Withdrawal from Antidepressants

What difference would it make if the doctor had told you of that side effect before you started the drug? Imagine you have no idea of what brain zaps felt like. Would you have avoided the drug based on such a vague description?

Can you describe the sensation? It's not painful, right? The sensation of an electric shock is sensory nerve input driven by external electricity, but there are no sensory nerves in the brain are there? So it's confusing to me (never been on psych drugs, so never gone through psych drug withdrawal) what these brain electric shocks could possibly feel like.

I assume you can't localize the sensations to somewhere that has nerves, like maybe the eyes, or somewhere—anywhere—else that really does have nerves? So it's like re-balancing the synapses after quitting these drugs causes a phenomenon in the somatosensory cortex that simulates non-localized zap sensations in a place there are no sensory nerves? Is it limited to a sensation, or are other senses (vision, hearing, smell, taste) ever involved? Is it perhaps more like a non-physical zap that's more like an interruption or glitch in consciousness than a ghost physical sensation?

[edit] So one person's experience with one day off meds was a feeling of floating or vague floating-like feeling of imbalance. That's probably related, perhaps an earlier stage of the phenomenon, but doesn't sound quite the same as the electric shocks people mention they get after quitting. Are the electric shock feelings anything like a rapid (instantaneous?) change in balance, like a shift to zero-g and back?

I tried to nitpick on things that mattered for me, but you cannot easily claim "I'm more up to date than you on illness" to a legal doctor without feeling a little ridiculous.

That's why I root for more non invasive monitoring and intervention. Many doctors told me the "based on these tests, you have nothing", bailing out when I asked for more because deeper tests would require potential ICU. So you end up floating in the unknown hoping for the best.

The doctor gave me citalopram (brand name is Celexa, I think?) I had to stop taking it. I'll list the side effects I had, but not before I point out: It saved my life. Yes, I had bad side effects. But it also helped me overcome the anxiety and rage I was suffering from and resolve to come out about my status.

Ultimately I had to taper off of it, which was hard. My doctor advised reducing my dose by 1/4 the original value every 9 days until I was done. The end of it was quite rough, I confess.

But while on it, I gained nearly all the weight I lost in a year of physical training back (just 4 months of treatment), my heart palpitations were nauseatingly bad, and I suddenly had to sleep a lot longer to get even a modicum of rest.

When people say, "You should consider medication" it is to help normalize the idea that in trauma situations medication can help people with some types of MI. It is not because they're fun, side-effect free, or not a "real" course of treatment. It's important to remember that when considering these stories and your own mental health.

After that experience, I decided it was better to just feel depressed.