Posted by bleauberry on September 26, 2009, at 20:24:13
In reply to First time ECT, posted by Monica L on September 26, 2009, at 18:59:15
It seems like this topic comes up about once a month. Maybe I should just copy and paste a prepared response so I don't have to rewrite it from scratch each time. Anyway, for what it's worth, here goes.
*12 bilateral treatments.
*Total cost $22,000, insurance paid most but I still had to pay several thousand dollars in copay.
*Complete memory loss of the 3 months prior to ECT and the 3 months after ECT that has not returned in the 3 years since ECT.
*Random parts of memory throughout life are gone.
*Random parts of memory throughout life are fuzzy.
*Random parts of memory throughout life are clear as day.
*Creative function significantly increased.
*Cognitive function significantly decreased, especially in areas of name recall, word recall, and short term memory.
*A two day response at the end of the 12th treatment, followed by an ambulance ride to the emergency room attempting suicide.
*St Johns Wort worked better than ECT.There have been a few people here over the years, including a post about a month ago, that have had respectable results with ECT. In the real world, results are not anything close to what your doctor claims. If someone has not tried both MAOIs, and they have not tried a blind challenge test of Doxycycline for Lyme disease, they have absolutely no business whatsoever thinking of ECT.
So what does science say? Well, responders can count on relapse at a very high rate, something like 85% relapse rate, within weeks to months.
ECT in my view is good for those who are so mentally ill they cannot leave the hospital. It can get them well enough to enter a halfway house, though they will never be well enough to live on their own or hold a job. Statistics show their hospitals stays are reduced (not eliminated) and their stays are shorter.
Psychiatry itself is a gamble. It makes no effort to find what is really wrong. It relies on flawed studies and flawed politics to make educated guesses that a particular chemical will reduce a particular symptom, with no thought whatsoever as to what the cause or cure of that symptom is. Doctors wonder why they don't get the same results in their practice as clinical studies did.
ECT is a huge gamble, and the odds of a jackpot are very slim.
If I were you, I would insist on two things:
1. Parnate first choice, Nardil backup, stimulants as backup.
2. Add an Integrative MD to your team, so as to explore what is really going on under the skin that is impacting your brain the way it is.I can say one good thing about ECT. It is kind of like closing an old book and starting a brand new one. Whether it works or not, enough memory is lost that it is kind of like a fresh start. Even if the depression isn't tons better, at least it won't seem like the end of a very long journey. Because of the memory loss, it is kind of like the beginning of a new one. So there is more hope and more strength to take another shot at life, even if things aren't any better.
Don't let anyone fool you. Memory loss from ECT is frequently severe and permanent. Cognitive impairment is almost guaranteed. Responders and remitters are not more frequent than with meds. Responders and remitters have very high relapse rates. Responders and remitters require continued psychiatric drugs after ECT to slow down the onset of relapse.
Parnate sounds a whole lot better. And dirt cheap. You qualified to try this drug years ago.
Get an Integrative MD! Amalgam fillings, ever? What does your 4 sample daily cortisol curve look like? What does your Igenex Lab Western Blot test indicate? What happens if you try 3 days of Wormwood? What happens if you try 3 days of Doxycylcine? 3 days of Diflucan?
You gotta know this stuff before you go hook your brain up to electricity and shock yourself so hard they have to pump you full of barbituates to keep your body from convulsing off the table.
Oh, you asked what's it like when you wake up? Well, you probably won't remember. Someone will pick you up and drive you home, but you will not likely have any rememberance of that day or surrounding days.
poster:bleauberry
thread:918623
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090921/msgs/918641.html