Posted by Spector on July 27, 2005, at 23:55:20
In reply to Deep Brain Stimulation...., posted by Ant-Rock on July 25, 2005, at 16:27:14
They are doing it experimentally (for depression -- not OCD) at the hospital associated with Brown University. And they are currently looking for candidates, though they have not actually implanted anyone for over a year now. A couple of months ago my mom spoke to one of the doctors running the trial, or whatever you call it at this pre-controlled study stage. I think, though I am not certain, that you do have to have tried ECT first. But, perhaps there is some wiggle room about that. Not sure.
At Brown they have implanted only 5 people so far. According to the doctor that my mother spoke to, who she says was surprisingly nice and willing to answer all questions, 3 of the 5 have had success with it; for the other 2 it has been "rocky." I personally would translate "rocky" into hell, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be considered. For me the fact that it is absolutely not a cure -- when the thing is turned off symptoms return -- is what made me eliminate it as an option right now.
If you would like names and phone numbers of who specifically to call, please let me know. My mom is already asleep or I would just include it now.
About ECT -- I have found it so far impossible to get any concrete sense of what proportion of people have moderate or severe memory or cognitive problems as a result. I tried ECT. It did not work for me and it left me with huge memory gaps extending as far back as far as 6 or 7 years, with the loss being more severe the closer you get to the treatments. The year and a half prior to the ECT is almost an entire blank. Some things have come back, but much has not. Very disturbing, but I have read of way way worse cases. And, of course, ECT has a very high sucess rate and has saved many many lives. And some proportion of people only have memory loss right around the time of the treatments. Though, as you probably know, a lot of people have to get maintenance treatments.
I am currently trying neurofeedback which has had some very promising results for treating depression (as well as a whole bunch of other things). I have posted about it on the alternative board. I am dying for it to work. Desperate. It is not an overnight thing especially for very severe and long depressions. But when it works, it seems to really work. By that I mean that it seems to cut down greatly on relapse. This according to Cory Hammond, a psychologist at the University of Utah who has done the most research so far on neurofeedback and depression. I would guess your psychiatrist has not heard about it. Mine had not. It has not quite broken into the establishment yet, though there are phychiatrists using it. According to what my psychiatist found when he looked at what's been published, controlled studies have only been done on its use with ADD and ADHD. But case study success rate has been very promising -- 75-80%. And none of the nightmarish problems that drugs can bring.
I should probably stop writing about this here since I'm starting to repeat what I've written on the other board and you didn't even ask about neurofeedback.
My thoughts and best wishes and all too real understanding are with you.
Nomi Spector
poster:Spector
thread:533330
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050723/msgs/534583.html