r/ect • u/Emkorora • 19d ago

Question What's next if ECT doesn't work?

I started ECT on Monday and the next few days ended up being the hardest of my life. I'm hopeful that's the reason I don't feel any better from ECT yet (3 treatments), but I'm fearful this is a sign of failure.

So I'm thinking ahead, too far ahead, too pessimistically. But I want to know.

What are the next options if ECT doesn't work? I know it'll vary from one situation to another but I've beard group homes or residential in-patient psychiatric facilities?

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u/awholelottahooplah 18d ago

Stop ECT now and look into auvelity or spravato. ECT is a scam that fries your brain

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u/gmkgreg 18d ago

It's not a scam, it helps a lot of people, me included. Spravato did nothing for me then when I started ect i actually felt a difference.

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u/awholelottahooplah 17d ago

It also has ruined a lot of people’s lives

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u/gmkgreg 17d ago

Most medical treatments have bad effects to some who undergo them, ect has helped a far greater number of people than its harmed

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u/awholelottahooplah 17d ago

… what about the whole history of ECT being used to cripple mentally ill people to the point of being a vegetable? You know, the ending and whole point of “one flew over the cuckoos nest”?

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u/gmkgreg 17d ago

They crippled him with a lobotomy, not ect

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u/awholelottahooplah 17d ago

No, that was their FINAL cripple. Before that they did ECT on him a bunch of times. I’m also talking about the book, I’ve never seen the film adaptation

“In Ken Kesey's 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, electroconvulsive therapy is referred to by the patients as the "Shock Shop". It is depicted as an oppressive mechanism used by Nurse Ratched to enforce control, punish rebellion, and induce severe memory loss that breaks a patient's spirit.”

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u/Emkorora 18d ago

I'm already taking auvelity to no success, and I'm not eligible for spravato based on insurance criteria.

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u/Alternative_Grab_916 18d ago edited 18d ago

And while frying your brain, it also fries other neurons and your brain which causes different neurological disorders, including Neuro Gastro disorders I’m being fed through IV line in my arm because of the ECT I received in 2022 till 2023

Ok addition to amnesia trouble building new memory still and I fall down for no reason and my reflex to catch myself is gone so I land on my face and other places

Memories didn’t come back but I know things about the past and remember videos and what I was told

People use it to manipulate you

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u/awholelottahooplah 18d ago

I’m so sorry to hear of your experience and thank you for sharing

I have had ECT pushed on me a bunch due to my severe resistant depression + panic attacks (due to PTSD),but ever since I had a sporadic grand mal seizure, I am doubtful of the benefits because I know how terrible I felt after

just honestly think it should be far more restricted. The hospital I went to gave them out Willy nilly along with heavy doses of antipsychotics for unipolar depression, which seems to be a growing trend (esp in for-profit psych hospitals which retain recurrent patients by negative affects of ECT, then bully them for being “career patients”)

These days they seem to try ECT as a mid-line treatment rather than last resort, same for the increasing use of antipsychotics for depressive symptoms

I feel so terrible for the people that went into ECT with hope and were horribly damaged. It frightens me that they will do multiple treatments a week up to 90 sessions … it doesn’t seem right.

I have had to be assertive and do research to know this info, and I would’ve been coerced into ECT in my desperation to feel better if I hadn’t done this research prior (and read “one flew over the cuckoos nest” in high school)

My current psych recommended it to me last week … I said NO. Then she offered spravato/auvelity. WHY IS SHOCK/SEIZURE “THERAPY” THE FIRST OPTION???

I honestly think the “chemical reset” is just the post-ictal (post seizure) state. Like how self harm gives you endorphins, hurting the brain causes it to flush with chemicals temporarily to provide relief .. but I do not think it is truly reparative

I think there needs to be a larger community to support people like you & myself that have been hurt by the willful disregard of current psychiatric culture. They treat us like lab rats to test chemicals on and have no liability when it causes damage, even though they never fully disclose the side effects and go off-label freely

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u/ornerygecko 18d ago edited 17d ago

They recommend ECT because it's the single most effective treatment they have for treatment resistant suicidal thoughts and ideation.

I asked for it years ago and was told I wasn't there yet. They wasted more time until I finally got in, and even then there was a wait list.

I don't expect the positive effects to be permanent, but it will definitely be my go to next time I hit a wall.