ECT
Tickling the Brain - VNS, rTMS, DBS
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
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About Me
- John McManamy
- I am an award-winning author and mental health journalist. I have been writing about mood disorders since being diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1999, ranging from a website, an email newsletter, a book, articles for HealthCentral, and this blog. More recently, I have been producing videos. Writing about my illness has played a very strong role in my healing and recovery. Writing allows me to come to terms with my past, gives meaning to my present, and gives me the courage to face the future with hope.
Nice Site - I'll have more detailed look at home. By the way - my experience of ECT has been good - but i specifically chose unilateral ECT - from those I have seen who have had Bi-lateral the memory loss is devastating. By the way - do you have any information on "Champix" - the new anti-smoking and its interaction with depression - I'm taking it at the moment - no major side effects - but I'm feeling a little, well, good...
ReplyDeleteThank God for the revival and renovation as I call it for ECT. I was diagnosed with Schizophrenia back in December 1999 and then Schizoaffective disorder on September 2007 my last semester in college. I started taking medications back in May 1996 at the lowly aged of 18. I was diagnosed with a Pyscotic Disorder then. I heard voices. They told me I was going to die and screw God and Jesus. It was terrifying. That first began in 1988 at an innocent aged of 10. Mental Illness is very rampant in my blood. Both of my parents had it. As I was told by my family my mother had it the worse. She was Schizophrenic. She was also a drug addict including my father. She was very heavy on it when she was pregnant with me. I could not walk until the aged of 2 and talk until I was 4. I was always different. I would always talked to myself out loud in public until my very first ECT treatment on December 2009. I also rocked back and forth or as they called it in the music world especially hip-hop the shake. It was very devastating. I remember my first treatment of anti-pyscotic drugs. It was Navane plus Cogentin to treat the side effect in 1996 a year after graduating from high school. The meds kicked in within two days but it did not last that long. Over a tumultrous period of 13 years. My meds would work for a short time and BOOM! I felt like CRAP again. I have been on so many and even sinced my couple of ECT treatments I can still remember them all. I also tried anti-convulsants for mood stabilizers which was my DEMON in life. The moods were horrific. One day I can be happy, the next minute I was sadder than mother goose. It was not the voices that ravaged my life it was the moods, talking to myself and shaking which made me feel worse than the 1962 New York Mets or the 1980 New Orleans S(Ain't). The moods felt like I was Joe Namath being crushed by Dick Butkus or Deacon Jones. Not only my moods but my mind felt liked it needed both knees replaced and a triple bypassed. It was HORRIBLE. There was hope with Clozaril but I was so weak I almost collapsed in church becaused of the devastating side effects it cause. I COULD NOT TAKE IT ANYMORE. I just could not adapt to medication and for years of taking it the tolerance level felt like a missed field goal. Back in April 2009 I was crying out heavenly to God because i tried and the doctors tried everything and nothing seemed to work. A girl I used to talked to told me about ECT. I never heard of it. She told me it was her last resort to her depression. She received the treatments every Friday but one day it failed on her like Dr.Suess fighting Andre The Giant. I visited her and took care of her. I said to myself HECK NO I am not going to do this. But as my condition worsened I said to myself it might be my last option and hope. My doctor agreed I should consider it. On december 2009. I had an appointment with the doctor who does the procedure and she said I was a prime candidate for it because of my mood disorder that goes along being Schizoaffective. To tell you the truth I was nervous, excited and scared all at once. I got a chest X-ray, EKG, CT-scan, and lab work done and a week later I was cleared to have ECT done. Boy I was nervous through my first procedure. The doctor told me I would be groggy and I was going to have slight or short term memory loss. PRAISED GOD none of it happened. My memory is still electrifying as Billy "Whiteshoes" Johnson punt return for a touchdown. Sinced then I have had over 3 treatments. I have not rocked, talked to myself, or made funny and weird faces. The doctor said I might not have to take meds anymore depending on my psychiatrist. ECT has been a miracle to me. I am really happy and not moody for the first time in years. ECT is not for everyone. Before someone considers it. PLEASE weight the pros and cons and have family and friends you trust and who know you as much as Roger Maris 61st Home Run back in 1961 about your condition and who will stick by your side should you consider having ECT done.
