Body zaps from psych med

May 3, 2018 5:53 PM

YANMD. I'm having terrible electric shock sensations throughout my body, and they are most likely a side effect from the Vraylar I started recently. I'm happy with the Vraylar otherwise but need relief from this. I'm waiting for my psychiatrist to call back. In the meantime, does anything bring relief?

I also take lithium, and I'm on a small dose of trazodone for sleep. I've been on the Vraylar (3 mg) about a week and a half and the shocks are getting worse. I've tried tylenol, benadryl (which might have made it worse), deep breathing, distraction, cool water on the wrists, magnesium citrate. I'm miserable right now and not able to commit to any activity because I start having the painful zaps. They are all over in my body. I've written my doctor and she won't be in tomorrow but will probably call me then anyway. I am looking for things I can try to get through the night. What's helped you? I also wonder if this side effect has subsided for other folks.

posted by mermaidcafe to Health & Fitness (5 answers total)

Does your health insurance offer a nurse line that you can call and ask? Some have 24 he coverage, and you can speak to someone with better expertise.
posted by troytroy at 7:09 PM on May 3, 2018

Response by poster: Forgot to add I also asked a pharmacist, who didn’t know. I just have Medicare; no hotline.
posted by mermaidcafe at 7:14 PM on May 3, 2018

Best answer: There's some evidence that Vitamin B6 is effective in treating neuroleptic-induced movement disorders, that's probably the only thing I can think of that you could try for tonight. Other than that, most of the other treatments are prescription-only, except for the benadryl that you've already tried.

When you do speak to your doctor, definitely tell her that the benadryl made it worse, because a lot of the other drugs that doctors try for extrapyramidal drug side effects are also anticholinergics and she might want to try something else instead.
posted by strangely stunted trees at 8:06 PM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]

I think if you google brain zaps, electric, psychiatric drugs you will see this is a very common side effect of starting / quitting many psychiatric drugs. It wil decrease in frequency and intensity--hang in there. It will resolve itself. Remember--you aregoing through significant realignment of your neurochemistry--If it persists at the present intensity/frequency after 2-3 weels ( I know that it seems a long time) dosage may need to be modified. sorry you are having these side effects
posted by rmhsinc at 9:23 AM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]

I have similar zaps from Trileptal, and decided Vraylar was not going to be an option for me (even though it sounded great when I first heard about it). B complex vitamins help. B6 as noted above, and B12 is often recommended for neuropathic pain like peripheral neuropathy.

If your doctor hasn't gotten back to you, and you're still having the zaps, you might consider calling your pharmacist; they might be able to help. If it gets bad enough, if I was in your shoes, I'd consider an ER visit. (And I hate ER visits for psych-related stuff.)

Hang in there, friend. My memail is open if you want someone to talk to.
posted by The Almighty Mommy Goddess at 10:21 PM on May 4, 2018