Ask Lemmy

Anyone who has had discontinuation syndrome knows the experience of "brain zaps" - basically feels like an electric shock toy going off inside your head somewhere behind your eyes/sinuses. Is it anything like that?

It's most probably feelings from your nerves, that you are re-interpreting as coming from inside your brain. Kind of like how headaches sometimes feel as if they are in the middle of your brain.

As someone who has experienced multiple brain traumas, I do have feelings there too. Different impacts have had different results. Falling 20ft and cracking my skull on concrete left me seeing everything in a hue of orange for a couple of years. Getting my face crushed by a car left me feeling strange all in the front. Getting shot in the head was so strange, it's like the back part of my brain still hurts. Especially when I try to remember certain things.

I mean I do get brain fog, does that count?

It's possible that the brain matter itself doesn't have innervations but you do have blood vessels and other structures that do have them and those are the ones you feel.

bro has brain worms 💀💀💀

AI trying too hard these days...

Sometimes I’ve felt like an object I was imagining suddenly for a split second was somehow tangible inside my head. Like it has weight that I can feel, but it only lasts for a very short moment. It’s hard to put into words.

I think it's plausible that moments of intense catharsis or realisation etc can cause some kind of physical dilation, like a rush of blood or endorphins or some other kind of neurochemical which you may feel as occuring "in your brain". I suffer from occasional BPPV and that's how I originally felt the symptoms, like some force was squeezing my brain and it was going to implode. But I came to understand the feeling to be inflamed blood vessels surrounding my skull rather than anything to do with my brain. It was distinctly more an all-over-the-head feeling than any headache I've had

Sometimes my hair hurts

Yep. I've definitely felt subtle tingles at similar moments. As if I can literally feel myself learning something. Not sure if it's real or not.

Maybe check your vitamin levels and make sure you're drinking enough water. Sugar is dehydrating, a general rule I follow is drinking 2 cups of water for every cup of something else.

I feel all sorts of things seemingly in my brain but I am 99% sure they're not the brain itself.

Headaches often feel like they are in my frontal lobe, but I've also gotten other kinds that feel like they are located in the back of the brain.

When I smoke weed, my brain feels like it is relaxing and sagging, leaning against the back of my forehead as it chills. My friend often referred to this as "Frankenstein Head" and I've always felt that was pretty apt.

If I stand up too fast (being a tall motherfucker), my brain feels like someone poured pop-rocks into my skull for a moment. I also see multicolored dots and swirls in my vision.

When I get brain freeze, well... That's pretty self explanatory.

If someone was to tickle my back, stomach or nibble my ears, I get an electric tingle throughout my entire nervous system, including in the brain. It feels like being static shocked all over, but in a good way? A "pleasurable electrocution" is the only way to describe it.

I've had migraines so yes. But also I had the 'brain zap' side-effects from antipsychotics too and that is very unnerving as it feels like an electric zap in your brain. It makes you wince and twitch.

0/10, wouldn't recommend.

If it's like a pleasant tingling through your head, it might be ASMR. It can be triggered by sounds (hence the bajillion YouTube channels), but for me it's more often when I'm really enjoying thinking about something. It's a weird sensation for sure.

I get a specific feeling in my head when I'm about to start a panic or anxiety attack. It's at that moment where I can usually just like... Take a breath, relax, and try to avoid the issue calling it or I succumb and deal with it. I get the warning feeling in my brain though.

In other physical things, I can slow down or accelerate my heartbeat on demand and I've shown my SO when we were messing with a heart rate monitor. I can also make my heartbeat skip on demand but stopped that after I scared the shit out of an ex when I showed them. Also the doctor told me don't do that anymore after I told her it was a thing.

if I pay attention I can feel my amygdala clicking

There is one very specific feeling I've experienced "in my brain" and it's the exact same feeling when I either take anti depression/anxiety medication and when I take something like acid or mushrooms, it feels like an "overload" of sorts, like there's too much sensory input and I can "feel" it in my head.

What is a headache, if not that?

Yes, happens a lot. I would be very surprised if the brain had no nerve endings at all, given that almost all human tissue has nerve endings in it (except hair maybe).

I guess what you feel is a complicated mixture of:

• blood and fluid pressure
• electric discharges in your brain, kinda tingling
• placebo