Posted by Bob on May 11, 2005, at 11:53:01
In reply to Re: ECT failure? » Bob, posted by jerrympls on May 10, 2005, at 19:29:44
> I had 8 courses of bilateral ECT treatments back in 1994. Unforuntately, it did not work for me and actually made things worse. My memory was toast - forgot friends' names, movies I had seen jusst a couple weeks earlier - I even had trouble reading music (and I have studied music since I was 4 years old - I'm now 33). My conceptualization skills were fried. I had to rebuild my memory - my wit, sense of humor. Weird thing is is that I can remember everything about the treatments - I can still remmeber that the anesthesiologist was a tall african-american man, I can remember them inserting the bite guard, the sting of the needles, waking up and having a nurse with grey hair in her 40's put a warm blanket around me. I can remember being wheeled back up to my room on the psych ward. My mother was there for each treatment and she sat next to my bed reading a romance novel while I rested. When I got home, I did notice an unusual increase in mood - like a buzz - not manic or anything - but I remember telling a friend that I thought the ECT worked and that my depression was gone. That wore off quickly.
>
> A couple weeks later I started back at college. I remember sitting in orchestra rehearsal staring at the music as if I were reading a foreign language. I felt uncoordinated - and as I said - I had been playing cello since I was 4 years old.
>
> Soon after I noticed more profound memory effects. Friends came up to me and started talking about things we had done the summer before - and I couldn't remember what they were talking about - nor could I remember their names. I felt really embarrassed. From then on I had terrible times trying to commit things to memory - including music, information that I read for classes, etc. It took years to "rebuild" and "reroute" how I worked my memory.
>
> That was 1994 and now in 2005 I still have problems with memory - but it's better. For example, I'll forget that I talked with a friend over the phone 5 days ago - but if my friend reminds me or tells me what we talked about - then I'm able to call it up in my head and I "remember." Short-term memory is ok - but damaged.
>
> I hear now that unilateral placement of the electrode reduces memory problems.
>
> I wish I had better news for you....but for what it's worth, I have known people who have been helped tremendously through ECT.
>
> Jerry
>
>Jerry:
Your story, and others like it, raises a question in my mind. Was the procedure considered an emergency at the time? How was your condition afterwards, apart from the memory? It often seems to me like many people who have ECT suffer great memory problems, but they don't really discuss having life threatening depression or similar problems afterward. I assume you had such problems afterward, but maybe not?
Bob
poster:Bob
thread:495223
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050510/msgs/496406.html