Posted by bleauberry on February 3, 2010, at 20:15:56
In reply to anyone had ECT?, posted by rnny on February 2, 2010, at 0:50:47
You can search the psychobabble archives. There have been numerous threads on ECT. In those threads you'll get a good feel for real-world experiences of real people like you who went through ECT.
In general nonscientific terms, I would guess the comments here from ECT survivors are about 60% negative and 40% positive. The negative ones are usually VERY negative...as in it didn't work at all, worked a little bit, or worked for only a short time, with severe permanent memory loss and cognitive decline. The positive ones are not robust. That is, when it worked, it saved them from a seemingly bottomless pit, but didn't last very long and was not the magic thing that puts an end to the whole battle.
In clinical studies nearly everyone who goes through ECT requires medication after ECT, whether it worked or not.
I personally believe the statistics on the efficacy of ECT are very over-hyped. I think one of the reasons for that is because for all the people who had negative experiences, they are not followed post-ECT. They fade away, the doctors never hear from them again, never know what happened, and record in their records that something that does not indicate it failed. Their stories are not heard. Also, patients are not followed longterm. So even someone who did have a robust good response to ECT, well, we don't ahve any record of how they were 6 months later. All the records showed are "remission" at the time of discharge. On the flip side, articles and documentaries are written on the positive ones.
Clinical studies show an extremely high relapse rate post-ECT within weeks to a couple or several months.
My best way I can describe ECT is that it closes a bad chapter and opens a new fresh one. Whether the new one is any better than the old one or not is unknown, but at least it is a fresh start. I am kind of glad to have lost all those memories of the months leading up to ECT. Of course, I lost a bunch of memories after ECT as well as random chunks throughout my entire lifespan as well.
Before anyone tries ECT, I think these prerequisites need to have been done first. Without having done these things, I do not believe anyone has any business considering ECT.
1. Parnate.
2. Nardil.
3. Zoloft+Nortriptyline
4. Lexapro+Abilify or Risperdal
5. Savella, with possible addition of Risperdal.
6. Ritalin with any SSRI.
7. One final short trial before ECT...Tramadol.
poster:bleauberry
thread:935689
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100122/msgs/935893.html