To me, it felt like the moment after some limb went numb and you start to feel it again, just for the whole body. And I had some visual effects like everything being brighter for a moment. It's not painful per se but very disorienting and irritating and it happens several times per hour.

I probably would not have avoided the drugs based on the description, because it doesn't sound as bad as it feels, but I would never quit a SSRI without tapering off again.