People with bipaolar disorder are usually started with bilateral ECT. People with bipolar disorder respond significantly better to bilateral ECT.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Will I get Unilateral or Bilateral ECT?
Re: UL or BL (bitemporal) treatment. This is decided by the ECT psychiatrist and depends on your diagnosis and severity of illness. UL ECT causes less memory impairment than BL ECT, however BL ECT is more effective. If you have Major Depression, you will likely be started on UL ECT. If you have a response with UL, you will remain on UL as long as your are responding. If you are not responding or responding, but very slowly, you will be switched to BL ECT. You should have a discussion with the ECT psych if this switch to BL is going to be recommended. Re: energy, there are specific parameters for energy settings that depend on your seizure threshold (the minimum amount of energy needed for the individual to have a seizure) with BL ECT. All patients treated with UL ECT are treated at 100% energy because lower energies have not been shown to impart any benefit with regard to memory impairment, and 100% energy is the most effective for UL ECT.
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Hi Zeesie, Let me first thank you for providing people help when facing ECT. I'm scheduled to start UB RUL on 8/3/09 and have an energy question. Is 100% energy = to 100 Joules? My ECT Dr. told me that I would be receiving 35 Joules. Here are the parameters I remember. 800 mA, 160 Hz and 0.3 msec pulse widths, but I don't remember the stimulus duration. Does 4 or 6 seconds make sense?
ReplyDeleteThanks, JED
Hi Zeesie, I just recently found your blog from a link on www.shockmd.com. I would like to know what you have seen with Ultra-Brief verses Brief-Pulse ECT. I have read studies that UB requires 1/3 less power than Brief Pulse and therefore has less cognitive side effects. So far after one UB RUL treatment I'm still lucid.
ReplyDeleteThanks, JED