Me dañé el cerebro con la terapia electroconvulsiva.

Salud mental
141

What "type" of ECT were you "given" and what was the time frame you received it over?

Do you have trouble feeling emotion, creating and recalling new memories, or learning new things? I cannot recall what I have done in the last 48 hours and that terrifies me.

Has post traumatic stress or anxiety or depression been a problem after getting ECT?

How long before you had ANY improvements? Did you actually forget how to read? How many years of your life were erased by this lunatic barbaric assault on your brain?

142

hi sue

ive had over 40 ect and suffer all the things you do the worse ones being the fatigue and the memory loss im due to see a neurolgy again tomorrow one out of my area im going to ask about a neuropsychogist im then going to start a legal action against my trust ive been fighting them for 35 years to listen to me i know my body better than them the minute your brain clogs my body stops as well il help your campaign any way i can

143

Hi. I've hit a brick wall with my hospital. I'm taking a breath at the moment and thinking how to proceed.

Where do you live?

144

i live in west yorkshire today i was seen by south yorkshire i was told its best for me to see a neurophycologist and the main thing he said was i can not say 100 percent this was not caused by ect first time ever someone has said it hes ordered a mri scan so i now intend to proceed with legal action against west orkshire trust

145

Any answers for questions above in previous post? I live in Canada and had 21 ECT from Oct. 2012 (10) and then July 2013 (11). Feeling very damaged, lost decades of memory. Can't make new memories. Don't think I can afford a lawyer. Does anything help with the injuries, loss of feelings, trauma?

146

Hi Sue (and others),

Thank you all for being here to talk about this.

I received 36 sessions 2 1/2 years ago for treatment-resistant depression: first unilateral and then bilateral, when it wasn't having any benefit. I understand the memory loss part of this (I've lost about a year and a half prior to the treatments). However, I've had some lasting effects that I haven't heard anyone mention.

Primarily, my libido is completely gone. It was always fairly high (both during times of depression and doing well). And when I do ejaculate, it happens almost immediately - which again, had never happened before the ECT.

Apart from that, my sense or direction is gone, but I could see that falling under the umbrella of cognitive impairment. More generally, I've lost some of my sense of where objects are, it that makes any sense - I'm cumisier now, and have clipped a few stationary objects with my car (and can't parallel part, etc.)

My main reason for writing is that I've never heard anyone talk about loss of libido (or functionality) as a side effect of ECT. I feel asexual now, and it's put a large a strain on my marriage. It's been 2 years now, and I'm starting to believe that it's never coming back. I just wanted to see if anyone has experiences that, or heard from anyone who has. PLEASE tell me I'm not the only one.

147

I haven't heard of that.

However I found that memory loss was also apparent in the way I felt about peopleI I couldn't remember the feeling of love. I still find it hard to feel love when I get really tired even now. I feel totally lacking in emotions.... Just hollow....

But those emotions and feelings have returned.

I was punch drunk by the end of it. I couldn't walk through doors without walking into frames.

ECT damages many parts of the brain... That is reflected in the more diverse symptoms that you describe.

Psychiatrists can't control the damage it does. They don't even know what it is actually doing.

12 years on things are easier.... But I will never work again.

But i have rebuilt my life and found happiness.

I hope that helps.

148

I actually feel those exact symptoms and I have had no brain injury!

After taking antidepressents now for 5 months and them not even touching the sides I was now desperate.

I went to see a psychiatrist this evening.

After talking and crying to her for an hour she told me I had very severe depression and anxiety and has suggested I try ETC, she spoke very positivly about the effects on severe depression that medication will not control.

I was put off at the fact I would have to stay in hospital to have this treatment as the thought of having to leave my home/my sanctuary was a definatley No.

I have decided instead to try a diffrent antidepressents, to wean off one and on to another. If it works she said I should start to feel results after 3 weeks.

I am praying to god that they work as if not ETC is my last resort as I have no quality of life as I am at the moment.x

149

Hello Dadoo. 

The Symptoms you are feeling will get permanent if you take ECT. Memory loss, concentration problems and cognitive problems are all part of having a depression, and some times we can surpress parts of our life due to those times being extra difficult. ECT will however erase the good times as well. My spouse had a severe depression in January 2015, right after we got back from a great Christmas holiday with her family. 

They gave her ECT without consent, preached about how great ECT was, and how the seizure somehow cures depression. They said there would not be any side effects except a memory loss fromo the period of the treatment. 

