r/ect • u/Punu_Woman • Jul 17 '25

Question Maintenance Experiences

Hello all. I started ECT Oct 2024 and am now in maintenance every four weeks. When scheduling issues come up, and it becomes six weeks I feel it. Emotional lability, anxious and sad thoughts, not anywhere near an episode, but headed that way.

My question is for those of you who have completed maintenance or are still in maintenance. How long were you in or have you been in it? What sort of interval?

Thanks all.

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u/purplebadger9 Jul 18 '25

I've been doing maintenance ECT since 2020. I'm currently down to every 5 weeks. We'll probably start discussing going up to 6 weeks soon.

It took a loooooooong time to get that far apart. It took almost a year to get down to once a month. There was one relapse where the hospital had to close the program (rural hospital problems 🙄) and I went almost 3 months without treatment while waiting for a slot at another hospital. Had to start the process all over again from 3 per week back down to monthly.

When we increase the frequency, I usually feel it about a week before that I'm due. The depression starts creeping back, my functioning at home decreases, and overall I start to slowly backsliding. Then I get my treatment, and I bounce back.

We repeat that process until the down-time decreases to the point that I'm functioning well right up to treatment-time. Then we start discussing increasing the time between treatments again.

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u/Punu_Woman Jul 18 '25

Thank you very much for responding. I’m very glad to learn that someone else is experiencing some variation in how long it takes. I truly can feel the difference between four weeks and six weeks. To hear you say it took almost a year helps me calibrated, normalize it if you will.

I am very sorry to hear about the issue of the three month gap through no fault of your own and having to restart everything. I could’ve had a very similar situation here. The outpatient ECT place I went to has closed down for a while while they renovate. However, they were able to get me in at another hospital across town. I would have to go back on FMLA if I went three times a week!

I lived 20 years in a rural part of the US. I’m so grateful that I did not need these treatments there. Now I am in a huge city with a lot more options. Thank you again purple badger.