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| Electroconvulsive Therapy |
ECT treatment
A person may undergo ECT during a hospital stay, or he/she can go to a hospital just for the treatment and then come back home. ECT is given up to 3 times a week. Normally no more than 12 treatments are required. A psychiatrist gives a treatment.
Before each treatment, an intravenous line will be started so remedies can be put directly into your blood. You will be given an anesthetic and a medicine to relax your muscles. Your heart rate, blood pressure and breathing will be observed closely. An electrical shock will be applied to your head, after you are asleep. The duration of shock is only 1 or 2 seconds and it will cause a seizure in your brain. This seizure is regulated by medicines so that your body doesn't move when you have the seizure.
You will wake up within 5 to 10 minutes after the treatment and will be taken to a recovery room to be observed. When you are fully awake, you can eat and drink, get dressed, and come back to your hospital room or go home.
Side effects
The anesthesia, the ECT treatment or both of them can cause side effects. Common side effects include temporary short-term memory loss, confusion, nausea, muscle aches and headache. After ECT some people may experience longer-lasting problems with memory. Sometimes a person's blood pressure or heart rhythm may change. If these changes happen, they are carefully watched during the ECT treatments and are immediately treated.
After ECT treatments
You will presumably begin an antidepressant medicine, after finishing all of your ECT treatments. Not to become depressed again, it is important for you to keep taking this medicine the way your doctor tells you.
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