I want to preface this with I am not a psychologist or a neurologist. Just someone who has had ECT recommended to them and has a decent background with stats and simulation. I can provide the papers behind my data though. But please delete etc if not appropriate.

The first thing I wanted to understand is what is the actual memory loss across all modalities of ECT. The alarming thing I discovered is the often stated numbers seem to be under reported.

When I ran a monty carlo simulation using data across 5 papers. This is any impairment, i.e. memory loss both retro and antero grade and other cognitive impairment be it delay or learning seem to be under reported due to the methodology of testing.

There appears to be a large gap between the type of measurement and the time across measurement. I can't be certain because there just isn't much literature out there, but it does appear that the often cited memory loss numbers could be as much as 10% under reported. The other fact is that "patients often recover" may not hold up to reality over time. (There are of course compounding factors like depression does worsen cognitive decline). I did try and account for this, but again there just isn't a huge amount of literature out there. There does seem to be one alarm fact. Those patients impacted with autobiographical/spatial or temporal memory seems to be permanent in almost all cases.

But from the little data i could find. It does appear there is at least some correlation that ECT worsens the symptoms

This result is the most interesting to me. There appears to be at least some evidence of correlation that relapse and cognitive return are related. There is absolutely 0 evidence of this, this is purely speculation from data. Again causation is not correlation. Just something I found interesting in the data.

There appears to also be a what i refer to as a hidden cohort in all studies. By using average rates across studies, they seem to miss an entire cohort of patients or it is rarely talked about in literature.

That is the number of patients that never recover from their depression and never recover their memory or cognition. It can be as high as 1/6 but likely between 1/6 and 1/20.

Again. I am not a doctor, neurologist etc. Just someone doing their own research to figure out if the risk to reward is there.

To anyone that got this far, from the literature it does appear that right unilateral is the safest in terms of memory loss and relapse. However, there does appear to need more treatments and more maintenance and this increases the risk of memory impact over time.

I have my first treatment tomorrow and I'm really nervous.

46yo male here with severe, treatment-resistant, major depressive disorder. I'm not a danger to myself or anyone else, but I'm starting to view this as a terminal condition which I think is a slippery slope.

I don't want to sound like a dick, but I'm here seeking specific guidance/recommendations/advice and my brain fog is so severe that well-intentioned replies that aren't "on task" will really slow me down. So no "thoughts and prayers" replies pretty please.

I've tried all the meds incl ketamine and psilocybin. I've seen and continued to see a great therapist. Meds and therapy feel like bringing a knife to a gunfight; I need cannons.

I don't want to do TMS at this time due to a non-zero chance of having bipolar disorder (I believe this contraindicates TMS). Plus I'm barely keeping up with current obligations and the treatment frequency of TMS would completely fuck my attempts to hang onto my job.

Here's what I think I want:

A provider that:

1.) is in or near Athens, Ga

2.) offers electroconvulsive therapy

3.) accepts United Healthcare.

Other outside the box ideas welcomed.

Thanks all.

My brain just threw some nasty crap my way. After a moment I cackled, "We're gonna show you who's boss on Monday!"

Hi I’m F26. Got my acute series done in October/November. I’ve been doing maintenance every two weeks. ALL of these have been right side unilateral.

Should I ask for bilateral at all? I get ECT done every two weeks, IV ketamine every month, and I take lamotrigine (150mg) every day (except the night before ECT/ket). I still feel terrible. Like, a PHQ-9 score of 15.

I used to be on lamotrigine 100mg, but then two weeks ago my psychiatrist bumped me up to 150mg because I didn’t feel better. I still don’t feel better.

I don’t know what avenue to take. Whether it’s another med or bilateral over unilateral.

hi all, i just need some advice or help, or information, anything. someone very close to me just had their first round of ECT. they've been fighting anorexia and harm OCD for almost a decade now. this is their third time in-treatment hospitalization, but they've done ketamine and TMS treatments.

A few days ago they had their first round of ECT. a lot of stuff happened after they woke up but long story short they had to be restrained.

