Jbug, I have heard of using certain narcotics to treat depression in people with "treatment resistant depression." This can really help people who have tried many options unsuccessfully. This is not popular in the U.S. because of the phobia against narcotics here, but you might be able to find a practitioner who could help. (Maybe a clinic that specializes in treatment resistant depression would be of help--I'm assuming you would get the ECT for depression, sorry if that is not right.)

I hope you can talk soon to the doctor whose nurse told you he wanted to do ECT. I think it is very strange that the nurse would be the one to reveal such major information to you, and over the phone too. I think the doctor needs to deliver that opinion to you in person. You are not hearing this straight from the horse's mouth. Maybe the nurse got it wrong. (At my doctor's office, one of the nurses is a total dip, and cannot get anything right. It is not even worth talking to her she is so confused and unknowledgable.)