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Re: ECT » greywolf

Posted by utopizen on October 26, 2008, at 20:00:11

In reply to Re: Exotic Meds for Treatment Resistant Depression, posted by greywolf on October 24, 2008, at 20:59:06

> I'm glad it worked well for you. But I'm not sure that it is fair to suggest that people who choose not to go the ECT route are being irrational or hysterical.
>
> Continued good health to you.
>
> Greywolf
>

thanks...

i didn't quite mean to be so, well, hyperbolic (though I was)...

it's only natural for one side of an argument to desire to use some sense of inflatation... I'm just, frankly, bitter for not even the matter being raised as an option. And I'm a pretty informed consumer of my health, so, I used some pretty top docs and knew of it (though dismissed it as something reserved for "those people.")

Problem: I _was_ one of "those people," (whatever that means) it was reserved for the folks where the state is so pathetic, the risks are deserved.

Yes, there are risks. I'm not an M.D., so, your doc is more informed as to what those are.

Frankly, if I just accepted my depression was depression earlier in things, I probably would have mentioned it to my doc earlier, instead of being in denial until it was so pathetic I couldn't pretend to myself it was something else, like narcolepsy or something.

A lot of my depression may have even been fueled by my own vague fear of depression itself, which led me to have such great anxiety when it did strike. (How bad would I get? Was there any turning back?, etc.)

so, yeah. I see your point. I just think it has to be at least discussed, and glad to see your doc is mature and objective enough to at least weight the cards on the table. That's rare, and I wish I at least had such a health discussion with my doc.

For me, I feel, ECT was sort of the elephant in the waiting room I thought we weren't discussing, because it was being ordered for that _other_ patient. I think one of the heartening things, though, about my entrance to the hospital was (although it was just a night) I felt like I got to stop acting like I didn't have something. I think that occupied a lot of my mental energy-- worrying I'd be like _that_ patient if it didn't get better fast enough.

When one's expectations of where one's health are humbled, it can be rather therapeutic in and of itself. The idea, for instance, one is in such a low state, the risk of short-term memory loss for a bit, for instance, is brought into its proper perspective.

I might be naive to minimize the risks so much as I did, you're right... it's not what I meant to say.

anyhow, best of health to you too =)


wife of former Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis has a great memoir, in which she focuses on her personal experience of regular ECT. I encourage some folks to read it, although ultimately, understand like all medical treatments for depression, including pills/surgical devices, it has some serious risks.

A well-regarded, often cited peer-reviewed cohort study reviewing the lifespans of patients who were mentally ill and received psychotropics concluded that on average, people who take psychotropics died 20 years before their normal counterparts who hadn't.

obviously, that raises lots of critical arguments, but no one can claim being on a drug for one's lifetime is going to make u live longer than folks who never require treatment.

so, there's risks across the board, and the whole notion ECT is some extreme treatment, but aren't as safe as medical implants that weren't available 8 years ago is silly. a lot of the vague nerve implants for depression have raised new side effects previously unknown, including uncontrollable tics just as Aricept is now reporting.

ECT, we've had it since the 40's. Yes, there's side effects. But at least we know what those are. (well, not me, really, but you know what I mean) ;)


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poster:utopizen thread:854329
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20081016/msgs/859408.html