Meds

I have been on many different meds over many different years and have found, for me, the least amount the better.
I had one doctor who put me on a lot of very sedating drugs and it appeared to help, but it was because many of the
alters, especially the children, were knocked out and sleeping, so there was not healing or integrating going on, just
oblivion. When that doc retired and I started with a new one, she recognized this immediately and just got me down to
one medication, cymbalta, and an as needed anxiety medication that is mild. I just take it when I need it. I can get sleep
stuff when I need it, too. That comes and goes.

carpediem46 - Hey, the electric shocks went away after a while.
I'm not sure if other drugs have this effect, but I know that I'm not the only one cold-turkeying off of Seroquel
that has had the electric shocks. Seroquel is an atypical anti-psychotic.

Basically they didn't know what was wrong with me so they tried every kind of group of drug they could on me
I find that I hit the same side effects/symptoms again when I lost weight, because the drugs tend to penetrate body fat
(This is why a lot of antidepressants take up to a month to start working) and when you burn the weight the drug stored
in the fat comes out again.

If you have the extreme anxiety that's definitely not a good side effect.
The drugs are supposed to aid you in living your life, not making it harder.. unfortunately a lot of meds don't work
the same for everyone..

Una+ - That's really interesting, I suppose everyone has their own version of "Hey! This is important!" or memories coming back..
For me, I sort of become paralyzed momentarily, my guts sink and it feels like my blood runs ice cold, or I have a very strong tic that jerks my body but I may or may not have had electric shocks like the ones you describe...

*Edited*

Broken_mirror, I think we are talking about the same thing when we refer to hard electric shocks and jerks. They vary in severity. On occasion, increasingly more often, I have had shocks that are mild. They are a lot like the normal myoclonic jerk (hypnic jerk) that sometimes occurs as I am falling asleep, except that they occur at other times. In many people hypnic jerks are accompanied by a sensation of being in free fall. How does this fit with your experience?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myoclonus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moro_reflex

Carpediem, they were treating the DID, but one doctor used very strong antipsychotics and sedation when he saw more of an alter who he felt was disruptive. He would dope that one up, thus knocking out the whole system. He was not experienced in dealing with DID. The other doctor focused on the therapy and just gave meds for the depression and anxiety as symptoms of the DID. She stated
the little people were very sensitive to the sedation and could not wake up and would lie on a couch during a session,and try to wake up and talk to her. I am glad she recognized this and got all of us off the big cocktail we were taking at the time.

Mm, that seems to make more sense. Did it work better for you?
Glad you managed to find something that worked best for your whole system, and not just one of you

Carpediem- To be perfectly honest every medicine they tried on me was before I was diagnosed with DID.
They were basically throwing stuff everywhere and hoping something would stick because no one
had any idea what had gone wrong.
Once we established I had DID they had put me on a mild dose of anti-depressant and anti-anxiety, which
were to ensure I was functional during therapy.
Medicine isn't forever, I no longer need the medicine as I've developed new coping methods and gotten
through the worst of it, (and made alliances with most of my alters)
but every once in a while I will take an anti-anxiety if I hit a really rough spot.

Una+- I looked through the pages you posted and this is my response-
Myoclonic- The effects of going off Seroquel wasn't anything like Myoclonic twitches (Although I do get those when under stress)
Hypnic jerk- I'm aware of this type of phenomenon and it was slightly similar in intensity except what I experienced on the Seroquel was painful and did not involve a sensation of falling.
Hypnagogia- Dream state? I experience some very vivid dreams sometimes- in some of my older dreams that I no longer experience I used to dream of a completely white world encased in a room- with no boundaries- inifinite- and I would be sucked into this white abyss and experience extreme electric shock similar to what happened on Seroquel- I wonder if the two were
related, except the pain being translated while I was sleeping.
Moro Reflex- It wasn't like a startle at all, although the pain of the shock did startle me!

It was really random, very painful whole body electric shock that lasted only up to a second. Basically it felt like my brain
malfunctioned I'm not quite sure how else to describe it...
I've had lots of bad experiences for side effects on many different medications because my system is extremely sensitive to medication. So I would usually be on a pretty low dose (but they liked to up it when it wasn't working, which is usually when the trouble started because I didn't need it in the first place.. talking anti-psychotics here ..)

Yah. So this electric shock we both experience doesn't really fit any definition I can find.

I wonder if historical reports of this experience did not inspire the use of electric shock therapy (electroconvulsive therapy).

Okay searched the web again for "electric shock" and this time I found numerous sources that mention an electric shock sensation as a common symptom of anxiety disorders. So that is consistent with it being due to hyperarousal of the autonomous nervous system. My first experience of an electric shock was followed by numerous other symptoms of hyperarousal.

*Edited*