[John Primo78]

does anyone have any experience with TMS? My Pdoc would like to try this on me as I am on a lot of meds. The school of thought that he is using is this may help reduce the amount on meds I am on.

any thoughts on this or anyone with experience with this, id like to hear what you think

John

[Rohag]

I have no experience with TMS. My former pdoc, who is now retired, had a lot of experience with ECT, and he felt it would be better for me to undergo TMS rather than ECT if it became an option. It never became an option.

[MDDBPDPTSD]

I am currently considering Deep TMS as an option. My current SNRI is pooping out, so I need to do something. I have heard that deep TMS can be successful in 70% of patients. 50% have their depression go into remission!
With repetitive TMS, the numbers are not quite as good, it still works for many, so it might help.
Let us know how it goes if you get it. I’ll do the same.

[with or without you]

I am doing it now and am nearing the end of treatment, I only have 4 more sessions left. Like you, I was also encouraged by my psychiatrist to look into it because medication doesn’t work, it’s just making me fat and the benzos are screwing with my memory.

I don’t know how familiar you are with TMS, but the magnetic coil is placed over the left side of your head. It’s supposed to “wake up” the left prefrontal cortex of the brain, the “depression” side.

The major thing to keep in mind - everyone experiences this treatment differently. For me, it has been an emotional rollercoaster. In the beginning, I felt good because of the placebo effect...I had hope. Then, about 2 weeks into it I started crying at the drop of a hat in inconvenient situations, having emotional overreactions to things, and elevated anxiety. My TMS psychiatrist started bilateral treatment at that time. The left side only treatment was too activating. When the right side treatment is added, it dials back the anxiety. She told me that individuals who are very prone to anxiety (like me) need bilateral treatment because the activation that the left side is getting is not a good result - it’s agitation instead of a “lift.”

After going bilateral I started to even out and had just “meh” feelings, on autopilot, going through the motions. It was around this time that my passive suicidal thoughts and wishing that I was never born came to an end. I then had a few periods where I felt good for a few days, things were easier, etc.

However, my mood swings are still there. About 12 days ago my mood suddenly went downhill, I call it the light switch. I got out of it 4 days later, and then Friday morning (2 days ago) I woke up in a total funk again. I haven’t been able to really get out of bed or eat much since then. Just extremely fatigued, leaving my home seems overwhelming, I keep going back to bed for naps. I am going to tell them this when I go back to TMS tomorrow, I don’t know what they will do with me since I only have 4 sessions left on my insurance and this is supposed to be the start of the “taper.”

I feel really disappointed that I’ve crashed like this towards the end and it’s very hard to find out of the ordinary TMS stories online. They said there is a well documented point in the treatment known as the “dip” where about 3 weeks into it your mood tanks but then gets better, but I haven’t found anything that describes my rollercoaster experience.

The clinic told me something that I have read in personal testimonials: some people respond very late to the treatment and don’t feel the benefits until after the treatment is completely over. That doesn’t make any sense to me, but whatever.

I will reserve judgment on how this worked for me until after the treatment is totally over. All I can say is that right now I am still struggling but I had moments very recently where I seemed to come out of it a bit, and the severity of my negative thoughts is not as bad. Right now I’m super fatigued, I just want to sleep, and venturing out is scary for me again. I don’t know why I’ve crashed so late into the treatment.

Don’t let my story stop you. I never had the one side effect that many people get - headaches. This is so much easier to deal with than meds (which I unfortunately still have to be on). The overall success rate is higher than meds. I believe that the people who achieve complete remission due to TMS are people who are moderately depressed and not very severely depressed like myself. My TMS psychiatrist told me she has quit being a prescribing psychiatrist and has totally devoted her practice to TMS because she believes this is the future of psychiatric medicine, not medications. She has seen more people respond to TMS than meds.

Sorry this was so long but there aren’t enough stories out there. Go for it if you are able to. It helped me a little which is better than nothing.

[SMRY]

I will be starting TMS most likely by the end of this week. My insurance now covers it at 100%, where just a year ago it didn't cover it. I figure I have nothing to lose. Maybe I'll be one of the lucky ones and it will work for me.

[Rohag]

Originally Posted by SMRY

Maybe I'll be one of the lucky ones and it will work for me.

May it be. All the best to you.

[bpcyclist]

I'm just curious if anyone knows what the cost would be if one were to pay out of pocket.

[SMRY]

Originally Posted by bpcyclist

I'm just curious if anyone knows what the cost would be if one were to pay out of pocket.

At the center where I'm going (GreenbrookT MS), I think the total out of pocket cost is about $13,000 - ouch! I wouldn't be pursuing this if my insurance didn't cover at 100%. Here is the link to Greenbrook...they have centers mostly on the east coast Locations - Greenbrook TMS