'Brain zaps' or trouble?

[ninz94]

Hi all, I've been having a seriously hard time recently, trying to distinguish between these funny feelings in my head and sometimes body, google says its 'brain zaps'.
I am not familiar with this as I can't really tell if it feels anything like an 'electric shock' as I've never been electrocuted or anything like that.
I may try describe what it feels like and see if it sounds familiar???
It feels sort of like a 'blow' to the head, but it happens deep within my head/brain? Like a tremor or blow deep within my head that's extremely alarming, it doesn't happen for long, just a second, don't know if that makes enough sense? Its a really scary feeling & it's followed by some dizziness and panic too but that's the just feeling that scares me. No confusion, slurred speech or anything like that. It happens mostly at night when trying to rest and sometimes when I'm really tired.
What scares me the most is I found them in a lot of epilepsy forums, I believe that these 'brain zaps', although most of them described there don't really suit my description very well, have a lot to do with 'seizure activity'? A girl explains how she had experienced 'intense brain zaps' years prior to her g/m seizures, don't know how old she was, now this really frightened me as I'm terrified of losing control/consciousness of any sort especially seizures. I'm wondering if this is a sign of trouble (to my brain) or just my anxiety? Or what I'm describing is something completely different?
I suffer from anxiety disorder, 8 months now, chronic stress, I am extremely hypersensitive and have blood pressure problems too, all apparently from my panic attacks. I do experience a lot of dizziness/ is it vertigo? The difference still confuses me, and was told nothing serious after tests. Not on any meds. Anybody familiar with this I'd very much appreciate your feedback.

[Colicab85]

Hi,

A brain zap is how my anxiety and stress made itself known to me. I was sat watching tele and felt a sudden "jerk" from within my brain. Felt like id be electrocuted. I also felt some tingly rush through my arms.


Scared me beyond belief and i went to the doctors the next day and was told it was background stress and anxiety.

The first zap happened about 8 months ago and i get them still....not regualrly but around once a month.

I had an MRI back in late May and nothing was found, no tumours, aneurysms or stroke activity.

Every doctor ive had has told me its stress and anxiety and after 8 months it makes sense to believe them. Easier said that done.

Not sure if this helps but i can 100% relate to whats going on for you.

[Sparkling_Fairy]

Thank you for this post! I'm sitting here and have had 3 already tonight.
I know I've been getting them for a really long time. But sometimes not for months, and then again. They are usually followed by an extremely sleepy feeling.
I have noticed that I get them more when I'm anxious, so I'll jot it down to that.

[ninz94]

Thank you both so much for taking time to reply to my post, colicab your answer gives me some good relieve, I very much appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Was really worried, its a strange feeling really. I can believe it is stress as stress is what I do best. Thanks again.

[roseanxiety]

I posted yesterday about almost this exact same thing! I had one yesterday and it scared the heck out of me. After I had an adrenaline rush. It feels like extreme pressure in my head for a second or two, then is followed by an adrenaline rush because it scares me so badly. I am on Buspar and am trying to reduce my dosage to wean myself off. It could possibly be from this but my understanding is that anxiety in general causes these head rushes/zaps. Whatever the cause, they are very scary.

[lessthanjared]

do you take any medications? withdrawal from SSRIs (Prozac for me) causes me to have those brain zaps too. They are quite debilitating after a little while. Could also be caused by anxiety, but I'm almost positive it's nothing serious. From my understanding it's just caused by hormone irregularities in your brain.

try to stay calm and talk to your doctor about it if you can. remember that worrying about it doesn't help any (not that I think you should be worried at all)

cheers

[caroline crow]

I call these glitches....it feels like a glitch on a tv screen or something and a second or two of dizziness follows - is this the same thing?

[Ethansmom]

I'm having this exact thing. How long did it take for yours to go away?