They say desperate times call for desperate measures. Last month my psychiatric nurse practitioner had me go to the ER because my depression was unmanageable. The psychiatrist in the ER recommended I go to Boulder, CO and begin receiving ECT (electroconvulsive therapy).
Kyle and I spent some time discussing this and then decided to try it. This was a huge decision for me. I was scared to death!
We drove to Boulder and went through the admissions process at their ER. I was finally admitted to the Boulder Community Hospital to the the psychiatric inpatient unit. I was admitted on a Friday night and I was discharged on a Friday. I was inpatient for two weeks. It is a great facility and the staff was very compassionate.
While I was inpatient I started ECT. ECT stands for electroconvulsive therapy. ECT is a procedure in which electrical currents are passed through the brain deliberately triggering a brief seizure. They aren't sure how ECT helps, but it seems to cause changes in brain chemistry that can alleviate symptoms of some mental illnesses. Most people think of the brutality of ECT in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but it's a much safer treatment today and is administered much more peacefully.
ECT is given up to three times a week in the beginning (Monday, Wednesday, Friday). As it begins to work it's required less frequently. The beginning phase is the "acute" phase. The acute course is generally 6-18 treatments and can take 2-6 weeks. Some people need more. I needed less. I was starting to have too many cognitive problems and my psychiatrist felt we should back down to two treatments a week, and then one. So now I have one treatment a week on Fridays.
Kyle filled out paperwork to take FMLA time off from work. His supervisor has been amazing and his work in general has been great about giving him the time off he's needed. When I was inpatient, clearly I had the supervision I needed, but when I first came home from the hospital I needed 24/7 supervision. I'm a pretty independent person so this has been one of the hardest requirements for me. Kyle even had to dispense my medications to me! Kyle went back to work yesterday but we had certain times we checked in with each other throughout the day. I also haven't been allowed to drive during this acute phase. I'm hoping to get cleared to drive when I go for treatment this Friday. It's been five weeks!
As hard as it is for me to need to be "babysat", I don't have the words to describe the gratitude in my heart for how amazing Kyle has been through all of this. His love, support and humor are superior to anything I could wish for. He takes care of me and shows his love for me in ways that continually astonish me and make me deeply grateful. He's even taken me for my nail appointments and sat there and while I had them done - twice!
So this Friday will be my ninth treatment. Tomorrow I will tell you about what a treatment is like. I will say that I am feeling tremendously better than I was when I was admitted to the hospital last month. I made a turn for the better after about the sixth treatment. So ECT is definitely helping and I'm glad I made the decision to give it a try, even if it is a really extreme choice.
Hi Roxann. I was googling ECT treatments and found your blog. My mother is in-patient, on her 5th ECT treatment now. I'm trying to determine just how much "care" she'll need when she released from hospital. Can you elaborate as to how much help you needed? Would you have been able to function on your own? How long did you need your husband to do such things like dispense the meds? Was it just a few days, or longer?
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Thanks!
Thank you for reading my blog. I hope your mom is feeling better very soon. In answer to your question, it varies greatly from person to person based on several things. How long a person needs extra care depends on how many ECT treatments he/she gets and how frequently they are, his/her age, other medications he/she may be on, the severity of the depression being treated, etc.
DeleteI'm in my sixth month of treatments, and personally I've needed more care in this past month than I did in the others. I've had some setbacks. I drove before I was ready and had an accident that totaled my car but didn't hurt me. I'm not permitted to drive again for several months. I had a situation where I went into what they are calling a "delirium" and I didn't know who I was or where I was. My husband took me to two ERs and I was eventually admitted back into the hospital for about 10 days. Right now my memory is severely affected and I am having great difficulty remembering the simplest of things. I put my meds in one of those trays that is labeled with the days of the week and I have my husband look it over to ensure I have put the right amounts in. I don't think there is a good answer I can give you, because it is different for every person based on so many different factors. I continue to do ECT but I have them spread out a little further in between treatments.
If you have any other questions, please ask.