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.
I know there are a few of you out there who have had it. Since ECT my memory is shot. No big surprise, but I signed consent for losing "up to several months prior to treatment"....and I've lost big things from 10 years ago.
It's been a couple of months and I have a lot of trouble retaining new information. I called my ECT pdoc today and told him how bad it is. He suggested that I get psychological testing for memory, referred by my regular pdoc...and said that it's not a side effect of ECT (the "can't retain new info" issue). He said that memory loss varies in patients, but it "shouldn't" have caused that severe of memory loss.
But it did. I had a freakishly good memory and ability to retain information before ECT, and now my brain is practically useless.
Anyone else have ECT and have these issues? Does it ever come back? Please be completely honest and don't dance around my feelings.
It's been a couple of months and I have a lot of trouble retaining new information. I called my ECT pdoc today and told him how bad it is. He suggested that I get psychological testing for memory, referred by my regular pdoc...and said that it's not a side effect of ECT (the "can't retain new info" issue). He said that memory loss varies in patients, but it "shouldn't" have caused that severe of memory loss.
But it did. I had a freakishly good memory and ability to retain information before ECT, and now my brain is practically useless.
Anyone else have ECT and have these issues? Does it ever come back? Please be completely honest and don't dance around my feelings.
She was a Surgical Nurse with BP and used to come to DS a lot ...like around 07 through 09.
She and I messaged a lot together.
She told me , she lost 10 years of memory, she could not remember her childrens early school years , and vactions, she only had pictures ..she couldn't remeber them .
She had to quit Nursing , 1 ...because the Lithium made her hands tremble so badly, she couldn't hold the intruments anymore....Plus , she had forgotten much of her Nursing training .
Gawd, I hated writing this , because it is kinda the pits to know this stuff.
But I am being honest with you.....something I think our Pdoc's aren't always so up front with us .
I'd suggest you do what your Pdoc suggests, maybe you can recapture some of your lost memeory
HUGE HUGS
Last night I did a lot of googling of this after your post. I saw some HORRIFIC stuff about psychiatry in general. Giving shock treatments to a little bunny was the worst - how did they know the bunny needed it in the first place? It was just gut wrenching.
I read story after story of people who had permanent and long term memory loss. Plus I read that frontal lobe dementia (where the shock treatments are given) is common in people who have had ECT. Something fun to look forward to. Sigh.
I had mania, not depression. I should never have been given it. I knew I was being destroyed. I phoned my parents and had them drive for 12 hours and get them to release me, or the damage would have been worse. I recovered just fine in their home, with the exception of my feelings. I know that doctor would have just kept zapping me till there was nothing left of me. Because, like the movie, I had the guts to stand up and complain and not put up with all the nonsense.
I have one very poignant memory from that hospital of suddenly being aware I existed while doing some pottery in OT. I looked at my hands and remembered I was me. I wonder where I was before then?
I hope you can get some help. Maybe start a support group for people who have had ECT to lobby against it? And maybe it will come back, or maybe not. I think we are all different. I pray that you will get your mind back.
One suggestion is to start using your memory. Just learn another language, or something else. It will be incredibly hard at first. I know when I first started working on my Master's degree 6 years ago, I would study for 40 hours for each test. Now I can memorize about the same amount of info in about 4 or 5 hours.
So I want to offer you some hope. But do work on it, and google around the internet to see what you get. I think you also might get more answers in the Depression group than here. I think quite a few have had ECT there.
I had a very close friend once and she had ect over 6 months. I felt I waqs there for her th ewhole time, whilst she had treatment.
Cos she couldn't rememebr shit, I basically told her th elife she should be leading.
After continual meetigs, I convinced her that I was th eonly one that loved her and that her family meant squat.
It was my plan for her to get a one way ticket to australia so I could keep her as my sex slave, howver she cdeased treatment, no matter how wonderful she thought I was, she slowly rebuilt her life and realised that I was not the only one that loved her so, and could not forgive me for making her think it was just me.
I had a very close friend once and she had ect over 6 months. I felt I waqs there for her th ewhole time, whilst she had treatment.
Cos she couldn't rememebr shit, I basically told her th elife she should be leading.
After continual meetigs, I convinced her that I was th eonly one that loved her and that her family meant squat.
It was my plan for her to get a one way ticket to australia so I could keep her as my sex slave, howver she cdeased treatment, no matter how wonderful she thought I was, she slowly rebuilt her life and realised that I was not the only one that loved her so, and could not forgive me for making her think it was just me.
I had a very close friend once and she had ect over 6 months. I felt I waqs there for her th ewhole time, whilst she had treatment.
Cos she couldn't rememebr shit, I basically told her th elife she should be leading.
After continual meetigs, I convinced her that I was th eonly one that loved her and that her family meant squat.
It was my plan for her to get a one way ticket to australia so I could keep her as my sex slave, howver she cdeased treatment, no matter how wonderful she thought I was, she slowly rebuilt her life and realised that I was not the only one that loved her so, and could not forgive me for making her think it was just me.
ECT was discovered when some guy was observing animals in a slaughterhouse being given a shock to the brain to stun them before they were slaughtered..I guess to make them more docile? & saw great potential there :( Ack
but also those who voluntarily submit to this treatment despite hearing the dire warnings of others who've been through it (against their wishes ie/ me)
it's only been a couple of months you say- give it time.
Also unilateral is better than bilateral ECT (bilateral is the most demonstrably deleterious to memory outcome, studies show etc)
Also unilateral is better than bilateral ECT (bilateral is the most demonstrably deleterious to memory outcome, studies show etc)
Also unilateral is better than bilateral ECT (bilateral is the most demonstrably deleterious to memory outcome, studies show etc)
Wondering how many this will post?