Posted by Karen44 on December 28, 2006, at 20:23:26
In reply to Re: Hey Blueberry1 AGAIN » UgottaHaveHope, posted by blueberry1 on December 26, 2006, at 15:49:20
Blueberry and others
My pdoc has recommended ECT, and so I have done extensive research into the topic including evaluating research that has been done in the U.S. and elsewhere. I started to become more and more angry about the recommendation especially Harold Sackheim's contentions to use 6 to 12 times the seizure threshold with RUL. He said it works best for alieviating depression, but even with his shoddy research, there are severe cognitive impairments, especially related to nonverbal memory. I have read studies from not just psychiatry but also from neurology and neuropsychology. The long and the short of it is that each ECT treatment is likened to suffering a head injury. No one escapes some degree of cognitive impairment. Some people are okay with their deficits and try to cope with them. These are folks who are not working typically. For people like Blueberry and me, the risks outweigh the benefits. Unfortunately, two of the three risk factors for cognitive impairments, mild to severe, is being female and being over age 65. I have a job that requires a very good memory as I am often in court to testify about persons I have evaluated. From everything that I have read pro and con, it is highly likely I would no longer be able to perform my job, and I am four years from retirement, meaning I am also approaching age 65. No thanks.
After everything I read about ECT, I have decided to jump on the bandwagon to have it banned. Those who say it helped them tremendously, I have to wonder what deficits they would be willing to admit to, verbal and/or nonverbal, and was the tradeoff worth it.
Karen44
> > What is your diagnosis? Are you bipolar? Man, my heart goes out to you.
> >
> > What was the ECT like? Would you recommend?
>
> My diagnosis? Well, that depends on which doctor you ask. It has been everything from depression to bipolarII to depression with anxiety. Actually when I read about all the psychiatric things, I would say I have a bit of all of them combined. Depression, anxiety, hourly or daily fluctutations, unexplained fear, uncomfortable in a crowd, uncomfortable in closed in spaces, ADHD, and everything. Take a bit of them all and stir them up and there you go.
>
> What was ECT like? Bad. Very very bad. I would not even recommend it to an enemy. It was 3 weeks of worsened depression, increased fear and anxiety, then all of a sudden 2 days of perfect normalcy, followed by a week of psychotic agitated mania, followed by 6 police officers in my house and a ride in the ambulance to the emergency room for suicidal ideation. Not cool.
>
> I forgot to mention that I lost 3 months of memory. 3 months are gone. Whatever happened in those 3 months, whatever I did in that time, doesn't exist. The wood pile by my house that I went and got, I do not remember. Playing my guitar in church, I do not remember. I don't remember anything in that time period. I got a call from a new employer saying I was hired and got the job. The only thing is, I don't remember quitting my other job, I don't remember applying for a new job, I don't remember the interview. All I know is that now I am in a new job making less money and I don't know how or why I got there.
>
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poster:Karen44
thread:716139
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061224/msgs/717113.html