In 2005 I was given 22 lots of electroconvulsive therapy. It left me with brain damage that means I will never work again. I was lucky because I got support from a neuropsychologist who allowed me to understand and come to terms with my problems. ECT can be used to great effect. However some people like myself end up severely and permanently affected. I want to use this place to link up with those like myself. So that we can support each other. I don't say ect shouldn't be used. But people thinking of it should understand what can happen. The Information given about ECT side effects doesn't go into details, they talk about memory problems. Actually it affects far more than that. It causes cognitive impairment. 10 years on I need 12 hours of home help a week to help me care for my 3 kids. I tire very easily and some days I am able and feel intelligent. Other days if I have pushed myself and not been able to have a midday nap I struggle to do the most basic of tasks. Some days I'm not well enough to drive at all. Other days I will drive short distances. I was a doctor and well never work again.
Please let me know if you have had similar problems. Or if your thinking about ECT please make sure that you understand what could happen to you. It could mean permanent I'll health on top of your existing problems.I am no longer depressed. It wasn't stopped by the ECT but by psychological input to support me out of my coercively abusive marriage.
Hi suzie whats cognitive impairment. So besides struggling to do things what othet symptoms did it cause
Hi suzie how would you know if you have brain damage.
What are some symptoms
The things that I noticed first was my memory. For things that happened a long time ago to seconds before. It was also memory of emotions and music. Navigation problems....I got lost. Then I realised that my concentration was very poor. I could not multi task. I'd forgotten even the most basic of things even my 2 times tables and how to count money out. I find it difficult to function in New or busy environments. What you don't realise is that your brain proceses everything in your environment. What it sees hears and smells. With this type of brain injury you have less brain to process in and out gets easily overloaded. So you could walk into a shop or be in town and your brain closes down, you can't think. People describe it as if a curtain has come down and separated you from the rest of the world. The more tired I am the less I am able to cope with these environments. There is agreat book called head injury a practical guide by a guy called Trevor Powell. It is well worth a read. Not all of it is relevant to ect brain damage but you 'll know if it sounds right for your or not.
If you have had ect or any other brain injury you can get it diagnosed by having tests that asess your ability to perform certain tasks. But those tests must be specific to what caused your brain damage. Head ways is a charity that supports people with brain injury. I battled for 2 years to be seen by a neuropsychologist, not a psychiatrist. They specialise in brain injured patients. Unfortunately the symptoms of brain injury caused by ect are often misinterpreted by the psychiatrists as more psychiatric problems. Have you had ect? I felt mad and humiliated by the time my brain injury was diagnosed. My neuropsychologist literally saved my life.
No I haven't been tested. Ive got bad anxiety abd dissocative disorder but I keep thinking maybe ive got brain damage so I want to see a neurologist.
Im hoping its just my anxiety.
I did hit my head in a car accident last April.
I did a ct scan which was normal. But then I started to get bad panic and anxiety and then in september I just felt really strange had a anxiety attack and haven't felt normal since
Closed head injury...so banging your head needn't show changes on a scan. As I discovered doctors...and I was one myself don't understand the subtleties of brain damage. My psychiatrists confused my brain closing off with anxiety and panic attacks. Head ways is a brain injury charity who could help you. Or ask your gp to refer you to a neuropsychologist for an assessment
I have been suffering with clinical depression now for well over 9 years and have been on various anti-depressants as well as CBT intense 12 week courses, counselling etc and yet I seem to have got worse whereby I don't seem to know the person I am anymore. I am an angry person who use to be very placid loving and kind and yet I find myself having moments of rage whereby I physically want to hurt myself or want to hurt the person who told me they cared. I never bring my kids into it or when anyone else is around I put on an act but it gets increasingly tiring and just feel such a failure. Do you think ECT could help and if so how do I go about getting it as my dr wouldn't provide this?
suzie sue you are certainly not alone in having been damaged by ECT. I am impressed by the fact that you got support from a neuropsychologist - was it difficult to obtain? The fact that psychiatrists insist on describing ECT as a safe treatment must discourage other health professionals from accepting that it can be damaging. Everyone knows that ECT affects memory but this is generally trivialised by psychiatrists. And they also say it doesn't cause brain damage without specifying that they are talking about a very gross kind of damage.
Hi. If you are in the UK then ask your gp to refer you. Ect damages your working memory function and causes cognitive impairment. Headways is a UK charity working for Brian damaged patients they could advise on you local neuropsychologist. Hope that helps
When I asked if it was difficult to obtain help I wasn't thinking about myself (I had ECT forty years ago so any cognitive impairment I might have now would be put down to old age!). I was wondering more how you had overcome the resistance of medical professionals to the idea that ECT can cause significant damage. Or perhaps it was just luck. Because there are many people who have experienced the similar damage but have not been able to obtain help. To me your experience does seem to offer some hope (not to myself but to other people) and also perhaps in a more general sense hope that there might be a more honest discussion about ECT for people who might have it in the future. Does Headway mention ECT as a possible cause of brain damage in any of their literature? That would be a step forward.
