Posted by Elizabeth on March 26, 2002, at 23:47:02
In reply to Re: Gonna do ECT for sure- Me too, posted by OldSchool on March 26, 2002, at 10:30:39
> My only concern is the inducement of epilepsy, which I think is overhyped by reading about it over on the anti-ECT websites.
ECT lowers the seizure threshold. I very much doubt the claims that it often causes epilepsy. It was actually suggested to me as a possible alternative to anticonvulsants.
JohnX2's remarks about blood pressure are interesting. I'm sure everyone (or many of us, anyway) has heard about the association between cardiovascular disease and depression.
As for antiglucocorticoid drugs, ketoconazole is available and can be used off-label as an antidepressant. It also appears (IIRC) that the dexamethasone suppression test is a fairly good predictor of nonresponse (that is, people with normal cortisol responses to dexamethasone aren't likely to respond to ketoconazole).
-elizabeth
poster:Elizabeth
thread:99962
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020322/msgs/100456.html