ECT as a treatment option

forestx5 said:

I had ECT in 2014. I had a session every other day for 2 weeks. I was 57 at the time. I had suffered recurrent episodes of major depressin since the age of 17. At 17, I experienced an intense sequence

of temporal lobe seizures (approximately 30 discharges in 3 minutes). My post-ictal psychosis segued into an affective disorder of major depression. I was in my 5th such episode at age 57. My episodes

featured severe insomnia, anxiety with weight loss of 30lbs, and the assortment of depressive symptoms including dp/dr. I also suffered frequent ocular migraines and focal temporal lobe seizures over the 40 years

I remained undiagnosed and improperly treated. I diagnosed myself in 2012, from information I found in British Neurological journals. I then had clinical tests which confirmed my self diagnosis. American neurology

is behind Britian in this area, as US neurologists have "bigger fish to fry" as I was once told by a US neurologist who never even offered me an EEG which would have shown I was epileptic.

Back to ECT. So, I had 7 induced seizures. The procedure was straightforward and simple. IV in hand. General anasthetic administered through IV. Unconscious for a brief period. No noticeable after effects.

After the last session, I drove myself home. I did have some slight short term memory impairment, which quickly resolved. It was inconsequential. I have not had a depressive episode since, and I do not feel I will

ever have another episode of major depression. The ECT changed something. for the better. I haven't taken a psych med for a year, after being on them for 25 years.

ECT is THE most effective treatment for major depression. It is probably THE safest treatment option. ECT has undergone significant refinement over the previous decades. Anything you think you know about it, is probably false.

I know people who have maintenance ECT monthly, on an outpatient basis. They go to the hospital in the morning, have ECT, and resume their normal day.

I suffered a wide range of symptoms with my epileptic syndrome comorbid with major depression.

They are all gone, save the occasional ocular migraine headache. Thanks to ECT.

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Chip1021 said:

I've had a total of 20 sessions of ECT. Didn't do a thing for me.

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