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new ocd/ depression treatment


Guest scotty

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Guest scotty

Hi everyone

In the times today there is an article on depression and ocd.

Its to do with surgery on the brain, for depression they actually put a pacemaker on the brain which sounds scary but apparently they have had good results .

from what i read it was similar with ocd shutting down certain parts of the brain so the sufferer can function normally.

Its worth a read for anyone thats interested.

Thanks

Scotty

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Guest Trish

Hi Scotty,

It's deep brain stimulation, which has been used on OCD sufferers fro a while. I have been offered the surgery. The procedure was filmed and shown on the BBC, a couple of years ago, in a documentary about OCD. It covered all forms of treatment and then showed the surgery used on people who had been resistant to CBT and medication.

We had a bit of a debate about it here, a few weeks ago, as to whether or not it was a reversible procedure. The BBC programme, and certain neurosurgeons, claimed it is reversible, others have said it is not. The conclusion we came to, was that a number of brain cells are destroyed as the very fine wires are inserted deep within the brain. Other kinds of surgery, for OCD, have been deliberately destroying certain brain cells, and some personality change is often noticeable. With DBS there doesn't appear to be any change to a patient's personality. The procedure can be reversed, although I have been told it would be an unnecessary cost, and risk, to perform another operation, so the power would simply be removed.

Here's a story I found amusing, but my family did not, and I realize many people on the board probably won't either (as I've mentioned before, I have a warped sense of humour). At an OCD convention, a neurosurgeon had asked a patient, who had undergone DBS, for her depression and OCD, to be present at a lecture on the subject. He was concerned that she didn't seem to be doing as well as he had been led to believe, she appeared rather quiet and a little depressed. He commented on that fact, and received this reply, from her mother, "But she is down on one battery, doctor, we need to return to the hospital, but you should see her when she is running on full power!"

Another patient had been doing really well, following DBS, until he went through security at an airport. It affected his pacemaker, and his obsessional thoughts immediately returned. I joked with my husband, that I could receive the DBS, and be 'cured' and we could at last go away on holiday, all would be well until we reached the airport! (Although a call could be put out, "Is there a neurosurgeon available?")

Love,

Trish.

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Guest scotty

Thanks trish

I must have a warped sense of humour to because i found it amusing :lol:

I would be to scared to have this surgery myself but just thought i would let others know about the article.

Take care Scotty

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Hi everyone,

I heard they only give it to people with extreme cases?

Yes, I think so. I must confess I don't know much about brain surgery for OCD but I would advise extreme caution if you are thinking about it. As far as I'm aware it is still quite risky and is only ever used as a last resort. There are far less intrusive ways to try to tackle OCD before even thinking about surgery.

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Guest Trish
I'd have it tomorrow, even if it meant walking round with scars. I heard they only give it to people with extreme cases?

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You and Jo are right, it would only be considered in extreme cases. I believe the procedure costs the NHS £60,000 per patient. What surprises me, is that it seems to be offered to some people before more intensive CBT, which could well work and would obviously be considerably cheaper. I believe Professor Salkovskis mentioned that a patient, in the new Channel 4 documentary, had been offered surgery, but had responded extremely well to therapy. I have also heard of a lady who actually opted for surgery (I'm not sure if was the older style, rather than DBS) in preference to facing any form of exposure therapy. The surgery failed to help her and she ended up turning to therapy anyway. I don't believe surgery cures everybody.

I have not heard of any OCD sufferer dying, or being severely harmed, by DBS, but obviously there is a slight risk, as with any surgery. However, I feel if you have reached my age, and every day is spent living in fear, then the risk is definitely worth taking. Personally, I would still have it, even if I were told it was 50/50 whether I would survive it. I just have to persuade my family. I want at least to be able to say I have lived a part of my life without fear! I would be so blissfully happy, to wake up in the mornings and not be terrified of leaving my bed and facing the day.

Love,

Trish.

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Guest waul46

I would never entertain the idea of surgery! I think it is risky and uneccessary as there are other treatments out there and brain surgary has not been proved any better than these!

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Guest michael123456
I would never entertain the idea of surgery! I think it is risky and uneccessary as there are other treatments out there and brain surgary has not been proved any better than these!

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Hi all,

Just take my brains out with a spoon, ‘Wasp Factory’. I am sure I won’t be able to sue the ‘**** ****’ (doctor/butcher) that performed this mutilation. They will get top billing in the ‘Lancet’.

I am sure if they cut my ***** off, I would probably not think about sex again, but this hardly solves OCD.

Anyone read ‘One fly over the ……nest’. Cured………..cured of his anti-social behaviour. Jack Nicholson eat your heart out, or your brain!

Where do I sign to receive my lobotomy.

I have recently moved home, in the meantime has the world gone mad?????????

Michael123456

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Guest Trish

I think the world was already mad, Michael!!

However, for some people DBS is giving them a life, which every other form of treatment failed to do. We aren't talking old fashioned lobotomies, but a very sophisticated "reversible" surgery. (I placed the word "reversible" in inverted commas, because some damage occurs when the electrodes are inserted, but the neurosurgeons, I have spoken to, classed it as a reversible procedure).

I told Dr. Frederick Toates that I had been offered, what my psychiatrist termed, a "sophisticated lobotomy" (15 years ago). I remarked (to Dr. Toates) that the term sounded like an oxymoron to me! He pointed out that it apparently works for some, in the most extreme cases, and there is evidence of prefrontal cortical abnormality in OCD. He added that he would be interested in my experience of deep brain stimulation, should I decide to have the operation.

I think what some people, who are so against any kind of brain surgery, perhaps fail to realize, is that when OCD is at its most extreme, a sufferer not only has no quality of life, but they are living in mental torment, twenty four hours a day. It is literally a living hell. Anything which has the potential to alleviate this suffering, and give a person some quality of life, cannot be totally dismissed. I know I have mentioned that the procedure is considered by many as barbarous, but my friend suffered for sixty years, with the most extreme kind of OCD, and that is inhumane and unacceptable.

Michael, I hope that things are not too chaotic in your new home!

Love,

Trish.

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Guest michael123456

Hi Trish and all,

My point is I am rather sceptical when it comes to performing extreme measures on people’s minds. My mother has Parkinson’s disease and there are similar types of procedures to reduce tremors etc. Fortunately she has a milder form and can be treated with conventional drugs. Which means that she doesn’t have to consider undergoing the experimental brain surgery that is fast becoming fashionable!

My parents were offered for me to have treatment to increase my size. I was slightly under the average height as a child, this would have mean been injected with human growth hormone. This would have to be harvested from the brains of corpses. My parents declined. In the meantime we now know that CJD is transmitted by this method. Any person who underwent this treatment cannot find out if they are carriers until the symptoms materialize, as there are no tests available at this time! The reality is I wouldn’t be taller if I had undergone this procedure, just matured faster (same end height). By the way my height is ‘5/7 ish’ normalish.

First thing I got up and running after moving was the fridge for my cans, then my computer!!!!!!!!!! I am looking after my brothers’ dog, so I am covered in dog slob and dust from morning till night for the next week or so, till everything gets sorted out.

I hope everyone is making use of the summer weather, (getting out) as best you can!!!!!!!

Michael123456

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