Posted by PC_Load_Letter on August 25, 2010, at 8:06:42
In reply to Re: ultra-brief pulse ECT anyone?, posted by bleauberry on August 22, 2010, at 16:26:39
> > This is a new form of ECT that apparently results in significantly less deleterious effects on memory and cognition than the standard versions. Its use is not yet widespread, however. I would appreciate any first-hand accounts of this form of ECT.
> >
> > I will be undergoing this form of unilateral ECT in the near future, October most likely. I've tried just about everything under the sun to ameliorate my MDD, by the way, including all the MAOIs, most tricyclics, as well as several neuroleptics and mood-stabilizers.
>
> But not antinbiotics? Doxycyline? Antifungals? Diflucan? DLPA? LDN? How do you respond to opioid pain killers? Was tramadol on the list of meds you've done? Zoloft+Nortriptyline combo? Prozac+Ritalin? Modafinil?
>
> I mean, when someone says they tried just about everything, unless they have actually tried attacking the major causes of depression instead of just the symptoms, then they haven't tried everything. Thus the mention of ABX and antifungal which cover a lot of bases. And the mention of LDN, DLPA, and challengef tests of opioids to cover the endogenous endorphine angle, almost always neglected. Just some ideas.
>
> As for the ECT, well, as an ECT survivor I wouldn't recommend any form of it to anyone. On the good side, it can be sort of like closing an old chapter and opening a new one, even if it doesn't work well. It can at least give hope. Sometimes it even works. When it does work, most people here have said it didn't work for very long, but did get them over the hump and buy some time until they found something else that did help. That's the new chapter thing.
>
> We all have our own unique journeys and decisions. I'm just saying I don't think ECT of any kind is a good idea if creative diagnostics have been overlooked. They almost always are overlooked. We always assume that since it is depression, it must be in the head, right? Well, wrong. Serious causes of depression can come from places away from the head. The head is just the place that takes the pounding.
>
> I have been in your shoes and believe me I know where you are at. So I do wish you well whatever you do.
>
>
>
>
Thanks for your suggestions. Unfortunately, I have failed trials of the combos you mentioned, as well as tramadol and modafinil. I have not tried LDN or any of the antibacterial/antiviral options you listed, but I have been on various antibiotics in the past and noticed no effects on my depression. Non-psych-related trials of opioids have produced some modest transitory improvement, but good luck getting any doctor to even consider prescribing these to treat a mental illness.It seems to me that a significant bacterial or viral connection to psychiatric-related conditions would have been discovered by now, given the millions of people suffering from these afflictions who are also being prescribed antibacterial or antiviral meds to treat infectious conditions at any given time.
I'm sorry to hear that your experience with ECT was not a positive one. Was your ECT unilateral or bilateral? Ultra-brief pulse? I agree that, in non-crisis situations, ECT should only be considered if virtually all other possible options have been exhausted. But desperate times, as they say, call for desperate measures, and these are desperate times for me.
poster:PC_Load_Letter
thread:959395
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100821/msgs/959776.html