ECT Treatments

Has anybody here done ECT? If so tell me all about it. My pdoc wants me to do it and I'm having mixed feelings.

I went through ECT treatments on two different occasions when I was suicidally depressed and not responding to meds. It was life-saving for me and allowed me to go home from the hospital in a matter of days instead of a probable long-term hospitalization. No regrets.

I had the typical short-term memory loss for the period while I was going through the treatments, but memory turned back to normal once treatments were over. It is a treatment, not a cure. Understand you will still need meds most likely, and there are risks that you have to consider.

I've done it three times, all three times I was suicidally depressed for months and no medication even touched it. ECT works wonders for me. It pulls me right out of depression, though for me it takes a lot of bilateral treatments. The last time I got it in February/March and I've been stable ever since. I'm still in medication though, like lolagrace said it is not a cure.

The worst part for me is the anesthesia, it knocks me out for most of the day. The first time I did it I had a horrible headache, but after that they would give me tramadol in my iv before treatments and then I wouldn't get a headache.

I did have severe memory loss from two of the times. I forgot how to get to places I'd been going to all my life, plus I forgot things that had happened and I had a hard time forming new memories. But that side effect does go away once treatments are stopped. For me, it was a small price to pay. But it is something to consider.

For me, it took 13 bilateral treatments before I started to feel even slightly better. So if you do it, give it a fair chance.

I hope I helped. If you have specific questions let me know and I will do my best to answer them.

I had it done several years ago. It worked but I had memory loss. The headaches afterward were intense too. Eventually depression cam back for me. I see it as a treatment and not a cure.

It worked for me for a little bit but I had it 10 years ago and still have some memory loss.

I have done it twice. First time unilateral second time bilateral. Unilateral wasn't too bad just a little memory loss but the effects didn't last long. Three months later I was suicidal again and had to do the bilateral treatments. My memory loss was very bad with this round. I had to use gps to get everywhere even my parents house. Couldn't remember anything I had been doing at work. When I finally got back to work I had to relearn everything. It was a little embarrassing. It has been 7 months since my last treatment. There is still things I don't remember but my mood has been mostly ok some ups and downs. More down lately though so my pdoc wants me to get a second opinion to see if we can find something as effective as ECT. He said he doesn't think I could do maintenance ECT and keep my job.

I have been doing ECT treatments for over a year. I started with a group of 12 in the hospital (over four weeks). I now do maintenance treatments. After trying over 22 medications, none that worked, I made the hard decision to try ECT. I am on lithium, but that only balances my mood and keeps me from full-blown mania.

I will give you the good and the bad. First the good - I felt happy for the first time in my life for periods of time around my treatments. People tell me how great it is to see me look happy. I have made greater strides in therapy. I am motivated to do things.

Now the not so great: I experienced retrograde amnesia and lost the ability to form short term memories (on the plus side, the brain heals and after taking a break for 12 weeks, my brain function returned to almost normal). I have experienced a change in my sense of taste and smell. My cognitive function slowed, but healed. I suffer from extreme daytime exhaustion. I broke a couple teeth but I have poor enamel so it would have happened eventually. I have to stop crucial medications (because they are anti-seizure) and this leads to withdrawal and pain pre-treatment.

This is not an easy treatment, but for myself, the benefits are profound and worth it. Everybody is different, but if it had been recommended, it it worth trying. I still have my episodes of depression, but they rarely hit the deep, deep depths anymore and when they do, they do not last for weeks or months. I think my last tow have been thee and two days respectively.

I've had the treatments. I had a lot of them from 2009-2010 and now just when I need a maintenance treatment (had one yesterday as a matter of fact). My memory used to be VERY affected and I forgot a lot of things that happened when my kids were young as well as forgetting everything that occurred around the time of the treatments.

Despite that, I would do it again however, as nothing works quite as good as that for me.