ECT for OCD?

[Plastic_Brain]

Hi everyone. My psychiatrist who manages my medication for OCD has suggested that one of my remaining options right now is Electroconvulsive Therapy. I'm wondering if this is effective for OCD. I'm concerned about the side effects and also the effectiveness of it for my severe OCD.

I'm 40 now and I developed OCD when I was 13 or so. I've tried cbt, erp with a lot of different good OCD doctors, and I've been on pretty much all of the medications, as my psychologist said, so it looks like I need to do something else for my treatment resistant OCD. It's hard not to get depressed, because all the counselors I saw told me that a residential OCD clinic would be best for me, but, I only have Medicaid, and, although I'm thankful for it, it doesn't cover the residential clinics. They don't usually take insurance, anyway, and because it's so expensive I don't have the money for it. That's why my doctor is suggesting ECT. He and I both think that Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation might be a good thing, but my insurance won't cover it. Anyway, sorry for this long and drawn out post, but, just wanted to put this out there and see if anyone has any input on ECT for OCD. Nice to meet everyone. Thanks!

[OCD1984]

Hi Plastic Brain, I read your post about ECT for OCD. I have had 3 sets of 12 ECT treatments in the past, and they did not do much for my OCD. I also suffered from severe depression, & that got better with the ECT, but only for a couple of months, then the depression came back. I tried TMS & like the ECT it did well for my depression, but also did surprisingly well for my OCD. But unfortunately it didn't last, & the OCD & depression came back. ECT has also left me with some short term memory loss. I am not a doctor so I can't tell you what to do like a doctor can, but speaking for myself, the ECT didn't have much effect on my OCD.

There is an OCD Treatment Center in Belmont, Massachusetts called McLean Hospital. The doctors & staff there are experts in OCD Treatment. I went there 20 years ago & did very well. You might want to look into that as a possibility.

Best of luck to you, & let me know how things work out.

David

[lml885]

ECT didn’t do much for my OCD and it caused me to have these odd overwhelming feelings of shame and depression. It helped for some of my suicidal ideation but only temporarily. I warn you that many people have experienced horrible side effects and some feel they have been forced or coerced into this. I believe doctors get kickbacks because my doctor knew OCD was a huge issue but told me to get ECT for depression. There are major memory loss issues and also lawsuits over ECT. I encourage you to look into low dose opiates like Tramadol which have been shown to help a lot off label. You can get them OTC in Mexico or some doctors here prescribe them.

[Sallyskins]

There are studies that appear to demonstrate that ECT can be effective for depression and occasionally for OCD. But there are others that have found little to support its use. I gather that the cases where it's effective are mostly OCD combined with depression.

I should do a bit more research on it before signing up for it. Someone once likened ECT to kicking a domestic appliance to get it working again, but apparently it isn't quite as bad as that and can be helpful.

In England, where I live, we have the NHS and treatment is free for all and paid for by central government. It means that we get the best and most appropriate treatment without any reference to our ability to pay.

I'm afraid that you may be fobbed off with ECT because it's cheap. It might be appropriate, it might not, but I think you're right to ask questions.

The problem with OCD is that it's such a stubborn thing to have, and CBT is so hard to do. It's tempting to try anything that might bring relief, but take care.

[OCDhell]

Hello, I don't have info on ECT, but I do have info on TMS. I went through TMS and it worked very well for my depression; however, it did not help with my OCD. With that being said, they can move the direction of the magnet to target different parts of the brain so it may work. Mine was only targeted for the depression. My insurance didn't cover it either but I was desperate so i put it on a credit card. Good Luck to you.