Posted by Adam on May 17, 2000, at 23:07:19
In reply to Re: ECT, posted by bob on May 16, 2000, at 21:40:40
You're welcome. I honestly do feel it's a useful means of treating the
illness, and the actual procedure is a breeze. I've had more unpleasant
dentist's appointments. I must confess I actually like the feeling of
succumbing to the effects of anaesthesia. Of course, at the time, being
unconscious was as close a thing to true bliss as I could imagine.But, as I said, the after-effects were both wonderful and frightening.
If I were back where I was then, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Brain dammage
seemed worth it. I even asked the attending and the head resident how
much damage I could expect, and their answer was an emphatic "none!" I
do remember posting here before that the principle investigator of the
transdermal selegiline study I was in called ECT "the cat's pajamas."ECT has a lot of supporters. I've combed the literature for clear
evidence of ECT-related damage to the brain, and could find nothing that
seemed incontrovertable. Nearly every major journal in psychiatry has
published at least a couple of review articles on it, and all of them,
not for want of looking, claim unequivocably that there is no credible
evidence in support of permanent harm from ECT. Some papers I have
encountered even have claimed ECT protects the brain from the negative
effects of stress hormones, etc.I hope they are correct. My memory difficulties are not my imagination,
though. I've recently self-administerd some tests that would indicate
some deficits, based on a high IQ combined with some specific difficulties
with verbal and numerical memory. These deficits, however, have also been
identified in persons with OCD, and it has been hypothesised that we OCD
sufferers are a bit "constipated" when it comes to some mental tasks,
essentially because we ruminate too much on the particulars, and thus
score poorly on certain tests with time limits. I am thinking of seeing
a specialist (I met her at a party, actually), who is both a diagnostician
and a counselor for cognative disorders.I'm hoping I can get some answers. It could be age. It could be
selegiline (though the suggestion has been met with incredulity by my
doctors). I suppose it could even be that nearly a year of intense,
sometimes mind-numbing depression terminating in a period of quivering
frenzy did its own damage.I don't know. I do know that, well, I don't remember having such a hard
time remembering some things. It seems to be a fairly recent problem. I
do find myself being afraid of the few reports, published in peer-reviewed
journals, that suggest ECT is not so benign. It may not be a reasonable
fear, but I have it all the same.
>
> Thanks for the detailed and even-handed account. I found it quite informative. It's still a bit disquieting for me, since your experiences confirm both the "good" and the "bad" of modern ECT.
>
> But I guess we never get any clear, unequivocable answers in our field anyway.
>
> cheers,
> bob
poster:Adam
thread:33082
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000517/msgs/33846.html