In his book, The Antidepressant Solution, Joseph Glenmullen, M.D., of Harvard Medical School, describes a common symptom of withdrawal from SSRI and SNRI antidepressants, referred to by many as “brain zaps.”
“These are lightening-like jolts inside the head that make patients feel as if they are having a dangerous neurological event, such as a stroke…. In some patients … bending the neck brings on waves of electric shock-like sensations down the spine, arms, and legs.”
Dr. Glenmullen gives a detailed report of a patient who experienced shooting electric shock sensations, accompanied by severe shaking and trembling. An electroencephalogram (“EEG”) provided evidence the woman was having seizures and she was put on anticonvulsants.
In 2007, two British psychiatrists wrote an article describing “sensory symptoms (e.g. sensations resembling electric shocks) or symptoms of disequilibrium (e.g. dizziness) in brief bursts when they move their head or eyes. Such symptoms are highly characteristic of primary discontinuation syndrome” (emphasis added).
The exact cause of brain zaps and other withdrawal effects of Cymbalta are unknown, but they are thought to be related to changes that occur in the brain when exposed to antidepressants.
Nerve signals are transmitted from one cell to another through the release of a chemical messenger, called a neurotransmitter, into the space between the sending and receiving cells. The receiving cell has receptors into which the neurotransmitter fits like a key in a lock, triggering complex reactions in the cell. Antidepressants like Cymbalta increase the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine (similar to adrenaline) in the gap between nerve cells. The cells have multiple reactions to this increase. The sending cell becomes “desensitized” – it doesn’t fire as much – and the receiving cells decrease the number of receptors.
In 1996, Steven Hyman, former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, described these adjustments in a paper published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Chronic administration of antidepressants and antipsychotics, he explained, creates changes in the normal functioning of the brain that “likely exceed the strength or time course of almost any natural stimulus.” The cells, responding to what Hyman called the “significant environmental challenges” of the drugs, try to adjust, leading to “substantial and long-lasting alterations in neural function.” Antidepressants produce their effects, wrote Hyman, by “altering the functional activity of critical neural circuits in the brain,” producing a state “which may be qualitatively as well as quantitatively different from the normal state.” In short, after chronic administration of antidepressants, the brain is functioning abnormally.
Brain zaps and other symptoms of withdrawing from Cymbalta therefore can be seen as the brain’s reaction to suddenly being removed from the abnormal environment to which it has adapted, like a deep sea diver who returns to the surface too quickly. The authors of a 2003 paper in the journal Psychopharmacology suggested that paresthesia (sensations of pricking, tingling, or creeping on the skin, including electric shock sensation in the brain) resulting from antidepressant withdrawal may be connected to the role that serotonin plays in controlling muscle movement and sensory function, noting that shock sensations often intensify with movement. “Significant alteration of neuronal activity may occur during treatment, possibly increasing with higher dosages or longer duration of treatment,” they wrote.
"Wisner Baum gave exceptional attention to all aspects of the case, detailed inquiry, and tenacious overview of all the information submitted. The paralegals are efficient and diligent. I was completely surprised to find an empathic personal message to take care of my own health during the challenging time of being a full-time caretaker.*"
In May of 2019, the jury in the case of Pilliod et al. v, Monsanto Company ordered the agrochemical giant to pay $2.055 billion in damages to the plaintiffs, Alva and Alberta Pilliod, a Bay Area couple in their 70s. R. Brent Wisner served as co-lead trial attorney for the Pilliods, delivering the opening and closing statements and cross-examining several of Monsanto’s experts. Wisner Baum managing shareholder, Michael Baum and attorney Pedram Esfandiary also served on the trial team in the Pilliod case.
The judge later reduced their award to $87M. Monsanto appealed the Pilliod’s verdict which the California Court of Appeal for the First Appellate District denied on August 9, 2021. Monsanto then requested the California Supreme Court review the appeal’s court decision, which the court denied on Nov. 17, 2021. Monsanto (Bayer) then submitted a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court which SCOTUS denied on June 27, 2022, allowing the final judgment of $87M to remain intact.
$289.2 million jury verdict in Monsanto Roundup trial
Wisner Baum co-represented Dewayne “Lee” Johnson in the first Roundup cancer lawsuit to proceed to trial. On Aug. 10, 2018, a San Francisco jury ordered Monsanto to pay $39.25 million in compensatory damages and $250 million in punitive damages to Mr. Johnson, a former groundskeeper who alleged exposure to Monsanto’s herbicides caused him to develop terminal non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Months after the jury verdict, the judge overseeing the trial reduced the punitive damages to $39.25 million. Mr. Johnson decided to accept the remittitur, bringing the adjusted amount awarded to Mr. Johnson $78.5 million.
Monsanto (Bayer) appealed the verdict and Johnson cross appealed. On July 20, 2020, the First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the verdict against Monsanto but reduced Mr. Johnson’s award to $20.5 million. The company chose not to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, ending the litigation.
In 2016, Wisner Baum attorney Timothy A. Loranger and six other attorneys in the Plaintiffs’ Management Committee were able to secure a $265 million settlement for victims of the 2015 Amtrak 188 derailment in Philadelphia, one of the largest in the U.S. for 2016.
