ProfessorJohn wrote:
renaeden wrote:
I've had depression since I was a teenager when I was severely bullied at school and ignored at home. It wasn't until my late 20s when I started taking overdoses and going missing for days at a time that I was taken seriously and admitted to hospitals for psychiatric treatment. Many medications were tried and I'm finally on a good one (moclobemide). I've also had ECT which at the time did a good job because I got my sense of humour back, found a partner and got married. The effects wear off though, so I'm left relying on my antidepressant. I've been told by my psychiatrist that I'll be on medication for the rest of my life. That's ok I guess.
Could you do ECT again? It sounds like it worked the first time.
At the time (2006), ECT was used on me as a last resort. I had spent three months in hospital and tried about five different medications, most of which had awful side effects like panic attacks and soaring blood pressure. I was suicidal and wanted to sleep the days away. It was my psychiatrist that suggested ECT.
Often, ECT is used to get a patient to a more functioning level while waiting for an antidepressant medication to kick in, which can take a few weeks. Maintenance ECT can also be done if the patient is at risk of suicidal depression again.
I'm glad to have only needed ECT that one time as it cost me a year's worth of memory. For me, 2005 doesn't exist.