Brain Zaps!
May 18, 2008I am always grateful for the discoveries of my blogging buddies, but I am especially grateful for D. Slayer’s entry from Friday on “brain zaps.” Okay, her entry isn’t really about the brain zaps themselves as much as it’s about the stupidity of the GOP and outscooping the Times, but it still alerted me to the reality of the phenomenon known as brain zaps.
Now, I’m sure this probably isn’t a good thing, but I have definitely had a brain zap before. It was kinda like a flashbulb going off inside my head, accompanied by a kind of “zap!” sound. Naturally, it was scary as hell, even though it only lasted for about a second. So it’s somewhat relieving to know that it’s becoming a recognized medical phenomenon. Although what’s not cool is that I’ve never been on any of the meds brain zaps are associated with, including the awesomely named Effexor XR (seriously, one of my favorite drug names. Sounds like an experimental military cyborg name or something). So I suppose even knowing that brain zaps are real doesn’t mean I’m not still just a hop, skip, and a zap away from the looney bin. But I’d like to think that if this were the nineteenth-century, a whole new catogory of insanity named after this phenomenon: zapomania!
Dude. Brain zaps sound seriously uncool. For all their zappitude, the fact it freaked you out is not cool. I hope it was just some sort of philosophy induced one-off (thank you Feyerabend!), but I also secretly hope “zapomania” is an entry in the next DSM. And no Effexor XR for you!
Comment by dana — May 19, 2008 @ 9:13 am
Well, I am admittedly a little less freaked out now that I know it’s just some strange unexplained phenomenon and not the precursor to an epileptic fit/stroke/aneurysm or something. But if my mental deterioration is what it takes to get zapomania into the DSM, I might just be willing to make that sacrifice ;-)
Comment by R. Batty — May 19, 2008 @ 11:00 am
I would like to draw your attention to the following line: “It is also possible that these brain zaps occur when the brain is at its maximum speed of thought.”
So feel free to tell yourself that you are just simply too brilliant for your own brain to keep up with you and leave it at that.
Comment by kim — May 20, 2008 @ 9:21 am
I agree with Kim. Although it is a little weird to think you could short circuit your brain.
Comment by Karen — May 21, 2008 @ 8:36 am
Hmm, I do like the idea that my brain was thinking faster than the speed of light or something heroic like that, but it actually happened when I was falling asleep. Although I wouldn’t exactly be surprised to discover that my brain worked harder when I was asleep than it does when I’m awake.
Comment by R. Batty — May 21, 2008 @ 3:06 pm
I just found out that my wife might be suffering from these due to her getting off paxil. Do you have some recommended sites where I can learn more about this?
Comment by Brian — August 8, 2008 @ 11:58 am
Um, sorry, Brian, not really. I wasn’t able to find much out about them myself. I’d recommend your wife talk to her doctor. I mean for me, they were just a freak thing–I’ve never actually been on any of the kind of medications associated with them.
Comment by R. Batty — August 10, 2008 @ 12:59 pm