My psychiatrist mentioned ECT today...

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Hi,

Today is went visit my psychiatrist. If you don´t know my story you can read it here: http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp2735596 ... t=#2735596 . Basically I´m heavily depressed, stay most of the time at home, can´t go out alone etc... So he was talking that serious cases of depression like mine there is the need to use meds and therapy alone won´t work etc... Then, he said what the next steps of the treatment would be (I don´t remember very well, I can´t focus very well with the depression). What got me worried was that he said that if all that don´t work we would have to use ECT or Electroconvulsive Therapy. Basically they will have to apply electroshocks to me! . I was sad when I heard that! I didn´t pay much attention to what he was saying so I don´t know if this next step will be soon or there are more anti-depressives we can use. . I guess that all in all live has not been good to me. I don´t know how I got into this mess! I´m so jealous of other people´s lifes here on WP. Basically I stay the whole day at my house doing nothing. We are going to visit other psychiatrist to get a different opinion but I don´t think there will be major differences concerning what other psychiatrists would do. He said that electroshocks today are safe and are not like the older electroshocks but I don´t know what this mean!

I have seen people who have had ECT in the past, both before and after treatment. The difference is remarkable; they have gone from being virtually paralysed with depression to completely normal, or near enough.

That said, from what I've seen, it's usually used on patients whose depression is so bad that they cannot eat or move. If you are capeable of typing away coherently, I would not be so hasty to recommend it. However, I''m not your psychiatrist and I don't know exactly how bad your depression is.

If you decide to go ahead with ECT (and it is your choice, unless you have been sectioned), it's not as scary as it sounds. You wil be given anaesthetic and a muscle relaxant, so it won't hurt. The treatment is very quick and most people have about 6 cycles (more or less depending on whether the symptoms resolve).

Today's ECT is a lot safer. The most common side effect is the loss of some memory, but not all patients get this and usually, if the depression is severe enough to require ECT, it's seen as a small price to pay.

I think it is a far off possibility, the ECT. And there are many more meds to try, perhaps there will be one that works well for you.

before you go the ECT route, if i were you i would at least ask around for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation trials. far fewer side fx.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

I hope that they can find more meds for you, before they do ECT.

ECT has a pretty good track record, if you have a good doctor it could be the solution.
Good luck.

I've known 3 people in real life who had ECT.

All showed remarkable improvement in the first two months. But they lost their memories. The one you had to tell him your name every single day.

And within a few more months, all 3 of them were depressed again. So the results were short-lived.

Two more suggestions, take you can take them for what they're worth.

Is it possible you're overmedicated right now? Cutting down may increase depression in the short-time but may bring good results long-term.

I know you'll think I'm totally and completely whacky, but do you eat gluten? If so, you might notice some improvement if you stop eating that. Yes, it will seem extreme, but isn't it worth trying before suffering memory loss and the effects of ECT? Edited to add it will take about 4-6 days of withdrawal feelings from gluten, about 2 weeks of being completely GF to see improvement in your emotional state, and 3 weeks for things to get pretty good.

why would anyone use that, especially in this day and age.

if you do not want to undergo this treatment, no one is allowed to force you

Also, it can take up to 6 weeks for some meds to work. If you are being moved from med to med, are you getttng a long enough time to see if they do anything?

Thank you for all your posts! I´m feeling better after reading them. If ECT has worked with other people as Lene said maybe it could work with me too. I hope they have more meds but they don´t seem to be working with me! . I don´t think that this technology is available here where I live yet auntblabby. Losing the memory seems to be bad thing. . I´m not going to try the GF diet Athenacapella but thanks for the advice anyway! I think the psychiatrists waits long enough before he changes the meds zen_mistress. He is careful. He said that only after one month with a med on the maximum dose without any response that he could change it. We spend last year entirely trying the meds Pristic and Effexor. Now this year we are trying Lexapro also without any results. . It is that I miss my old life so much! Like reading, studying, and going out with friends, things that I can´t do anymore! I would give anything to have it back.

Thanks for all your posts!