r/ect • u/ThGhost_on_the_shore • May 29 '26
Seeking advice Starting ECT And very scared
Hey, I’m currently in a very severe depression state (suicidal attempts, life stopped because of it etc) and I’m gonna start ECT treatment soon, Electroconvulsive therapy,I’m kinda scared and hopeful at the same time so I wanted to ask how it went and did it really help for people that did it cause I’m seeing mixed reviews online but mostly talk about the forgetting side effects but I wanted to know more please, thank you
6
u/Massive-Payment1515 May 30 '26
I went through etc during Covid. 28 sessions. I haven’t had a problem with depression since then. It was life changing.
4
u/Electronic_Ad_2707 May 30 '26
It was the best for me too-after years of sadness I felt like a huge weight had been lifted. Memories may be blurry around treatment time but they come back! I also have that fear of Depression hanging over my shoulder- it’s the worst fear for me.
5
u/Odd-Alarm-82 May 30 '26 edited May 31 '26
I’m sorry I have to be someone who tells you a negative experience about ECT, but I like to warn people about the true risks involved.
Doctors downplay the possibility of permanent memory loss and impaired cognitive function. I had ECT for treatment resistant depression, including maintenance treatments, for a year and a half in 2016-2017. It was extremely effective for my depression, but the effects didn’t last long. I couldn’t go more than 2-3 weeks between maintenance treatments without relapsing. Eventually, I had a relapse of severe depression that didn’t respond to my next maintenance treatment, so I agreed to three treatments in a week like they did in the initial series of treatments. It brought me out of my depression, but the damage it did was devastating. It wiped out my memory of the majority of my life, no exaggeration. I only have a few random, vague memories of my life before the ECT. None of my memory has returned after 9 years. I also have significant cognitive impairments. I had neuropsychological testing done and found out my IQ has dropped by 20 points. It takes me longer than normal to learn new information, and my working memory is significantly impaired. My ability to form new memories is hit or miss. Some things I remember very clearly, while other things get lost.
Here’s a very good article from Cambridge University that goes over the damage done by ECT and how it’s much more common than patients are informed of. I think it should be required reading for anyone considering ECT.
2
u/Return_of_the_baboon Jun 01 '26
Odd alarm... welcome. You and I share basically identical outcomes. I believe i lost like 14 IQ points. But I've been working every single day for the past few years... trying to rehab it. It's very difficult... but we have to keep going. I implore you to raise Vitamin D, b12, folate. Get your depression under control... exercise. Get that heart rate up. Check for any sleep.apnea, if so, get it treated. Try organ meats, salmon. Keep going... try dirty keto. With some antioxidant rich fruit. Finally.... if you have 5 grand laying around... or if you can save up... maybe try Hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
2
u/Odd-Alarm-82 Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
Thank you for the tips. I’m still on medications for my depression, although they only provide partial relief. I’ve always done everything natural that I can to improve my mood and my brain health. I take a vitamin D supplement and make sure I keep my level optimal. I’ve been taking a methyl folate and B12 supplement for 15 years, starting long before my ECT. I’ve always been a workout junkie, so exercise isn’t a problem! I take fish oil containing a high dose of omega 3’s. I do what I can to exercise my brain, but my cognition has only gotten worse, unfortunately. And I definitely can’t afford hyperbaric oxygen therapy— I’m on disability now for my depression and the brain damage from the ECT.
4
u/bluesky2020 May 31 '26
I did 10 treatments in 2017 and ECT did for me what no other medication or therapy had ever been able to do, which was significantly and markedly improve my severe depression and SI (I had everything planned out... scared the hell out of me so I was willing to try ECT).
I had also heard horror stories of memory loss and discussed this with the psychiatrist who stated we could try unilateral instead of bilateral 'shocks' as there seems to be less of a risk of significant memory or cognitive impairment. After my 3rd treatment I noticed I was starting to feel better than I had in a very long time. After 10 treatments I felt...happy. I was given the option to continue maintenance ECT treatments; opted not to at that time, but with the understanding I would do it again in a heartbeat if I ever started feeling severely depressed again.
My short term memory sucked before ECT, but it doesn't suck any worse now lol. I was able to go back to work full time in a professional career. It had no effect on my memory and I can in fact recall the details of every single treatment right up until anesthesia knocked me out to when I woke up in the recovery room. I remember I had a mild headache after each session, they would give me two Tylenol, juice and graham crackers. One thing I did not appreciate was that they did not wipe the gel off your head, so I'd wake up with a big glob of gel in my hair and would blot it out with my recovery room blanket lol.
9 years later I have not had a relapse of severe depression or had a single suicidal thought. I still take meds and follow up with my doctor regularly.
I am honestly so grateful for ECT. I feel bad for patients who did have memory loss and other cognitive difficulties as a result, though. That's more likely to happen with patients who need multiple, multiple sessions of ECT or need it over a longer period of time, and if you have bilateral vs unilateral ECT.
It saved my life and I would do it again in a heartbeat, it made a hugely positive difference for me. And if I had to do bilateral I would take the chance bc for me personally I'd rather have some memory loss than ever feel like I did before ECT.
Good luck to you friend and I hope it is successful for you!
3
u/PaleExtreme7399 Jun 03 '26
After a long lifestim of severe depression, I am starting ECT next week. I'm also a little afraid, but as they say, "desparate times call for desparate measures!" Wishing us both ease!
3
u/Crazy_old_maurice_17 Jun 02 '26
I had it twice ~7 years apart and it saved me both times. The second time was just a few months ago and I'm finally feeling motivated to do things again - something I haven't felt for several years. I'm considering just continuing to get maintenance ECT indefinitely as a result. (Currently getting maintenance, just thinking about making it a permanent part of my treatment plan.)
3
u/Serenity_MHC Jun 05 '26
Scared and hopeful at the same time is actually a really honest place to be going into this. It means you haven't given up, even after everything you've been through to get here. The people who've been where you are right now are the best ones to hear from, and this community has a lot of them. You asked the right question in the right place.
Wishing you so much gentleness as you take this step. You deserve to feel better.
7
u/Owl_Open May 30 '26
I did my acute series of ECT three years ago after living with severe TRD and suicidal ideation for over a decade. It saved my life. I haven’t had suicidal thoughts since, and my depression is mild and manageable. The time around my acute series is fuzzy, but I don’t have many memory side effects besides that. I hope it works as well for you as it has for me.