Posted by novelagent on March 30, 2012, at 20:49:24
In reply to ECTs f*ck*d my life up, posted by Zyprexa on March 25, 2012, at 2:56:00
you're blaming ECT for paranoia. Has it occured to you it's not ECT, and cognition is affected by bipolar and schizophrenia?
This suggests nearly all of the anti-ECT anecdotes out there are just a report of symptoms cause by comorbid conditions separate from mere major depression disorder.
I'm sorry, but there is ample evidence of social anxiety, marked reductions in IQ, paranoia, and yes, even pot smoking aggravating existing paranoia-- yet ECT is simply not going to account for any of these things. It'll give memory impairment for the prior 2 weeks...
it's done at the best psych hospital in the world all the time, and the people I've met who had it recovered beautifully. It's also known to be not terribly effective at treating schizophrenia-- it can in some cases, but what we do know is that it doesn't make schizophrenia worse.
Also, I got weight gain from Zyprexa after going on it at a crappy rehab hospital (the psych hospital was booked). If a doctor is giving you Zyprexa, that's a sign your doc doesn't know what he/she is doing. It increases the risk of type II diabeties (even without weight gain) and causes weight gain far more than Risperdal does. I went to an elite hospital after I got out of my first hospital, and was switched to Risperdal.
Weight gain, sugar cravings went away. Also, you might want to consider trying clozapine if you still have positive symptoms of schizophrenia (paranoia). Clozapine is known to work wonders for treatment-resistant psychosis, although you have to be diligent about going to take your injections and do blood work regularly. But if you can get by on a moderate or higher dose of Invega Sustenna or Risperdal Consta injection, you may want to try that first.
You should also know pot worsens symptoms of schizophrenia, and that's not ECT-- that is well-established and has nothing to do with ECT. Not a single one of your symptoms is not explainable by schizophrenia or schizoform. Or you might have bipolar, I don't know.
You can take Aricept or galantamine for the thinking. It will speed up your thoughts, and is prescribed for psychotic patients all the time. It's common for you to have reduced cognition. Keep in mind the pot reduced your cognition more by exposing you to more paranoia, and paranoia, not ECT, is what really affects cognition.
Take klonopin for the social anxiety. It works.
I truly from the bottom of my heart hope you get better. I'm disappointed, however, you are failing to accept you're in control here-- you can switch off the Zyprexa, get your weight back down, get your paranoia under control, stop taking the pot, and do computer mental exercises well-researched for schizophrenia-- like Lumosity.com.
The brain mostly takes about 3 months to heal and regrow fully in a growth cycle. So if you have smoked pot in the last 3 months, it may take 3 months or longer for you to feel better again. It may take as long as a year, but look, I'm not just quoting research here-- I know what it feels like to realize you feel mentally retarded from a paranoid episode. It sucks. But it gets better, and as the award winning author of Unquiet Mind has said, "you do get your thinking back-- you're not dull forever, and it's only temporary.' And she's lived it, too.
You're not a victim as long as you keep up with the punches. If you stay in this ring long enough, the illness (not the ECT-- I won't enable victimization like I'm sure countless others on this board will for you)-- the illness will fall first if you're willing to let it.
And yeah, are their people on this board who do nothing all day but write on this board? And live a ghostly existence? Yes, and they'll tell you they're coming to your pity party today. But I don't think that's terribly compassionate, not when it means giving up on exploring solutions for you. Like the klonopin, Aricept or galantamine, CDP Choline, high doses of fish oil, and Invega Sustenna or clozapine.
Hate me all you want for wanting you to help you out of this, but it wasn't the ECT that did this. If you buy that bull, you're letting the illness win, because there are things that you can do...
poster:novelagent
thread:1013897
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120328/msgs/1014598.html