ECT or clomipramine?

[hk1993x]

Please help.

I am in such a dark place right now and my psychiatrist today told me that he thinks ECT would be beneficial for me but I would need to be an inpatient. I don't want to leave my home, my hubby or my kids. I've been sobbing my heart out and cant stop. He mentioned changing medications again or adding something else in but it would be a complex procedure and more likely to get worse before it got better.

Any help or advice please 😔

Hi @hk1993x Im so sorry to hear you are struggling so much at the moment.
Have you had inpatient treatment before and do you feel confident that you can trust your psychiatrist to do the best for you?
Sometimes when our MH is at its worst, it can be best to trust the professionals to make the right choices for us. A short stay in hospital might be enough to stabilise you so you can get back home to your family in better health.
I didn’t have ECT myself when I was an inpatient although I was nearly forced to when I was under section. I did see other patients who improved a lot after ECT so it isn’t something to be scared of in the right situation.

I've never had impatient treatment before only intensive home treatment 😔 I am taking my hubby up tomorrow to talk to the psychiatrist about my options. I am sitting on my couch paralysed with fear xx

Do you know your psychiatrist and trust them?

No advice @hk1993x as I have no experience or knowledge of ECT but just wanted to say take your time to consider the options, and don’t feel pressured into anything you aren’t 100% comfortable with. Sending love ❤️

I was offered choice between etc and couple of meds. I was a student at that time and I didn't want to get memory problems. I chose one of the meds and got out of the crisis. It took couple of years to feel ok again. I have gotten unwell after that but meds have helped.

When I was inpatient one lady was waiting for to get ect. She could go home for the whole day and just stay nights in the hospital.

Hope you’re ok @hk1993x xxx

Hope it goes well with your psychiatrist @hk1993x xx

Here ECT is done as an outpatient in ECT suite

I'm unsure what to do, I'm absolutely terrified of starting from scratch again. I wanna go back to uni in September, I want to be well. I just hate this x

This is maybe from a slightly different perspective OP but I work in theatres and we recover patients who have had ECT. Those who are needing it as an inpatient and also those who come back for maintenance doses. It really amazes me how effective it can be. It’s done through general anaesthetic and is really very quick. Where I work there are patient videos that you can access that give you step by step what happens. The walls are covered in thank you cards from people who ECT had given them their lives back ❤️.

have they said how quickly the ECT would happen if u went for that option?

September is a good few months away yet, I know it’s Much easier said than done but try to take each day as it comes and not think too far ahead. Xxxx

Omg really? 🥹 I think I am just more anxious of being an inpatient as I want to be at home with my kids and hubby so I'm gonna ask if I can do it as an outpatient. Desperate to try anything x

Basically next week I think, I'm seeing the psychiatrist again tomorrow to see what happens next xx

I'm in Scotland. I am gonna ask if I can have it as an outpatient x

I’ve taken Chlomiprimine. I’d had a terrible time on meds and was swapped over.

It was the most successful medication I’ve ever taken. Like being wrapped in a pink cloud with golden lights in it.

Omg really? What I would do to feel like that!!

How did you find your med switch over? They told me it's a complex process as I would need to wean off my fluoxetine and start clomiprimine xx

I think l stopped one and started the next. There was no weaning.

I had to take 50 mg of Chlomipramine one day, then 100 next and 150 next. It took about 4 weeks to feel fully better. I bloody love that drug.

I think it’s fallen out of favour a bit, but it’s the most potent of all anti D’s l think.

Have they tried you on Amitryptiline?

I’ve had a lot of ECT and also taking imipramine (similar to clomipramine). ECT has been amazing. Like turning my brain back on and letting me function again. I first had it as an inpatient but now have it as an outpatient less frequently. It doesn’t feel too scary - the staff in the ECT suite are absolutely lovely and it’s all over very quickly (and there’s a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit afterwards!). I’ve scored better on the memory tests since having it than I did before because I think my depression was affecting everything so badly. Feel free to ask anything you want.

Thank you both.

I'm just home from my appointment, he suggested clomipramine but I would need to wean off fluoxetine first. He reckons that I should try ECT first but I would need to be an inpatient at first then I would get treated as an outpatient. I'm going to ask if I can make the change over to clomipramine while in hospital recieving the ect. Very scared about the unknown. I don't wanna be in hospital but I know I need to get well again x

I asked about lithium but he said the side effects would be too much for me and cause I don't have bipolar he isn't keen to prescribe it.

He said if I was his daughter he would recommend ect and thinks it may be effective for me. He was going to give me something alongside the fluxoetine but then changed his mind. I might ask to make the change over from fluoxetine to clomipramine when I am in inpatient xx

He thinks because I've been on so many SNRI's and SSRI's I might have become treatment resistant to them. Next stop is the big guns I think. Just feeling quite frustrated that I don't have an actual answer to what's going on, I have been diagnosed with depression anxiety ocd and adhd so my mind is up my arse! X

ECT is an amazing treatment for severe depression and it can work much quicker than meds which can take weeks for someone to feel much benefit.

Mental health units are not nice places to be but if you start to respond to ECT, you may only be there a few weeks. ECT is normally twice a week.

I work with older people in mental health and ECT is used frequently with what relatives often describe as miraculous effects. It reads a life saver.

In my previous work with younger people we had a very memorable patient who had ECT for severe depression and wrote the most amazing blog about her recovery through ECT. It doesn’t seem to be available any longer which is a shame because it was really powerful.

I wish you well and I hope you get the treatment you need.

There’s more anti depressants apart from SNRI and SSRI. There’s another group called TCA’s which Clomiprimine belongs to.

If you are adhd do you take medication? My daughter had severe anxiety which was stopped by her ADHD meds.

They took me off the Adhd meds as they said they make my anxiety worse 😔 can't win! It's either ect or clomiprimine! Xx