Posted by LostBoyinNC45 on March 1, 2014, at 1:11:53
In reply to Re: ECT... whats the best/safest form of ECT, posted by LostBoyinNC45 on March 1, 2014, at 0:53:22
Besides the change in admitting it is foreseeable you might develop memory problems after having ECT, the other things I have learned about ECT are the following:
1) the shock docs themselves will readily admit now they dont know how long ECT will work for you and most of their cases, in order to maintain the ECT anti-depressant/anti-psychotic effect, you have to have once or twice a month "maintenance" ECT.
In all honesty, that does not sound that bad to me. It would probably make working or even driving a car difficult, however. And I would not like that part.
2) I learned if you have sleep apnea, its REAL IMPORTANT for your sleep doc and the anesthesia doctor during ECT to know that you have apnea. Why? Because the drugs they use to put you under will relax your airway and even suppress muscles used in breathing. Hence, they need to know that info to make sure they have to work harder to keep your blood oxygen levels up while you are under anesthesia, having ECT. Because anytime your blood oxygen levels go to 88% or under, it is a default medical emergency and that goes outside psychiatry, that is across the board. 88% and under blood oxygen and its call 911...medical emergency.
Most of these psych meds make you fat and it is my personal suspicion that most TRD patients have some degree of sleep disordered breathing. Any sedating medication can make SBD worse. Anesthesia can make SBD worse. If they dont know about your SBD, they wont take thorough precautions.
3) ECT is "high maintenance." Its kind of like CPAP therapy or taking MAOIs properly. You have to put a lot of work into it. Its expensive, small details can matter a lot, if you get a shock doc who does not pay attention to small details, they can mess you up worse.
4) I think ECT has helped a lot of people in the USA get out of severe depression. The ones ECT helps a lot, I doubt you will find them going around admitting they had ECT to many people and I doubt you will find them wanting to hang out on a place like this board. The ones that ECT really does help, you will just not hear about because they went back to the world.
I think the ECT cases you will hear about the most are the ones that are fffed up. The mistake cases, the ECT cases where somebody was shocked in a state hospital against their will for behavioral control reasons and the procedures used were shoddy. I believe there are plenty of people who have had ECT who have gotten seriously fffed up from it.
If I ever have ECT, I will make sure they keep my blood oxygen levels up really high the entire time. I will make it clear that is one of my main concerns, not the electricity going thru my brain or the seizure. They know what the limits are regarding the electricity and I dont believe limited seizures are bad for mood disorders, I believe full seizures are actually good for severe mood disorders. I think the part thats potentially bad is if your anesthesia is fffed up and your blood oxygen dips much for even a short time period. I think thats just bad for your brain, period.
I dont think ECT should EVER be used for behavioral control, like it used to be used for in the olden days. It should only be used for severe, chronic, refractory mood disorders that are causing disability.
Eric AKA "LostBoyinNC"
poster:LostBoyinNC45
thread:1061377
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20140214/msgs/1061577.html