Electroshock therapy?
 

hello i'm a 19 year old male who in 2008 at the age of 15/16 recieved 23 treatments of electroshock therapy at Johns Hopkins Hospital. I was there for 6 months as they tried me on tons of medicine for what they thought was deppresion. I'n a desperate attempt before i left they did the Ect. I don't remember staying there but i do know it was an unpleasent experiance. I wanted to know if 'seeing a blue flashing light' when closing your eyes was normal after Ect? Like when i closed my eyes i remember it was just blue. Also i remember talking incoherently after it atleast once. My scalp felt like it was burning. And i know my thinking slowed. They don't tell you that your thinking will slow though. It's only 'memory.' Do you think i was too young to have that many? I curse to this day for being forced to get it.

Also is there anyway i can get medical documents of the voltage and type they used?

Also i found out i had cervical instability and ehlors danlos after it and my neurosurgeon thought that 'rocking' didin't help. I also have poor blood flow to my head as shown by TCD

ECT does cause permanent brain damage. The flashes my be due to that or to withdrawal of one of your anti depressants. Ask for you medical notes. Write an advance directive so they are less likely to give ECT to you again.
Read
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click on ECT tab

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watch video

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Read and Bentall’s study of ECT safety and efficacy

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see Harold Sackeim study

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UK Government e-petition

Should i just kill myself then or is there hope in he future for cognitive increasing treatments? Like stem cell neurons

There's so much research being done on cognition that I'd check into that, if I were you. Do you have a medical doctor now? Even an mdoc could connect you with who's doing what.

No you should fight back. **edit**

Don't let them give you ECT again. Tell all your relatives so they don't consent and get a lawyer lined up now.

As for your cognitive defects you can ask for neurological tests and then ask for brain trauma therapy to help you overcome your problems. I wish you well. We are fighting to abolish ECT so no-one else suffers as you have.

I am so sorry that they did that to you at such a young age. I also was given ECT treatments and signed a consent form at a time when I was too depressed to know what I was doing. Unfortunately, there were no relatives around who were there consulting with the doctors.

After fifteen treatments, I did become clear enough to say, this isn't doing anything.

Then it turned out that I had been given the WRONG DIAGNOSIS! I did not have major depressive disorder, I was BIPOLAR! After that they started trying different medications until they finally arrived at a cocktail of four which stabilizes my moods, along with weekly therapy and going into the hospital or partial a number of times.

I am completely against ECT for ANYONE. I have had permanent problems with both my short and long-term memory. Think about it, normally we do anything we can to PREVENT seizures, while ECT CAUSES them. Drugs are given to us so that we don't break our bones while the current is going through us.

It is an antiquated treatment.

You may need, for a period of years, to work at finding treatments whih do help your depression.

CHECK YOUR DIAGNOSIS. Take quizzes on this site, look at lists of symptoms, see if something fits better.

Make a list of things you can do that will help you. COPING is sometimes the best we can do - getting through the day. It helps me to look at life from that angle.

All the best to you!