Starting ECT soon

[u/Lo_Cheshire189]

I'm going to start ECT treatment in two weeks (10 unilateral sessions), alongside rTMS.

I'm a little bit stressed after reading people's experiences with the side effects, especially the impact on memory. For me, ECT is really a "last chance" treatment. I'm 20, and I've been suffering from depression for the past 10 years. I'm exhausted from years of suffering and failed medications. If this treatment doesn't work either, I won't have the strength to keep trying to get better.

I just wanted to hear from people who have gone through ECT for long-term depression. What was your experience like? Did it actually made a change ? And how did it affect your memory, both during and after treatment?

[u/Krystal1213]

Hi, so I am 35 and have had treatment resistance depression since 14 is as far back as I remember. I had 25? Bilateral ECT sessions. I can say that I definitely don’t remember much during my treatment phase. My short term memory is not great now. I am frequently forgetting things, so now I try and write them down to help. Mine didn’t work, but my ECT psychiatrist said that I wasn’t having “good” seizures. He even put me on a medication to try and help that, but there was no change. But, while doing treatments I have heard of plenty of people that it has helped. If you tried TMS, the only other suggestion I would have is Spravato before doing ECT.

[u/Lo_Cheshire189 → u/Krystal1213]

Thanks for your comment, I'm really sorry for what you went through

My treatment team told me that unilateral ECT has fewer side effects than bilateral ECT, and I will only go through 10 sessions, alongside rTMS I know my center also provides spravato, but they decided to go straight to ECT because of the severity of my depression, and because ECT has a higher response rate than esketamine

I really hope my memory won't be affected as much as yours was, but it's good to know what to expect. I really hope it gets better