ect47

HI - MY FRIEND TOLD ME ABOUT THIS WEBSITE. THIS IS MY FIRST POST -I AM BI-POLAR, ADHD, HYPOTHYROID, & HAVE OCD TENDENCIES. I AM 47 YEARS OLD. I AM CURRENTLY UNDERGOING ECT TREATMENTS 1x WEEK. IS ANYONE OUT THERE UNDERGOING ECT OR KNOW OF ANYBODY WHO IS OR DID?

barb dwyer

I know a few who have. I don't know that much about it.

I realize that doesn't help very much.... but ... welcome!

13NRcrew

I've been though a series of ECT treatments, yes. It was better than the alternative and I am glad I did it. Hope it works out well for you too. Welcome here!

citychick

Welcome to SR. I'm sure you'll find all the information and support you need.

ect47

Thanks for the warm welcome. I look forward the learning and sharing.

shutterbug

the first person i met with bipolar and who helped my mom take me to the mental hospital the first time in 2004...her sister has regular ECT treatments for unipolar depression. i was introduced to it during day treatment back then as the pdoc who ran the program is one of just a few in my state who is qualified to do it.

I've read a little more about it here and there since and have always known it an option to me. currently i'm thinking of it more seriously than ever before b/c i just don't want to keep going through such depressions and med rollarcoasters (which leaves me usually zombish and more depressed before better)

i'd really LOVE to hear about your personal experineces with it????!!!!

((((welcome))))

historyteach

Welcome to SR, ET47!

I look forward to getting to know you as we both grow in our recovery.

Shalom!

ect47

thanks for sharing, besides ect i am also on many medications. in august i admitted myself to a mental hospital and thats where i started ect. now i get it as an outpatient one time a week. the worst part is getting the IV medication to put you to sleep. it hurts when the meds enter your veins. but it doesnt last long. since i started the treatments, i no longer have suicidal thoughts or racing thoughts. im also not as depressed as i was before i started. everyone around me sees a positive difference in me. i actually feel good. the downside is i have some memory loss. thats a pretty common side effect with ect. but i'd much rather deal with that than not have the treatment and keep feeling the way i did. if you have any specific questions, i'll be glad to answer them if i can. take care.

shutterbug

questions, yes i have many...thanks so much for taking the time.

1. are you bipolar I or bipolar II?
2. What meds and doses are you on now also?
3. how long have u been doing the treatments?
4. why once a week? that seems more than i thought...as i thought it was more like a monthly or every couple of months kind of thing?
5. obviously our insurance would be different, but how does your handle it? do you still have to pay quite a bit for the treatments?
6. what kind of memory loss do you experience? does it affect your ability to work...if you are working that is? i've read and heard it's mostly short-term memory loss and almost always loose the few minutes or so before the treatment. if it's short-term memory loss then i think i can handle that....as my deep depressions cause that all by themselves. makes it hard to work. the reporters don't understand why i can't remember things like the building or person we interviewed and photographed last week. and they REALLY don't understand why they can't rattle off a telephone number really quickly and me not be able to comprehend and remember the phone number fast enough to write it down. i have to ask them to repeat it slower and they will repeat it, but just as fast....and then i'll have to ask them again.
7. have you met others who's memory loss has been more substantial?
8. what made u feel you could trust the doc knew what he/she was doing?
9. how did family and friends react at first to the news?
10. if you are or were working...do you mind if i ask what field and position?
11. how long does each session take from start to finish?

i know this is probably many more questions than you anticipated, but i REALLY appreciate hearing from a person who has been through them personally.

