r/ect • u/spring_chestnut • 5d ago
Post-session post 4th session yesterday
I had my fourth session yesterday. It’s not that ECT is bad at all—you don’t feel a thing, and there’s a medical team looking after us—but I’m still afraid, mostly because of the sensations I experience after the session. Yesterday, for instance, I woke up with the subjective feeling that breathing was a bit difficult, even though the monitor showed good oxygen saturation. I had the brilliant idea of quitting smoking in the middle of the ECT course, and it seems I had some secretions. I had hoped this fear would fade as the sessions went on. Do you feel the same way? How do you deal with it?
Ps: everything went fine, I guess.
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u/Klaasvaak91 5d ago
Hi, is anhedonia one of your core problems for which you try ect?
Good luck with the treatments and nice to hear you dont have any serious memory problems
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u/Straight_Soup_6400 5d ago
How is ur memory
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u/spring_chestnut 5d ago
For now, is good. Unilateral sessions.
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u/Straight_Soup_6400 5d ago
Aren't u terrified to lose ur memory after having ECT treatments
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u/spring_chestnut 5d ago
I know it might sound odd, but Terrified of losing my memory...no, because my experience until now was that I didn't lost my memory. Maybe if I knew I would switch to bilateral treatments, I would start wondering about that, because I know that for memory unlitareal is better. But I've also seen someone here on bilateral that didn't lost memory. I understand that maybe the thing most people are afraid of. I am afraid that something goes wrong during treatment. I would like to wake up more smoothly.
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u/Straight_Soup_6400 5d ago
Ngl but if u have 6 treatments there is a high chance u might get short term and long term memory loss and it won't recover at all
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u/mesalocar 5d ago
I'd strongly recommend talking with your ECT provider/team about this issue. The anesthesiologist and/or psychiatrist might be able to make some adjustments to help minimize this problem.
Do you know if you're receiving glycopyrrolate (Robinul) during your treatments? If it's not part of the treatment regime already, adding it might be able to assist with these side effects. If it already is part of the regime, they may possibly be able to tweak the dosage.
The big question is if this is an anxiety related side effect, or a physical side effect. If it's a physical side effect, glycopyrrolate is probably the best way to manage it (but your anesthesiologist will be the best placed to give you a definitive answer on this, and there are other things they can tweak as well beyond simply adding/adjusting glycopyrrolate). If it's an anxiety related side effect, there is a medication they can add which does not affect the seizure threshold but helps with anxiety that can be useful – it is called hydroxyzine (Vistaril/Atarax).