Posted by ChicagoKat on February 27, 2013, at 15:30:45
In reply to To Chicago Kat, posted by Meltingpot on February 21, 2013, at 11:23:25
Hi Denise,
Thanks for the recommendation of zyprexa, but it gave me akathisia, which was awful. And all of the APs, typical or atypical cause agitation in me. I have a weird brain :)
*I would like to preface this to the lucky few who did get benefit from ect, because I know some of you did*
As far as ect goes, I'll be honest, I *hated* it. I wish I have done more research before I started it. I had 5 sessions; I cancelled the rest b/c it was making me feel awful. It's hard to explain, but I felt like a vacuum cleaner was working in my mind. Also my cognitive abilities, during treatmen, dropped dramtically. I kept reading a internet page on honda cars and how thy evolved. Not terribly interesting to me, but believe it or not, I could *not* figure out how to load something more intereting. I was ike a zombie and it felt terrible and scary. After allthis took place, I read about ect. How I wish I had reasrched before hand. And I've had two admissions to a psych hospital, which would never have happend pre-ect. And every single person who had had ect told me they wish they had never done it..The pdoc tells u you'll only have mild memory effects. HA!!! They don't tell you about the negative side effects, such as a loss in cognitve function, nor do they tell you the truth about how many people respont to ect. 80-90 per cent is a huge lie...it's more like 20-30 percent. And, they don't tell you, but if you do have a good response, you have to have maintance treatment, I'm not sure but I think it's every month. And yep, I had been on Lexapro, and even though I was still depessed, it was *nothing* compared to the way I feel now Lexapro helped me back then. Now it is like taking a Tic Tac. And b/c I'm in such bad shape, I can't work, which I enjoyed. The best description I can think of is that it's constant agony. My pdoc has precribed Ritalin to help me so that I wont fall into the abyss. Problem is, it can worsen my anxiety. We are looking for a solution. I develop tolerance to drugs way quicker than ever. I don't know if it's b/c of the ect (which was 2 years ago) But I'm starting to notice big problems with my memory and my cognition. Maybe it's early onset of Alzheimers or something (I'm 47), but most likely, I've been off my Ritain for 1-2 weeks, b/c I had nothing to treat the anxiety. Vistaril worked *great*, but it ws a personal best: I developed tolerance to it in a week. We are now trhing mepbromate, an old anxioytic, but we'll see if it works. These days I spend a lot of time in bed - I'm on disability b/c after the ECT I couldn't possibly work. Oh, and I have read a study,wish I'd saved the link! But it proved, using rats, that the grop that did get ECT, had brain damage.
And I know isolating myself doesant help the depression, but I have become rather agoraphobic :( I have become a ghost of what I was. How I wish I could be the normal me.
Anyways,this turned into a long email...I better stop before I write a novel :)OK, I could go on forever about ect. Personally, I think it's dangerous and should be outlawed. But that's just me. I've heard it has helped a few people, and I am happy for them. But OH HOW I WISH I'D NEVER DONE IT. But your mileate may vary. Listn to what a lot of the people say here on Babble
Kat
> Hi,
>
> Have you tried Zyprexa 10mg for the anxiety. That always seems to help me with the physical, wretched symptoms of it.
>
> I wanted to ask you about your experience with ECT, you said that your meds stopped working after you had ECT and that your depression got worse. Which meds were you on that stopped working and in what way did your depression and anxiety get worse?
>
>
> Denise
On a steady diet of soda pop and Ritalin
-Green Day
poster:ChicagoKat
thread:1036953
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20130222/msgs/1039021.html