giant hugs,
jenna

meliejv

I also don't know much about ect although doctors have recommended it, it kind of scares me but I am interested in hearing about your experience with it. Welcome to the forum, there is lots of support here.
Take care
Mel

ect47

1.im bipolar 1.
2.lamictal 200 mg once a day. concerta 54mg twice a day. lexapro 20mg once a day. synthroid 0.2mg once a day. trazadone 50mg once a day. and rispidal 3mg once a day.
3.i started treatments in the middle of august.
4.it actually started as 3 times a week, i did that for about 4 weeks. now im one time a week and soon it will hopefully go to one time a month.
5.i had to pay $250 deductable for inpatient and insurance has covered 100% of outpatient treatments.
6.memory loss is short term with no rhyme or reason to it, no pattern, just different things i dont remember. i dont remember most of being in the hospital. the more treatments i have, the less my memory loss is...i think. as far as work, i am on short term disability. hopefully i will be cleared to go back to work around january. and ill need 2 days off a month for treatments cuz the day after i am pretty much out of it.
7. the few others that i have met, the memory loss is pretty much the same as mine.
8.there are only 3 docs in the state qualified to do this, and he was the closest. and i really trust my psychiatrist who refered me to him.
9.everyone has been very supportive and everyone saw how bad off i was. and now especially since everyone has seen a huge difference, they are even more on board. i can handle going out and doing things and not being on the couch all day. im not having suicidal thoughts or racing thoughts anymore and they can all tell. i havent felt like this in....well....my whole life.
10.i was an overnight merchandiser for sams club.
11.the treatment itself takes 15 minutes. in total, it takes about 2-3 hours cuz of waiting time and being in recovery til you wake up.

i am really REALLY glad i am doing this, it saved my life!!!!

ect47

i answered a bunch of questions about it in the other reply but if you have any other questions of your own, feel free to ask!

tanyapmc

Thanks for you openness and honesty ect. I am glad you found us!

ect47

im glad i found you guys...and girls here too. its nice to not feel like the only one with issues and to have people to talk to.

shutterbug

ECT47....you still around? I hope so. It'd be really nice to have you join us and share more of your experiences.

hmmmm....since you are bipolar I that means you experience full-blown manias, but don't go as deep into the depression...where as i, a bipolar II, have full-blown major depressions (the last one left me unable to function for nearly 2 years), but only go as high as hypomanias...

so....i guess my question now is that i thought ECT was primarily used to treat the depression side of things? I'm guessing it must also be beneficial to keeping manias at bay?

Also....man that is one major list of meds they have you on!!! Have you been on meds for years or is all this fairly recent? I guess my thinking has been that ECT treatments would mean less, and even possibly none, of the meds would be needed? Is that incorrect from your experience?

Also....overnight shift is interesting since it seems so many bipolars lean toward nocturnal patterns of sleep and work. Has any of that changed since the treatments started? Has anything changed with your sleep at all? More, less, more restful, or anything?

Sorry for more questions,
i'm feeling a real need to learn as much as i can about this right now so any and all you can share is much appreciated.

Thanks again and hope you decide to keep visiting us
hugs,
jenna

ect47

i was told by my psychiatrist, and my son learned in his abnormal psych that bipolar 1 is when you experience both full blown mania and full blown depression and bipolar 2 is when you experience hypomania and full blown depression (like you do). i am whats known as a rapid cycler. i can go through 4 cycles in a month but they are extreme highs and lows. the longest a cycle has lasted me is a month but that is really rare. the ect is supposed to mainly help depression yes. as far as manias, i have not been manic since i have started treatments. i keep a daily mood chart and it has been in the normal mood range since i started ect, and it hasnt been like that my whole life. with the meds, ive been on meds since 92 and ive been through them all. i was hospitalized for the month of august 07, and they changed almost all of my meds to what im on now. i know someone who has been getting ect for ten years and he still goes through changes of meds. it seems after a while you just build up a tolerance and it takes a while to find a good combination. as far as i know, ect does not change the need for meds. i would say that i am less nocturnal since i started, i go to bed usually by 2 am and i wake up about 930. i do sleep better, i dont have nightmares which before treatments were many times a night every night. i dont wake up in cold sweats, i dont dream of dying or different ways to kill myself. i dont ache when i wake up, and my days are even keeled. everybody, my family, my friends, all talk about the change they have seen in me. i dont freak out being in public anymore, and i am even starting to feel somewhat self-confident. dont worry about asking too many questions, what ever you got, throw it my way and ill try to help. something i may have to say may benefit lots of people. im here to help and learn as much as i can.

shutterbug

pretty close, but actually bipolar I has mostly issues with mania and usually don't deal with the major depressions (what is known as double depression) like bipolar II's do, but they still experience bad depressions and suicidal thoughts and such.

