my fiancee is in a treatment center for deep depression. he is 39 and has bi-polar and anxiety disorder. he's on alot of meds that aren't helping and has opted to try ect as an alternative. he has aotic valve and mitral valve polaspe, very high cholsteral and trilipids and recently low thyroid hormones that so far isn't responding to synthroid. he pcp just upped the dosage.



the treatment center sent him to a medical hospital for an echogram yesterday. the tech showed him a sise by side of his heart and a healthy heart and showed him the backflow of blood through the 2 valves. the mitral valve isn't too bad, but the aotic valve had what the tech called significant a blowback of blood. he commented that ed would need to have it taken care of, (when he was first diagnosed in his early 20's, he was told that he would eventually need to have surgery to have it replaced.). he also spotted some calcium on the valve.



the psychiatrist scheduled ed for the ect to be done tomorrow morning before they sent him to get the echogram. i think they weren't expecting it to be too serious and decided ahead of time to do it. problem is, they won't get the report until the afternoon, after the cardiologist review it. ed doesn't know if the cardiologist knows it's in referrence to him getting ect.



he wants to wait until the phychiatrist reviews the report before getting it done, and i agree that it is a good idea and am encouraging him to insist on it. he hasn't signed any release forms to do it yet, although they have given him the information booklet with the form in it. the form combines consent and liability into one form so he feels that he can't express his desire to try it by signing consent but express his concern about having it done before review of report by not signing the liability until he and the doctor discuss it in earnest. he is afraid that if he doesn't go to the appointment in the morning they will release him and say he his refusing treatment, instead of waiting and rescheduling if it can be done safely, or experiment with meds if it isn't. they just took him off of most of his meds.



he was on alot of them. about a year ago, when he had the tachicardia, it was due to his anxiety issue and a worsening of his bi-polar. it took 3 mood stabilizers, 2 antidepressants and a high dose of clonopin and ativan to get it under control. its' been working for the aggression and the anxiety but not the depression. no one is happy with the amount of meds he is on. some doctors have called it scary, and one called him a drug addict (discounting the reasons. he also didn't believe that ed had the issues with his heart that he does.). ed's heart rate goes up with his anxiwty and aggression and he gets dizzy and has chest pain. he is concerned about what will happen with the ect. do you think we are doing the right thing by insisting that the psychiatrist review the report before doing it? do you think this will increase his chance of a heart attack? is it advisable that he should do it at all, or would it be better to keep trying with the meds? a depressed ed is better than a dead ed. i know you can't tell us exactly what we should do with absolute certainty because you don't have him medical history or the reports or any of that but given this info what do you think?



thank you.

michell heim