ECT

I am still hating partial. I cannot stand listening to peoples' problems for hours.
I abruptly left yesterday...swearing that I would never return. However, I was threatened with hospitalization.

When I met with the psychiatrist, she said that it could take up to a month for the Lamictal to start working. She mentioned the possibility of starting ECT as a bridge to keep me going until the meds work. I have had ECT before. I lost my memory big time. But, she said that there is a way to do it with a different
anesthesia and only shocking a certain part of the brain. This scares me.
She also wants me to go inpatient for my first treatments.

Has ECT worked for you? Have you ever had treatments that don't affect your memory?

Thanks

I haven't had it and I have heard mixed reports. Like meds, I am sure it is different for each person who has it. What I do know is that when i was inpatient, there was a doctor who did a medication ed group and the topic of ect came up. He said that it is just about the best way to get someone out of a serious episode. There was also a woman there who was inpatient because she was having treatments several times each weeks and she said that it made her feel much better.

Hey Iam sorry that you are going through with this huggs

I have had two rounds of ECT (17 treatments total). My pdoc did right unilateral treatments and I had very little memory loss. He also had me take aricept and namenda to help preserve my memory.

I have had 3 series of ECT treatments. The first time I probably only had about 12 treatments, just a few more the second time. With the third time, I started with 3 treatments a week for two weeks, once a week for quite a while, tapering slowly to once every four weeks for at least six months. The treatments started the end of May 2009 and ended the first week of October 2010. I feel very lucky as the treatments worked and I had very little memory loss. About 5 weeks after the last treatment I was under stress, became very anxious and then started slipping into depression. Since my meds were cut when I started ECT, we increased my Cymbalta from 30 mg to 90mg and I have regained stability for now. If needed, I can go back to ECT without regret.