Posted by Mr.Scott on June 27, 2005, at 1:43:45
In reply to Re: Lets talk about ECT......... » Mr.Scott, posted by ed_uk on June 26, 2005, at 16:37:46
No prob!
I have only have received temporal. Only a single bilateral which I did not like (confused and memory shot for a day or two, but it came back). Never needed more than 6 in a row (3x a week for two weeks). After that it didn't take much to get the boat floating after a dip. I have no concerns about long-term ECT maintenance, although no doctor I have ever spoken to seems to have a patient who required it for more than 2 years. The brain seems to get retrained according to the 3 docs I consulted with prior to having it done. I have more concerns about daily usage of ssri's or the depression itself to be totally honest!
I wish Scientology or Religion or CBT or even 20mg of Prozac did the trick...But it didn't... I have friends who used hard drugs like crack/meth, and alcohol for long periods of time and while they were far gone for awhile...eventually with abstinence they came back. I'm not worried, and if I start to lose some functioning I have too many people around me who will let me know! Plus I trust this doc. He believes in aggressive treatment, but he's got a lot of experience and isn't reckless. He was actually reticent about ECT for me at first because he's an expert pharmacologist not a shocker by trade. But when we went down the list of meds I've tried he said okay lets do what works. He advised me to go slowly with the treatments to avoid too much disruption in my life saying eventually the brain would get with the program whether I did them back to back or spaced out over time.
I still have my moments, but they are usually with anger not depression. Anger is much easier for me to treat for me and very temporary.
Scott
> Hi Scott,
>
> Thanks for answering my questions :-)
>
> >Keep in mind I receive right unilateral ECT, not bilateral of which I did receive one time.
>
> Did you receive bifrontal or (traditional) bitemporal?
>
> >I am a total self-absorbed *sshole when I'm depressed and I'm angry, and I misinterpret everything because I'm so sensitive and negative and anxious.
>
> You actually seem like a different person, so much happier :-)
>
> Before you embarked on maintenance ECT (a few months ago?), did you receive bi-weekly treatments for a while?
>
> Do you have any concerns about continuing maintenance ECT on a long term basis?
>
> Kind regards
>
> ~Ed
poster:Mr.Scott
thread:518256
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050622/msgs/519716.html