Brain zaps, twitching, and headaches due to anti-depressant and anti-anxiety meds. Will they stop?

This is complicated to explain (and long) so I'll start from the beginning. I have been living with anxiety and depression for 15+ years. For that last 10 or so, I have been taking Prozac 60mg a day. I was taking 20mg in the morning and 40mg at night and haven't had any issues with it. I should also note that I was also taking valerian and melatonin to sleep. A couple weeks ago I started developing insomnia and the valerian and melatonin were not helping. The insomnia kicked my anxiety and depression into high gear. My physician prescribed Klonopin 0.25mg a night for insomnia as it had worked for me in the past and Buspar for the anxiety, 7.5mg in the morning and night (15mg total). I quit the valerian but stayed on the melatonin at this point. I didn't get very good sleep so 3 days later, I was prescribed Mirtazapine 15mg to take at night instead of the Klonopin. I was able to get some sleep but a few days after I started developing major twitching and brain zaps when falling asleep. I was afraid I was developing serotonin syndrome so my physician advised me to spread out my Prozac to 20mg in the morning, 20mg afternoon, and 20mg at night. I still had the zaps and twitches. The next night I was so exhausted I decided to skip the Mirtazapine and just sleep on my own. I didn’t notice any zaps or twitching. But the next day, I noticed I was walking with an uneasy gait, like I was off balance. I went back on the Mirtazapine (but stopped the melatonin) and the night twitching was back and I was also developing a headache. So the following night I decided to take 7.5mg of Mirtazapine at night and skip the Buspar. I had only been on the new meds for about a week, so I didn’t think there would be any problem with starting to taper on my own. I didn’t have any noticeable twitching at night but I had the tremors during the day a couple of hours after I took my morning Buspar. I made a same day appointment with my physician and told her these side effects were causing me more anxiety than my anxiety. She said I could stop the Mirtzapine but I should take half a Buspar the next morning then stop it all together. At this point, I should say I was on 15mg of Buspar for 11 days total: 15mg for 9 days, 7.5mg for day 10, and 3.75 for day 11. The Mirtazapine I was on for 7 days with a one skipped dose. The day I stopped Mirtazapine, I decided to try CBD for sleep (which I made my physician fully aware of, by the way.) I started off with 10 mg. I slept okay but I still experienced the night zaps and twitches. I figured I probably still had some Mirtazapine in my system. The next night I increased CBD to 15mg. Still had the night twitching and zaps but at least the day tremors had stopped as soon as I quit the Buspar. The first full night without Mirtazapine and Buspar (which was 2 nights ago) I had major twitching and brain zaps. I also started to develop migraines during the day. I decided to stop taking the CBD as there is some research that it may interfere with the absorption of Prozac. I contacted my physician to ask if this could be withdrawal symptoms from the Mirtazapine and/or Buspar but she said it would be unlikely since I was only on them for about a week but that I could try some Benadryl for the symptoms. I also bought some fish oil as some people have said that worked for them. I still had the brain zaps and twitching last night but they weren’t as severe as the night before. I also noticed something. The migraine headaches were coming on about an hour after I take my 20mg Prozac pill. I had been prescribed Imitrex months ago for migraines so I decided to take a 50mg pill. It stopped the migraine for a while but the brain zaps were back with a vengeance about 2 hours after taking the Imitrex. I wasn’t aware Imitrex works on serotonin too. Not doing that again. I again contacted my physician to ask if this madness could be caused by changing the timing of my Prozac doses and the wacky medication ride I had been on and she said I shouldn’t be having any side effects from changing my Prozac routine since the dosage didn’t change, just the timing. She said I could try to go back to my old regimen of 20mg Prozac in the morning and 40mg at night but now I’m afraid the migraines and zaps will be worse if I try to change it again. Anyone else experience headaches after changing the timing of their antidepressant? What about Klonopin for the brain zaps? I read it might help but won’t it affect my serotonin levels too? Someone please tell me this will stop. I’m afraid I may have done some long term damage. Any advice or recommendations would be welcome, too.

0 likes, 4 replies