dissociation after electroconvulsive therapy?

Hello,

Back in January I began having ECT treatments for depression. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, ECT is a treatment in which a doctor puts you to sleep, places electrodes on your head and essentially shocks your brain in order to induce a seizure. The treatment is thought to "reset" a part of the brain involved with depression.

The treatment worked for a few weeks, and I felt much better emotionally. However, I began to notice that I was doing everything much more slowly and in a very detached way, as if I was constantly "spacing out". I had become emotionally very numb, even toward my family. I had lost the ability to genuinely laugh.

I also lost a significant amount of social skills, such as the ability to tell which way someone intends to walk and divert your path so you don't get in their way. I also began to feel very uncomfortable with eye contact, and I have a lot of trouble understanding even the simplest instructions.

My depressive symptoms returned soon after, and I was put on Fetzima and Remeron. My dose of Adderall was also increased, but the "spacey-ness" and detachment never let up.

I quit taking both the Fetzima and the Remeron 5 weeks ago, hoping that it would help lift the fog. It has not. Luckily, however, my depressive symptoms have remained under control.

Could anyone shed some light on what may be causing this, or what steps i may be able to take to fix it? I take Adderall 40mg in the morning, which helps me to wake up, but has no bearing me socially, mentally or emotionally.

I'd appreciate any feedback anyone might have.

here in NY (the one in the USA as opposed to other locations) this is no longer considered dissociation, its now called treatment/medication side effects. spaciness, memory problems, feeling numb, lack of affect(inability to show emotions) is part of side effects from ECT, here before ECT is done the treatment provider and client go through an information paperwork that explains all the side effects and to not worry about them, some are temporary, some are more long term but after care /therapy will address those side effects and how to get through the side effects.

maybe you and your therapist can go over things again, sometimes because of side effects a person who gets ECT does not always remember the pre- treatment paperwork, signatures and such. your treatment providers can show you the paperwork you had to sign before treatment started and help you to understand the side effects you are having and how to get through them and help you to develop strategies / coping tools to compensate for the longer term side effects.

As for your medications again your treatment providers can go through them with you again and even write the information down so that you know what they are for and what side effects you have are from them and which ones are from the ECT.

only your treatment providers can tell you what steps you need to do to take care of the side effects/problems you are having.

You've got to get back in to the doc and see - I'm sorry you are going through this!!!
Let us know what you find out!
Take care!

I can't thank you enough for taking the time to respond! You're very right, I remember very little surrounding the procedures, but I'm sure I was informed of the risks. Thank you again, you seem very knowledgable about the treatment.