Lipstick on a pig

Another week down.  Spent part of the morning today doing electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), which is used as a treatment for major depression refractory to other medical management.  Yeah, it's exactly what it sounds like.  No, it's no fun whatsoever.  Basically you take a pair of electrodes, place them on an anesthetized patient's head, and zap their right temporal lobe (or both temporal lobes) with anywhere from 5 to 100 joules to induce a seizure.  This in turn apparently results in the release of most or all major neurotransmitters in the brain, helping by some mechanism to fight depression.  It also directly stimulates facial muscles causing an excruciatingly painful-appearing grimace (note: in fairness, it's not actually painful -- the patient is still under anesthesia).  Yeah, it's a fairly primitive treatment all dressed up in pretty clothes and lipstick.  However, although I hate the whole idea of ECT, both the literature and anecdotal evidence from some patients indicate that it can be pretty effective.  Still, I'd rather never be within several miles of ECT ever again if I can possibly avoid it.

The rest of the day was ok.  I'm still not a fan of psych, but at least I'm getting involved and am getting some worthwhile teaching.  That's pretty much all I'm hoping for out of this rotation.  No particularly interesting cases, unfortunately, so no good [HIPAA-compliant] stories.

Not much else going on at the moment.  I'll be back with more thoughts sometime in the near future.  Till then, peace and God bless!