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Post ECT: brain damage, cognitive impairment and severe memory loss.
Brain & Nervous System | Last Active: Jun 3, 2023 | Replies (17)Comment receiving replies
My 37 year old son had 11 ECT treatments 7 months ago for depression. He is also bipolar but depression was his main symptom. He has not been himself ever since. He has trouble with concentration, focus, motivation, anxiety and is fearful of not being able to manage. It seemed the ECT was helping at the start but after about 6 treatments he could barely keep his eyes open the next day and his memory was gone. I talked to the staff but no one seemed concerned. The psychiatrist never returned my calls. Since then he had improved but he knows he is not the same. His doc and the psychiatrist don’t think it was the ECT so dismiss his concerns. I know he is struggling every day. He was a top honours university graduate and now he can’t even cope to read simple instructions without having anxiety attacks.
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I just saw this post and I’m not sure if it is a response to my post months ago where I described my devastating experience with ECT. Perhaps you can find my earlier post and it will give you something to relate to.
In short, it has been over two years since my last treatment ( I had 13 total). It has been an impossible situation. I went from being a highly functioning paralegal. Although with depression, to being now on disability. My husband is more or less in charge of decision making. I simply do not have the memory or cognitive ability I once had. It is absolutely due to ECT.
I have consulted with two attorneys and two doctors who agree that it caused brain damage. I thought I had a case to move forward on twice. Both were shot down. The first case fell through because the ECT machine company that was used on me filed for bankruptcy due to so many lawsuits. The second case fell through because I was on the outside limit of the statutes of limitation, which is only two years. I only waited because my psychiatrist kept telling me “my mind would clear eventually “. It never did.
I do my best now but post ECT has changed my life so dramatically and my relationships so negatively that I am truly a different person now. I am getting in to see a rehab doctor to help me to work on brain function and resurrecting what I can salvage on August 1. This was never recommended by any psychiatrist only through diligence on my own and needing to have a better outcome than where I am.
I share this with you and you can red my other post, for a fact your son did suffer from ECT and I hope he can get some recovery and rehab for his memory or cognition. It sounds like he is still young and I believe that holds more hope than my situation.
I truly believe in getting the word out on this. It is still an acceptable practice at many hospitals including the “big ones”. It is very hard to find a doctor who will be honest about the fact that ECT. Causes brain damage. It does.
Good luck to you and your dear son.