I also am a rapid cycler, although i have to pay REALLY close attention to notice when i've switched as usually the switch is gradual over several hours. But when severly stressed i will cycle several times a day, go from tears to laughing in half an hour and the worst time was constant and extreme cycling for nearly 2 days where i would be SO up that i'd be talking a mile a minute and then before being able to finish the sentence i would literally be studdering and having an extremly hard time even finishing the thought or sentence. Luckily that kind of stress-induced super-rapid-cycling has only happened twice in the past few years, last week was the second time.

So...what's the worst memory loss been that you are aware of?
Any books, resources, websites you could recommend for further reading and self-education?

I've had ECT kept back as an option of possibility in my back pocket since being introduced to it by one of the docs in my state who is qualified to do it...but it's still a bit fearful to be having to seriously concider the option i've concidered a last resort (of sorts) for me.

docs and mental health workers around here are so varied in what they think about it. Some pdocs think nothing of it and want to just shove pills down me without even considereing it, several medical scholars and scholarly doctors say its the best and the best of all options available for depression. Others like therapists have no real thoughts on it one way or the other.

i don't understand why everyone in the profession doesn't embrace it if it works as well and as for as many different people as i've seen and been told of? I don't understand why people talk of it not being used much of the time because of the side-affects of memory loss if the memory loss is usually very minimal and is FAR better than what many meds can and have caused?

Surely it just can't be a such a huge lack of education with SO many mental health professionals? Surely there must be REAL reasons why doctors want to try for months and years to "get the med combo just right" while that patient suffers the entire time....rather than turning to ECT to help ease the torture of deep depressions in the meantime?

Anything else you can tell me from your perspective of having gone through it and continuing to go through it is very much appreciated.

hugs,
jenna

ect47

well i have to disagree with you on the definitions according to my psychiatrist, all of the books ive read, people who know me and live with me.

to answer your memory loss question; i do not remember the months of august or september. in august i was in the hospital, and during aug. and sept. i was getting ect 3 times a week. i have maybe 5 or 6 brief glimpses of seconds during those months. i think thats my worst memory loss. but i dont know for sure because i dont know what i have forgotten until it comes up in a conversation. at the risk of repeating myself, i would take memory loss over where i was before ect any day. as for why people arent jumping all over ect, i am not sure why either. as far as i know the only side effects are spotty memory loss and confusion after the treatments. maybe all the contraversy is because of how it was administered in the past and even now there is not a large number of docs that do it. i know of 3 in virginia that do it. if you wanna read about it, go to healthyplace.com and look up ect. or any other site for that matter. it basically all says the same thing.

Wascally Wabbit

I can add my 2 cents, although I am not a regular here on this board. I have an aunt with severe bipolar. She goes through bouts of not speaking and won't do anything but sit in a chair. It's like she's left the planet. She started these treatments YEARS ago. They help her. That's the important part! She would get these treatments, then be normal for a while! That has got to be a blessing to someone with such severe depression.

shutterbug

ect47, you're prolly right. my brain's been working less and less properly lately so i've probably just forgot and/or gotten things mixed up. i'll have to re-read some things soon to correct whatever i've forgotten or mixed up incorrectly. so....speaking of forgetting things...yep, i already forget things that are important to me like knowing the definitions inside and out.

hugs and thaks again for sharing your story and experiences.
jenna