Posted by johnLA on January 14, 2013, at 21:22:10
In reply to Anyone know people that have had ECT?, posted by gilmourr on January 14, 2013, at 10:35:24
hi gilmour-
i had 12 unilateral ect's over 2 years ago. the first few worked. was quite amazing actually. unfortunately the effects did not last.
i do not believe i suffer from long-term damage. i did have some memory issues around the time of the treatments.
my actual current depression is causing me more cognitive issues than the ect did. i can be sure of that. how? because i can still mentally do the things i did before ect. my depression though keeps me from doing those things consistently. if i had brain damage i'm thinking i would not be able to do these things even in my limited way now.
if you go this route i highly suggest going to a top notch hospital. i did mine at ucla. i will not mention names, but i was surprised at the amount of well known people having the treatment. i believe all were on maintenance ect. these were/are highly functional people.
i had ect done very early in my depressive episode. i was inpatient and really scared. i had never had suicidal thoughts before in my life. i still can't believe i had it done. looking back, for me, i think i could have tried more meds and stayed locked-up longer before ect was suggested. oh well.
there is a part of me that regrets having it. mostly stigma and shame. still, i have been playing with the idea of trying it again! the doc wanted to do more, but i had had enough. mostly i think because i had to stop my klonopin abruptly. and, klonopin seems to be the only med i have tried to give me some relief these past 3 years.
the procedure itself is scary the first time. i was crying quite a bit. but, the whole staff was quite kind at ucla. it became pretty routine after #2 or 3. no big deal. no real headache/etc. you are literally out for a few minutes and then waking-up. you do have a 'buzz' going on in your head. a good one. like i said, too bad it didn't last.
finally, almost all ect patients will still be put on meds. i either was not told this or forgot. i was under the impression that it was ect or meds. rarely the case. even w/maintenance ect meds are usually involved. some say meds work better after ect.
i can't tell you to have it or not. but, i can tell you that most of what you will read will be negative. hard decision when people are talking permanent brain damage and so on. again, i met people who have been doing ect for quite some time and were highly functional.
let me know if you have any more questions.
good luck to us all.
john
poster:johnLA
thread:1035478
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20130112/msgs/1035527.html