ECT Destroys Lives (electroconvulsive therapy)

Electroconvulsive therapy ( ECT ) destroyed my life but I’m not allowed to say it. If I do I get treated like a crazy liar. I’m accused of stigmatizing mentally Ill people who depend on ECT for survival. Some call me anti- science, others have called me a religious extremist. I've been told to shut up and stop complaining, that I “knew what I was getting into” when I agreed to have shock therapy. I did not because I was a minor who was not given full informed consent. And let's be honest, ECT consent for minors is an illusion, anyways; brain development doesn't stop till early 20’s. As for consent, I was told ECT, once controversial, was now a legitimate, science based treatment that can be life saving. “It’s not like One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest Anymore, the mantra goes.” For risks I was told ECT was safe, effective and did not cause brain damage. I was told any memory problems I had were temporary. None of this was true. I have brain & nervous system damage from ECT. I Am severely disabled. Now 13 years after my last treatment I am showing signs of neurodegeneration in my 30s ala long term sequelae of electrical injury. ECT defenders demand it be treated like a legitimate medical procedure but they don’t apply those same standards to themselves. If a patient has a known side effect the doctor acknowledges and treats it. Think of a surgeon taking post-op x-rays and writing physical therapy referrals for a knee replacement patient to get them walking after the trauma surgery. Doctors refused to believe me when I was suffering dangerous, debilitating, known side-effects from shock treatment. Eventually I got tested and have been diagnosed with chronic encephalopathy, anterior grade amnesia, working memory deficit– all evidence of brain damage. I still can't get any doctors to help treat these progressive injuries that are becoming life threatening. Seizures, heart abnormalities, acquired channelopathies, etc. Yet I’m not allowed to speak my truth. I’m not allowed to raise awareness that I was harmed and will die without correct medical care. What's worse? I’m not an outlier; I’ve met hundreds of injured ECT patients with similar outcomes and read even more accounts of serious disability from electroshock. Their doctors won't help them. They can't work, can't take care of themselves, and don't remember what they ate for breakfast. The trauma, confusion of brain damage and gaslignitng leaves many of us suicidal. We're constantly told we’re imagining things, ECT doesn't do that, it's your mental illness, get over it, you chose this, stop stigmatizing people who need ECT.