Thread: Need ECT info
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Daonnachd
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Daonnachd ...
 
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Default Nov 07, 2019 at 08:58 PM
 
@mariela10 Let me begin by saying I wish I had opted to undergo ECT long before I did.

Addressing your imagined procedure, it is nothing like Jack Nicholson's portrayal of it. Even the show Homeland which presented a much toned down version of it got it wrong by implying the patient goes through a seizure.

You are given a muscle relaxant along with the general anesthesia. This means that while the seizure is happening in your brain, your body is nice and relaxed as you sleep through it all. You might wake up with a headache. Some people report having them upon waking and even into the following day. In my experience headaches are both mild and rare, and I've been getting ECT since 2015.


A brief post-ECT vignette: Last time I had ECT (3 weeks ago) I came home from the hospital and changed the tyres on my bike. After re-inflating them I went out to test them on the road, riding back and forth on our street. Granted, it's a 2 hour drive home from the hospital so the anesthesia had more time to dissipate than it would for someone going to a local hospital or clinic. ...and I'm not always so spry when I get home. I do want to emphasize it is nothing like you see in Cuckoo's Nest.

This has really been only a glimpse of ECT. Feel free to ask any further questions that come to mind whether here publicly, or via private message.

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