yes, I've been treated with electric shocks as you call them (ECT or EST..depending where you are)

some questions: how old are you? The younger you are the less advisable this last resort treatment is, in my experience

also: how many medications of combinations of meds have you tried so far with this 'depressive episode that won't go away'??

Are you extremely suicidal- as in have already carried out 'non survivable suicide attempts' recently (this would give such drastic & controversial & often damaging (long term) treatments as ECT greater weight as an option for your treatment

If few or none of the above fit- recommend you consult with other pdoc's before electing for this risky treatment option- it does help 'some' in the short term (ECT) no study anywhere demonstrates this temporary reprieve from depression lasts very long (hence need for life long maintenance treatments for so many-that are very disorientating, for many again

I lost 5-7 years of memory permanently after ECT & the doctors who gave it to me have since apologised to me & told me I acquired profound memory loss/brain damage (not just retrograde- also with forming new memories & more)

Someone who works in NYC with my sister (I have corresponded with him, incidentally- we had very similar experiences) anyhow, he wrote a book about the damage he incurred from ECT (he lost 12 years of memory)

I could go on. If you are at death's door, perhaps, after researching ECT to ensure you can make a decision with truly informed consent then you may choose to do ECT.

If you can hold on a while longer despite your depression then I urge you to try another doctor & get a second opinion & find out what other drug combinations you could try.

as for 'is it effective' - so so many people who have had ECT go on to suicide; if you want names I can kick you quite a few

ECT is a short term balm..once it wears off you still need to find med combo that can bring you out of these lows & keep you out of them.

I have not but my mother had them years ago and she lost alot of memory too......

I'm not totally against ECT but it would be my very very last resort, like iif I was in a catonic depression of something of the like!

I do hope you feel better soon!

Not me but I have X that had them and in truth she was worse off after the fact but I think it depends on how bad you are going in

I strongly object to ECT. I know it's been helpful (moderately) for some, but I've seen the results horrifically impact the lives of survivors (and I do not use that term lightly). During one hospitalisation I was on a ward where ECT was used frequently on "severely depressed" patients. I don't know who wouldn't be serverely despressed after being subjected to a "treatment" that caused them to return to their rooms (returned by wheelchair) drooling, muddle-brained messes.

Men and women I'd held conversations with, shared experiences and memories with were returned to the ward often unable to speak coherently for days after treatment. Some couldn't remember their own names, and had lost chunks of significant memories and who knows if they were ever able to rebuild the neurological connections needed for recall. One heartbreaking moment occured during the weekly visit of one patient's wife. She came faithfully, but the hospital staff was very careful to make sure she was not visiting on ECT days or right after. Someone messed up the scheduling so her husband had ECT the day before. He was wheeled into the visiting area (again drooling, head sagging because he lacked the muscle control in his neck to support his head) and he didn't know who she was. He couldn't articulate well, but he was sure she was a stranger. Two days previously he'd pulled out her picture during a group session and bragged about how lovely she was, how she'd supported him, and was a wonderful mother to their two grown sons. They'd been married straight out of high school and he was looking forward to his release so they could belatedly celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary. If I hadn't been convinced before, the aftermath of that visit would have sold me on the evils of ECT. He was heartbroken when he realised what she'd seen and how unresponsive he'd been. He also admitted that he'd lost chunks of his memory, but was too ashamed and embarassed to ask about what he was now missing.

And a dear friend's youngest sister was treated with ECT in her teens. A very very poor decision on the part of her parents and clinician. In the aftermath she experienced increased suicidal ideation, lost so much time and memory that a previously bright (if depressive) young woman was unable to scrape up the concentration and will to even complete high school. I firmly believe that her disorders were debilitating, but feel that repeated ECT while her brain was still developing is what has ruined her life.

If I GET worse - long term severe depression, suicide seems my only solution....

I have made the decision, in a good place, with lots of research - I will have ECT.

For me, you cannot make decision in Crisis - I try to have my Plan B's ready, before I need them - to decrease hard choices..... There are a LOT of success stories - as well as horror.

ECT has come a LONG way, since it was an actual theory or abuse. Carrie Fisher wrote a good book about her journey, and it shares the Good, the bad and the ugly - with much insight and laughter.

I think its hard to get good feed back, because so many people - hate it, and want to Pass that Word - more than the people who benefited, and did well... they are quiet, living with a better life.....

Thnx for ur replies , I will NEVER undertake that treatment .

I've done 3 cycles and it saved my life, literally. I've had Bipolar for 24 years and have 5 suicide attempts and 3 inpatient stays to my credit. Two of the stays were involuntarily the last was voluntary, finally got smart enough to check myself in BEFORE I swallowed the bottle of pills and cut my wrists. Spent 8 weeks in the hospital, started ECT inpatient, finished it outpatient and it saved my life. It was the only thing that broke the depression. I've been on every med, literally EVERY med there it. I'm stable on meds again now, that was the last quarter of 2010, but I'll do it again if I have to.

