Concern for partner with DID starting ECT

Hi @TeaPositive it's good your partner is at the stage you're planning ahead for discharge.

Like @DownMoreThanUp my ECT was a very long time ago. As I remember I felt numb, disoriented and very much alone. Noone, family or medical or mental health people acknowledged what had happened or let me know they cared or would support me. I lived alone and when I returned to work they told me I should have taken my hospital stay as recreation leave not sick leave.

It's wonderful you're wanting to support your partner. Letting them know you care, while recognising it will take time to adjust both to whatever precipitated the need for care as well as the treatment itself, are important I think. And having a care plan where your partner has been discharged to the ongoing care of either a gp or mental health service or mh practitioner is also important. If they're on new meds establishing habits and reminders can help, eg I use a multicompartment pill box as a visual reminder of whether I've taken meds, and I also set up reminders on my phone. There's also the question of whether, or how much, to tell family and friends. And it sounds as though you might have recently moved from interstate. It would be a good time to suss out local facilities and services, from libraries to coffee shops to gyms to sporting clubs to parks etc etc. Not so much to join immediately but to know what's out there to give you a sense of community.

Hey @Dimity - my partner got discharged yesterday and will be starting ECT once a week at the end of this week. The feedback from you and @DownMoreThanUp about your experiences has been so useful for both myself and my partner. We spent a little time today briefly chatting about his needs.

I felt sadness and the want to have been able to give you a "hug" when I read your words of feeling numb, disoriented and very much alone. Although I am feeling scared I want to try and be present for my partner as he goes through this. I made the decision to take a day off work so I can drive him to and from ECT rather than getting a support worker for him.

It's happening on Friday so I may or may not pop in here to give you all an update 🤣

Excellent news @TeaPositive . Interesting the ECT will be weekly. I think I had it 3 times a week for 4 weeks.

Thanks for the hug, I was very touched.

Good luck with it all.

Good morning@Dimity and @DownMoreThanUp - just wanted to let you both know that my partner decided not to go ahead with today's ECT. In the end a conversation with his therapist facilitated one of his parts/alters to speak, and the answer was a "no" to ECT at the moment so now we wait and see how he stabilizes at home. In other news someone else mentioned 'Rapid TMS' to us, which we will be both researching.

Thank you for the support 💚

@TeaPositive i have heard from my sister that this treatment is also really good. Both her husband and son work with mentally ill people, and she herself has fast experience working with trauma survivors, (children) but i have no experience with the treatments itself.

Wishing that much healing is coming your way for both you and your husband.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmMOMK5c4EY&list=RDtmMOMK5c4EY&start_radio=1