When I received ECT for the first time, I was inpatient at the hospital for depression. We tried several meds that didn't help so ECT was the last option. I was basically not functioning, laying in bed almost all day, neglecting hygiene, and I stopped eating. They forced me to drink those Ensure drinks to get some calories in my system. I am usually an avid nail biter but I was so depressed that my nails actually started to grow...something that had not happened in ages. Once the ECT began working, the nail biting began again. [emoji14]

The unfortunate side effect of ECT is memory loss, so I cannot answer your last two questions accurately. There are some memories I'll never get back and that time of my life is a blur. I've been in remission since December of 2016. It would have been longer but I foolishly stopped 4 medications at once a few months previous to December, then in December the depression came back and I had a brief stay at the hospital to do a med change. I have been doing quite well since, aside from a re-emergence of emetophobia, but that's a whole other issue.