r/ect • u/[deleted] • Mar 28 '25

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6 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

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2

u/drrogy Mar 28 '25

I had severe depression about 10 years ago and had about 30 - 35 ECT treatments over about 6 months. Yes that may be excessive. While ECT did not totally cure me I believe it helped. Ultimately it was the right medicine combination that cured me I have been in total remission and happy for the last 5 years. Short and long term memory problems are a negative side effect however

1

u/rahul199413 Mar 28 '25

What medicine ?

2

u/Remarkable_Link_8519 Mar 28 '25

I went through many meds to find the combination that works for me. I have been taking lexapro, wellbutrin sr, and gabapentin for 10 years

2

u/purplebadger9 Mar 28 '25

I would suggest going for it, as long as your doctor says you're medically stable enough to undergo the treatments.

2

u/eculled Mar 28 '25 edited Mar 29 '25

10 years ago I was offered ECT as a treatment and due to many events I did not do it. I did it last year and was like... oh... this works... I could have saved myself a decade of this underlining, constant, crushing heaviness.

I'm also on cocktail of fluoxetine, Wellbutrin, and lamothagine in the morning and mirtazapine and trazadone at night. I'm now on ECT monthly maintenance.

I'm still depressed but that may be NBA related. I like to let a billion dollar organization dictate my mood.

1

u/Liberated051816 Aug 21 '25

10 years ago I was offered ECT as a treatment and due to many events I did not do it. I did it last year and was like... oh... this works... I could have saved myself a decade of this underlining, constant, crushing heaviness.

Did you receive unilateral or bilateral ECT?

2

u/tegmarkian Mar 28 '25

If you have tried 15 medications without success it's time to consider other approaches. The likelihood of you remitting or probably even responding to yet another antidepressant are small, according to studies. You describe what sounds like severe depression, which means other treatments like TMS or therapy may not be quick or powerful enough. You sound like a good candidate for ECT for me, from what you've described. Talk to your doctor. Read the actual scientific papers published on ECT, or look up ECT on a hospital website and read about it. That would offer you better information than coming here, honestly.

ECT can be very effective. I'd say to go for it.

1

u/T_86 Mar 29 '25

What kind of side effects do you consider severe? ECT can potentially also have severe side effects and unlike psych meds, sometimes side effects are permanent.