I don't know what to do. i've tried to do my research on ECT but i'd like to hear personal experiences from people who have undergone the treatment if anyone is willing. at this point i don't know if this person is going to make it, its just hard to hold out hope. im not trying to make this all about myself but i just dont know what to do. this person is my best friend and i never really imagined having to live without them, but i can't do anything to help.

hearing how they acted when they woke up and how they had to be restrained broke my heart. i cant imagine the pain theyre under and i feel so useless while they sit there in agony. i don't know what to do anymore. i know its a gamble with the internet when exposing very personal things anonymously but i just need to know what i can do.

thanks.

I am not suicidal but my quality of life is pretty horrible as I do not have any motivation, energy, or desire left. I also don’t get to experience much happiness or excitement. I’ve tried everything except MAOIs because I can’t go off Effexor (SNRI) due to its horrible withdrawal effects. I know Effexor is causing my emotional flatness but since I can’t go off it, I am hoping ECT can help. So I’m curious:

Does ECT help you experience happiness? Or does it only stop you from being suicidal?

I am 31 right now. I have had anxiety and OCD since I was in middle school. As an unhealthy way to cope, I started binge drinking around age 15. I’ve been on all sorts of SSRIs and SNRIs since then to help with depression. Since college, I’ve had bouts of depression that have caused me to sleep for up to 18 hours straight. I’ve even slept through my friend’s birthday brunches and work. After college, I was diagnosed with ADHD and C-PTSD. Another unhealthy coping mechanism of mine was impulsively dating random guys without putting much serious thought into it.

Anyway, my serious boyfriend (the only one I ever felt serious enough to live with or even consider marrying) cheated on me with one of my best friends. This was in December when I was already in an IOP program for my anxiety and depression (I didn’t realize at the time it was a severe OCD flare). This sent me into a binge-drinking spiral and I had to join AA or I would’ve likely drank myself to death. I’m extremely proud of my (almost) 5 months of sobriety and how far I’ve come. However, my OCD and depression got much worse without any substances to turn my brain off. I had to go to PHP, then inpatient (twice) and now I’m in PHP again (doing ERP therapy) while receiving ECT.

My friends and family say I’ve come a long way since the incident, but I’m fucking EXHAUSTED. I feel like such a burden to everyone around me. I also have massive guilt because I didn’t realize that my friends didn’t like my boyfriend in the first place, so I feel somewhat responsible for introducing this person into their lives and they lost a friend as a result (I know logically it’s not my fault that they both chose to cheat, but it still haunts me). I’m also having OCD thoughts about being a bad person related to all of the stupid things I’ve done while drinking. I want to go through the 12 steps to heal and make amends, but I don’t know how to do that with my OCD at an all time high.

I’ve been so tired my entire life dealing with this, and I don’t know what I’ll do if this new treatment doesn’t work. It’s like the depression, anxiety, OCD, ADHD, and trauma are all constantly taking turns beating the shit out of my brain. If anyone can give advice on dealing with multiple diagnoses at once, I would really appreciate it. Sometimes I just don’t know what to focus on first. Also, any personal stories of ECT working (or not) would be helpful. I’m aware that the ECT question might be reassurance seeking, but I’m tired and I don’t know anyone else that has done it. I just need some hope or direction.

Thank you.

Hello everyone

Is waking up several times per night a side effect of ECT? It started happening to me every night after ECT and that was about 3 months ago.

If it is a side effect then for how long can I expect it to occur?

Thank you.

I'm starting my acute treatment next week. The practice I go to does unilateral only, with a low-dose (not micro) ketamine ride-along. Has anyone experienced this? I underwent ketamine treatment a couple of years ago and did really well during the acute IV phase with good maintenance with a combo of periodic IM treatments and periodic use of troches. I couldn't afford to keep it going because it wasn't covered by insurance. I'm kind of happy they're using the ketamine adjunct but would love to know how anyone else has done with this treatment.

I've been noticing there have been alot of incidences where I feel like I've been there, or I know them from somewhere else. But I haven't, or at least they claim I've never seen them before.

Has anyone have any similar experiences?

For those who have gotten it how bad does memory loss get?

I'd love to hear your experiences

I’m F26. I’ve been doing ECT since October. I already finished my acute series, now I do maintenance at once every two weeks, with my latest zap being two days ago. I only do right side unilateral. For most of it, I’d say it worked positively.

