I just talked to my insurance company about getting TMS covered for my treatment resistant depression and she said they don't get many requests for that because she thinks it may be experimental and therefore not covered. She's going to look into it.

Great. I'm at the end of the road here. What else do I do? Meds don't work. ECT didn't work. I guess I could pay for TMS out of pocket but it's really expensive, right?

Thanks for any help.

I'm sorry nothing is working for you.

Got a call back from my insurance company and she said it is considered experimental and therefore not covered. She said she'll be checking the research the second or third week in May and that may change so she'll call me back.

If it's considered experimental by the researching company also, you might be able to get in free or at a discount by taking part in a clinical trial.

[cloudyn808]

I had 36 1-hour rTMS treatments recently. It was fully covered by private Blue Cross. It is not considered experimental in fact, the federal government is using TMS at Veterans Hospitals. I think the physician conducting the treatments are critical in advocating for you with the insurance company. Obviously you meet the criteria for treatment if you have already undergone ECT treatment. The costs are about $200-250/session in my area. As I said I had 36-treatments so it's well worth fighting the ins. To cover the cost. Unfortunately, the treatments did not work for me (TRD that failed ECT as well) so my next treatment will be Ketamine Infusions which is NOT covered by any insurance. Best wishes & I hope the TMS works for you!

[bizi]

what is tms?

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.

I have done a little research on this myself, but have not been blown away by the results.

Ketamine looks promising though.

Thanks for sharing your journey.