Posted by blueberry on October 11, 2006, at 12:51:45
So had my 7th ECT today. I get 3 a week. So far I haven't noticed any benefits. But I haven't gone downhill either. The doctors and nurses tell me they usually see a response somewhere between 12 and 20 treatments, so I guess I will have to stick with it for a few more weeks. I asked them for a percentage estimate of how many patients are helped by ECT...20%, 50%, 70%... and they said it is between 70% and 90%.
The whole procedure is pretty simple. They hook up a needle and tube to an arm vein. When ready the anesthesiologist hooks up a testtube of anesthesia to the needle and within seconds you feel yourself losing consciousness. And then the next thing that happens is you wake up when it is all over.
Even if ECT doesn't work, they tell me that it often makes medications work better than they would otherwise. We'll see. I would really love to see it work.
poster:blueberry
thread:690342
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061011/msgs/693836.html