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lydyWITH ME SO FAR? BECAUSE HERE'S WHERE IT GETS COMPLICATED:
So, I saw my psychiatrist week ago. I've been seeing her for 10 years, and no, I don't need another psychiatrist, thank-you-very-much. The anti-depressants haven't been working so well, lately, I'm back out on medical leave for not being too depressed to hold down a job, and I'm cycling which is why I'm depressed, and here we go 'round the mulberry bush. She writes me a prescription for a brand new anti-convulsant/anti-cycling drug (Topomax), and then says that she's not necessarily recommending it, but that it would be unprofessional of her not to let me know that ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) is an option. Well, this is good for a solid half-hour's dissociation, but I spent part of the time reading the brochures. Then I spent part of the time readin' stuff on the Web. Then I read some more stuff. Corrected some of my misconceptions. Read some more stuff. It still has significant ick factor, but not because of the usual "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" resonances.
Boring recitation of basic then and now facts: except in Texas -- which makes sense -- ECT isn't used as punishment. Even in Texas it isn't used as discipline very often. Currently they give you a muscle relaxant that makes it impossible for you to move, much less break your arms or back, as happened in the thirties and forties. They put you out, so there is no pain. The amount of zap is much smaller than it used to be, these days it may not be enough to even cause a physical response. There are doctors who use more than 100 zaps a year, but they have way recalcitrant patients, and the brochure kinda sounds like maybe someone should lift their medical license. Most patients receive considerably less than that.
I'm not very good at researching this kind off stuff. My brain tends to go to mush under the pressure of panic. Anybody that knows a lot who wants to post here or send me email would be much valued and praised and I'll send them a shiny nickel and everything. ECT is an adjunctive therapy, which means that it's not the only thing they do. It doesn't have any affect on bipolar disorder, just on depression. The initial set of treatments is between 3 and 12. My psychiatrist prefers three or four on an out-patient basis. ECT, as an adjunctive therapy, may reduce your need for anti-depressants, but is unlikely to remove your need for them all together. And you will certainly continue to need all those lovely mood levelers.
Let us go on to side effects, dear readers. My little pamphlet says, "[Patients] may be confused for a brief time when they awaken from a treatment, and, while this may be upsetting, the confusion usually disappears within a few hours. Memory for recent events may be disturbed (amnesia), and dates, names of friends, public events, and telephone numbers and addresses may be diffricult to recall. Also, the ability to retain new information (learning) may be impaired during treatment. In most patients, the memory and learning difficulties resolve quickly and are gone within a week or two after completing treatment."
Pause with me and parse this, oh gentle reader. I'm a secretary. It's what I do. Let's pretend I accomplish the ablitity to rise from my bed in the morning. Like a good girl, I go to my little ECT treatments. Four treatments, two weeks of work. All fine and good, kinda, if all goes as planned. But if I come back to work with a difficulty in remembering names, public events, and telephone numbers that resolve in a week or two? Ah, there's a month of adequately productive work. But just a little later in my pretty little brochure, there's this hedge, "Although memory and the ability to learn typically return to normal a few weeks after ECT is over"..."Some people who received ECT have reported memory and learning problems that have persisted for months." Just how long is this few weeks, anyway? It appears to be as vague as my coupla, which under the right circumstances can go up to five. And here's the kicker. As adjunctive therapy, in addition to or even instead of anti-depressants, psychiatrists sometimes choose ongoing ECT for their patients. Sometimes once a month or so. SSI, here I come, will-she-nil-she. And no, I don't actually want to go on SSI, even though I do look like the laziest damn person you ever did see.
So, if ECT works, and it might work spectacularly well, in fact, it would set me right up right away. Magic pill in a little zappy machine. I am so totally there you have no idea. Dancin' my way right into heaven.
So, I saw my psychiatrist week ago. I've been seeing her for 10 years, and no, I don't need another psychiatrist, thank-you-very-much. The anti-depressants haven't been working so well, lately, I'm back out on medical leave for not being too depressed to hold down a job, and I'm cycling which is why I'm depressed, and here we go 'round the mulberry bush. She writes me a prescription for a brand new anti-convulsant/anti-cycling drug (Topomax), and then says that she's not necessarily recommending it, but that it would be unprofessional of her not to let me know that ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) is an option. Well, this is good for a solid half-hour's dissociation, but I spent part of the time reading the brochures. Then I spent part of the time readin' stuff on the Web. Then I read some more stuff. Corrected some of my misconceptions. Read some more stuff. It still has significant ick factor, but not because of the usual "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" resonances.
Boring recitation of basic then and now facts: except in Texas -- which makes sense -- ECT isn't used as punishment. Even in Texas it isn't used as discipline very often. Currently they give you a muscle relaxant that makes it impossible for you to move, much less break your arms or back, as happened in the thirties and forties. They put you out, so there is no pain. The amount of zap is much smaller than it used to be, these days it may not be enough to even cause a physical response. There are doctors who use more than 100 zaps a year, but they have way recalcitrant patients, and the brochure kinda sounds like maybe someone should lift their medical license. Most patients receive considerably less than that.
I'm not very good at researching this kind off stuff. My brain tends to go to mush under the pressure of panic. Anybody that knows a lot who wants to post here or send me email would be much valued and praised and I'll send them a shiny nickel and everything. ECT is an adjunctive therapy, which means that it's not the only thing they do. It doesn't have any affect on bipolar disorder, just on depression. The initial set of treatments is between 3 and 12. My psychiatrist prefers three or four on an out-patient basis. ECT, as an adjunctive therapy, may reduce your need for anti-depressants, but is unlikely to remove your need for them all together. And you will certainly continue to need all those lovely mood levelers.
Let us go on to side effects, dear readers. My little pamphlet says, "[Patients] may be confused for a brief time when they awaken from a treatment, and, while this may be upsetting, the confusion usually disappears within a few hours. Memory for recent events may be disturbed (amnesia), and dates, names of friends, public events, and telephone numbers and addresses may be diffricult to recall. Also, the ability to retain new information (learning) may be impaired during treatment. In most patients, the memory and learning difficulties resolve quickly and are gone within a week or two after completing treatment."
Pause with me and parse this, oh gentle reader. I'm a secretary. It's what I do. Let's pretend I accomplish the ablitity to rise from my bed in the morning. Like a good girl, I go to my little ECT treatments. Four treatments, two weeks of work. All fine and good, kinda, if all goes as planned. But if I come back to work with a difficulty in remembering names, public events, and telephone numbers that resolve in a week or two? Ah, there's a month of adequately productive work. But just a little later in my pretty little brochure, there's this hedge, "Although memory and the ability to learn typically return to normal a few weeks after ECT is over"..."Some people who received ECT have reported memory and learning problems that have persisted for months." Just how long is this few weeks, anyway? It appears to be as vague as my coupla, which under the right circumstances can go up to five. And here's the kicker. As adjunctive therapy, in addition to or even instead of anti-depressants, psychiatrists sometimes choose ongoing ECT for their patients. Sometimes once a month or so. SSI, here I come, will-she-nil-she. And no, I don't actually want to go on SSI, even though I do look like the laziest damn person you ever did see.
So, if ECT works, and it might work spectacularly well, in fact, it would set me right up right away. Magic pill in a little zappy machine. I am so totally there you have no idea. Dancin' my way right into heaven.