My spouse is Bipolar, and has had depressions several times before. She even has no memory from periods of her childhood, that she has surpressed intentionally. She does however remember in detail every time she was depressed, and even when she tried to cope with her depressions by drinking, and taking over dosages of psychiatric drugs. 

The ECT however, destroyed her life. First off it took four times as long to get rid of the depression than "normal", second off the ECT left her with a severely damaged short term memory, She lost most of 2014, which was one of the best years of ehr life (Including the great christmas we had had), she has severe problems learning anything new, let alone concentrate on anything for any length of time. She ahd to take her training for her job all over again, She used to be very good at math, now she has to use pen and paper for simple addition. 

My advice to you is to force your self to make a change in your life. Force your self to go out, and take long walks in nature if possible. Keep your self busy with hobbies. If people in your life are getting you down, stay away from those people, and learn to enjoy your own life. Drugs, and ECT do not solve anything. Drugs just dull the symptoms, and ECT just wrattles your brain until you are so messed up that you don't care any more. They call it stockholm Syndrom when it happens to kidnapped people, and they go silly and feel sympathy for their captors. Torturists use ECT and other means to give prisoners the same Euforia, and get them to talk, and psychiatrists call it getting better when your brain is so wrattled from ECT that you don't care any more, and go into a state of euphoria.

It would have been all well and good if it actually helped and left you without lasting damage, but it does. Psychiatry has been hiding the facts for years by avoiding to do research on the subject. just about all ECT research ends after 4 weeks to 6 months after ECT when the worst effects start wearing off. The few that have been spanned for longer after ECT all show permanent memory and cognitive damage.

The patients that complain about this are told that it was their depression that gave them problems, not the ECT. 

The fact that people like my spouse has had a dozen depressions before ECT. most worse than the one where they gave ehr ECT, and didn't have any of these problems before they gave her ECT is proof enough. ECT is not good for you at all. 

150

Sounds exactly like Riikka's problems. She did however do something that I would never recommend, and is now drug free, and better than in a long timie. This spring she went early from work, bought a big bottle of boos, came home, drank the boos, and alter that evening took an over-dose (more a heavy dosage) of her drugs. the morning after she woke up rested for the first time in over a year. 

She then decided to just stop taking the drugs completely, and she has only moderately (At most 2 0,33 ml cans of cider) drunk any alcohol since. 

She does continue to have all the symptoms from the damage from ECT though. These are all difficult to cope with. At the moment she is sleeping. she got up in the morning, saw our daughter off to kindergarten, and when I got back from driving our daughter, she was asleep. She probably will be so for a couple of hours. 

151

Thank you Aurebu for your comments. They truly touched home.

I could not bare a night away from my husband so we decided as well as reading some awful stories on here that no matter what I will not be going down that road.

I would be heartbroken to loose precious memories I have.

I am so sorry your wife has experienced the's dreadful affects.

Thank god she has you. A wonderful caring partner just like my husband who promises me each day we will get through this.

God bless you both.xxx

152

Thank you Dadoo. I surely wish you the best. You are fortunate to have a husband that supports you. Most next of kind will try and avoid the family member with mental issues.

I can relate to a spouse that can't be away from her spouse. I've got "two". Our three year old daughter that has to have daddy reading goodninght stories for her. Usually "daddy" is the one that fals asleep first, then a couple hours later my spouse is calling from our bedroom. She says she can't sleep without me lying next to her.

 

153

I had my first 2 courses of ECT treatments back to back when I was 19. They were 3 times a week for a month, then 2 times a week for a month tapering down to once a month. I had a full relapse in my depression after the first two months after the first course of treatments so they started the whole course over again. I was somewhat stable for a couple years until a year ago (I am now 23.) I started the course of treatments again receiving very little benefit by the end of the treatments and many more side effects so I told them I was done and wasn't going to try it again. I had spotty memory loss from the past 5 years and some older memories seemed foggy. I also had trouble with reading out loud (which had never been a problem) although I could read just fine in my head. Brain fog was also very strong for the first few months. I have trouble remembering simple spelling for words I knew how to spell. I have been free of anti- depressants and ECT for almost 7 months now with my only medication being a non narcotic off label prescription for narcolepsy and have been doing much better. I'm still relearning certain things and remaking neural connections but it has gotten better over time. I still get overwhelmed by what I consented to be done to me which my depression blinded me from seeing. I am so sorry to anyone else who is dealing with the repercussions of such a treatment

154

I got ect treatment in the fall of 2001 since then I have a sentivity to bright light. Do you think there is a link between the two?

