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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
[email protected]Shown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Enigma on August 16, 2005, at 11:33:18
2nd question.
Would severe depression be a candidate for ECT? I'm in perfect health, other that the depression.
I'm currently out of work, on LTD, for the 2nd time, and 1 month away from losing my position at work.
Posted by Ilene on August 16, 2005, at 13:35:41
In reply to ECT - who is it good for?, posted by Enigma on August 16, 2005, at 11:33:18
Here's some conventional info. about ECT. If you want more, including the negatives, google something like "ECT therapy".
http://www.psych.org/research/apire/training_fund/clin_res/
I had it, and a few other people on this board have had it. It's usually done for treatment resistant depression, if a person has a condition that disallows the use of drugs (e.g. pregnancy), or is so severely depressed that they need a treatment that works quickly. It didn't help me, but I thought it was worth a try. I've had some memory loss as a result.
Hope this helps. Any more questions?
I.
Posted by Declan on August 16, 2005, at 15:10:24
In reply to Re: ECT - who is it good for? » Enigma, posted by Ilene on August 16, 2005, at 13:35:41
My mother had ECT for her agitated depression. For a day or so after each treatment she was improved, but then went back to how she'd been. I can't say I noticed any long term improvement from it, and I thought the doctors kind of assumed it was effective. They were talking about weekly maintenance ECT when she slowly began to improve, maybe from Effexor, maybe from the passage of time, maybe, who knows, from the ECT.
Declan
Posted by med_empowered on August 16, 2005, at 17:07:55
In reply to ECT - who is it good for?, posted by Enigma on August 16, 2005, at 11:33:18
ECT does help some people, but there are considerable side effects (memory loss is the most discussed one, but some ECT patients seem to have long-term cognitive problems, especially if they did more "intensive" treatment). I have relatives who had it a while ago (they're older...I think they did it in the 70s or 80s, when ECT was more refined than in the past but not as popular as it is now). I must say...I'm *not* impressed. They still have to take antidepressant, benzos, and occasional add-on meds; the only real difference is that they psychotic features that characterized one person's depressive episode have not recurred, although he still gets mildly depressed periodically, even on long-term (since before the ECT, and during and afterwards) medication. The data isn't all that great because ECT never had to undergo FDA approval (it started in the 30s, and it apparently got exempted from having to prove itself to the FDA in later years)...the available data is largely from doctors who have themselves performed ECT and done the data collection in the studies. The same goes for the data on cognitive effects--standard practice has been for the same doctor/treatment team to do a follow-up after the treatments are over to see if there are any ill effects. Given the conflict-of-interest, I think this is unacceptable, but thats how it goes. In addition, its important to keep in mind that standardized measures of cognitive impairment, even intelligence tests, have serious flaws (for example...some studies showed either no change from baseline or minimal change from baseline in patients who had undergone traditional *LOBOTOMY* Obviously, when you cut up someone's brain bad things can happen, but alot of times it just didn't show up in the tests doctors chose to use).
Posted by denise1966 on August 17, 2005, at 4:40:34
In reply to Re: ECT - who is it good for? » Enigma, posted by Ilene on August 16, 2005, at 13:35:41
Hi Ilene,
How many treatments did you have before giving up on ECT, were you taking any medication whilst having it and have you managed to find anything to help you now, even just a bit?
Kind Regards...Denise
Posted by Enigma on August 17, 2005, at 10:40:29
In reply to Re: ECT - who is it good for?, posted by med_empowered on August 16, 2005, at 17:07:55
Jeez, I'm a software engineer. I can't afford to have even the slightest chance of congnitive impairment. Then again, I can easily say that all the prescription drugs I've taken, HAVE and do cloud my mind. I'm really at a loss.
I'm currently getting harrassing letters from work, I have an ex-doctor that needs a whole week to fax in 2 sheets of paper (to my LTD carrier), and simply make a phone call to a hospital (that offers ECT) as a referal, and my job gets re-filled in 3-4 weeks if I can't go back to work.
Life is good. No wait, it isn't. It's a miracle I haven't driven off a cliff yet, or done something ... uhh, never mind.
> ECT does help some people, but there are considerable side effects (memory loss is the most discussed one, but some ECT patients seem to have long-term cognitive problems, especially if they did more "intensive" treatment). I have relatives who had it a while ago (they're older...I think they did it in the 70s or 80s, when ECT was more refined than in the past but not as popular as it is now). I must say...I'm *not* impressed. They still have to take antidepressant, benzos, and occasional add-on meds; the only real difference is that they psychotic features that characterized one person's depressive episode have not recurred, although he still gets mildly depressed periodically, even on long-term (since before the ECT, and during and afterwards) medication. The data isn't all that great because ECT never had to undergo FDA approval (it started in the 30s, and it apparently got exempted from having to prove itself to the FDA in later years)...the available data is largely from doctors who have themselves performed ECT and done the data collection in the studies. The same goes for the data on cognitive effects--standard practice has been for the same doctor/treatment team to do a follow-up after the treatments are over to see if there are any ill effects. Given the conflict-of-interest, I think this is unacceptable, but thats how it goes. In addition, its important to keep in mind that standardized measures of cognitive impairment, even intelligence tests, have serious flaws (for example...some studies showed either no change from baseline or minimal change from baseline in patients who had undergone traditional *LOBOTOMY* Obviously, when you cut up someone's brain bad things can happen, but alot of times it just didn't show up in the tests doctors chose to use).
Posted by Ilene on August 17, 2005, at 12:21:28
In reply to Re: To Ilene, posted by denise1966 on August 17, 2005, at 4:40:34
> Hi Ilene,
>
> How many treatments did you have before giving up on ECT, were you taking any medication whilst having it and have you managed to find anything to help you now, even just a bit?
>
> Kind Regards...DeniseI don't know how many treatments I had--I lost track--definitely more than average. I was taking medication, except I cut back on Neurontin because it is an anti-seizure drug. What helps a bit is finding more things to do with myself during the day, because I'm not working. I also have a new pdoc, who has referred me to a therapist for CBT (cognitive-behavioral therapy).
I.
This is the end of the thread.
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