PEOPLE DIAGNOSED BIPOLAR

[beth62]

HAS ANYONE  HAD ECT BEFORE FOR TREATING BI-POLAR, IF SO, WHAT WERE THE RESULTS?

WHAT TYPE OF COUNSELING HAVE THEY SOUGHT, IF ANY?  HAVE CURRENT MEDS SEEMED TO HELP?

[bernie40]

Hi, I haven't had ECT but a friend of mine did.  The decision was made because her manic mental state had got to a point where she was at serious risk to herself and she was refusing to take medication.  Following the ECT she was put on a high dose of lithium so I cannot say whether it was the lithium or the ECT that was the cause of her outward demeanour and appearance.  All I can say is that when I saw her I was shocked, she had gained a huge amount of weight (from the lithium), but she "wasn't there" if you can understand what I mean, it was very sad to see my once beautiful, intelligent, happy friend become a shuffling, blank, almost mute version of herself.

HOWEVER, over time she did get much better, she maintained her medication and therapy programme and didn't have to have ECT again.  15 years down the line she is off lithium and now on tegratol, she works part-time as a foreign language teacher, has her own flat and the old bubbly person I remember has re-surfaced.

I don't think the docs take on the use of ECT lightly.

I am sure others have different experiences of ECT and I hope they also post on here.

[bastet56]

yes i have had ECT and it helped the crushing depression go away. I am fine, have some memory probs but am alive. as for meds, you pickem I've been on them. I am now stable on some new as well as old meds.

[bastet56]

i am in talk therapy as well as seeing a psych for meds

[jst4shanell]

I never understood ECT.
They give you seizures and kill off parts of the brain and results very widely and mostly temporarily.
But when treating mood disorders with medications they treat you with ANTI-seizure medications.

[ILADVOCATE]

I believe that medications for bipolar that are anti-seizure agents work by lowering activity in the limbic (mood) area of the brain that is over activated in bipolar. I don't believe they understand fully how ECT works but for some people it does work including one person I know who it saved from a suicidal depresion. However, for some people it can have long term effects including long term memory loss (short term memory loss is a given). That's why trans cranial magnetic stimulation is now being used as an FDA approved option that has a safer long term side effect profile. Before my current recovery with the experimental medication, TCMS was in clinical study for treatment refractory schizophrenia and I almost considered it. Now that it is FDA approved it is a worthwhile option for some people and now that is in study for my physical disability which is extremely hard to treat once it makes it through the studies if it proves effective it is something I'll consider:
http://www.nami.org/Content/ContentGroups/Helpline1/Transcranial_Magnetic_Stimulation_(rTMS).htm