Posted by SLS on July 18, 2006, at 18:15:00
In reply to Re: Anyone had ECT? » Randy Walker, posted by blueberry on July 18, 2006, at 16:21:05
Hi Blueberry!
This is a really good summary that sounds about right to me.
What kind of treatments do they give there?
Unilateral
- Right
- Left
Bilateral
Bifrontal
High dose
Low doseMy only complaint with ECT is that it didn't work for me. In 1991, I went through a series of 6 unilateral left followed by 9 bilateral. I experienced an improvement for a fraction of a day after the fifth treatment. That was it. Unilateral treatments are much more forgiving on memory and cognition than bilateral. In a correspondence with Max Fink, MD, he recommended to me that I not judge the treatments of today by the failures of 1991. I would consider high dose unilateral right.
- Scott
> I just got out of the hospital a week ago and had two doctors and several nurses tell me that they have seen miraculous results with ECT. They suggested it for me, and I may do it if meds don't work out in a month or so. I've been down the med highway about 10 years already.
>
> I talked with a friend of a friend who has been through it. She spoke very highly of it. Side effects were headaches, confusion, and some memory loss (she didn't remember giving a speech at an event and didn't believe it until she saw photos of it). Mostly she says she just forgot the time leading up to and during ECT, which was fine with her. She is on effexor and geodon maintenance therapy now, and people say she "glows" (no pun intended).
>
> Anyway, the hospital I was at was excellent. Nobody there had anything negative at all to say about ECT. They spoke very highly of it.
>
> It does require follow-up treatment though...either in terms of medication (which often work after ECT when they didn't work before), or followup ECT treatments.
>
> They told me it would be 3 times a week, looking for a response within 12 treatments, with a maximum of 20 before giving up. The girl I spoke to who went through it needed 15.
>
> It gets a bad rap and it sounds scary, but I haven't heard anything bad about it yet from anyone who has done it or from doctors or nurses who took an interest in me during my stay.
poster:SLS
thread:667778
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060717/msgs/668076.html