ECT

So as of this very second I am very stable.  For me that's a miracle.  I do not respond to meds.  If they work, they only work for short periods of time then i'm at square one, which is dangerous.  I'm BP1 with psychotic features.  I have been diagnosed for 11 years and each year it gets worse.  Lithium and Geodon help the best but only to a certain degree so i'm stuck taking A LOT of other meds with it.

My next step is ECT.  I have looked it to it, including the doctor that will be performing it and it seems 50/50 to me.  I have read the most wonderful things and  I have also read horror stories.  I don't know what to do.  It would be so nice to get off most my meds and just have  follow-up treatments.  It sounds like bliss actually.  Right now i'm on 8 medications.  Yes, I have been stable for 3 days (yay), but it doesn't last.  I just had another manic episode a month and 1/2 ago and came closer than ever to killing myself.  So what do you guys think?  I would love to here people's experiences.

[ILADVOCATE]

As I've posted Trans Cranial Magnetic Stimulation has a good success rate and a safer long term side effect profile as regards cognitive confusion and memory loss. Since its FDA approved its worth inquiring about:
http://www.nami.org/Content/ContentGroups/Helpline1/Transcranial_Magnetic_Stimulation_(rTMS).htm

[paranoid_cataclysm]

My uncle had to have ECT around 20 times I think around the time my father died.  He doesn't remember much from that time period probably because of the ECT but he really lost it then.  Today he's stable albeit on psych meds to remain that way but he has Schizoaffective Disorder but I hear that ECT can really work wonders for depression but I also hear horror stories like you said.  He also has bad short term memory loss also probably from the ECT.