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My mom had this done twice. It's usually a series of treatments. It was like night and day. The fog lifted and she could function again. It was a miracle. She had 3 treatments a week for 3 weeks. I took her to the treatments and took care of her the whole time.
Mom was very worried about loss of identity and memory loss. She did have some short term memory loss like what she had for lunch but that's it. After a treatment, she was usually tired and went home for a nap. Her personality stayed the same and she was the same. She said she did feel odd and sort of disconnected for 8 or 10 hours after each treatment. We could tell the difference after one treatment.
The first time lasted for about 5 years. She's still running on the second set of treatments so we don't know how long that one will last. I can tell you she was on every med imaginable and was a total zombie. Her quality of life was zero! ECT is scary but it did work for my mom.
As someone who worked in a psychiatric setting, I have seen amazing results from ECT. Patients who would basically just sit all day, too depressed to even speak, and after having a course of treatment in ECT would virtually come to life again. The first few times I witnessed people having undergone ECT is struck me as amazing: it was literally like the difference between night and day!
However, I have also seen the down side of ECT as well. My suggestion would be to make sure that anyone considering ECT should be evaluated by more than one physician; get second opinions (and even third) to make certain that one is a viable candidate for this treatment.
My MIL had ECT a few times. It worked well. Unfortunately she didn't particually like being "well." She enjoyed the attention she got when she was depressed.
As it was explained to me, and this may not be true in every case, a lot of depression and the behavior that goes along with it, is a habitual form of thought and behavior. The ECT breaks that habit for a short while. If it is done properly with therapy afterwards, it's very helpful. The person is more apt to listen to good advice if they aren't in that depressed state.
My MIL did quite well, for a while and then she decided that she wanted no more therapy. There was nothing the family could do to convince her to continue. Frankly, I think that her daughters needed it as much as she did. They certainly didn't do much to help her.
ECT is nothing like it is in the old movies. It has advanced far beyond the rather barbaric state that made it send shivers down the spine. Patients are given general anesthesia first and then monitored during the treatment and usually kept under observation for a period of time after. Voltages are now perfectly regulated and only used unilaterally rather than bilaterally as it was in the old days.
There is no pain or burning. The patient goes under anestheisa like with any surgery, and awake later and then usually sleep for a while.
I agree with june 7th though. Do get a second opinion however don't think it'll be like something out of The Bell Jar.
ECT sounds worse than it is, but I've never met anyone who has had it and didn't believe it saved their lives.
I had it done back in 1989. After 3 sessions, I experienced a hypomanic episode that lasted a few days, in which I remember very little. They stopped the treatment at that point. Otherwise, no lasting negative effects. Procedure was simple...went under anesthesia and woke up like it felt 10 minutes later...but I did experience a very wicked headache after the first treatment that went away after a few hours.
I had 13 sessions--they wanted to do 16, but it was so horrible, I refused. I have lost a huge chunk of memory, and there's no getting that back.
Try everything else, (including changing doctors!!!!!) before you do this ECT!
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