The side effects were small for the price of what I got for it. I don't remember much of 2010. But I took my Pdocs advice and wrote down important info. and memories down before the procedure so I have it, I just can't find it in my head.

Good Luck.

Kat

I've had ECT in the past. After about 8 treatments, I absolutely lost it, when my Dad took me home, I kept saying this isn't where we live, lets go home meaning my previous home. I didn't realize why I wasn't working, I'm on ssdi, thought my grandmom who had past several years before was still alive, luckily the next day I became aware of reality. Did however lose some memory, and yes depression persists.
Did it as a last resort, been on many med combos, hospitalized many times, several suicide attempts, but my advise is not to have it, in my opinion it is inhumane, and haven't heard only but one person who it helped. More negatives then positives. Good luck in whatever decision you make, and hope u feel better soon. hugs,tedi

I'm sorry it's even being considered in your case, zeinna. I've heard conflicting reports as to the efficacy of this procedure. However it does work for some and their still able to focus on their work and/or studies.

Me? The mere thought sends a jolt through my whole system....and I'm not talking the good good vibrations of kundalini.

Any one that willingly accepts this procedure as an alternative have both my sympathy and admiration...not to mention stones bigger than this bolder that sits up upon on my shoulders.

Best of luck to you, whatever you decide.

fdl

Im in the hospital now and a girl in my class has had ten sessions and said it is great. If the hospital dont work for me thats where Im headed.

if you do elect to have ECT - then unilateral is safer (w/memory) than bilateral ECT

Ginawonders- my pdoc works at a teaching (mental) hospital that does lots of studies on ECT (& lots of ppl are given it). Actually, there are still major problems with the memory fallout with newer forms of ECT ..it's an ongoing issue. Not just a 'scare campaign'

http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/life/shock-value-20121112-297v6.html

Carrie Fisher isn't the best example as she freely admits her memory is shit, that she's addicted to 'the feeling' of the anaesthetics (she is a recovering addict, so that fits) & she's a very wealthy woman who can afford to not live in the real world & have paid assistants/home help 'think' & do for her

After having read all of the posts and seeing though others eyes I just want to thank you all for contributing your thoughts and experiences on this subject. It means a lot to me. oxo

nn, thanks for the link, I needed that. I'm willing to admit that The Bell Jar and a six worded hollywood "shock value story" closed my mind on this issue. I've leaned on a few pasture fences to know that's enough to back you off, but I've also experienced the numbing paralysis caused by an arc welder or even a car battery so my mind was shut pretty tight.

After reading the link you provided, you do seem on the fence with this issue yourself, and I think I'll join the other birds on the wire and watch for a while yet. It's not like an oxygen bar to be certain but who knows what lies down the road.

Seems people, especially those administering the treatment, must proceed with great care and serious caution.

I would consider it if I don't get back up off my haunches by my 55th year. This is just a few snip-its I took from the piece as I read it. I went for the more biased side to help bring balance to an unbalanced view of this possible and plausible treatment.

I did find the beginning riveting. Intrusive thoughts that any sane person can have but a civilized mind would dismiss...perhaps to do with her post par tum issues.

Yet she seemed to become worse once she began a course of medication. I'm kinda skeptical of the ease with which these decision may have been made. Chicken and egg thing I s'pose.

But yes thank you for the link, and the introduction to it's source. The fist bit here I saved because it just seems to sum up the human condition so succinctly.

[ And yet the sheer array of experiences - good, bad and horrific - make risk-benefit analysis fiendishly difficult, particularly as some people inherently cope better than others. ]

[ "They told me, 'There are negatives.' I said, 'Like what?' And they said, 'With short-term memory; you might not remember all your time here.' And I said, 'What, and you mean that's a bad thing?'"]

[ "I also tell all my patients that I have bipolar. Some people don't come back, but for every one that leaves, you pick up a dozen who hear about you and like the frankness. It helps them relax.]

[ "We know a lot about how it works," Loo says. "But it's like a billion-piece jigsaw puzzle. Just because I can't tell you where every single piece goes doesn't mean the treatment isn't valid.
Besides, she says, no-one understands exactly how a general unaesthetic works, but "you wouldn't have your leg amputated without one".]

[ He is not 100 percent, he says, but he's no longer suicidal. He can talk. He's back to eating. The ECT has given him, "an opportunity to be, to be..." He pauses. "Well, it gives you light at the end of the tunnel.

It gives you an opportunity to be better, I say.

"Yes, that's it," he says, with a flicker of a smile. "Better."]