Before you had ECT, were you aware that it was a controversial treatment?
I too have brain damage from ect. I have had trememndous success with Strattera. It is a non-stimulant medication to treat adhd and it helped me to go from working a minimum wage job to now I sell fiancial products for a major bank. You should most definitely speak to your
Dr. about trying it. I have had absolutely no side-effects from it.
Let me get this right, you had ECT and you are a Dr, you didnt take into account pathways, shelters, help from your own professional community to get out of an abusive marriage, or use therapy routes, instead you opted for ECT. This amazes me, i get told to bugger off regarding a scan which would have cemented a diagnosis and got me onto the next step of my illness, which is coping and learning to live with it, still here i am in limbo and people like you get 'home help'. Did you pay private for your round of ECT or did you get it on the NHS? Actually, you know what im thankful for your post, seriously. i'm going to show it to my dr.
10 years ago there was not much on the internet and being a good doctor myself I trusted my doctor to be open and knowledgeable and honest....but she wasn't.
I tried to lodge a complaint but failed. ..I am thinking of repeating this s in the last couple of years there is a more open approach to complaints. I was fortunate in having partially insured my income...
My ect was on the nhs and they did not follow the NICE GUIDELINES.
if you have had ect and suffered cognitive problems. .. Memory, tiredness, not able to multitask then to get help you don't need a scan. You must ask to be referred to a neuroPSYCHOLOGIST as opposed to a psychiatrist. They will do neuropsychology testing. When mine was done I want automatically sent to see the psychologist after....I had to request to see them. ...because my great results weren't horrendous.....but in saw him and he immediately understood that my level of functioning fluctuates depending on my tiredness. After a few visits to him he was able to diagnose that my problems were due to ECT and were not due to depression or medication, which is what my psychitrist had been telling me for 2 years. He understood what it felt like to have effectively a new brain in my head. .....he supported me and made it real. ...reassuring me that I was not mad... Which my psychiatrist was telling me I was. He taught me to understand my brain damage and how to live a meaningful life. It is not always easy but I am determined to make the most of what I have and that only begins when you find the support like I got. I hope that helps.
I learnt coping strategies
I done my reserach, that scan was my last step it getting a diagnosis following steps a to b, some people like the neverending cycle of going through the wringer, im not one for that. i guess being simplistic average person who goes out their way to help themselves means bugger all to some people. Like when people type in capitals on here suggesting that other posters are stupid, you could have wrote that all in capitals if you had wanted too, it means nothing to me. I understood everything you had wrote. Doesn't mean i agreed with it. I am glad that you find your life easier and i do truly mean that, i don't have and have never had ect related problems, i didn't put that up there. This was a depression post first and foremost yes, yes, you had depression from a relationship and thought ECT was the answer. I have depression because im fed up with being ill and being persecuted for it. And yes i know depression in itself is an illness, im not going to get into that. And ok the internet was less used ten years ago but there were books you know. As said i hope your complaint goes through you should indeed push it, and i am glad your life is alot better, Nick.
Just fyi, it has been 14 years since I had ECT and my brain does get a little bit better each year. I also had success with Lamictal. It really helped me focus. I still strugle though. I am not as smart as I used to be but I too have learned coping skills that helped. It's nice to know that they are filling people's heads with how safe ECT is when it is so horrible destructive. Best of luck!!
Hi
I was given a month's ECT at a clinic in Newcastle-upon-Tyne when I was nearly 7, as my parents believed I was suffering from severe mental problems. I was sent to the clinic in an ambulance with blacked out windows, and was subjected to 28 days of ECT(usually about 3000 volts for at least 30 minutes.
I saw no other patients in all the time I was there, only 1 nurse and 1 doctor, and was told if i told anyone what was happening to me, they would make me disappear.
As a result of this treatment I now suffer from Aspergers, have no male hormones and no penis because they were literally burnt out of me by the extremely high ECT voltage used.
As a consequence I cannot have any relationships with females, have no friends, will not go out of my house at all.
In other words because of what happened over 50 years ago I'm a prisoner in my own home.
Hi Suzie...thankyou for your post...I was wondering if yourself or anyone on here, in regard to possible brain changes....has been fortunate enough to ' afford ' & use Neurofeedback?? & If so...has had any improvement..I keep coming back to it again & again...& find it fascinating....Unfortunately not available on NHS as yet...But is much more recognised in US...according to BrainWorks..& says that over here Department Of Health can give paymet potentially towards therapy of your choice..instead of other social funding..Its a very expensive treatment...as it akes a minimum of at least 30 sessions...to have any lasting affect...ut is based indiviudally around a QEEG reading...which can show up which parts of the brain are affected...as in over-firing or understimulated...Fascinating reading on Trauma & the brain...on the above BrainWorks site & others. I would be interested to know your take on it?? & interested to know whether Neuro-pschologists are offering this yet?