrawing off of something else and did a Ua drug screen that came up negative. I did not blame him because it felt like I was experiencing much of what had been told narcotic withdrawals felt like when working in detox. Noises, lights, environmental changes and things in normal everyday life were like hair raising experiences to me when I had the brain shivers. I had to figure out what was wrong with me myself by sitting down with another RN and studying the initial clinical trials in the PDR, which said that 2% of the patients in the clinical trials experienced this side effect. I was treated very badly when I was experiencing these and sought help at the ER of the hospital I worked at. Even though my blood pressure was 210/100 the only thing that they would give me was Benadryl. The medical doctor I saw knew me and said that he believed me, but knew nothing about Effexor, so he had to do what the psychiatrist said. The counselor who was the one who did my psyche evaluation put down that he thought that I had a personality disorder. When I told my psychiatrist about how I had been treated there and how unhappy I was with the psyche counselor his response was, “Well, you do have a personality.” I suppose he believes that everyone in the world has a personality disorder to some degree which may be true. I continue to have intermittent side effects years later after taking the drug such as parathesia, especially with environmental pressure changes. I am very afraid of antidepressants, but I have had to take them due to severe depression, but I try not to have to take them any longer than I have to because the side effects are terrible everytime. I have yet to take one that had side effects that I am willing to live with long term and I don’t want to take the chance of having lasting side effects due to having taken an antidepressant like Effexor left me with. I wish that ECT was still offered in our area because it is so effective and has very little side effects. It really has had a bad wrap. It was perfected greatly over the years and I saw it work miracles in many people’s lives that antidepressants were very ineffective for.
everything you’re feeling is real, dont let people tell you you’re wrong.
i’m so DAMN angry today. i just had to start effexor. i was on lexapro and havent taken my pills in 2 weeks in the hopes that i’m “cured” there is no cure. when will this end? and i WAS calling mine a painless brain seizure, but i really like brain shiver better. i’ve been having them 2 weeks now, and they dont seem to be stopping. and the good healthy me i thought was coming back, she’s gone.
my eyes flake out all the time, just quickly readjust. i have kids to watch. these medications and their side effects make me so so angry.
anyway i hope that you’re feeling better.