Posted by PhoenixGirl on September 5, 2001, at 16:04:21
In reply to Re: About to get ECT.... » PhoenixGirl, posted by Adam on September 5, 2001, at 11:13:59
Hello, thanks everyone for all of the thoughtful feedback. It makes me feel less alone. I have an appointment for Monday with Emory hospital, where they will evaluate me. My pdoc doesn't do ect himself, so he referred me to a doctor he recommends at Emory. If they decide that I'm a good candidate for ECT, and I'm sure they will, I'll get an MRI, EKG, and something else I think. I don't know when the treatments would start after that, but I have previously made plans to visit my only college friend in another state, in the first week of October. I already have the plane ticket and everything, so I may have to wait to start the ECT after that trip. Who knows if I will enjoy the trip even a little because I'm so depressed, but the ticket was expensive and I told her I'd go, so I feel obligated.
A problem that may come up when I get ECT is that they don't want me to drive for two weeks. Since I don't know anyone in Atlanta who could help me get to and from Emory, and get my groceries or whatever, I don't know what to do. I live close to Emory, which is good. But, I'm afraid I'll have to ask my mom to come here for the two weeks to help me. My dad simply cannot ever know about this, so I'd have to ask my mom. I live in a one-room section of a house, and it's really small. My mom is overweight, unhealthy, manic depressive. My dad would want to know why she is here in Atlanta with me. I may have to take a taxi to and from the hospital, and maybe ask a member of my therapy group to take me to the grocery store one day out of the week. I assume I'd have to take leave from work during those two weeks, which would suck because I'd have to take every bit of sick and vacation leave I have, and I'd be all alone with little human contact.
Anyway, ksvt asked for an update. I moved to Atlanta early this year, I have not made any friends, and I work at a dull, frustrating job that I do really hate. It is providing me with the money and health insurance to get ECT, though. I ought to see my misery in this job as an investment in my future. It's tough, though, I don't fit in there and there's few young people. My hope is to start successfully treating my depression, get my debts paid off, save some money, and then get a more exciting job with people closer to my age. There's got to be something like that for me in Atlanta. But my first priority right now is to treat the depression. I'll keep you all updated.
Hi, PhoenixGirl,
>
> After a long clinical depression, which probably started in my early teens, but was diagnosed as such only as I approached 20, a 10+ year battle that culminated in my hospitalization, I had ECT. The results were dramatic, and the onset of relief was rapidly achieved. It's one of the best things I ever did.
>
> It does cause memory problems. For me, these were pretty bad. After 8 sessions of bilateral (seizures induced in both hemispheres of the brain) ECT, I spend a week feeling like I was on another planet, and maybe two weeks after that being mildly disoriented and having minor memory lapses. My memory of some events during the course of treatment is completely erased. Since I gather from my writing much of that time was spend bored and unhappy in the psych ward, I'm not missing much, I suppose. The period following the course of treatment just felt surreal. I can't describe it any other way. I just felt my conscious experience of the world around me was altered somehow, but I lack the words to describe it all. It wasn't bad, really, I just felt like a stranger in a strage land, you know? I wonder if part of this was just the existential crisis of going from mind-numbingly, suicidally depressed and anxious to really pretty OK in the span of a week.
>
> I noticed from the list of meds. you gave, that you have never tried an MAOI. I know MAOIs are kind of scary, but they really can be wonderful antidepressants when they work, and sometimes the side-effects are less severe than what you might have experienced on a good number of the other drugs you've taken. From what I understand, before SSRIs became all the rage, the folks at Mass. General (where I was hospitalized, Blake building, 11th floor, or Blake 11 as it is affectionately known) used to have a favorite treatment algorithm for those who landed in their ward: Intense course of ECT followed by Parnate maintanance. I guess this used to be a remarkably reliable strategy. As SSRIs have a better safety profile, few use Parnate or other MAOIs anymore.
>
> I have even read in some places that good response to ECT is not a bad predictor of good response to an MAOI. I'm not a doctor, but I think undergoing a intense course of ECT, as many treatments as is necessary to lift you from depression, followed by an MAOI to maintain antidepressant response is a wise course to take. If the MAOI doesn't work, or doesn't appeal to you, and the ECT was beneficial, you might rather opt to do maintainance ECT, which is commonly monthly, unilateral-seizure treatments.
>
> ECT has been shown to be quite safe. It works better for more people than any other antidepressant. It does cause memory problems, but most who have been treated say the same thing: It's transient, and managable. Nearly all the research on the subject supports this. If you really want to try, I would say you've made a good decision, and don't be afraid.
poster:PhoenixGirl
thread:77709
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010902/msgs/77874.html