155

I had ECT in 2014 and I have no doubt in my mind it has caused brain damage. My long and short term memory has been destroyed. The Dr told me that it would affect my memory but only temporarily. Well, two years has passed and my memory still totally sucks, and I am so p*ssed off about that.

Jim Ward

156

hi david!

i recieved ect treatments maybe a year or two before you, and i am horribly sensitive to bright light. especially a sunny day. i almost feel assaulted by it. i just want to cower, and run back inside the house. my eyes and head will hurt. i find little relief in the shade. right now i am glad the days are getting shorter here in new york.

from laura

157

I had ect in 1962, maybe a dozen times. Prior to that, I seemed to be normal, but then suddenly started to mentally malfunction. Delusions, wild anxieties. My parents took me to a psychiatrist but I reacted violently to him and he told my parents to have me put in a state hospital. I was 16. I didn't resist it, not knowing what that might mean. As I remember it they started me on ect almost immediately and I realized quickly that I didn't like it or the hospital and needed to figure a way out. So I cooperated fully and was released after 3 months. After release I became bipolar but never sought treatment. Or medication. I just white knuckled through my life and now I am 70. The manic part of my condition kind of went away in my thirties, but I still have depression tendencies. I retired 5 years ago and enjoy not having to be social unless I want to be. I'm married but that may not last much longer. I recently read about ect and it sounded right. I've struggled with memory issues since ect and feel like I lost of lot of IQ points from it as well. I did well in school before but struggled after. I never saw a therapist after the ects nor have been on an anti-depressent.

158

dear donjames,

you've got twenty or thirty years left in this life. see a therapist and doctor for treatment. it could work for your depression tendencies. even if you've got ten or fifteen years left, they can be spent feeling better than now. your story is horrible. i'm so sorry you went through all that at such a young age. but you've managed to get married and work a job. even if that's coming to an end, you've accomplished a lot more than me. after my ect treatments, i lost some i.q. points also. i tryed going back to work, but after a year i had to leave. i can't work anymore.

please consider even a consultation with a mental health worker. i imagine you've suffered enough all these years. there could be some left to enjoy. thanks for sharing your story, i don't feel so alone about those i.q. points. my family thinks i'm just stupid. we're not stupid. good luck with whatever you do!

truly, laura

 

159

What kind of therapy have you gotten and how do you feel it has helped you? Thanks for your good thoughts. Don

160

when i was close to middle age, i got ect treatments for depression. during it, i was hospitalized for a few months, released...then relapsed, and then went back and got more. and then i went to a 'day treatment program' for about five and a half years. it was like being hospitalized, only i didn't stay overnight. since i have amnesia, i don't remember everything. and i should be glad, because those were the worst years of my life. i wasn't even that depressed before the treatments...a doctor talked me into them, and i trusted him. big mistake not researching it first.  after that program, i saw a phsychiatrist once a month for meds, and a therapist twice a week. its been ten years i've been doing that. the first six were horrible because they couldn't find the right medication for me. so my psychotherapy didn't work at all. i was miserable and thought of suicide frequently. i'd become so much sicker than before the treatments, and was angry because the doctors kept telling me and my family that i was not brain damaged, just depressed. very frustrating. i'd say ,within the last four years i'm on meds that are helping. suicide thoughts are down. but there is still a lot of anger. i feel like what could have been the best years of my life were destroyed. before the treatments i was well enough to work, and was planning on marrying. that all changed, i came back a different girl. and family and friends are still waiting for me to 'get well' again. like i was those years ago.

so since i can't work and make money, i am relying on family and my boyfriend. he's the one i was supposed to marry. our relationship is different now. everything is different now, but i can't go back and change things, so i really do what i can to have some joy and fullfillment in my life today. i have a cat i adore, and since i'm creative, i like to draw. i can't read books like i used too, but i do like watching some television shows. i need to stop smoking and drinking and taking poor care of myself. have to start exercising. but i don't mind being alive so much these days. i have a great therapist who helps me navigate my issues and problems. and i pray too. i just try to make the most of what i've got now. life is precious, i know others who are suffering far more than me. i like to laugh a lot, i guess that's why i stick around. and miracles do happen. i just try my best to keep the depression under 'control'. if that's what it's even called. but i truly wouldn't be here if i weren't on medication and in therapy. i don't know how you got through life without it. give it a try. i don't think it will make your life worse. most importantly, don't ever be too hard on yourself. enjoy your retirement, i'm certain you worked hard for it.  make an appointment with your family doctor. they should have some good suggestions for you. you can look into group therapy and make some new friends. like i mentioned earlier, you still have enough time to have a better life. just consider it, okay? again, best wishes.....laura