Electric convulsant therapy ECT

LoveLau

I am severely depressed friom the aromatase inhibitirs and tamoxifen. Thinking of getting off the ai's.

Taking lots of antidepressants, right now I just dont care about living, last week I was suicidal. This week just dont care, dont want to do anything. Dying would be a gift from God.

Am thinking about ect. Electric convulsive therapy.

Has any one tried it and did it work.

I feel like I am dead already and have nothing to live for. When I open and close my hands it feels like too much work.

If you did try ect it please reply private message. And let me know how it worked

• I have tried to find any article about breast cancer survivors who were depressed from ai who got ectc and if it worked.

. I cant stand living like this. Drs have me on fetzima, lithium, ativan, makes me too tired to do anything. They said I need to exercise but I am too tired to exercise. If I get off the antiestrogens, I wonder how long until recurrance and can I just wait it out til i die or will it be too long, you know living in agony for 5 or 10 years. My life up until bc was pretty good, relaxing not fun but good enough, now I have nothing in my life, except depression.

Thank you

MelissaDallas

LoveLau, I have no personal experience with ECT, but my grandfather was a psychiatrist and felt strongly that it could be very effective when nothing else was working. This when it had fallen out of favor and before the more recent "renaissance" of ECT.

Toscaxoxo

Dear LoveLau,

My heart goes out to you. I was EXACTLY in your position when I took the AI (exemestane). I wanted to die. The doctors were totally skeptical about the cause of my depression, and they wanted to do to me what they are doing to you: keep you on the meds and add a whole bunch of other drugs on top of the AI. I decided to go cold turkey and have never looked back--after quitting, the past two years my quality of life have been soooo much better. I know it's a gamble--the cancer may come back to kill me, but I would rather live a few years and feel decent than have to try every day not to take my own life. This is a very personal decision, so I am certainly not advising that you follow suit, just sending you some compassion because I do know how you feel. It's awful.

My grandmother had ECT for depression and it really helped her. It was long ago, so I don't know the details.

Thank you for sharing. I know there are more of us who find those drugs very difficult to tolerate. The more we talk about it the sooner things will change for the better.

vlnrph

How are you doing Love? I took a look at a few of your other posts and saw that someone else suggested the recent 60 minutes report on Kitty Dukakis and her ECT experience. Please keep us informed of your progress.

Also, I assume that you took tamoxifen for a while then switched to an AI (they are not prescribed together)...

Finally, another treatment to consider might be transcranial magnetic stimulation. It has been FDA approved for a decade and is somewhat milder - done in an outpatient clinic, no sedation, etc. Don't give up, there is help+hope!

Meg101

Does anyone know of any studies about BC and depression? It seems to me with the hormonal disruption, and other chemical changes that occur with a BC diagnosis and treatment, depression would be a major component of treatment. Doctors need to be more proactive about this. The "standard of care" should include treatment for the emotional disruption that BC patients endure.

Meg101

Does anyone know of any studies about BC and depression? It seems to me with the hormonal disruption, and other chemical changes that occur with a BC diagnosis, depression would be a major component of treatment. Doctors need to be more proactive about this. The "standard of care" should include treatment for the emotional issues that many BC patients endure.

Artista964

Mos and pcps don't have time to address mental isdues properly. They refer you to support groups or counseling. Id rather my psychiatrist deal with it esp being on meds than my onc or pcp. It's not their specialty. I wasn't on the best combo of meds for me because my pcp was rxing it. That's why there are specialties. As part of the bc class we got a list of groups and places for mental health group.

All chronic and terminal diseases will have people with a high rate of depression and anxiety. Counselors, therapists, psychiatrists are the ones to seek help with mental struggles along with support groups.

dtad

Rosabella...I agree that MOs and PCPs are not the docs that should treat mental health issues BUT they should be aware of them and be able to identify a problem so they can then refer to a psychiatrist. Good luck to all.

LoveLau

hi dtad, I am still struggling with the anxiety and depression. My oncologist said I dont have cancer, I have thoughts about cancer. The psyc has had me on all medications. Noting helps. I tried tms. Now down to last meds. Next he wants to try ketamine but FHA said dont use it if you had breast cancer causes progression. I was looking forward to that. Then there is ect and deep brain stimulation. [ why doesn't bc.org have any info on the ketamine, wouldn't that be timely.

I want to get off meds and do it alone. So many women I know can handle this.i am going to start a dialactical behavior training class when they get an opening. Not sure if it will work.

Dr also said I exhausted everything in Honolulu next thing is to go to mayo clinic but my health care wont pay

36,000 a week. Was suicidal but seem to be getting over it, i hope. Any good suggestions.

The psy said he believes it's from ai, but no way to check. I was off them for a month. Didnt see a difference.

I was reading about retraining your brain seem to say repeating " it's only my thoughts" might work but each time I do it I get more anxious.

I think we need specialists who deal with the emotional aspects of bc. I asked my first therapist and she said " that's not gonna happen. With all the money being poured into research there should be a major emphasis on emotional. I only saw i study with i person from Netherlands. Even going to blogs noting there as far as solutions.. i would appreciate anyone who can help me out.

LoveLau

did tms it didnt help.

LoveLau

anyone try ect, send me private note thanks.

Still looking at it. Dint like feeling like this just waiting to die. But I know the bc is gone. My biggest mistake was to have the bilateral mastectomy with no reconstruction. If I didnt do that I would feel better. I just wakkedv30bfpightsvin my buildingbthinkingbthatbwouldbgelp mybstress but it didnt seem to make a dent.

My husband booked us a trip on princess cruise. Flrbfrom Hawaii to sf then take cruise to hawaii around island then to mexico then back to.home I would rather spend my time with my son and grandson. in ny. That is fun.

Anyone try ect? Ketamine?