If you’re tapering off antidepressants or recently skipped a dose or two, you may have experienced a mysterious side effect commonly known as “brain fog.” Don’t worry, you won’t actually be zapped – but it sure can feel like it. Often brain deficits occur immediately, without warning, and for some people they can be alarming and anxiety-inducing.

On Redditresembled a person’s brain zaps with the sound of “heavy winds” in the head, similar to when you yawn. Another described it as a “sudden onset of dizziness and disorientation” or as a “mini-seizure”. Online, people claim to experience brain deficits after stopping drugs such as Lexapro (escitalopram), Cymbalta (duloxetine), and Paxil (paroxetine), but they can occur when you stop taking any type of antidepressant, including both selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRI).

Brain zaps sound crazy, yes — but it turns out this feeling is actually quite common. It’s your brain’s way of recalibrating after stopping an antidepressant, says psychiatrist Jessi Gold, MD, director of health for the University of Tennessee System and author of How do you feel? One Doctor’s Search for Humanity in Medicine.

If you’ve been experiencing brain zaps recently, you’re probably wondering when they’ll stop, and whether you should stay off antidepressants altogether (hint: you shouldn’t!). Always talk to your doctor if you have serious concerns, but in the meantime, here’s what you need to know about the mysterious brain deficits, why they happen, and what to expect when you taper off an antidepressant.

Meet the expert: Jessi goldMD, is Chief Wellness Officer for the University of Tennessee System and author of How do you feel? One Doctor’s Search for Humanity in Medicine.

Why Brain Zaps Happen If You Stop Taking an Antidepressant

The exact reason is a bit of a mystery. But the brain zaps are likely due to a “neurotransmitter readjustment” in your brain when you stop an antidepressant, says Dr. Gold. Antidepressants may include SSRIs (which increase serotonin levels in the brain), SNRIs (which increase serotonin and noradrenaline) and atypical antidepressants (Wellbutrin, for example), along with MAO inhibitors and SARI.

Usually the brain zaps are associated with antidepressant withdrawal syndrome (ADS), which affects an estimated 20 percent of people who suddenly stop or reduce their use of medicine. ADS can include flu-like symptoms, GI problems, trouble sleeping, dizziness, nausea and tingling, shock-like sensations (like brain zaps), according to Cleveland Clinic.

In general, antidepressants help balance the neurotransmitters in the brain, so when you stop taking them, your system needs time to rebalance. When zaps occur, your brain essentially adjusts to baseline, says Dr. Gold.

Some medications are more likely to cause ADS than others, says Dr. Gold, as well Effexor(an SNRI) and Paxil (an SSRI). Lexapro, for example, is also often associated with brain zaps — but just because you take one of these medications doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to develop the side effect when you stop taking it.

Symptoms are most likely to occur when you stop taking an antidepressant cold turkey (which, by the way, is not recommended) – or in cases where you are tapering off. Discontinuing an antidepressant should be done slowly, gradually, and under the supervision of a doctor.

How Brain Zaps Feel

Brain zaps occur suddenly and last for a few seconds, but the actual sensation varies by person. “People say it feels like a shock that’s not painful, but feels different than a nerve conduction,” says Dr. Gold. Some of her patients describe a tingling sensation, and others say it’s just a general weird feeling, she says. You may feel dizzy, light-headed, or even experience a burning or melting sensation in your head. A Redditor posted it it “feels like a camera’s autofocus.”

Zaps can happen a few times at regular intervals throughout the day, but chances are you won’t experience them all day, every day — it’s something that should only happen occasionally, Dr. Gold says. While some people experience them intensely, others say the zapping isn’t too bothersome, and they come and go at regular intervals before eventually disappearing. It’s personal, and some people will naturally be more sensitive to side effects than others, as they would with any other medication, Dr. Gold says.

When can you expect brain zaps if you miss a dose (or are coming off completely)

Skipping a single pill does not necessarily mean you will experience brain deficiency. But technically, if you miss your antidepressant for more than a day, you’re at risk of side effects, Dr. Gold says. That said, brain zaps usually occur within a few days of stopping your medication.

