I have had ect treatments two different times since being diagnosed 17 years ago. Both times saved my life. I received ect for drug resistant psychosis, i dont know if that is a real thing but my psychosis resisted all the drugs. The first time I got treatments i had been in psychosis for 2 years with no break, they were preparing to send me to an institution....ect saved me. It took probably two months going into ect 3 days a week before i decided to just stick with medication. I did take medication throughout ect as well. I became lucid shortly after treatments began..maybe two or three treatments and my thoughts were clear. I still had other manic symptoms for maybe three weeks or so later.
The second time i had ect treatments was a few years later....here's the thing, i dont think this is ect related because it didnt start happening until years after and another long lasting psychosis episode, but the memory of that time in my illness and treatment is next to nil. I will get to what i think about memory loss due to ect and this illness as well, but now i will try to piece together my second major episode that led to ect. I believe this episode was Mixed to begin withI had manic aspects; I was easily agitated, I become mean to my oldest daughter, i just recently learned this by talking with her...I find this odd because in my episodes I trust her most. I think because I also expect her for some reason to understand me, unfortunately this started when she was only 10 and no one could understand me.....Sorry got side tracked, back to other signs i was having...I had need no sleep for days, etc. I also was experiencing looping suicidal thoughts and ideations, and eventually comes delusions, hallucinations leading to psychosis that this time lasted about a year and half. I am always trying the medication route first and I did this time but it didnt take long till i chose ect again...it was harder this time because i was touch and go with reality so they needed me to be clear enough to concent. Once again a couple of treatments and i was out of psychosis and no longer delusional, I kept going to ect for about six to seven months, before deciding i was done. ( each time i chose to stop it was with the pdocs ok)
ECT is an effective treatment, I am alive and but for one more major episode involving psychosis (the length of psychosis was shorter but psychotic features existed for about a year. This epoisode I chose to treat with medication alone and eventually it worked. Though effective there is one major side effect that you are warned about prior to treatment is the short term memory loss. this lasts on an average of a couple months, I did experience this, I experienced lots of things with my memory and mind. Would or will I get Ect ever again because of this? HELL YES! I have a theory about my memory and mind that has caused far more harm than ect did, unless perhaps ect is a part of it (still pro ect), I am brain damaged. It took the last episode free years to learn this mostly by my own experiences and a little research in the internet. Bipolar in itself has been proven to cause brain damage throughout its progression and prolonged psychosis is also known to cause brain damage. Aha!
I dont know if ECT treatments can lead to other forms of memory issues, but i have issues with my memory in general now and thought processes, there is no proof that ect causes this but... as i elluded to earlier it could be a result of all three, ect/bipolar/psychosis, that I have these issues. I would like stated in an earlier post, strongly recommend ect to someone but i would use it as a near last option.
Interesting fact ECT has the least amount of side effects of any other treatment.
OH I forgot,i major side effect i get is a horrific migraine as i am coming out of anesthesia,,,my docs put migraine medicine in my iv prior to starting the procedure and have a pain med for me when i open my eyes....i believe they used unilateral on me because of these migraines, because they had tried bilateral in the beginning.
thanks for your time