ECT, my regrets and my long term negative impacts from ECT

[glimmerofhope]

Surviving2015, I am you right now. I can relate to you a lot right now. I would love to hear an update on how you are doing.

[AJ]

Welcome to the forum Glimmerofhope.

[glimmerofhope]

Thanks

[uni]

Welcome to the forum, glimmerofhope! I see from your posts that you've been around the block when it comes to mood disorders and have knowledge to share. I look forward to hearing what you have to say, and wish you well!

[glimmerofhope]

Thanks uni. Been around the block is an understatement. Ha. Im just so glad i came across this forum as things have been harder lately than ever. Is it just this terrible weather and staying indoors?

[Surviving2015]

Hi glimmerofhope

Not doing well, I just sit around each day....hoping to get out of this hell...nothing is getting better or improving.How are youdoing?

[Surviving2015]

well it has been months of severe depression. ..nothing is working .....anyone out there that can relate ? tried so many differents meds and no response....already posted about ECT ....also did magnetic seizure therapy....anyone else stuck in a depression for years without any relief ? how did you cope ? how do you cope ?

[TallPineTree]

Hi Surviving,

Did you do unilateral or bilateral ECT? I am now faced with the same situation you once had and worried about the out comes. In January I will be doing Ketamine infusions and if that doesn't work I will have the option to do ECT. I too went to university for 8 years, have a job, formerly with the gov't and now with a consulting firm. Afraid to loose my ability to work and support myself. I do not want to become a burden on others. Keep this burden self contained.

[Verity]

I received ECT due to treatment- resistant depression. Now, I have serious memory loss and my brain function is limited- my life has been ruined by ECT and I'm not the same person I once was - is there anyone out there that can relate to me-- where it's only caused negative outcomes… Do you feel like family, friends don't understand how it feels and why everything is worse off today because of ECT- there aren't any support groups out there 4 this.

ECT destroyed my verbal memory. I'm a writer, so it destroyed me. I can't remember giving birth. I can't remember anything that constitutes my identity. During ECT I had 8 hours of elation, 2 weeks of severe depression, then ECT. Now I'm off it, it's like sifting through ashes for debris. No one asked me if I had anyone who could trigger memories, if I'd shared my children, life, etc, which I didn't because of shame, because of depression. They should have assumed that if I was almost catatonic before help was imposed upon me, I had no such supports, and neither do most people in my situation. They should have at least, as mental health professionals, known to ask before they obliterated me. They never did a control MRI. I can't prove how my brain was before they messed with it. I am unemployable now, more than a year later, still unable to convert short-term into long-term memories. My depression is far more unfathomable post-ECT. I have far less hope for the future, and my suicidality has thus increased manifold.

[AJ]

Welcome to the forum Verity. I'm so sorry to hear what happened to you. That sounds truly awful.

[paul m]

Hello Verity and welcome the forum. Take paul m