Posted by SLS on May 12, 2000, at 9:23:04
In reply to ECT follow up to SLS, posted by PaulS on May 12, 2000, at 1:00:10
> Concerning my ECT treatments, I had 12 bilateral treatments in the early '80s.....this was after years of tricyclic and MAOI treatments and psychotherapy. I was very ill and the ECT muddied my thinking for a few months but I admit my thinking was already very fuzzy and distorted by the illness.
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> As to my diagnosis, I've been labelled atypical, dysthymic, OCD with suicidal ideation and bipolar type II(not all at once though...lol). None of the labels matter to me...all I know is that my low mood has been an ongoing struggle for myself for 20 years also. My main symptoms are a heavy fatigue, hypersomnia and low mood. Amazing to me, is I managed to work full-time and function fairly normally (to the outside world at least) until the last several years.
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> My last series of ECT treatments was in 1998; I had six unilateral treatments on the left side and six bilateral.I saw no real improvement from them so I left the hospital and went back to my pdoc. As for maintainance treatment...my pdoc and I are experimenting with Celexa and Dexedrine at the moment. We are also considering ordering Adrafanil from the UK to see if we can hit my lethargy more effectively.
Thanks and good luck.Please post as to how you respond to adrafinil should you decide to try it. Our symptom profiles are very similar.
I, too, don't know how I managed to work for 13 years with this thing. For what it's worth, this illness, if not adequately treated, gets a bit worse over time. I wouldn't go searching for a recent appearance of character weakness should you be tempted to look for another explanation. This doesn't appear to be an issue with you, though.
Keep up the good work.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:33136
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000508/msgs/33282.html