ECT

#ECT #Depression #Anxiety #SideEffects
Hey All, I stopped doing ECT treatment a month ago. This was my second go-around and I did a total of 23 treatments this time. My mood improved slightly at first then towards the end I felt like ECT was hurting me based on how I felt. So it’s been a month and I still slightly feel the way I felt towards the end and my memory problems are severe along with my attention span. To any ECT veterans out there, what were your side effects and how long did they last? Did anything help? Also, did anyone get as many treatments as me and how did it make you feel?

My depression and anxiety are are worse than they have ever been. The number of medications I have taken is phenomenal - I’ve had doctors tell me I’m lying. I have been inpatient as well as outpatient. I have tried ketamine. My therapist would like me to go back in due to the severity of my depression and SI. I see no point. I have gotten my hopes up so many times. ECT has been suggested. It scares me to death and I keep reading about memory loss. Has anyone done this? What was your experience? #ECT treatment resistant depression #Anxiety #PTSD

I was diagnosed in 2011 with bipolar. I'm thriving after having ect 1.5 years ago for the last time and feel like I can now look forward to the future. #Bipolar2Disorder #ECT

I had ect 20 years ago inow have bad memory i am schizoaffective and get shots monthly trinza now should last 3 months i am getting very emotional now i might have to get another one next month now my last one was dec 2 anyone else having problems this time of year
#ComplexPosttraumaticStressDisorder

I have a big thing with memory and memories. I had #ECT and I believe I have trauma from it. It’s one of those memories that gives sharp feelings, from the bits I do remember.

Sharp feelings are what I get with the majority of things. Sharp happiness, sadness, anger, etc. I get rushes and strong feelings that can arrive all of a sudden. I work on regulating my emotions 24/7. I work on dulling some of the sharpness, so that I don’t have as painful of reactions.

I am incredibly triggered, which has filled me with sharp feelings and memory flooding. All of my mental dams break seemingly at once. I have to catch myself before I react in behaviors.

I want to be happy. I want to look at photos and have them fill me with joy. They do for a split second, I believe. Though it has to be like 0.00001 of a second.

I saw photos of me from a time that I was very sick, but everyone was so happy with me and how I looked. I finally liked me, but that feeling of liking myself would come in sharp bursts randomly. I had more bursts of extreme love for my looks that would crash almost as quickly as the joy I mentioned earlier.

The downside was when I didn’t have the random sharp bursts of good, I had long periods of confusion, self hatred, and extreme sadness. In the majority of time, I hated myself and couldn’t see what I truly looked like. When the bursts of happy came I saw one thing in the mirror but it would disappear as soon as I would recongnize that I was happy with my looks.

The mental gymnastics happen in fractions of a second. It’s peaks and pits constantly. It’s so draining that it takes your life. It does it as slow and painfully as possible, so why do I want it like someone wants drugs?

My stepdad found photos from my moms old iPad. They were of me dressed up for my Grandfathers wedding, and others were of me all dressed up before prom. I have not seen these photos since they were taken, or shortly thereafter.

I see them and am in shock at what I looked like. The feeling of seeing myself in these photos vs. what I remember thinking I looked like. I can’t even begin to explain..

I want it back. I want to look like that again so bad I could scream, but I know better. In February 2023 it’ll be 10 years since my college friends gave me a very traumatic (but probably life saving) intervention and told the college. February 2013 was when I first got any help for my eating disorder.

I can’t let the anger I feel due to people not believing I have an eating disorder anymore (due to weight gain and RECOVERY), ruin me.

I cannot go backwards because of those photos. I need to change the narrative.

You know, people REALLY underestimate the mental power we exude just to live minute to minute staying on the right track.

Boy am I tired.

I have been struggling with #BipolarDepression for several years now. I am seeking treatment in a psychiatric hospital and they have suggested #ECT . The doctors make it out to be a magic bullet for treating the depression but I am skeptical. I have tried it in the past but I got panic attacks and wasn’t able to get through a full course of treatment. Now they want me to do 12-18 sessions which feels like a lot.

Is there anyone here with actual experience with #ECT ? I already know what the doctors say but I’d like to hear from people who have done it themselves.