How many people want ECT?

Hey guys! In 2015 I did ECT for about 6 months. The side effects were the worst I've ever experienced, but it worked SO well! I really want to do it again now that my symptoms are starting back up, but I work ~60 hours per week and am a FT student so it's not possible (on the 3 days a week I had ECT I spent the entire day after the procedure in bed so I couldn't do anything on those days.)

My bf thinks I'm crazy for wanting to do it again because he watched me suffer through the side-effects for that 6 months.

If I could, I would absolutely do it again. Is there anyone else that also had a good experience with ECT? I was reading up on it again recently and was only finding all of these horror stories related to it. I can't be the only one who had a good experience, right?

I'm amazed that you work 60 hrs per week, not even considering you being a full-time student, as well. I worked 60 hrs per week and took one college class at my very best. It's hard to figure how you even fit meals and sleep into your life. Anyway, I've had ECT in the past with horrible memory issues. It did alleviate my severe stubborn depression. I would have it again, but only as a last resort treatment. Are you so eager to have it again because you see it as a quick fix?

I didn't know you could get ECT for bipolar.

The secret is that I don't get enough sleep and I eat a lot of fast food lol and honestly, yeah. It worked and lasted for almost two years. The side effects were horrible but that was only while I was doing it. Now I'm getting back into medication land and remembering how awful many of them are.

You can if you suffer from bad depressive episodes. I did the 6 month stint for a really bad depressive episode, and I've had it done once or twice in hospitals during really bad manic episodes (it's more of a last resort for mania as it isn't usually effective for it.)

I've thought about ECT due to the fact so many medications haven't worked, and the doctors have briefly brushed upon it. Not sure what they'll do if the current cocktail doesn't work.

I e done ECT three times, all for severe, unrelenting depression that no med would touch. Like you, I think it totally sucks while I’m doing it but it works so well that I would not hesitate to do it again, but only as a last resort because I just feel like **** the days that it’s done. Plus I wouldn’t be able to work.

I would be concerned about the memory loss that can occur.

I've never done it although if you read Carrie Fisher's memoir "Shockaholic" she talks about how it did wonders for her bipolar but it absolutely wrecked her memory. I've been interested, as I'm beginning to feel more and more hopeless about fixing this depression, but my memory is already bad lol.

I was not responding well to medications or TMS so eventually acquiesced to ECT. The initial intensive treatment did indeed wreak havoc on the memory, but that has improved with time. I started sometime in the early-middle of 2015 and have continued to have maintenance treatments every few weeks ever since then. I have found that now that the procedures are only coming every four weeks my memory doesn't suffer so much. For example, I was reading a book last week, but had ECT on Friday, the 17th. Where in the past the plot details would be lost, this week I could recall everything and even finished the book today.

I would like to say that I, too, spend the remainder of the day in bed after ECT. However, I would like to point out that it's not so much a result of the treatment itself as it is of the anesthesia that we are so wiped out.

Anyhow, to answer simply: No, you're not the only one to have a positive experience with ECT. I get it every four weeks and would not do if it were not beneficial.

Feel free to PM me with questions, anyone. Or conversation and reflection from fellow ECT veterans.

Thank you for sharing your experience, I'm glad it is positive! May I ask what TMS is?

I would only consider it as a last resort if my meds weren't working...too afraid of the side effects...

TMS stands for transcranial magnetic stimulation. With this they place a powerful electromagnet against the skull to target neurons that need a jump start. It pulses about once every 45 seconds, if I remember correctly, for an hour at a time. This goes on three times a week for a month or more. Like any treatment, different people respond differently.

Pdoc told me ECT was best used when having extreme down moods (severe depression). So, none for me. But, I did update my mental health directive to include the use of ECT if Haldol doesn't work (in emergency situations).

Spoke with one of the experimental team members (most recent tests at Duke University) and was told that their preliminary results show that TMS doesn't work with Bipolar patients. There is another treatment being tested (was a part of this group), rTMS. It didn't change anything for me. I don't think the voltage is high enough to do much.

I went through ECT on two different occasions due to severe depression that was not responding to medications. It saved my life. Yes, there were some temporary side effects with memory during treatment, but I had no long-term memory problems and returned to work with no issues.

Would I do it again? ONLY if I was in that kind of severe shape, on a brief course of 9-12 treatments, then stop. Personally, I wouldn't do it as a maintenance treatment. First, it's way too disruptive to my routine. It does kill the day for certain and I can't afford that much time off from work (I was able to do my ECT during months when I was off from work so it didn't disrupt work. I couldn't do it during my work months -- I'm a teacher.) Secondly, even with insurance, it can be expensive depending on deductible and out-of-pocket financial responsibilities. Third, even though I never had long-term side effects, I am still wary of them and highly respectful of that potential risk.

It does not seem worth it to me because of the side effects

Just depends on how bad you are feeling. The side effects may be outweighed by the benefit.