Bipolar Disorder Support Group
Bipolar disorder is not just a single disorder, but a category of mood disorders marked by periods of abnormally high energy and euphoria, often accompanied by bouts of clinical depression. This is the place to talk about your experience with bipolar disorder, learn from others' experiences, and find support.
My doctor told me to consider ECT today since we are running out of medical options. What do you all think of ECT, pro and con. This is prob the hardest decision I will ever make in my life and I just don't know what to do. My dad says no while my mom says we will sit down and talk bout it. Me personally am sick of med after med making me worse and yea I want to find a cure but is this really going to help or will it hurt me more??? The questions and worry in my head won't stop but of course the outside of me is just showing a hard ass person that can handle this. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
I'm sorry that I can't give you any more info than this.
I had memory problems before I began ECT treatment, so it's hard to say what has been lost and I do still have memory problems, what was from before to what I attribute to ect. Most of the memory loss I have is pretty much around time of the treatment but I was pretty medicated throughout. I have some difficulty with recall and new trouble with spelling that I never had before.
I was treated with the bi-frontal procedure. My doctor says it is a better option because it misses some of the emory parts of the brain. But goes through the frontal lobe.
I had 10 sessions over the holiday period last year while inpatient.
I was better coming out but started to go manic, which we blamed on the drugs, so drugs changed again.
The treatment has a limited benefit and is expected to be effective for about 6-8 weeks. In this time the doctor should be working on getting the drugs straightened out.
ECT is not a silver bullet, but has it's place in therapy when absolutely neccessary. Some see it as a more common treatment, not just the last resort.
Go to ect.org to get the bad side, maybe a couple of good stories. Be aware of the possible side-effects to this treatment. Don't let your doctor gloss over the negative side effects and expound only on the positive.
For all this, I have been turning down 'maintanence ECT.' Maybe next month.
Again, get the bad stuff as well as the good stuff. Hope this helps...and like Trippy, you can message me if you need to talk about this.
I'm sorry you're running out of medication options. Yes, it will be a very hard decision. I know it helps to hear some personal stories, but bear in mind that you will only hear from a few people, and their stories may not be representative. Go to pubmed.com, and search the scientific articles for efficiency, safety, side-effects, etc. of ECT. That should paint a more objective picture for you, and it will include the stuff the doc may gloss over.