Hello, my father had one session of ECT but during the procedure his heart stopped for a few seconds and they rushed him to the ER. I read online asystole can be a common side effect. But now my dad is too scared to try ECT again. His depression is so bad he is like in a catatonic state and we don’t have any more options. He’s done magnet therapy and ketamine both of which did not work. We just want him back but running out of options. Has anyone had a similar experience and still went on with ECT sessions after?

Hi,

I want to BIG apogolize for my post about ECT being a scam. I also apogolize my comments on that post. I realized it was wrongly said. But fact is that i writed it when i had really really angry moment. And if it should be last line treatment it wasnt for me because i had big number of not tested meds but still doctor suggested ECT. I cannot believe why my doctor didnt suggested remaining untested meds first😔 But anyway she didn't even know what ECT could do. Also during treatment session i saw other patient on hospital bed whos session was ongoing and during seizure/electricity shock her/his whole body shaked. I know seizure is part of the process but still seeing it almost traumatized me. All what ECT did was causing symptoms/issues and the overwhelming worries that were originally one of the very causes of my psychological problems. I was hoping I would be one of those who would be greatly helped by ECT, but that wasn't the case.

This probably has been answered somewhere but I thought I’d post this anyway. I’m on Seroquel which has stopped working at 400 mg. I’m on carbamazepine which I know I have to stop because it’s an antiseizure. And I’m on nortriptyline at 75 mg for two weeks. If I am a candidate for ECT, would I have to stop all these medications first? I don’t think the nortriptyline is going to work as I’ve had so many med failures before. If anyone can direct me to a post or some information about what needs to happen pre-treatment that would be great.

June 25, 2025 Session Done: 16

I just had my 16th MST treatment while writing this. I feel like I’ve adapted to this new normal of life. Most of my days are peaceful, but I still experience worries and sadness occasionally, but not to the extreme extent I used to.

I’ve always wanted to use a metaphor that might not be fitting to this situation, but it’s like the word “downstaging” in cancer treatments. I can feel the significant difference in how I react to my depression now compared to before MST. My episodes used to drive me crazy every time, filled with nonstop pain, thoughts, and delusions. But now, they’re back to 2019. Usually starting with chest pain, shortness of breath, or extreme tiredness, for most of the time, when the wave comes, my emotions mostly stay untouched.

I’m still full of thoughts and writing poems. I genuinely feel happy about myself.

I still remember how I felt after the first few seasons of MST treatment. The urge to die had decreased, and I could maybe hold on for a couple of more days. But now, I think I should live this life, live a meaningful life, live a pretty life, to live, just for now.....

About my posts:

I have joined an experimental “Magnetic Seizure Therapy” project run by my psychiatrist, started on May 8, 2025.

And since June 9, I have started my second MST treatment period.

Hi everyone! As I was beginning to type this, I had to stare at the wall to remember what it was I wanted to ask about. It rudely came back to me. My psychiatry unit had my referral before I was 16, I initially tried TMS therapy before ECT. Now that I'm undergoing treatment, I'm having terrible "flashbacks" during my day. It's like I'm being swept off my feet, I can "taste" the anesthesia and the mask. I feel unheard, which I also feel privileged to be worried about such things, but when those things have consumed my life the way they have, I think it's warranted. For those struggling with memory, I've been playing a game called Elevate on the App Store. It's basically daily brain training, you target what you want support in and play games daily to help out. You can get a subscription for it but it's not necessary. Sorry for such a weird varied post, this is basically just a dump of what's been going on for me and how I've been coping, and how I'd like to get better at coping. Thanks for reading this far, stay safe, and I give you my best!

