Electric Shock Therapy

I am going to try it very soon. My Psych brought it up the other day maybe (I think) trying to bluff me or something. Just because all their GODDAMN meds just make me gain weight and dim witted don't do much for my depression. I said yes, thinking it was like in "The One Who Flew Over the CooCoo's Nest." I figured life is pretty much all pain anyway. I now know that it is must more humane I guess. But, I need some freaking relief. I am willing to try anything short of a lobotomy. So, my point or Question is: anyone have experience with electric shock therapy? It'll probably take a few months before I will able to do it. I will be using the VA Health Care system. thanks

I do not personally have experience with ECT, but I would advise you to seriously consider other options. This is an archaic form of treatment that should only be done in the most extreme situations as it can cause long term brain damage (my great grandmother lost all of her ability to function independently after undergoing ECT.) I know that is safer now but is still a drastic measure-- I recommend that you intensely research it.

How many medications have you tried? I would try every medication I could before I would even consider ECT. I know from experience how awful it can be to try medication after medication and get only side effects and no relief, but the side effects of most medications are temporary, the side effects from ECT can last an extremely long time or even be permanent. Odds are that if you actively work with a good psychiatrist and therapist you will find some relief. You may need to find a new psychiatrist who is educated on the newer methods of treatment such as alpha wave stimulation.

Hi. I'm sorry to hear you're going through a rough time, but I'd consider other options as EST is pretty brutal. You just have to find the right doctor and the right combination of meds in order to see good results. Trust me, I was pretty desperate too until my doctor found the right combination for me and now I'm feeling much better (I'm bipolar with recurrent major depressive phases).

Hang in there!

Joseph

I will disagree with the two people above me. ECT is actually considered one of the best forms of therapy. "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" is single-handedly responsible for not using it earlier in the course of therapy, because patients are scared of it. Also, as shidabis mentions, it has developed somewhat since its invention.

When I was hospitalised half a year ago, two other patients were receiving ECT twice a week and both of them were very happy with it. One said this was the first thing that has lifted her depression of six years. None mentioned anything about it being "brutal". There's far less side effects than with medication -- loss of short-term memory and headache (relieved by paracetamol) seem to be about it. You do not lose your long-term memory, but the period during which you receive ECT may remain a blur for the rest of your life (then again if you are unwell enough to qualify for it, that might not be a bad thing).

I am just finishing a book about a bipolar patient who received ECT and describes it in great detail -- "Pangaea: Confessions of an Erstwhile Mermaid" by Kathy Chiles. While you probably won't be able to relate to her manic-psychotic state, the ECT chapter is probably as good as you're going to get.

Best of luck and I hope you come back here to tell us how it went!

I'll go ahead and add my two cents to this! My Aunt is clinically depressed, and she got ECT. She ended up getting it done WAY more than she should have (I'm pretty sure like 14-17 times all in one visit) and she's worse than she was before. It can cause some serious brain trauma and sometimes make it harder to function, I think it should be used as a last resort method, you know?

I don't know your situation but I felt like I should share. I don't want others to have to go through things like she went through, she's almost a different person and it's scary.

That's just my two cents though. Good luck in whatever you choose to do!

Hiya..
not my usual forum but i'm curled up in the corner here waiting for my depression to lift.. hopefully it wanders off soon, it's getting tiring.

I have quite an interest in ECT from an aspie obsession viewpoint and spent a fair bit of time a while ago researching everything to do with the topic.

What I discovered was that ECT can be really effective in the short term but that people who undergo it find their symptoms returning after a period of time.
This means that you'll likely need more than one course of ECT - a maintenance dose every now and then.

What I also found was that ECT tends to wipe out a little bit of the memory immediately before and after the ECT but that it also affects your short term memory in the slightly longer term.. say a few months or a year after the course.

I became interested in exploring ECT because I suffered from epilepsy as a child and then became interested in the ECT stuff because it does to the brain exactly what epilepsy does to it.
The after-effects of seizures in epilepsy are exactly the same as those of ECT.. they can cause short term memory loss and a numbing feeling of ''spaciness''..
I can't actually explain the feeling afterwards but i can state that I used to wake up feeling as though everything was a lot more peaceful.. my mind wasn't as clogged up with everything.. things felt ''clear''

So, there are benefits and drawbacks..
it's up to you.. it's not something that i'd go ahead and do personally unless i'd tried all meds and therapy options first because i dislike the short term memory issues and fuzziness but i suggest doing your research and deciding whether the benefits outweigh the side-effects.

xx

mega-thanks for all the replies. I want to do it. I called my Psych on Monday at about 4AM kinda manic saying "I'll do it the old way (One Flew Over the CooCoo's Nest)" Later I found out he is out of the office until next Mon. I will call back then. I am so freaking depressed, I don't know how I make it to work (midnights). I don't want to do anything after work, go anywhere, and have lost interest in about everything. I have taken so many medications. So many! Side note: why can't a psychiatric med make you lose weight or have more energy??? ###$! I have cut my meds by a 1/3. I think I am on 2 much. I do need them though. I want them to shock the ###$ out of me.