Bipolar Disorder Support Group

i also will answere questions, i had it done also.

I am acually going to start my 2nd year of ect treatments. I had to stop for insurance reasons but I am going to start over again tomarrow. I have to stay in the hospital overnight for the first one and the rest will be outpatient. I was supposed to start on tuesday but doc didn't have time.
I haven't had any major side effects a little memory loss but just little things.
The procedure is really simple and you sleep through the whole thing. Everyone is different in the way the effect people. The only way to know is to try. by my experience I new after the first one if it was going to work.
my doc and I have talked about vns but right now my insurance doesn't cover it. I would like to have it done though.
any questions feel free to ask.

to point out, it effects everyone differently. Brain chemistry is like that. :(

you are very right It does effect people different. I should have made that point more clear.

anyone try VNS?

bump...

We used to have a member named ThomasB. He'd had ect a number of times, like 8 I think. He said that it never seemed to work for very long. He said that he had horrible headaches immediately afterwards, and some short-term memory loss temporarily, but for a while it was good enough that he'd get it again. As a matter of fact, before he left here, he was on the verge of going in for another round of them.
For some people the effects are so good and long lasting that they swear by it.

Good luck to you, wish I had personal experience I could share.

I've read about both of them. I read that many of the people who had VNS therir voice would change while talking at times. I am to chicken to trey ECT although I would try TMS(Transcranial magnetic stimulation) if I could afford it.

I had ECT a few years back. It helped with my depression, but I have major memory loss.

I thought about TMS too , but there is no way I can afford it and my insurance won't cover it. They will cover ECT partially and VNS partially with enough documentation that nothing else works for me.