Anyone else trying TMS? (transcranial magnetic stimulation)

[mortalityisbadass]

Currently going through a course of TMS after trying countless meds and about a dozen therapists. Curious to see if anyone else has experience with TMS and what the results were.

This treatment is exhausting me physically and mentally, and I'm holding onto hope that something will change.

 

[Lullaby]

This is totally different and doesn't answer your question, so i'm sorry, but I actually have the same worries.

I've been doing ECT since last summer and it's a lot. I'm losing my memory, which I didn't care about at first because I felt it was worth the risk of getting better, but I haven't seen any improvement.

Super physically draining, too. I had another session this morning and my body is just totally exhausted and sore. Felt like I was hit by a truck.

Just been holding out on hope that it'll eventually "kick in" maybe.

 

[onthefence]

Currently going through a course of TMS after trying countless meds and about a dozen therapists. Curious to see if anyone else has experience with TMS and what the results were.

This treatment is exhausting me physically and mentally, and I'm holding onto hope that something will change.

I have a friend who is doing TMS and they say that it isn't making any difference with 2 weeks of treatment left but they are going to stick it out just in case it starts working. The psychiatrist has told them that everyone is different so it may take the whole course to feel better or it may just not work for them. Very disappointing if it doesn't work.

 

[mortalityisbadass]

This is totally different and doesn't answer your question, so i'm sorry, but I actually have the same worries.

I've been doing ECT since last summer and it's a lot. I'm losing my memory, which I didn't care about at first because I felt it was worth the risk of getting better, but I haven't seen any improvement.

Super physically draining, too. I had another session this morning and my body is just totally exhausted and sore. Felt like I was hit by a truck.

Just been holding out on hope that it'll eventually "kick in" maybe.

I'm not sure how ECT works or if there's a delayed response as well. I've heard with TMS some patients feel better a week or two after all the sessions. But I think because of weird symptoms I've been having lately, it's doing something? My psychiatrist also suggested to ask people around me (friends, loved ones, etc) if they've seen any changes or improvements. Sometimes my friends will notice changes in my behavior that I don't think about until they bring it up.

I have a friend who is doing TMS and they say that it isn't making any difference with 2 weeks of treatment left but they are going to stick it out just in case it starts working. The psychiatrist has told them that everyone is different so it may take the whole course to feel better or it may just not work for them. Very disappointing if it doesn't work.

Yeah I'm worried about this outcome as well. I did a round of TMS a year or two after COVID, I was pretty happy with my results for a couple months but my mental health started slipping later on. It could've been the treatment wearing off, but I was also dealing with some traumatic shit at the time.

I hope your friend's health improves, going though any kind of mental health treatment is hard as fuck.

I have a friend who is doing TMS and they say that it isn't making any difference with 2 weeks of treatment left but they are going to stick it out just in case it starts working. The psychiatrist has told them that everyone is different so it may take the whole course to feel better or it may just not work for them. Very disappointing if it doesn't work.

Yeah I'm worried about this outcome as well. I did a round of TMS a year or two after COVID, I was pretty happy with my results for a couple months but my mental health started slipping later on. It could've been the treatment wearing off, but I was also dealing with some traumatic shit at the time.

I hope your friend's health improves, going though any kind of mental health treatment is hard as fuck.

 

[Grav]

I did it oct-nov last year. No physical effects like pain at all, just tired b/c I work 3rd shift and had to be up to get treatments. About a week after I had a big nosedive, 8-9 on a 10 scale and that lasted 2 weeks. Funny enough that next week they called to see how it's going, told them. They said some people don't see a change for 2 months but I shouldn't have dived so low. Now January 24. For the last 3 weeks or so I've noticed a lack of "wanting to ctb" as an answer to everything and mood has been more stable per wife. I'm not high on life just not dropping to the hard end, kinda just neutral without any dopey feeling. One thing I do notice is my intensity/push/motivation for some stuff is less. Like working out: even if I didn't want to I'd force myself (usually by beating myself up) and still tired I'd hit it. Now I am more "nah, I want to read instead" so the inner drive to do that kind of self-work is not as dominant. I'm not sitting vegging out so it's not like pills I've had but makes it hard to do some things. I'm also on testosterone shots but I don't think that's doing much for that drive issue. I am pulling back on some secondary meds I have to see if the drive comes back. Only on adderall daily, no anti-depressents. I seem to be more agreeable at home and less moody from what my wife says, but kid hasn't said much. Overall not falling into the safety of CTB thoughts as the always right choice. Life stuff still bugs me but it's not hitting as hard or pushing me down as much. FYI my treatments were 5 min sessions for 36 sessions, not sure if others have that as well.

 

[ebg]

I am starting February 5. I will let you know how it goes. I take 40mg strattera, 20mg vyvanse, and 200mg zoloft. My mood has actually been pretty good for the past 1-2 weeks, so I may not notice much improvement. But I'll still try to update this thread with my results.

 

[nogods4me]

this is all rather disheartening

 

[Grav]

Thinking about the treatment one other thing that's changed is my self-medication impulse control has gotten better. This was an additional stressor on my life that is more under control. I'm also sleeping more but that's probably normal for people. I work nights so my sleep is always off.

 

[iji]

That sounds like a rebranding of magnetic resonance imaging. I wouldn't be doing it unless actually needed for physiological and biomedical conditions. There's no effective biomedical intervention for any psychiatric classifications. It's just easy money for them while leaving people worse.

Anyway, good luck finding out for yourself.

 

[EvisceratedJester]

That sounds like a rebranding of magnetic resonance imaging. I wouldn't be doing it unless actually needed for physiological and biomedical conditions. There's no effective biomedical intervention for any psychiatric classifications. It's just easy money for them while leaving people worse.

