Where Can I Get TMS Treatment

Where Can I Get TMS Treatment for Depression

Anew Era TMS & Psychiatry in Will Help Guide You

If you have landed on this article it is likely you have already heard about the amazing results people struggling with treatment-resistant depression are experiencing with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). TMS is a recent entry into the depression-treatment arena, but is already garnering worldwide attention for its safety and efficacy in knocking down symptoms. If you are asking, “Where can I get TMS treatment?” then read on.

What do Magnets Have to Do With Depression?

Trying to get relief from the life-disrupting symptoms of major depression can be incredibly frustrating. In many cases, even multiple trials of different antidepressants can yield zero reduction of depression symptoms. Instead, patients can be left with weight gain, constipation, fatigue, sexual dysfunction, nausea, and memory loss, only adding to their misery. TMS offers a safe and effective alternative to antidepressants.

TMS was FDA cleared for treating medication-resistant major depressive disorder in 2008, and is currently being studied for the treatment of bipolar disorder, Parkinson’s disease, dementia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, smoking cessation, and eating disorders. Because TMS is noninvasive and doesn’t require any anesthesia, it is a sound alternative treatment option that is well tolerated by patients.

TMS uses magnetic pulses within a coil that is placed over the scalp, aligned with the left dorsolateral pre-frontal cortex of the brain. This is the area in the brain where emotions and mood are regulated, and in depressed patients there is a lack of neural response in the region. The repetitive magnetic pulses then induce mild electrical currents that are targeted to these sluggish brain cells. Over a period of 4-6 weeks of daily treatments, these brain cells “wake up” and brain chemistry becomes normalized.

A Typical TMS Therapy Session

TMS therapy is an outpatient procedure where the patient, fully alert, is comfortably seated in a recliner for the 40-minute session. A doctor will determine the magnetic field strength and the exact positioning of the coil through which the treatment is delivered. While the session is ongoing, the patient will experience a tapping on the scalp as the pulses are being delivered through the coil.

Most patients choose to watch TV, or listen to music or a podcast as a distraction during the session. Some patients choose to just close their eyes and relax. After the session has ended, the patient is free to drive him or herself home or back to work with no down time required.

Side effects from TMS treatment are generally mild, if experienced at all. Some patients have reported some mild to moderate headaches following treatment, and some experience irritation on the scalp where the coil was situated. In the event of experiencing these transient effects, they will resolve spontaneously as treatments proceed.

TMS Results Keep Adding Up

TMS continues to be studied in ongoing clinical trials across the globe. The clinical studies performed to date have supported the claims that TMS is both safe and effective in treating depression. Ample data is available online to review the various clinical trial results. In most cases, in patients who did not experience success with antidepressants, there was generally a 58% response rate and a 30% remission rate in these patients when treated with TMS therapy for 4-8 weeks.

Three studies with a total of 703 adult participants from multiple treatment sites used a randomized, sham-controlled model. The results from the three studies were consistent, demonstrating that TMS is a safe treatment option for individuals who had not benefited from 1-4 antidepressant trials. The study results all concluded that TMS treatment produced statistically significant results for response and remission rates when compared to those patients receiving the sham (placebo) treatment.