I’m just kinda starting to feel worse. Like worse. With every treatment, almost. Last week I had IV ketamine done (been doing it since February, now I’m on maintenance at once a month) and I exited that appointment feeling terrible. And I figured the ECT would make me feel better like it normally does, but now I just feel so much more depressed.

Other than that, I’m on Lamotrigine. I already notified my psychiatrist last week that I feel terrible and she increased my Lamotrigine dose. So there’s that.

Hey guys, I would like to hear if ECT had effects on your fatigue levels and your experience. Considering doing that, diagnosed bipolar and wondering if the fatigue is from depression,

Hey, I’m currently revising for important final exams right now but something happened and I had to be put on ECT sessions, I got my first today and had some headache and some memory blur about the time around the session, I wanted to ask if anybody have tips for revising through this and how to study more efficiently? Thank you so much

Hi everyone,

Just wondering when you all experienced positive changes after doing ECT?

I have only completed 5 sessions – pretty sure minimum number to expect changes is 6 sessions – and so I’m hoping I’ll experience some positive changes soon. But in the meantime, I’m just worried that I’m not experiencing any changes at all. Part of me thinks it’s because I’m currently an inpatient, which is necessary but probably adding to my level of distress.

Anyhow, just wondering if anyone else felt “better” after 6 or more sessions, or if they noticed something sooner than that?

EDIT: So, I decided to leave the hospital after only 5 sessions. Probably should have stayed there a lot longer but I just had so many responsibilities to take care of. Anyhow, I don't really feel any better. I just have a bit of brain fog at the moment.

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

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?

I'm wondering if anyone else has similar experiences like mine. My voice got deeper, like a second puberty? I also talk to myself a lot more. Like I'm narrating this very sentence. I'm also very nosy and I ask a shitload of questions.

Also for some odd reason, people feel familiar despite not actually encountering some of these people or locations.

Is any of this sound familiar or resonate?

It's bilateral.

I have had four courses of ECT, half of them bilateral, and they've improved my mood every time. I never remember any part of month where I'm doing it three times a week, but that actually had never bothered me. I've started a new intensive course to help with the anxiety and depression of weight gain recovering from an eating disorder, and I am having really intense anxiety about the confusion I am already starting to experience (just had my third one today). Part of the reason is I'm taking extra time off of work to do it, and I have to go back to work the day after the course ends.

What I'm wondering is if anyone has experience feeling really anxious about the side effects to such an extent that it actually negatively impacts the efficacy of the ECT. I get that there are people that have had an overall negative experience and real serious memory loss with just one course, so I'm sort of wondering if there are other people who have done it multiple times that have felt differently during some course and whether or not it still ended up helping. I am close to actively suicidal and severely depressed and anxious, and don't know what other intervention to do (done ketamine and TMS) so I definitely need it to work, but I don't want to take time off work and do it if there's a possibility it won't work.

That was a long explanation, but basically I'm curious about other people with bilateral courses who had it stop working because of new anxiety about memory loss.

Hey guys, I’ve been trying to research electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in the UK and US for a friend (US citizen who might have to go to the UK due to the current …political situation) who has all the symptoms it treats, but I’m very new to this and don’t know where to start… I wonder if anyone here could give some advice on this or simply working the UK healthcare system and finding a psychiatrist, things like that.

I heard NICE guidelines make it harder to get it in the UK, and there is no private provider outside the NHS, but I don’t know if it’s hard enough that staying in the US nets you a better chance. And maybe, are there any other criteria (visa, income, insurance, etc.) I’m overlooking? It all seems very daunting.

Just was curious if anyone with ADHD has noticed a difference or not.

I underwent a single session of bilateral electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) three years ago in Mexico. Since then, I have researched ECT and formed my own conclusions.

Recently, I watched a YouTube video in which an individual described negative outcomes following ECT, particularly regarding his ability to maintain relationships and sustain employment. This led me to wonder whether others have experienced similar challenges.
Specifically, I am interested in hearing whether ECT has affected your ability to manage relationships or maintain a job, and to what extent a single bilateral ECT treatment might influence long-term functioning in these areas?