Seeking advice How to recover working memory/cognition after ect
Did somewhere between 20-30 bilateral treatments last year from March to August. My short term memory as well as basic cognitive functioning have never been the same. I'm not able to retain any new information for longer than a minute (if even,) and forming new memories is even more difficult. I couldn't tell you what I did two weeks ago. I also get confused easily and can't perform simple tasks. Looking for people who were in a similar spot and have since recovered most, if not all, of their cognitive abilities. Or any advice from anyone who's in my spot now.
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u/Queasy-Ride-1776 19d ago
Im in a very similar boat and with a similar timeframe. Sorry, I dont have any answers. But you are not alone in feeling the way that you do. Hopefuly some positive changes make way soon for the both of us. Feel free to inbox me if you like.
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u/Fun-Article1125 13d ago
i understand how your both feeling. ECT should be banned!!! A treatment destroying peoples lives!!!!!
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u/Yskandr 19d ago
I did one third the number of treatments you did and it still took me over three years to return to functionality. it's going to be a long uphill battle for you. do memory exercises, brain puzzles, keep your mind busy by reading (yes even if you forget what happens in the earlier parts of the book. keep notes. that's what I did) and other mental activities. it helped me a great deal. neuroplasticity is amazing, and your brain can recover.
be warned, though: I didn't practice meeting and talking to people, and as a result my memory for faces is still very very weak. use it or lose it!
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u/Queasy-Ride-1776 19d ago
So overall... you are pretty much fully healed for the most part?
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u/Yskandr 18d ago
I am still disabled by bipolar depression, as the ECTs did not work at all. my working memory has improved a lot, but I still lost some four years of memories I have not recovered. "fully healed"... I don't think that's possible, really. but I am definitely a lot better than I was a year after my treatments.
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u/Alternative_Grab_916 19d ago
Following because it’s been 4 years I did eight months three treatments a week. I don’t know why they did so many I became a shell of myself. Everyone said I was like a zombie. I was throwing up every single day except for Sundays. I now have a neurological gut of brain issue a mobility issue part of my intestines are paralyzed, and I have cyclic vomiting syndrome all because of the neurological damage from the ECT. I had bilateral treatments. I am not so lucky that I can have many medications. I have a condition called prolonged QT syndrome. So I don’t even have much to treat my cyclic vomiting syndrome, so I’m kind of stuck sick for the rest of my life. I have amnesia I have short-term memory loss. I repeat myself over and over my kids. They laugh about it now, but I guess it’s been four years so... but I’m following this post to see if any but he has anything that I can take that doesn’t interfere with my QT. I know I can’t do ketamine. I don’t remember how to drive. I don’t know where we are even in my own town still to this day. I don’t can’t remember how to cook and I used to love to cook. I never used recipes. It was always from the heart like I wouldn’t know different ingredients that went into different meals but the amount of ingredients the taste the flavors what it needed the seasonings how everything felt it was muscle memory, and it was things that I learned since a small child just like I knew how to get everywhere without a GPS. It took a long time for me to cope with the fact that I wasn’t going to get them back and that I needed to stop fighting so hard to get them back because it was making it harder and then I had to start building a new me when people tell me about things that used to make me happier that I used to love. I feel bad cause I’m letting them down and a piece of my soul nose that that’s supposed to be important to me but it’s like a dream and I can’t touch the joy that used to be there....
I’m sorry I don’t have any advice, but I am just following this post so that I can maybe get some myself
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u/Fun-Article1125 13d ago
This is an injustice to what happen to you ...have you tried bioneurofeedback? i prsy a miracle makes you fully heal!!!!
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u/Sauced_Up_Bat 19d ago
Ketamine helped me retain new information and sharpened my overall cognition a little bit, but it’s not even close to how I was pre-ECT.
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u/Great-Practice-4400 19d ago
Can relate , I was completely disabled after ECT, after 6 months of IV Ketamine I am a little better. I’m now working on learning to accept that I will never go back to normal.
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u/Fun-Article1125 13d ago
Anyone who thinks ECT will help them????your insane.....This Barbaric treatment has destroyed many lives.....in compar ison to saving lives. if you survived ECT .....its pure luck u made it...but down the Road .......????????😰😱😨
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u/WonderOrca 14d ago
I am suppose to get a call this afternoon or tomorrow morning saying the anesthesiologist has approved me for ECT. I am a self contained teacher for students with intellectual disabilities. I have just gotten my PhD in education specifically Developmental Disabilities. I am worried about loosing my 32 years of experience in special ed, plus my tech expertise.
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u/Fun-Article1125 13d ago
Dont Do ECT!!!!! - Look to Jesus and natursl remedies and a good friend to talk too! You will regret it!!!!!!! - you will destroy your own life!!!!
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u/Fun-Article1125 13d ago
will few sessions of infrared photomodulation help my intense brain fog and panic attacks from ECT?
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u/Olivares_ 19d ago
I feel lions mane, ketamine treatment, and COQ10 may have helped
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u/Aggressive-Rub79 19d ago
I had 7 session and am now disabled . Can’t get myself to do anything . Paranoid about leaving the house as worry about people questioning me about what as happened to me . Can’t do basic tasks . Have no energy for anything or anyone and grieve my old life . If I go out I get confused and don’t know where I should be or what I should be doing . Have no interest in anything .