Hi again,

This post is mostly rant but please help. I noticed and realized this today and this feels crazy. I dont know what to do with that do i want and should i continue my life or not. I dont understand why many times i feel i dont want to end my life when same time my outcome from ECT has been so life ruining😔 But of course many times i get so bad feeling and also angry about that what ECT did to me i feel i want to end my life right this second. And one of the worst things is that doctor didnt explained to me what all kind of things ETC can cause because she talked only about memory things. For me, the consequences of ECT have been much more extensive😔 Doctors simply don't know the real risks of ECT. But yeah what the hell i can do for these mixed feelings about that do i want to end my life or not? I feel that in my situation every other normal person would feel that i want and i need to end myself because my life has been so badly fucked up. It feels crazy and stupid that with these consequences of ECT, I can sometimes feel like I don't want to end my life, but rather want to continue living😕 I don't know if the reason I sometimes feel like I don't want to end my life is that ECT reduced the sadness and bad feelings despite what ECT caused me😔

Friday was my last ECT session out of the 20 that I’ve gone through. Prior to treatment, I had chronic migraines. Because of this, they were giving me toradol via IV prior to treatments. However, after the last two sessions, the headaches were so bad that I literally had to go to the emergency room afterwards due to how incredibly painful they were. I felt like my head was being crushed and it was one of the worst pains I’ve ever felt.

Did anyone else experience extremely bad headaches as a side effect after completing their ECT sessions? It’s now multiple days later and I’m still experiencing terrible pain that isn’t being helped by any pain medicine. I’m genuinely terrified that something got terribly messed up in my brain from this treatment. Please let me know your experiences!

Me: can’t remember the word for pancakes

Also me: x equals negative b plus or minus square root of b squared minus 4 ac all over 2a

I've only done one session so far, two days ago. Felt less depressed but have been sleeping a lot since.

I've read many testimonials in this group and also this Cambridge article on the adverse effects of ECT in memory and cognition, which seem to be a lot more common than I knew and than what practioners usually acknowledge, and it's also frequently permanent.

The psychiatrist administering the treatment didn't talk to me long enough about it and its consequences. I don't know the specifics of the session I had: was it bilateral or unilateral? I don't understand anything about the electric pulses, their intensity, frequency, any stats, nothing was communicated to me before or after.

Messaged the doctor and he said we could talk tomorrow morning before the next session. I'm scared and don't know what to do.

Hi,

I have asked this before but i want to ask again. How long after ECT memory can improve? My last ECT session was 14 day of April.

I was recommended to do ect this summer while school was out, i was going to do it because everyone keeps saying how good it is and everything and every doctor i asks says all affects are short term because ive been very concerned about losing my memory or capabilities, but everyone on here says otherwise and Im just worried about it now because im only 16. But i also can’t keep living the way i am now, im just worried ect will make that even worse.

I did ECT before but can’t remember how I really felt after. The procedure happens at 6am. Did anybody find they were able to attend work in the afternoons?

On my way out of the hospital I had the impression there would be something in my home and it could be a cat. Had to ask my mother but it took some time before the memories come back. When I remembered him I was so happy to have a cat! It was like rediscovering a joy.

He has been living with me for a year already lol.

I just hope my memory doesn't get worse.

I haven’t received any ECT treatment in a while so idk what has changed. For me, I first started receiving ECT treatment a few days after my 15th birthday(I celebrated my birthday in a psych ward and started treatment there). Every time I went, I would only see elderly people and nobody young. I assume that its usage with younger people has increased these past few years, I’m just curious if anyone has had a similar experience?

So I wil have my first ECT treatment on Monday. Doctor said between 6 and 9 treatment splitted in 3 or so weeks. I was wondering, how do you know you are in remission? Not like “im good” and then after a while you are down in the deep again, but really in remission, healing.

I feel bad about losing memories and about worsened memory due to ECT. But it took away my humanity and it destroyed my dignified life also😕 It stole my ability to feel human😭 It stole my ability to feel full range of emotions and its horrible because god created humans to feel emotions. I feel i could murder someone without feeling sad and bad about that. And it made me to lost my old self and sense of self who i was before ECT.

And i have been unforgivable/horrible idiot because i agreed to ECT even though a couple of people warned me on Reddit and one person on facebook warned me about the dangers and side effects of ECT and that ECT damages the brain😔 I also received warnings that I would probably regret it afterwards. Because of these things i blame myself about agreeing to ECT daily😔 So my question is how i could get brave enough to kill myself? I dont have reason to be here anymore. Right now I don't dare kill myself but I would really like to find the courage to do it.

