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Had this happened to anyone else? Possible TW-ECT

4 replies

ByLimeAnt · 30/04/2025 23:18

I've had a LOT of ECT. Probably more than 30 sessions over about 3 years.

And now I've got memory problems that are still an issue 2 years later. Everything needs to be written down. I forgot how to access Teams on my desktop the other week. I struggle with cooking. I can remember complex work related technical terms, analyse and report on then at work but I don't remember watching films and my husband found me reading and had to tell me I had read it before. No memory of that.

I'm getting better at hiding it but people who know me well aren't stupid. Everything online like Mind and Rethink and NHS just say it is temporary and short lived and I can't find anything to suggest otherwise. I even contacted Headway feeling like a total fraud but they were lovely and helpful, recommended I ask for a referral to a neuropsychiatrist but if I do that it is going to raise red flags in a number of areas that I don't want to go into.

I just feel so alone and upset. Like it's my fault, I should not have agreed to it ( I didn't every time, I was forced after for a few sessions as I was under 6 stone and having cardiac arrhythmias). I just feel abandoned.

OP posts:
JohnnyRememberMe · 01/05/2025 07:21

Please be kind to yourself. It's not your fault that you had a serious treatment. It sounds as if you were terribly ill.

ByLimeAnt · 01/05/2025 23:33

JohnnyRememberMe · 01/05/2025 07:21

Please be kind to yourself. It's not your fault that you had a serious treatment. It sounds as if you were terribly ill.

You are very kind and thank you for taking the trouble to respond.

OP posts:
Pineappledancer · 03/05/2025 10:25

It doesn't sound like you should be blaming yourself for having the treatment. You were very very ill and it sounds like the treatment was essential.

Please take care and try to be kind to yourself, you have been through a lot.

trainedopossum · 05/05/2025 04:24

Sorry to hear this. Have you been in touch with the psychiatrist or team behind your treatment to ask them these questions? I wonder if occupational therapy might be useful.
I was offered ECT to treat a terrible bout of depression but for a variety of big and small reasons it did not go ahead. You do what is required to stay alive. I’d have welcomed anything that gave me relief.
I did have memory and concentration problems for a long while after recovering, which I assumed was a lingering effect of depression.
Have you recovered fully or partially from your original issues?
I wish you good health and peace of mind, what you’ve been through must’ve been very hard.

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