JennyB
overo
I great neice who has A LOT of medical problems and the past two weeks she has fell into a deep emotional roller coaster. She is 24-years-old and she checked herself into a Pyc Center and I heard tonight they were going to start ECT(Electro Shock Theraphy)next Tuesday. The gave her a mood medication and upped her anti-depressants. She seems to be doing better in there so far.
She has a disease called, Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 1 or MEN 1. People who have this which is a relatively uncommon inherited disease. Individuals who inherit the gene for MEN 1 have an increased chance of developing over-activity and enlargement of certain endocrine glands. The endocrine glands most commonly affected by MEN 1 are the parathyroid glands, the pancreas, and the pituitary glands...It occurs in about 1 person in every 30,000 people.
So because of this disease which they have pin-pointed comes from her grandmothers side of the family. Her Dad has it as does her Dads brother and sister..my niece and nephews. Her brother does not have it, but could pass it on to his children or it can skip generations and then re-appear. It is not on my side of the family...
...but unfortunately for my grand niece, she has it the worst of all the family members who have it.
It cropped up in her when she was 16 and she is now 24...she weighs 300+ pounds as she has been slowly gaining ever since they found this and the medications she needs to take have helped to cause her weight gain. She has a tumor off her pituitary gland which is very close to her optic nerve, so close that they can't operate, so one of her meds is to control the size of this tumor. This med also has a side effects of giving her horrible migraines. Then she gets infections in her body in different places which need to be treated. This last round she spent 28 days in the hospital because she had infections in her breast's, which caused her horrible pain. Along with the disease and the medications she takes for it, it has affected her immune system and then the antibiotics don't work really well. She has been in and out of the hospitals so many times in the last 8 years it is un-real...This last bout in the hospital was her longest and most painful...She felt good about getting out, but soon she became deeply depressed and said, she has been delt a crappy hand in life so far...and yes she has, so she has felt that what kind of life has she had and will she have in the future, since there is no cure for MEN 1...so why should she even try anymore.
Mind you she has an extremely very high IQ and was going to be a doctor. Her plans for that or anything have been thrown out the door and she feels like giving up...I feet so helpless and there is nothing I can do for her, except pray for her and give her as much support as I can, but this Electro Shock Therapy is really scary and am wondering if anyone has had this done or had any family members who have had this. They have been doing this procedure for 70+ years and they still don't really know how it works. They are getting better about it and don't give so much electricity to the patients.
Here is what the Mayo clinic says about ECT...
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a procedure in which electric currents are passed through the brain, deliberately triggering a brief seizure.(this seizure last for 30-60 seconds everytime it is done
) This seems to cause changes in brain chemistry that can alleviate symptoms of certain mental illnesses. Yet 70 years after it was first introduced, electoconvulsive therapy remains controversial.
Much of the stigma attached to electroconvulsive therapy is based on early, brutal treatments in which high doses of electricity were administered without anesthesia, leading to memory loss and death.
Electroconvulsive therapy is quite different today. Although electroconvulsive therapy can still cause side effects and complications, it now uses precisely calculated electrical currents administered in a controlled setting to achieve the most benefit with the fewest possible risks.
Because it can provide significant improvements in symptoms more quickly than psychotherapy or medications, electroconvulsive therapy may be the best treatment option for some people. ECT may help prevent suicide in people who are severely depressed, for instance. It may be tried when medications aren't tolerated or other forms of therapy haven't proved effective. And it may be used to end an episode of severe mania.
ECT is most commonly recommended for people with:
Severe depression, accompanied by psychosis, suicidal intent or refusal to eat
Mania that hasn't improved with medications
Schizophrenia, when symptoms are severe or medications aren't sufficient
Deciding whether electroconvulsive therapy is a good option for you or a loved one can be extremely difficult. Should electroconvulsive therapy be your first treatment choice? Or should it only be a last resort? Will it cause lasting side effects? It's not a decision to make lightly. But understanding more about the potential benefits and risks of electronconvulsive therapy can help in your decision.
Although electroconvulsive therapy is generally safe, there are known risks and side effects. These include:
Cognitive impairment. Immediately after an ECT treatment, you may experience a period of confusion. You may not know where you are or why you're there. This impairment in your thought process (cognition) generally lasts from a few minutes to several hours. However, the more ECT treatments you have, the longer confusion may last. Occasionally, the confusion may last several days. It typically goes away when the course of treatment is over.
Memory loss. ECT can affect memory in several ways. You may have trouble remembering events that occurred before treatment began, a condition known as retrograde amnesia. For most, retrograde amnesia obscures memory of the weeks or months leading up to treatment, although some people do have problems with memories from years previous, as well. You may also have trouble recalling events that occurred during the weeks of your treatment. And some people have trouble with memory of events that occur even after ECT has stopped. These memory problems usually improve within a couple of months. Though it does happen, permanent memory loss is relatively rare.
Medical complications. As with any type of medical procedure, especially one in which anesthesia is used, there are risks of medical complications. The pre-ECT medical evaluation helps identify medical conditions that may put you at increased risk of complications during ECT, enabling doctors to take special precautions. During ECT, heart rate and blood pressure increase, and in rare cases, that can lead to serious heart problems. ECT also carries a very small risk of death, about the same as with other procedures in which anesthesia is used.
Physical issues. On the days you have an ECT treatment, you may experience nausea, vomiting, headache, muscle ache or jaw pain. These are common and generally can be treated effectively with medications.
