Discussion Curious about people's experience with ECT?

[cracklingroses]

I am curious about other's experiences with ECT.

To give context about my experience, I was 16 years old when I was forced to have ten rounds of ECT. The only reason I didn't have more was because my mom stopped letting me have them as I couldn't walk or talk on my own. I could only sleep. Which could have been the combination of all the antipsychotics and mood stabilizers they were experimenting on me too, but the ECT was what really did me in. Complete cognitive impairment. TMI, but I often woke up in the recovery room after ECT covered in my own excrement.

I now struggle with brain damage but who is going to help me with that when all of the medical complex supports the psychiatric complex? No one will take me seriously because they all support these horrible "treatments".

I wasn't even the youngest person getting ECT. I was with a young girl who barely turned 13. She would cry everytime we went for it and it broke my heart. I would've cried too but I was so sedated I didn't even realize what was happening before it was too late. And of course they aren't going to warn you of the risks (not that I had any choice anyways) they told my parents and I this was perfectly safe.

Perfectly safe. Just as they said with antipsychotics that left me bedridden with my eyes rolling back into my head and uncontrollable muscle movements. Literally stating the "pros" outweigh the cons.

One day I swear to god we will see ECT, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, and even SSRI's as bad as lobotomies. Especially ECT. How the public continues to remain so ignorant about the damage is beyond me. Maybe more people need to be injured, unfortunately. The Antipsychiatry movement is growing fast though. Hopefully we can eventually make change.

I tried to file a law suit but it took me over two years just to come out of my medical stupor from all of the medical abuse I endured since I was 12. I finally took myself off all meds at 18. Still took over two years just to come to a place of being able to advocate for myself. Not perfectly, but a lot further than I was. By then, the statute of limitations ran out, and I couldn't sue for medical negligence. Although the court probably would have sided with the psychiatrists anyways.

Plus having a diagnosis of "Schizoaffective Disorder" makes it so much harder to be taken seriously as they can write me off as "needing the treatment". Though I don't think anything could justify how far they went, when I was just an adolescent with my brain still developing...

 

[divinemistress36]

Its a cruel treatment. They told me the memory loss was only temporarily

 

[excinephile]

I had two rounds of ECT before I decided that it will do nothing for me and I'd rather avoid further harm. I have been utterly obliterated by psymeds before that. So yeah the hellish spiral takes its course again and again and produces the most horrific suffering known to man. Fuck this system big time.

 

[cracklingroses]

Its a cruel treatment. They told me the memory loss was only temporarily

I am so sorry. The cognitive damage it does is so debilitating. These prescribers have no idea what it's like and have no empathy. They are willing to lie just so you get the treatment and they can get the insurance pay out. It is disgusting. I wish you the best moving forward. I am so sorry this happened to you.

I had two rounds of ECT before I decided that it will do nothing for me and I'd rather avoid further harm. I have been utterly obliterated by psymeds before that. So yeah the hellish spiral takes its course again and again and produces the most horrific suffering known to man. Fuck this system big time.

I am so sorry you have been damaged as well. I am glad you stopped the ect before it did more damage. Even though two can be enough. And the damage from psych meds is absolutely a nightmare. I am so sorry. I hope you can find healing as time goes on. They say the brain is neuroplastic so I pray that it gets better

 

[divinemistress36]

Its terrible we get punished for being mentally ill

 

[bte]

I can't remember how many rounds I had, but it was 24 years ago. I did it voluntarily, just to try something different. I'd tried to commit suicide and was in a psych hospital for a couple of months. It knocked out a good number of memories from the previous 9 years. A number I've seen retrieved, but there are still many I lost. I haven't had any other negative affects from it. I wouldn't do it again. Now we have other things to try, like TMS (and esketamine, which I'm trying now. I don't know if it's making a difference, but I at least enjoy the treatments!).

 

[cracklingroses]

I can't remember how many rounds I had, but it was 24 years ago. I did it voluntarily, just to try something different. I'd tried to commit suicide and was in a psych hospital for a couple of months. It knocked out a good number of memories from the previous 9 years. A number I've seen retrieved, but there are still many I lost. I haven't had any other negative affects from it. I wouldn't do it again. Now we have other things to try, like TMS (and esketamine, which I'm trying now. I don't know if it's making a difference, but I at least enjoy the treatments!).

Thank you for sharing your experience! How has esketamine been for you? I have considered it now that insurance finally covers it. I'm glad you enjoy the treatments. What is it like?

 

[Leiot]

I actually asked my shrink about getting it. She said no. Guess I dodged a bullet on that one.

 

[LunarLight]

I used to be wondering if ECT could do something for me, but the more I read about it, the more I think I'd better stay away from it.

 

[cracklingroses]

I actually asked my shrink about getting it. She said no. Guess I dodged a bullet on that one.

I usually wouldn't discourage people from "treatments" but ECT does much more harm than any good. Unless sucking your memories dry and giving you cognitive damage helps your depression then I guess it could help. But yeah personally I believe you dodged a huge bullet

I used to be wondering if ECT could do something for me, but the more I read about it, the more I think I'd better stay away from it.

Yeah, I mean usually I don't like to discourage people from "treatment" but this does so much more harm than any potential good, if any.

 

[-nobodyknows-]

I had it. Personally I found it helpful in quieting my suicidal feelings, but the problem was that it made it harder to think in general. The short term memory loss was also pretty bad (there were some days where I'd wash my hair and immediately forgot I had done so), and the muscle spasms were pretty severe, but the biggest reason why I stopped was because you can't drive or have a job or really do anything while you're on it. Honestly, I probably should stay on it for the rest of my life, but I feel guilty about relying on that. I don't know. If I had a bunch of money and didn't have to work for a living I probably would've stuck with it though.

 

[cracklingroses]

I had it. Personally I found it helpful in quieting my suicidal feelings, but the problem was that it made it harder to think in general. The short term memory loss was also pretty bad (there were some days where I'd wash my hair and immediately forgot I had done so), and the muscle spasms were pretty severe, but the biggest reason why I stopped was because you can't drive or have a job or really do anything while you're on it. Honestly, I probably should stay on it for the rest of my life, but I feel guilty about relying on that. I don't know. If I had a bunch of money and didn't have to work for a living I probably would've stuck with it though.

I wish there were better alternatives that didn't have such bad side effects to help with suicidal ideation and mental health. I'm sorry to hear about your memory issues. I hope you can find something that helps and brings you relief without destroying your memory. It is horrible how bad the memory issues are