What are your experiences with ECT

[Bjmm]

Hi. I im 56 yo and very sick with anxiety and depression symptoms. 9 years ago I started ECT treatments, but then a visiting doctor in the hosp psych unit I was in at the time told my husband and I to stop the treatments and we listened to him. I have been suffering and struggling with severe anxiety and depression since then. My life is currently unmanageable and not really life at all. Im barely existing. Im thinking I have to try ECT again to have any chance to do basic daily activities.. Im wondering what your experience has been like with ECT? Has it helped? How old you are? How often? Side effects? P.S. I think I had 7 treatments and I just remember the doctor saying to my husband, "do you want her to get to where she forgets her own name?" TIA

[Dave_H]

I would be happy to share my experience with ECT (37 treatments total over a 20 year period). However, I was wondering if you are able/willing to post a little more specific information regarding your past experience with ECT? Namely;

A) You say in your post that you had 7 treatments 9 years ago. Do you recall over how long a period of time you had those treatments? In my experience, ECT is generally administrated 3 times a week (Mon,Wed,Fri) during any given 'series'.

B) What, if any, effects did YOU observe as a result of the 7 treatments that you had, both negative and positive, if any?

C) What, or who, determined that the treatments were to be stopped?

D) This is probably the most important point. Do you recall, or can you find out, whether or not the treatments were 'unilateral' or 'bilateral'? If this sounds confusing, I would suggest you try Googling 'unilateral vs bilateral' ECT.

[Bjmm in reply to Dave_H]

Thanks for your reply Dave. I do have memory issues, but to be honest I don't know if I can attribute it to the ECT treatments or not bc I was very sick for a long time prior to receiving ECT and after do its hard for me to discern exactly when I had the awareness of memory problems. I cannot remember anything from raising our five kids unless I see a pic and then I can recall the circumstances around that event.I inquired w hosp records recently and found out I had bilateral ECT. I am familiar w unilateral vs bilateral. All I recall is a very kind Chinese doctor is the one who persuaded my husband and I to stop the treatments. I have multiple diagnoses, complex ptsd, major depression, add, dissociative disorder. For quite some time my life has been extremely difficult, unmanageable really. The depression and anxiety is unbearable. I have no memory concerns in my day to day life. I do work one day a week as a home care registered nurse. I think what's holding me back from ECT even though I think I desperately need it and have medication resistant depression is the fear of my memory being affected. Thanks again for your reply Dave.

[Dave_H in reply to Bjmm]

Sorry to hear that you are struggling so much. I know what that is like. I too have treatment resistant depression, along with a number of other problems, including debilitating insomnia.

Before I go into my ECT experience, I am just wondering if you have looked into other, non medication treatments. Therapy, of course, comes to mind. There is also Ketamine Infusion. You can look this up on the web. I tried it 6 years ago; I had 10 treatments total, and it was covered by insurance. Unfortunately, it did not help me, but it's an option to consider. Then there is Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, or TMS. I had a total of 20 of these treatments, but again, no personal success. If you haven't done so already, I would encourage you to at least look into these as possibilities. Both are done on an out-patient basis. With the Ketamine, they pretty much insist that you have someone to drive you home afterwards. With TMS, it's like going to the dentist. You sit in the chair, the position the emitter over your head, do the treatment, and you get up and leave. My TMS treatments were 5 days a week for 4 weeks. They proved ineffective, and I wound up being hospitalized.

On to ECT. I have had a total of 37 treatments over the last 20 years. In 2001, I self admitted to the hospital for ECT for my depression. I had 3 inpatient and 3 outpatient treatments. They were all bilateral. I saw no improvement, although it was an admittedly short 'series'. The downside was the memory effects, which were not 'severe' but definitely bothersome. The second series was in 2008. I had a total of 17 treatments during that series, which was eventually halted by the administering doctor due to lack of response. All treatments were unilateral, and I did not experience much, if any, memory issues. I was, however, extremely fatigued for several months afterward.

I tried again during a hospitalization (I've had 16 in the last 20 years) in 2017, which also included medication changes. I was scheduled for 9-12 treatments, but decided to ask for discharge after 6 treatments. All were unilateral, and I experienced no side effects.

The last time was in 2019, where I was scheduled for 9 treatments. Again, I opted to be discharged after 8 treatments since I wasn't experiencing any improvement, and again no noticeable side effects.

While my story may be discouraging, please don't assume your experience will be the same.

Hope this is of some help.