If you accidentally skip a dose, you might notice some symptoms, but if you go on vacation and forget to take your pills with you for a week, chances are you’ll notice a difference. And if you’re extra sensitive or tend to feel side effects quickly from other medications, your brain zaps may show up faster or more intensely than others, Dr. Gold says.

Are brain zaps a sign of withdrawal?

Some people think the brain is a sign of traditional withdrawal, similar to what you’d experience with drugs or alcohol—and they worry that they’ve become too dependent or “addicted” to the antidepressant itself, Dr. Gold explains. But that’s not necessarily the case – your brain has simply become accustomed to working with your particular medication, and it needs some time to balance out and return to your baseline again.

“As it was explained to me once, antidepressants are like glasses—if you don’t have them on, you can’t see as well,” says Dr. Gold. “When you take them off, you may have to readjust to see, but that doesn’t mean you’re dependent on glasses… you’re just better with them.”

All medications have a risk of withdrawal symptoms, but some are more about addiction (like benzodiazepines, for example) and others are more about your brain adapting, says Dr. Goldberg.

When does the zap end?

If you taper off an antidepressant, the tapers should go away on their own after a few weeks, but may last a few months for some people, according to a 2019 systematic review published in Addictive behaviors. If you forget to take a dose or refill your prescription and it’s been a day or two, the zap should stop when you restart the dose.

If you and your doctor decide to lower your dose, switch to a different type of antidepressant, or stop medication altogether, you’d ideally taper off to alleviate sudden side effects, Dr. Gold says. “You don’t just go from 200 to zero – we’d go 200, 150 for a bit, then 100 for a bit.”

How to cope with brain zaps in the meantime

Unfortunately, there is no overnight cure for brain zaps or ways to stop them from happening in the moment. “There is not a good, ‘For this symptom, take Advil,'” answer, says Dr. Gold.

However, you can treat the accompanying symptoms and find ways to manage them in the short term. For example, if brain zaps make you feel dizzy, it can help move slowly and carefully until the feeling passes or have an emergency plan in place in case, for example, you become dizzy while exercising. Staying hydrated and relieving stress can also help with dizziness, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Above all, the best way to manage is by working with your provider to ensure you’re taking medications (and tapering them) in the safest way possible, which should help minimize uncomfortable side effects as well. “The only thing we know to help is to go slow during the withdrawal period and taper more slowly,” says Dr. Gold. “Sometimes (providers) can give you a low dose of Prozac to help, even if you’re not going to go on Prozac,” she adds. If you stop another medication, “low-dose Prozac can counteract the symptoms because it has a long half-life,” explains Dr. Gold.

Some people are just super sensitive, and they’ll experience side effects no matter what antidepressant they’re on, adds Dr. Gold. So if you’re adjusting your dose, changing medications, or even traveling and you know you’re likely to see side effects, you probably need to be more alert, she says.

When to see a doctor

If the brain zaps bother you, interfere with your daily life, or seem to get worse over the course of many weeks, let your doctor know, says Dr. Gold. It may seem like the only way to get rid of zaps is to avoid antidepressants altogether—or, alternatively, to keep taking them forever so withdrawal never happens—but there are other options your provider can help you take find out, she says.

Keep in mind that there’s a lot of fear surrounding this idea of ​​brain zaps, and as scary as they sound, you shouldn’t let that put you off psychiatry altogether, says Dr. Gold. “Remember, it’s just your body adjusting. You might feel more anxious, but it’s not because your body is more anxious now—it just likes to mess with you.”

The bottom line? Keep checking in with your psychiatrist while you’re taking any antidepressant, and let them know what’s working and not working for you. A provider can help you figure out next steps, and if you’re worried, they can adjust your dose, switch to another medication, or help you taper off your current one if needed.

“We (as providers) want you to get off medication in a way that feels good to you, doesn’t make you feel worse, and doesn’t make you falsely believe that you need the medication and can’t survive without it,” says Dr. Gold.

Tianna Soto is Associate Health and Wellness Editor at Women’s Health. Her wellness and relationship writing has been featured in Cosmopolitan, Elite Daily, Glamour, mindbodygreen and more. She holds an MA in Clinical Psychology in Education from Columbia University and is a certified yoga instructor. When she’s not writing, you can find her traveling, trying out new workouts, and talking to audiences about mental health.