Give me emotional support with my ECT - electroconvulsive therapy?

Question

I guess I consider ECT my final chance at life, and I'm scared because the treatment terrifies me. Coming out of the anesthesia after the treatment, I feel like I've glimpsed a level of Hell, and I panic, even with a shot of ativan. I skipped yesterday's treatment, but am determined to go tomorrow. That will be my 6th treatment, the minimum the doctor wants me to have. I know I probably need more, but the emergence from the anesthesia is so scary that I am non-functional for at least a day.

Please, anyone who can give me advice on the following will be greatly appreciated: How to control my terror coming out of the anesthesia; how to recognize whether the treatments are really working; how to deal with my life at home between treatments, since I am doing it as an outpatient. I know that I need this very badly, but wish that I could see more improvement after the 5 treatments I've had. My husband is very positive. But I don't feel normal, I don't feel like a person..

Answer 1

Do you need more hope that ECT will work? I've seen it work in my brother-in-law, who was terribly depressed, so much so he wouldn't leave his bedroom most days. He couldn't face guests my sister had. He lost weight down to about 130 pounds for a man who's about 6 feet tall. Several antidepressants didn't help, but ECT brought him completely out of it, with no side effects. Then he needed it again a few years later.

I take it your doctor can give you enough Ativan to take away the physical sense of terror, but you still feel a mental terror? Otherwise I'm sure they can give you enough Ativan to do that. But the mental sense of terror is more about how you perceive the event than your physiology. Ativan can't change that short of keeping you asleep.

Why is it Hell? What do you think you're being punished for? Just because you need ECT to break your depression doesn't mean you don't also need psychotherapy to change the way you think about things to something more healthy. Have you tried cognitive behavioral therapy? If you've been too depressed to work at that, the ECT will probably let you feel more energy so you can now, so you can perceive yourself and the world around you more realistically.

All sorts of people get stuck thinking it's up to them to manage their lives. It's not. I'm sure there are many people you can trust. Let them help you. They may be able to see how the treatments are working before you can. It will take more than ECT for you to feel normal again. You'll need to work to get your life back to where you want it. You have time and other people so you can do that.

Answer 2

I got ECT 5 years ago almost to date and well it only worked briefly. I was inpatient at the time and the first time I got the treatment I woke up and was asking everyone where the cuts on my arms came from. I had forgotten I had put them there. I lost a lot of memories and especially from around the time I was getting the treatments. I think I got about 12 treatments altogether. Are they stimulating your right hemisphere only or both sides? I dont know if you have been having any probs with memory but for me I know I had def had probs. When I woke up most of the time I felt like I had the hugest headache ever, but then i thought to myself well my head did just get shocked. There was something I watched on youtube.com that I really identified with this might help: http://youtube.com/watch?v=d2bLbf4kBFE. The woman in the video also has her own mental health blog and she works for the philadelphia weekly. Hope this helps a bit.

Answer 3

Don't listen to Mad Mac. ECT from the dark ages... I mean really! I can't offer you any help in regards to your terror coming out of the anesthesia other than letting you know that my friend had the same experience when undergoing ETC. I know it won't mean much but you're not alone. If you consider ECT your final chance at life then be brave and try to stay strong. My prayers are with you.

Answer 4

My faith in ECT is at the same level as my faith that mental illness (depression and anxiety for example) is caused by good spirits and bad spirits, angels and demons. To me (and I've never experienced it but have known those who have) ECT is from the dark ages of mental health treatment and is used because the doctor does not understand the causes of the disorder and so hits the patient with a club hoping for a miraculous cure.

There are other options like Cognitive behavioral therapy in conjunction with SSRI medications. Before there were such drugs as anti-depressants (SSRI's) there were alternatives. I want to suggest a book that is old, as old as ECT, and that has been in continuous publication since 1950 ( last edition 1997). It is:

Abraham A. Low MD; "Mental Health Through Will Training; a system of self help in psychotherapy as practiced by Recovery Inc."; Willett Publishing Co.,Glencoe IL, 1997.

It is still available from Amazon.com. I don't know whether any Recovery Groups are extant in your area but they are therapy groups teaching "will training".

One of the tenets of Recovery is that there are no "irresistable, irreversible" emotions that can not be changed by getting rid of old practices and habits of thinking. It works but it takes time, participation, belief in oneself and a developing "will power".

It is better than being "hit in the head with an electric club".

Good luck, good health, peace and love!