You hav done the most amazing thing by believing her. A neuropsychologist is what she needs.
Beware that brain injury can look superficially like depression and anxiety.
I had 12 ect treatments in 2010 and 2011.
simply put...
I have lost many years of memories of my family growing up.
I get lost all the time and in a constant state of panic that I will get lost. I stay home.
I believe that my entire personality, likes and dislikes have changed from what I have been told.
I used to own and run a business that I "gave away" during my "treatment". It was well established and making a decent living.
I get overstimulated by sound, light and noise.
I have migraines, neck and back problems and more.
The depression is now about who I was and how productive I was... not anymore. It has ruined friendhsips and relationships because I cannot remember who or why I know a person.
I have insomnia.
I feel lost and scared much of the time.
Reading novels for me is a disaster and I used to read, again from what I have been told, all the time.
Shopping, cooking, banking, finances.... overwhelming.
writing this list overwhelming.
One more thing... I don't judge labels at all but I received my ect because I was in a ton of pain from a fall and back neck injury and depressed over the loss of a loved one. I am not one to take or react to pain or any medication at all. I was then labeled "treatment resistant" .... thus leading to ect... My life forever changed then.
Thanks for posting. You sound like so many of us...but knowing that your are listened to and believed by others is really important. I did not link with anyone for years. It made me feel sane.
Hi. My reply got removed. As you can see from this page your are not alone in all of your experiences. From the trauma of your ECT. From people refusing to acknowledge or diagnose your brain injury. To blame it on your medication or your mental illness or to say that you aren't trying hard enough.
Yet everything you experiences is true and real and very frightening.
What you need to do is to see a neuropsychologist who specialises in brain injury, who can diagnos you and support you. I am confident that my second lot of ECT was given to treat the brain damage caused by my first lot of ECT because she didn't understand the damage ECT can do.
It is really hard..I am 11 post ECT and I can't work. However I got the help I needed and have managed to move on and build a life. But like all electric shock survivors none of us were told that this could happen. But it is still happening now. I started this page because I knew people out there like you needed to be able to link up with others for help. Do join facebook SURVIVING ELECTRIC SHOCK GLOBAL SUPPORT GROUP FOR ECT SURVIVORS. it is as. closed group where you will find understanding and support.
Hi.sorry I didn't know that they had banned my reply....
dear sue, thank you, thank you for replying. i can barely believe that others have been feeling the same expieriences that i've felt all these years. it has sickened me, knowing now that doctors and everyone else wouldn't believe me. they all made me think i was wrong about everything. and now i'm reading that i was right. my symptoms, my fears, all the verbal abuse....was/is real. everything i've expierianced, was true. i am not a hypocondriact. just a bad speller. reading a few of other's symptoms, has triggered a dreadful panic attack that has left me in bed for a day and a half now. this is all too much for me. i am in shock. and there is rage in me too. my chest hurts. i want to cry, but its not happening. its just stuck inside me. i have to backup a bit here. i need for things to slowly come inside me, a little at a time....i am not handling all this so well
We are seeing why it is so hard to be heard when our own comments are deleted while seeking support from other survivors. Vulnerable people need to be warned about what exactly they are consenting to because right now, there is no informed consent.
Here in the US we are trying to keep the FDA from making the shock devices about as safe as an electric toothbrush. Some advocates are running into trouble getting our message heard through social media because of moderation issues. There is a big machine behind shock therapy.
We will not be silenced.
I hope you don't mind me commenting. I think you're going through the "waking up" trauma that we all experience. It is terrifying and normal to feel this anger at being betrayed and lied to by those who took an oath. People do recover from this. If you can find a professional to acknowledge the harm and validate you this is so important. Post traumatic stress is huge for most of us so if you can find someone to help you with that. It's really hard to come to terms with being lied to by doctors but it can be done.
We have all been there. Hold on to this that now your are in a better place because you are not alone. You are believed. Your life can get better.....different but better because you can learn about your problems and lean how to manage your life. Join the facebook page that I recommended. If you have any one you can trust show them this page and the facebook page too do that they can understand that it is real. X
dear sandy, i will never mind you commenting to me. in fact, i thank you for taking the time out for sharing. and being kind
You're welcome. It's important we give hope.
TJ, i've had shock treatments 16 years ago. reading your list of what life is for you now, is making me sick and angry. i can barely write this reply because i am in shock and my hands are trembling. doctors and counselors have made me feel like i was making up all my sideeffects, all these years. i cant explain how devistated i am at this moment, realizing that i am not the only one who has been suffering. till this day, my doctor is still silent when i tell him about my life being unliveable. counselors and therapists have made me feel crazy. but now at this moment i have this dreadful feeling inside, that they have been lying to me all this time. they have always made me feel like i was complaining for attention.... that all the things i complained about werent true. i cant see what i am writing because i cant see through these tears of mine. i dont know what to do this very moment. i feel like killing myself. but i am too chicken. but my heart has just broken. i dont know what i am suppossed to do next. this is so overwhelming. what am i going to do next? i dont know what to do. i dont expect you to have answers, i am just out of my mind right now. thank you for listening to me if you've even got this far into my comment. i am so sick inside.
H. Sorry I didn't reply. What country are you from.
I'm looking to get people from the UK working together.
You sound just like I did in everyway.
My 45 yr old daughter has been getting ECT for 2 yrs every other week! She now cannot hardly walk or talk. So scared.
Hi. What country are you in. Why are they giving so much.
We are USA in Kansas. Our first neuro appt in June. She just started being difficult to understand. She kept being depressed and angry so kept giving them.
Perhaps there is a network of professionals who will validate the harm that was done to you, which is the first step to healing. One of the hardest part in this coming to terms with being lied to by those who took an oath to "do no harm." Then being re-traumatized by the medical community by not believing you. For you can find a neuro psychologist who specializes in PTSD, that would be a great start.
Hi Sandy.
The problem with ECT is that psychiatry is earning big bucks on it and will not achnowledge the damages it does.
They have made dozens of research papers. all with very slim selections of patient groups, and very unprofessionally performed as they leave out dozens of factors, and they also all have very short span of reaserch period. Al these reports are made such that it looks like ECT is completely harmless, and that it helps the patients.
A recent sham ECT research was conducted in Sweden that showed that ECT did not help the patients at all. They had however taken in count the narcosis, and since the narcosis was given both to those getting sham ECT shocks (no actual shock) and real ECT, they figured out that the narcosis was the factor that was actually helping the patients.
The result, well you can guess. The publication said nothing about ECT at all, and was published as "Narcosis helps against depression". The fact that it was actually a Sham ECT study that showed no difference between sham ECT and the real thing was completely left out. They didn't want it to go public.
All other Sham ECT studies (There are about a dozen of them), show only marginal differences at best between real ECT and sham ECT. And then only within the first two weeks after ECT has been given. This is the period when the patient is feeling the immediate damage from ECT the most. The headaches, dissorientation, complete loss of short term memory, and being completely docile.
The few doctors that actually will admit that ECT give brain damage are the few that are opposing against using drugs, ECT or psycho operations. The Psychiatric community regard them as outcasts and freaks.