ECT bad experience

[nicola21]

Heyyy,

so I've been struggling with depression and anorexia for 5 years. I received 30 ect treatments and whilst it did help with my depression I've had terrible side effects. I can't remember anything, literally my short term memory is dreadful and there's chunks of my life missing. I have an inability to focus completely, I'm experiencing aphasia, no math aptitude and its completely messing with my social skills and its causing me to have more panic attacks because I can't pursue my future because I am completely incapable. Did anyone else have these negative side effects and/or know what to do about them. I'm really struggling 😕

[Doolhof]

Hi nicola21,

Welcome to the community here. Sorry to read about the side effects you are experiencing.

Have you been able to discuss this issue with your Dr or a mental health professional? I often experience the same as you and it is caused by my depression. I've not have the same treatment as you.

I find the more I panic over the things I feel I can't do, the worse they become. When you are becoming really anxious and stressed about something, can you find a way to just accept what is happening and then move on from there the best way you can?

Of course, I am not in your shoes, so I do not know to what extent you are suffering. If you find little ways to accept and move on, it may be beneficial.

Hope you find some answers and solutions.

All the best from Dools

[Nurse_Jenn]

Hi Nicola21,

Welcome to the forum. I am sorry to hear that you are struggling so much with the side effects of your ECT treatments. As a nurse working in mental health, I have certainly heard similar concerns expressed by people who undergo the treatment of ECT. Memory loss and poor concentration following ECT is a different experience for every individual. Sometimes the experience resolves really quickly and other times it can take much longer.

My best suggestion to you is to keep in touch with your GP or treating psychiatrist about these side effects and also start a side effect journal of all the occurrences that are impacting you. Having these side effects from your ECT treatment would be really distressing. I also wonder if you are seeing a counsellor that you can talk with about the feelings of worry you are having? You are not along in your symptoms. There are a few threads on the forum about peoples experience with ECT that you might want to reach out on. You can get to these by using the search feature and looking up these threads on the forum

• ECT treatment
• Tired of being depressed now - looking at ECT?
• ECT - my experience
• My wife has just had ECT - what is the recovery time?

There has been some research into improving memory post-ECT treatments that I was able to look up but I could not find a specific program that is dedicated to people who have had ECT. The discussion of the research indicates that by doing cognitive training or regular brain training exercises that improve memory may lead to better outcomes for people who have memory loss and poor concentration post-ECT. You can read about the research that I found by going to this website for your interest. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28376409

If you are interested in reading about improving and exercising your brain so it gets stronger again, there are a few websites that I recommend.

https://yourbrainmatters.org.au

https://www.lumosity.com/en/

If you ever feel like you need to reach out and talk with someone about your frustrations with these side effects, the Beyond Blue support line is always available to you on 1300 22 4636.

Wishing you the best possible outcome,

Nurse Jenn