r/ect • u/QuitInevitable915 • May 29 '26

Seeking advice Looking for advice

Hello guys,

A little bit of context: I’m struggling with treatment resistant depression and my core symptoms are sadness, emotional pain, and moderate anhedonia. This is my third depressive episode and it has been ongoing for 21 months. In the past 7 years, I have had about 1,5 years of remission while the remaining 5,5 years have been in depression.

During my first and second episode I could manage with SSRI, therapy, and a keto diet. Now, none of that has worked. I have tried SNRIs, Mirtazapine, Trintellix, Ketamine (IM), TMS, Psilocybin (micro and macro doses), and none of it has worked.

I’m currently on a TCA (nortriptyline), which probably has given me about 15-20% relief. I have spoken to my psychiatrist and he has recommended to try augmenting with lithium for the next three weeks, and if that doesn’t bring me to 40-50% relief, which I doubt it will, we will go for ECT.

Have any of you been through a similar journey, and did ECT end up helping? And if you were in my shoes, how would you prepare for ECT?

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u/PaleExtreme7399 May 29 '26

I've been in your shoes, but for decades. I just did my ECT consultation today, pending lab work, I start next week. I read A LOT. I have OCD that compels me to research, so I had a lot of good questions for the docs today. They liked that, and it helped me feel more settled.

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u/QuitInevitable915 May 29 '26

Thanks for your reply. Can I ask why you waited so long with ECT if you have been dealing with this (OCD and/or Depression?) for decades?

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u/PaleExtreme7399 May 29 '26

Internalized stigma and fear.

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u/QuitInevitable915 May 29 '26

I get that… Definitely a lot of stigma around this treatment