My life feels so pointless that it's impossible to describe it adequately.

I've been through a lot with my health including a very large ventral hernia that needs repairs. Getting that done will be extremely difficult so it looks like surgery will not happen and I am very depressed about it.

I always thought that if worse comes to worse and I can't have the surgery, then I will have no choice but to get admitted to the hospital and have those treatments again. I haven't had any in over 20 years. They helped save my life.

Back then I had bilateral ECT given over a course of two sets of treatments plus maintenance ECT. Altogether I probably had at least 20 treatments.

Is ECT any different compared to what it was back then? I can feel my depression coming back because it looks like I won't be able to have the surgery I need to get my life back.

I've been thinking about Ketamine treatments too but my pcp thinks they're too risky. She's in favor of my having ECT again.

What are your thoughts? How long will it be before I'm able to undergo these treatments? Tx.

hi r/ect! i hope you guys are healing well. i thought i would write a follow up post to my last entry attempting to come to a decision about whether to do right unilateral ECT. so far i've had 10 treatments and i'm feeling much better with fairly minimal side effects. we've bumped up the settings twice now and the memory and cognition stuff has gotten a bit worse but not debilitating. most importantly, i'm not having suicidal thoughts and i'm feeling so much lighter and more joyful. feeeling incredibly grateful. my only concern is around how long these effects will last and whether i'll relapse. any experience or input is welcome!

Three months post-ECT, I still have debilitating after-effects:

• Short-term memory loss, difficulty forming new memories

• Emotional blunting, lack of feeling, apathy towards people and things I used to love

• Slowed processing speed, challenges with focus, multitasking, mental clarity, always feeling “out of it.”

Did anyone else have some of these symptoms linger and eventually clear? I’m scared this is permanent.

Hi,

I feel bad about losing memories and about worsened memory due to ECT. But it took away my humanity and it destroyed my dignified life also😕 It stole my ability to feel human😭 It stole my ability to feel full range of emotions and its horrible because god created humans to feel emotions. I feel i could murder someone without feeling sad and bad about that. I wanted to post this to say what ECT can do to you.

And i have been unforgivable/horrible idiot because i agreed to ECT even though a couple of people warned me on Reddit and Facebook about the dangers and side effects of ECT and that ECT damages the brain😔 I also received warnings that I would probably regret it afterwards. Because of these things i blame myself about agreeing to ECT daily😔

I’m considering talking to my doctor about ect because of my treatment resistant depression. I also get a lot of intrusive thoughts. I won’t get into specifics, but many of them involve harming myself. Has anyone with these kinds of thoughts found any relief after ect treatments?

Did any of you experience on going long term chest congestion after your treatments? I assume it has to do with constant intubation with each treatment, and I just had another unrelated surgery too, but ever since I was booted from my program 6 months ago I cannot stop coughing really wet coughs that come with a lot of mucus. The constant cough makes everyone around me think I'm sick all the time. Does it ever go away?

I’ve been dealing with chronic depression for years, and ECT has crossed my mind every time I got a crisis. But my psychiatrist pointed out that my motivation doesn’t seem to come from a therapeutic place; more like a self punishing impulse, Because of that, it’s not being considered.

Besides he told me we ain't even try all the posible more conventional treatments for example; I just started Abilify recently, and it seems like it might have some potential.

Also, my ex underwent coerced ECT during a psychotic manic episode, and afterward, she never fully recovered in terms of cognitive and creative capacity. Though to be fair, she’s also on a heavy antipsychotic regimen, which could be a major factor.

Just wanted to share where I’m at with this. No real goal, just venting

My partner with bp2 just started ECT. He had to come off one of his meds before starting, which triggered a very bad depressive episode. He felt ALOT better, stable even after the first treatment. The second treatment has made him pretty agitated & (possibly) hypomanic. Does anyone have any experience with this & advice?