When I've told my psychiatrist that I'm feeling discouraged that meds don't seem to be working, he's often said that he feels discouraged, too. In the past he's suggested electroconvulsive therapy; he claims that all the patients he's sent for ECT have been very satisfied with the results.
Me, I'm scared to death of ECT. I worry about losing my short-term memory. I worry about losing my memory period. I worry about being turned into a zombie. And with six weeks until I start graduate school, I don't see how I could possibly get ECT therapy. (It's not offered where I live. I'd have to go to a hospital that's about four hours' drive away from where I live. The first visit would be in-patient. A friend of mine, who's had no luck with meds for depression, is going to have ECT soon, and she has to check into the hospital for TWO WEEKS!)
Have any of you ever had ECT? What did you think of it? Did it help you? Did it help more than meds? Did you have to keep going back for regular "tune-ups"? How did it make you feel? And anything else you'd care to talk about relating to ECT.
Many thanks for anything you'd be willing to share about ECT.
With all best wishes,
Havana