Posted by pulse on July 21, 2006, at 16:21:06
In reply to ECT and Memory Loss, posted by Denise190466 on July 19, 2006, at 13:49:55
< I'm thinking of pushing to have ECT again (this time the whole course and not just two treatments). I was thinking though, surely you would be aware of the memory loss and how bad you were being affected during the course of the treatments and the intervals inbetween.
so if you found that your memory was getting progressively worse during the treatments, couldn't you stop them?
The two treatments I had didn't seem to affect my memory at all, I know only two not enough to really know. But I can remember everything right up to lying on the table and waiting for them to anaesthetise me beforehand.
I remember the conversation I had with the ECT Nurse, the people who were with me in the waiting room and everything I said to them.
Neither do I have any other memory loss as far as I am aware. ...... >
(snipped)
i'm the ultimate believer in - and advocate for - ECTs.
yes, of course, you will know immediately (IF you ever even experience one iota of memory loss upon the initiating of ECT tx...or later). you then have the option -and supreme right - to simply leave.
denise 190466's above excerpt w/description has been exactly my experience, with one BIG exception:
i insist ALWAYS and ONLY on BILATERAL. i walked out ama, the only time unilateral was performed on me, and, after only 1 treatment.
unilateral FOR ME = extreme memory loss + migraine -level headaches. i'd no memory of talking to this incompetent doc. i have no idea what he even looks like (i was in need asap and was taken straight to from another center; my ECT doc was of vacation.) also, no memory of going to operating room, table, applying of electrodes, talking with this doc, nurse, or anesthesia person, as i'd always before, and right up to the seconds i was counting down from 100.
with bilateral, i've never once had memory loss upon initiating, nor, at any time, during the course of txs, nor afterward. i still have an extremely good memory at age 54. also, no headaches and no side-effetcs of any kind. this was from tx #1 through tx #12, i.e., the usual full-series length.
results were always the same, both in the other 2 full course series i've had, with years in between, and, also, when i only needed a 5 tx. course.
reiterating what i've posted numerous times: imo, the key is the expertize of the ECT doc. mine have both now retired.
i have no magic formula for finding such a doc.
*to randy - i don't find it odd at all that you were taken off meds. i always was.
as i'm now so side-effects intolerant (physical ones) to all ads, all classes, i will never take one again....no matter what. if i ever need ECT again, i will refuse to take them, afterward. that is a certainty. i could care less what the doc advises. this is my life.
i am now in full remssion without any ad. my correct diagnosis is mdd, recurrent & moderately severe to very severe. there is doubt re: this. so as not to confuse you, my last ECTs were in 1997. also, i don't mean to imply that any of the above is the reason that i'm now in remission, because i know that is most definitely NOT. but, at least, the ECTs sure didn't hurt.
monte, wishing you a good to great outcome!
pulse
poster:pulse
thread:667778
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060717/msgs/669065.html