Experience with TMS
April 24, 2020 2:59 PM
I am interested in hearing from folks who have undergone TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) Therapy for treatment resistant depression about their experience. Did this work for you? If so, how long lasting were the effects? What did you wish you knew or asked the doctor before undergoing treatment? What advice would you give to someone considering this?
A debate about the effectiveness of TMS is not what I'm looking for. I already know how to look up studies on pubmed and am an appropriately skeptical/questioning consumer.
I do want to hear from people who have had this therapy or had a close relative use this therapy.
A debate about the effectiveness of TMS is not what I'm looking for. I already know how to look up studies on pubmed and am an appropriately skeptical/questioning consumer.
I do want to hear from people who have had this therapy or had a close relative use this therapy.
Jenny Lawson has done a bunch of blog posts about her experience with TMS. She's amazing and funny and totally worth reading.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 3:48 PM on April 24, 2020
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 3:48 PM on April 24, 2020
She's also made a couple videos about it that show what the process is like.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 6:08 PM on April 24, 2020
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 6:08 PM on April 24, 2020
I went through two full protocols of it and it did not work for me. It was kind of a scheduling hassle, and uncomfortable for a week or two; the actual experience was annoying, but largely fine. One time a headache persisted for a couple days, but that can happen. My depressive symptoms stem from trauma, which is my pet theory as to why it did not work.
I have a close friend who it worked very well for however; their depression was solely a MDD diagnosis that was medication-treatment resistant. Our notes on the actual experience are pretty similar, but they had symptom relief about two weeks into the process, and that symptom abatement held for at least a few years. It gave their therapist and other medication management teams time to help more effectively.
posted by furnace.heart at 7:00 PM on April 24, 2020
I have a close friend who it worked very well for however; their depression was solely a MDD diagnosis that was medication-treatment resistant. Our notes on the actual experience are pretty similar, but they had symptom relief about two weeks into the process, and that symptom abatement held for at least a few years. It gave their therapist and other medication management teams time to help more effectively.
posted by furnace.heart at 7:00 PM on April 24, 2020
One of my siblings did this and just raved about it. Said for them it worked better than any antidepressant or talk therapy they'd tried; they even ranked it above getting a pet (which was the #2 depression-reducer for them). They of course continued their antidepressants and talk therapy, but found the TMS really left them feeling brilliantly out from under the cloud of some pretty treatment-resistant depression. It's been about 24 months since their course and it's still working for them, but they definitely intend to go back when/if it "wears off."
(They thought the most interesting part was how they'd aim the magnets until their thumb twitched uncontrollably, and then move just slightly over. My sibling was like, "Second thumb to the right and straight on till morning!")
Scheduling was a fairly significant commitment, but the TMS place my sibling used was right near the commuter train station, so they'd just go before work and then hop on the train and it worked out okay. The place they used was pretty flexible in working with working professionals and had evening hours and early morning hours and so on, so people could go before or after work, and one night a week they even went until 9 p.m. so people could come in after putting kids to bed if necessary.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:21 PM on April 24, 2020
(They thought the most interesting part was how they'd aim the magnets until their thumb twitched uncontrollably, and then move just slightly over. My sibling was like, "Second thumb to the right and straight on till morning!")
Scheduling was a fairly significant commitment, but the TMS place my sibling used was right near the commuter train station, so they'd just go before work and then hop on the train and it worked out okay. The place they used was pretty flexible in working with working professionals and had evening hours and early morning hours and so on, so people could go before or after work, and one night a week they even went until 9 p.m. so people could come in after putting kids to bed if necessary.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:21 PM on April 24, 2020
It didn’t work for me, but the sessions were only mildly unpleasant. Because I’ve always had eyesight mostly just from my left eye, I do some things ambidextrously and my doctor raised the possibility of applying the magnets to a different portion of my head, and even though it didn’t work before, I’m totally willing to try it again.
posted by alaaarm at 9:57 PM on April 24, 2020
posted by alaaarm at 9:57 PM on April 24, 2020
My mom had TMS last summer. She had a sudden remission and then a sudden and serious relapse. But the several months of remission were dramatic and to an outsider she seemed "like herself" for the first time in years and years.
posted by unstrungharp at 8:20 AM on April 25, 2020
posted by unstrungharp at 8:20 AM on April 25, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
More than 11 years on now.. No a cure, but an extremely effective treatment. It got me back to the point where medication was helpful again.
http://mytmsadventure.blogspot.com/ blog while I was undergoing TMS
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-aug-03-he-depression-drug-choice3-story.html LA Times interview on TMS
https://abc7.com/archive/6999817/ local TV interview (text-only; video no longer available)
posted by kbuxton at 3:24 PM on April 24, 2020