Anyway, good luck finding out for yourself.

Please don't comment on shit you know nothing about. TMS isn't a "rebranding" of MRI. TMS and MRI are two completely different things.

TMS is a type of non-invasive brain stimulation technique that involves using a magnetic field to alter the electrical activity of neurons located along the cortical surface of the brain. It can be used to temporarily inhibit or enhance neural activity. It's commonly used in research to better establish causal relationships between certain areas of the brain and certain functions. MRI, on the other, is a type of brain imagining technique that involves using a strong magnetic field to cause protons to align and then using a radio frequency pulse to knock them out of alignment. This puts them in an elevated energy state. Once the radio frequency is turned off the protons release this energy as they realign. The MRI sensors then detect this energy and since different tissues in the body have different resonance properties, they can be used in order to allow professionals to be able to differentiate between different types of tissues in the body.

TMS is actually well-known for being very safe, hence why it's commonly used in neuroscience research.

 

[iji]

TMS is actually well-known for being very safe, hence why it's commonly used in neuroscience research.

wow so you're basically invalidating OP's experience here, incredible job

"magnetic field to alter the electrical activity of neurons located along the cortical surface of the brain", sounds very safe, just like any other thing we were adapted to like eating healthy natural food and living healthy in general.

This treatment is exhausting me physically and mentally

Anyway, EvisceratedJester, you sound very inelegant and disrespectful person unfortunately who have no idea about all the non-scientific and corrupted establishment behind psychiatry. Psychiatry has no idea about how their interventions work, because they don't really work to begin with. I could just leave many scientific works here, but you already seems to have made up your mind.

 

[EvisceratedJester]

wow so you're basically invalidating OP's experience here, incredible job

"magnetic field to alter the electrical activity of neurons located along the cortical surface of the brain", sounds very safe, just like any other thing we were adapted to like eating healthy natural food and living healthy in general.

Something sounding safe or unsafe has nothing to do with whether or not it is safe. TMS is generally considered to be a safe treatment. Hell, my cognitive neuroscience professor had talked about having TMS used in him multiple times before when he was younger and he came out of each session perfectly fine. In no way does me pointing out the fact that TMS is safe in anyway invalidate the OP's experiences. Something being exhausting isn't the same as it being unsafe. Is having a good old morning jog unsafe just because it can become a bit exhausting? That's not even getting into the fact that the OP is mentally ill, thus it isn't that out there to assume that their exhaustion may in part be due to their mental illness, not the treatment itself.


I don't exactly like being respectful to people who can't do basic research before making stupid ass claims. You don't even know what TMS is, so don't go around trying to lecture me on shit.

 

[iji]

my cognitive neuroscience professor had talked about having TMS used in him multiple times before when he was younger and he came out of each session perfectly fine.

who is talking about your cognitive neuroscience professor who is already biased towards what he works with? I've quoted OP and how that's making OP feel exhausted.

That's not even getting into the fact that the OP is mentally ill, thus it isn't that out there to assume that their exhaustion may in part be due to their mental illness, not the treatment itself.

OP never mentioned in this topic to have a "mental illness", that's just you assuming something here. Also, "mental illness" aren't illnesses, as there is no objective, empirical scientific validation for any of the standard psychiatric classifications. As the DSM leaves it, it's "statistic", i.e. subjective and arbitrary.

Anyway, you're unnecessarily escalating the conversation. You left me with no choice other than ignoring you.

 

[EvisceratedJester]

who is talking about your cognitive neuroscience professor who is already biased towards what he works with? I've quoted OP and how that's making he feel exhausted.


OP never mentioned to have a "mental illness", that's just you assuming something here. Also, "mental illness" aren't illnesses, as there is no objective, empirical scientific validation for any of the standard psychiatric classifications. As the DSM leaves it, it's "statistic", i.e. subjective and arbitrary.

Anyway, you're unnecessarily escalating the conversation. You left me with no choice other than ignoring you.

Oh yeah, because your responses definitely show that you are impartial on this subject, especially as someone who is quick to make large assumptions about medical technology they know nothing about. The part of the OP's post that you quoted doesn't even prove your point. They just mention feeling exhausted. That's it. From what I know, exhaustion isn't a typical side effect that's reported after using TMS and those feelings could just be arising due to other factors. Also, the OP is literally talking about using it for their mental illness. What do you think this thread is about?

Mental illnesses are illnesses. They cause people to go through distress and many are hereditary. Along with that, certain things, such as differences in activity going on in the DMN, also seem to point to them being a very real thing. Why are you even on this thread if you are just going to be invalidating the OP's issues with mental illness and spreading misinformation?

You are also partaking in escalating this conversation by being rude and doubling down instead of just admitting to being wrong about TMS.

 

[let.me.let.go87]

Currently going through a course of TMS after trying countless meds and about a dozen therapists. Curious to see if anyone else has experience with TMS and what the results were.

This treatment is exhausting me physically and mentally, and I'm holding onto hope that something will change.

I did 36 sessions and I'll say it's a Rollercoaster but I believe it helped. I finished 2 weeks ago. I feel better than I ever have even tho I'm in severe pain from sciatica and sleeping a lot from muscle relaxers. I'm not depressed. This is the first time in years I've been able to say that. It's def not rebranded MRI because it worked for me when ect made me hostile and then I lost all ability to string sentences together like I could not speak properly. Ketamine made me hallucinate and drugs did nothing for me i either get worse or nothing at all happened. This was basically my last shot. I went in expecting it not to help at all but came out surprised that it did.

 

[Grav]

I'm curious if I'll need another course and when. They mentioned maybe in a year or never so unsure. From family members I'm doing better than before although I don't "feel" all that different, just noticing I'm not falling into certain mindsets.