u/jelliberri

He is 30 and has been showing symptoms for a while now. His dad had HD and his younger brother has recently been diagnosed. My partner has decided he’d rather just know at this point whether he has it or not, instead of being left wondering daily. Although we are 99% sure he has it based on his symptoms.

He’s started seeing a psychiatrist who diagnosed him with Major Depressive Disorder and they believe his mental state is too fragile to accept a potential positive result. They also believe a positive result doesn’t really ‘mean’ anything anyway, but being in Australia we thought it’d make things easier if we need to access government benefits or NDIS support because they require things to be formally diagnosed before accessing help. It would also give my partner peace of mind just having an answer.

Has anyone been in this position before? Were you eventually ‘stable’ enough to be tested?

My partner has been depressed for a long time and is finally seeking help. He was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder and prescribed 15mg of Mirtazapine about a month ago. Yesterday they upped his dose to 30mg and suggested ECT.

We did a bit of our own research after the doctor explained it all, and it seems to be a last resort treatment option usually when other treatments have failed. Has anyone been offered ECT so early on? Do you feel like you benefited from it being done early into treatment?