Anyway sorry this is sooo long, but I needed you to understand part of what is wrong with her. I am sooo worried about this treatment
Please let me know anything to help me feel more at ease about this? Also please, please says some prayers for my Shaina girl
Thanks
A very worried great Auntie,
Jenny
She has a disease called, Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 1 or MEN 1. People who have this which is a relatively uncommon inherited disease. Individuals who inherit the gene for MEN 1 have an increased chance of developing over-activity and enlargement of certain endocrine glands. The endocrine glands most commonly affected by MEN 1 are the parathyroid glands, the pancreas, and the pituitary glands...It occurs in about 1 person in every 30,000 people.
So because of this disease which they have pin-pointed comes from her grandmothers side of the family. Her Dad has it as does her Dads brother and sister..my niece and nephews. Her brother does not have it, but could pass it on to his children or it can skip generations and then re-appear. It is not on my side of the family...
It cropped up in her when she was 16 and she is now 24...she weighs 300+ pounds as she has been slowly gaining ever since they found this and the medications she needs to take have helped to cause her weight gain. She has a tumor off her pituitary gland which is very close to her optic nerve, so close that they can't operate, so one of her meds is to control the size of this tumor. This med also has a side effects of giving her horrible migraines. Then she gets infections in her body in different places which need to be treated. This last round she spent 28 days in the hospital because she had infections in her breast's, which caused her horrible pain. Along with the disease and the medications she takes for it, it has affected her immune system and then the antibiotics don't work really well. She has been in and out of the hospitals so many times in the last 8 years it is un-real...This last bout in the hospital was her longest and most painful...She felt good about getting out, but soon she became deeply depressed and said, she has been delt a crappy hand in life so far...and yes she has, so she has felt that what kind of life has she had and will she have in the future, since there is no cure for MEN 1...so why should she even try anymore.
Mind you she has an extremely very high IQ and was going to be a doctor. Her plans for that or anything have been thrown out the door and she feels like giving up...I feet so helpless and there is nothing I can do for her, except pray for her and give her as much support as I can, but this Electro Shock Therapy is really scary and am wondering if anyone has had this done or had any family members who have had this. They have been doing this procedure for 70+ years and they still don't really know how it works. They are getting better about it and don't give so much electricity to the patients.
Here is what the Mayo clinic says about ECT...
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a procedure in which electric currents are passed through the brain, deliberately triggering a brief seizure.(this seizure last for 30-60 seconds everytime it is done
Much of the stigma attached to electroconvulsive therapy is based on early, brutal treatments in which high doses of electricity were administered without anesthesia, leading to memory loss and death.
Electroconvulsive therapy is quite different today. Although electroconvulsive therapy can still cause side effects and complications, it now uses precisely calculated electrical currents administered in a controlled setting to achieve the most benefit with the fewest possible risks.
Because it can provide significant improvements in symptoms more quickly than psychotherapy or medications, electroconvulsive therapy may be the best treatment option for some people. ECT may help prevent suicide in people who are severely depressed, for instance. It may be tried when medications aren't tolerated or other forms of therapy haven't proved effective. And it may be used to end an episode of severe mania.
ECT is most commonly recommended for people with:
Severe depression, accompanied by psychosis, suicidal intent or refusal to eat
Mania that hasn't improved with medications
Schizophrenia, when symptoms are severe or medications aren't sufficient
Deciding whether electroconvulsive therapy is a good option for you or a loved one can be extremely difficult. Should electroconvulsive therapy be your first treatment choice? Or should it only be a last resort? Will it cause lasting side effects? It's not a decision to make lightly. But understanding more about the potential benefits and risks of electronconvulsive therapy can help in your decision.
Although electroconvulsive therapy is generally safe, there are known risks and side effects. These include:
Cognitive impairment. Immediately after an ECT treatment, you may experience a period of confusion. You may not know where you are or why you're there. This impairment in your thought process (cognition) generally lasts from a few minutes to several hours. However, the more ECT treatments you have, the longer confusion may last. Occasionally, the confusion may last several days. It typically goes away when the course of treatment is over.
Memory loss. ECT can affect memory in several ways. You may have trouble remembering events that occurred before treatment began, a condition known as retrograde amnesia. For most, retrograde amnesia obscures memory of the weeks or months leading up to treatment, although some people do have problems with memories from years previous, as well. You may also have trouble recalling events that occurred during the weeks of your treatment. And some people have trouble with memory of events that occur even after ECT has stopped. These memory problems usually improve within a couple of months. Though it does happen, permanent memory loss is relatively rare.
Medical complications. As with any type of medical procedure, especially one in which anesthesia is used, there are risks of medical complications. The pre-ECT medical evaluation helps identify medical conditions that may put you at increased risk of complications during ECT, enabling doctors to take special precautions. During ECT, heart rate and blood pressure increase, and in rare cases, that can lead to serious heart problems. ECT also carries a very small risk of death, about the same as with other procedures in which anesthesia is used.
Physical issues. On the days you have an ECT treatment, you may experience nausea, vomiting, headache, muscle ache or jaw pain. These are common and generally can be treated effectively with medications.
Anyway sorry this is sooo long, but I needed you to understand part of what is wrong with her. I am sooo worried about this treatment
Please let me know anything to help me feel more at ease about this? Also please, please says some prayers for my Shaina girl
Thanks
A very worried great Auntie,
Jenny
