[Chloe Dancer]

So just out of second stay in ED residential treatment for Bulimia and also diagnosed with Bi polar, depression is treatment resistant.... I am irritable.. Tired, angry, hurt... The Facility I was at in Florida was horrible and made me worse....

I am a former Marine, Marathon Runner, drug addict , sky diver, I ride Harley Davidson's ... ( on my 4th).. And had several bad wrecks... I have tried to go to College ( can't, my brain doesn't work well enough to finish, can't think in complete thoughts)....I buy self help books left and right, read and color... Regardless.... My main issue is that I binge and purge, lots and lots.. My bulimia Is and has been my life... I have done a lot in my life to try and recover and heal myself and it hasn't worked... I still suffer and make everyone around me miserable.... And I DONT WANT THAT !!!!! I am tired of hurting my family
So now I am considering ECT
I have a wonderful man who doesn't understand and tries, and I am just tired, and my body is broken... Does ANYONE have any experience with this? Please

I've had ECT for psychotic depression, I've had 51 treatments. It partially removed the psychosis but hasn't done anything for my mood. It did leave me with severe amnesia to the point that I barely remember anything from my life before the treatments.

[Sunflower123]

You might get more posts if you posted in the bipolar and depression forums. Best wishes.

I have had ECT before, during the lowest of my depressions. It worked better than any medication I've been on. If it were not for the memory loss side effects, I might still be doing maintenance treatments to this day.

ECT is a treatment usually for depression. I don't believe it would help the other issues you speak of unless they are tied directly to the depression.

If you are considering it for depression I thoroughly believe in it.

[pachyderm]

The Other Treatments forum has had discussion of ECT a number of times. You might look at past discussions there:

https://forums.psychcentral.com/other-treatments/

[mugwort2]

I think it be a smart move to read objective pros and cons on ECT. IOW the positive side and the negative so you can make an informed decision . Good luck to you.

Personally I credit the procedure with giving my life back. I had no problems with the procedure itself. Nothing to be scared about. Starting an IV was the extent of my apprehension.

Positives: by the second treatment I was already feeling a little better, it is now two years since and I've had no major depression since

Negatives: my memory of the 8 week period of my life during which I underwent treatments is a little sketchy but other than that short time my memory hasn't been affected.

My neck and muscles were a tad bit sore after the first treatment - a little alike having gone too far on a hike the day before. That was it. I was up right after the procedure.

My only advice is to see if they will let you do this as an in-patient. It's a lot less stressful that way.