has anyone ever heard of or personally undergone ECT treatments? The psychiatrist is considering ECT to try and alleviate severe depression and the big unknown factor is how those spirochetes will react to ECT treatments? This is a case of neuro lyme.
Posted by heiwalove (Member # 6467) on :
ECT is dangerous enough without a serious chronic illness to deal with on top of it.
if i were you i wouldn't risk it.
treat the lyme & coinfections, etc; your depression will abate. in the meantime, exercise when you can, eat well & right, laugh as much as possible, and maybe someone can chime in with some safe herbal remedies for depression. even medication, though not safe at all in my opinion, is 1000 times safer than ECT.
jolts of electricity through the brain + the spirochetes that are already hanging out there? sounds like a horrific combination to me.
Posted by cameronb (Member # 12240) on :
have you had ECT or know anyone personally who has? the reason it's a serious consideration for us is that our family member with lyme has tried suicide twice. ECT is apparently a much misunderstood and maligned treatment with an 85 percent success rate in alleviating depression unabated by drugs.
Posted by heiwalove (Member # 6467) on :
i've known many people who have had ECT. i've been in the psych ward myself several times, both voluntarily and forced (one time for five consecutive months), and nearly had to undergo a court-ordered course of ECT but was blessedly transferred to a different psychiatrist before the proceedings could begin.
my fellow patient friends who underwent ECT were all extremely negatively affected - particularly in the realm of short-term memory and cognition. as lyme disease already impairs our cognitive function, i can't imagine what sort of negative impact ECT could have on a neuro lyme patient.
i have been extremely, severely suicidal several times in my life; all of which, i now believe, were caused by undiagnosed and untreated lyme and coinfections. there are many, many alternatives to ECT, ones that don't in fact cause permanent brain damage.