Ect

[Sanji1801]

Hi, I have just signed up. For the last few years I have suffered from severe depression. I have been prescribed numerous antidepressants.. But nothing has worked. I have to be watched all the time . Can't live like this for much longer. So now they are talking about Ect. I have to go and visit the act suite. I cannot speak about openly as it has a massive stigma.

Just don't know what to do

[WeightWarrior]

Hi there, I'm so sorry to hear you are having it so bad. I do not have depression to that depth, so I cannot speak from experience at all. Your post reminded me that I had recently watched something about depression in which a chap was interviewed who had undergone a course of ECT, and I remembered the outcome was very positive indeed. They interviewed different people about various elements of depression and treatments, and the people were very honest in their answers. I went and searched it out before I replied to you so I could be sure about what I was saying to you. It was a long programme about various things so I decided to just quote a couple of the bits which I thought you might find interesting and hopefully reassuring regarding ECT...

"...I woke up in recovery and I had no idea where I was, but I FELT GREAT!"

"The treatment changed his life..." (just to clarify, it changed for the better!)

Additionally, the narrator/interviewer talked to a British Psychiatrist, who said,

"For those with severe depression it works better than any existing drug". ("it" being ECT)

Obviously your medical team will be able to talk you through pros and cons in great detail. I can only imagine how you might be feeling about things right now, but I pray that whatever course of action arises in your treatment, it helps you and that you start to get better again. I hope these snippets of information I picked up "straight from the horse's mouth", so to speak, might be helpful in some way. Sending you big hugs and wishing you all the very best xx

[Sanji1801 in reply to WeightWarrior]

Thank you so much for your reply. I have an appointment on Monday to visit the Ect suite. My mum and sister are going with me, as I will need their full support. At the moment they are not saying to much., but they Know I cannot take any more. Something has to give .i feel so so angry that this has happened to me.

Once again I thank you for replying and I will let you no what the outcome is.

[Photogeek in reply to Sanji1801]

hi Sanjii and best of luck. I'm not sure where you are from, but

There is no reason to be ashamed about Depression, being ashamed

Will make you feel worse, it's just another illness, so forget about

The Stigma etc, as we are living in modern times not the dark ages.

I had a few friends who had ECT and they said it really helped and apart from temporary memory loss they felt much much better. You

Are lucky you have family to support you. My family are not a bit

Supportive to me. So please see it as a positive thing.

Let us know how it goes.

Hannah

[Sanji1801]

Thank you Hannah I will let you know how I get on. It is just a visit to let. Myself mum and sister see the actual suite. I would be a liar to say that I was not scared.but I feel that i have to go ahead as my condition is very severe. There will be a lot of test,s done to me before this is done, but the first step has been taken.

I need my life back Hannah. As this is no life that .i have a son who recently got married and how got threw that God only knows. He lives in London so ,which is good because I can shield him from this . I don't want to tell him about the Ect . Don't know why. But he will see a difference in me .i look like a bag of bones . So i wil have to explain the reason for this.

Once again thank you ,and I will let you know x

[Lizbett]

Just wanted to wish you the very best of luck in beating this thing!

Please keep us posted and let us know how you're faring.

Peace x

[Olderal]

It certainly still carries a large stigma but things are very slowly improving. Is there really noone you can share a little of the burden with . Some one who's confidence you trust.

Finding the right drugs or even sometimes a good GP or Psychiatrist is sometimes not easy. I am not a doctor but in hindsight I doubt that any ADs worked for me altho I always came out of depression after about 6 months.

If ADS are not helping after six months I would suggest that you might have Bipolar illness. Not the end of the world, so do a lot of others including me. If you do not have a competent GP they may well miss this and if it has n't been discussed you should certainly mention it or even consider changing your GP. Psychyatrists are even, in my experience, more likely to be incompetent-their subject is so difficult.

Prolonged depression is awful but there almost certainly exist drug and therapy treatments that will help you, its finding them thats difficult sometimes. I'm no medic but these days ECT is seen as the last resort , but I understand it usually works but personally I would prefer not to have it if drug and therapy treatment can be found that works.

One thing you'll need and obviously have, for any treatment is your own courage to fight this illness. It is awful but over time,sometimes a long time, your treatments will improve ,and you will become better at fighting it and eventually reach the stage where you accept your condition and control it, and maybe even welcome it. That may seem impossible to believe but after many years of agony I have reached that stage for say 80% of the time.

Wishing you well.

Olderal