ReplyDeleteI just found this site yesterday and I must say it is rich with information. I lived with a bi-polar, paranoid schizophrenic man for many years. Needless to say it was many times exhausting mentally for me as well. One year he was electrocuted in a freak accident. He was a changed man for all of a year. I have known him for nearly 31 years now and I have to tell you that one year was the best year I ever had with him. But it seemed that at the end of that year the reverse took hold and it was the worse I had ever seen him. I do believe that ECT is a good thing when performed by professionals. I saw with my own eyes the difference it can make. The change was unbelievable. He was normal and nice and decent. I am thankful for that one year. He is now just existing in a facility somehwere. It is sad to see a life wasted like that. He will be 64 in June and just sits and smokes one cigarette after another I am told. He did take his meds for one full year while we were together but got off as he said he didn't need it anymore. And the vicious cycle began again. Thank you for this site. Although we have not been together in 10 years, I have a son by him and keep an eye on him as I know this is hereditary. So I like to read all I can on Bi-polar and Paranoid Schiz.. I pray that my son did not inherit this sad disease. But I am always trying to understand more about it. Anything I can read about it I do. Thank you for your website.
ReplyDeleteI had bilateral ECT treatments for 18 months. The good part was the ECT seemed to be the only treatment to pull me out of my severe depression. The unfortunate part was long term memory loss and cognitive impairment. I am missing chunks of my life such as my son's graduation and a friend's funeral; important events that I would not usually forget. It took me 2 years to learn to read and remember. I started with newspaper articles, moved on to magazine articles, graduated to short stories and finally succeeded at reading and remembering books. I use to have a phenomenal memory and now I have to write notes to myself and make sure I don't put anything in a "safe" place because I usually can't remember where the "safe" place is later. Does the benefit outweigh the cost? Would I have come out of the depression otherwise? I don't know. What I do know is that I was informed of short term memory loss. However, the possibility that I would have more significant problems was definitely glossed over (or so my family tells me.)
ReplyDeleteI have had a lot of ECT - the last has been this year between 25 and 30 times. My memory is gone. While I do feel better for about 4 days after each treatment I am not sure it has been worth losing my memory. I can no longer work and the last few years are nearly a blank to me. I have only very vague rememberances of significant life events. Sometimes I find I have lost very basic knowledge for example being able to spell a word. My doctors will no longer allow me to have ECT so I am trying to find an antidepressant that will work. Apparently I have been on nearly everything and none of it has worked but of course I can't remember any of it. I also have problems with memories since last having ECT - it seems to be a continuing problem.
ReplyDeleteI feel there is a place for ECT - it has probably saved my life in the past - I am not so sure about my future.
As far as Im concerned ECT saved my life, it is amazing and i wouldn t think twice about having it again should I need it. I ve suffered with severe clinical depression since I was 20 on and off (I am now 32), and I can only describe it as a living hell, it is like being constantly tortured every moment is unbearable and you will do anything to get away from yourself which is why death seems such an attractive option when you are unwell.I do not blame anybody who commits suicide when the are clinically depressed, I completly understand, this is why ECT is so amazing as it gives immediate relief. The first time I had ECT I was 27 and suicidal, I immediately said yes to the treatment without even researching it as I would have tried anything to get well, as far as I was concerned I had nothing to lose as I wanted to die anyway......... The anaeshetic itself was wonderful as it got me away from myself and felt really nice, then when I woke up I was confused , headache etc but once I had got over that I felt completly normal and back to my old self again, it was like a miracle. I then had another ect later that week and this one sent me high as a kite, I was v v v happy, couldn t stop talking, loads of happy thoughts, loads of interest, everything looked beautiful, however I was too high and couldn t sleep due to so many happy thoughts, so I said to my psychiatrist don t give me anymore as I am too high, I ve gone the opposite.I then came back down to earth and was fine, about a month later I had a bit of a dip, but not severe just mild and pulled myself out of it and was then absolutly fine for 5 years. I stayed on my treatment dose of 225mg of venlafaxine. I then had a major nervous breakdown at 32 due to a succession of extremly stressfull events and was severly depressed again. I did not hesitate to ask for ECT, this time it was not as effective as quickly, it took about 3 treatments to feel any different and I had 12 altogether, but again it had the same end result, it was amazing and saved my life again. I have experienced some memory loss but when people give me a que I can remember, I describe it as being like when you get really drunk and wake up the next morning and can t remember the night before and then your friends fill you in and it all comes back to you.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I post a comment to downplaying the hysteria associated with ECT, and it wasn't posted. What gives?
ReplyDeletedepressed most of my life. last few years have been hell. as one writer puts it it seems as though death is the only way out.I'm 50 now and last depression was bad , about 3 yrs. tried all the meds and combos. ECT was a welcome last resort. I had 22 right side unilateral treatments. feel better then i have in years ,no regrets. I don,t remember forgetting anything (ha, ha)was told the unilateral method had much less cognitive side effects. well looking foreward to getting on with life again, maybe even enjoy it a little. great site, thanks
ReplyDelete