The Daily Mail featured the story of a Smart TMS patient whose 20 year battle with depression ended after just 2 weeks of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation therapy.
37 year old Sarah, a mum of 3, had suffered from depression and anxiety since her teens. She undertook a course of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation at Smart TMS and ‘almost instantly’ she began to experience a dramatic difference in her symptoms.
The Daily Mail headlined the feature:
“Two weeks of magnet pulse therapy ended the depression I had for TWENTY YEARS”
Dr Leigh Neal, a former NHS consultant in psychiatry and medical director of Smart TMS clinics, told the Daily Mail how treatment works:
“RTMS uses pulsing magnetic fields to activate or suppress the brain centre associated with a number of psychiatric disorders, including depression.
“It generates a highly concentrated magnetic field of the same type and strength as those produced by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.
“Studies show certain circuits in the brain, associated with certain psychiatric conditions, have abnormal connections at some points — too strong or too weak.
“The pulse stimulates or inhibits part of the circuit, repairing the abnormality. Over time, it increases nerve cell connectivity and levels of dopamine and serotonin.
“Decreased chemical activity in the brain is associated with depression, so increasing it is likely to help.”
The Daily Mail added as further explanation and reassurance:
“Unlike bilateral electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) — also known as shock treatment — which induces similar chemical changes, but ‘shocks’ the whole brain, rTMS’s magnetic field reaches only about 2cm from the surface.”
There is no need for anaesthetic and results have been good, especially for depression.
Sarah’s Story
Sarah was diagnosed with depression and anxiety at 17 after a traumatic childhood and was prescribed antidepressants at the age of 21 which she says helped her to ‘cope with life.’
But she says apart from her fulfilling work in the care industry and fire service:
“…I had no joy. It’s hard to describe to anyone who hasn’t had depression, but you feel an underlying low mood all the time. It sits behind your eyes. I’d feel tired all the time. I’d laugh when I was expected to laugh, but it wasn’t real.
“Every morning, I’d take my antidepressant and I knew I would be taking them for life. But it didn’t bother me. If anything, I feared coming off them, because I knew I’d feel worse. I stayed on Prozac for years, gradually increasing the dose. I tried other antidepressants as well. But I still felt depressed.”
5 years ago she had severe physical symptoms and was rushed to hospital with breathlessness and chest pain but there was no diagnosis apart from anxiety.
She then saw a psychotherapist and CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy).
Finally, she heard about an opportunity to have TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) with Smart TMS and started a 2-week course of treatment. She says:
“I worried it would hurt and make me feel vulnerable, but nothing could be further from the truth.
“I sat in a comfortable, dentist-like chair. A cotton cap was put on my head and measurements were taken to assess which area of my brain needed stimulation.”
She says the treatment was like:
“…pulses of air being pushed against your head.
“It doesn’t hurt, but it’s a very loud “tick, tick, tick”. You have to sit still, but you can talk to the team or read. After, I felt very tired, but otherwise fine.
“It’s hard to describe the improvement. It wasn’t like a light switching on. It’s more like when you’ve had a headache and take a painkiller. You don’t think: “My headache has gone.” It disappears gradually.
“But there must have been a change in my mood, because four days into treatment, I walked past a sunbed salon and spontaneously had a session. That might not sound like much, but I’d never done anything like it in my life.”
Sarah asked to try the accelerated treatment option of 3 sessions a day. Two weeks later, the results were clear. She says:
“The constant jumpiness has gone. I’m off the painkillers completely as I don’t ache any more. I’ve lost weight. I feel like a new person. Before when a tantrum erupted with the boys, it would be like World War III, but now I’m calm and so much more positive.
“After tapering down over a few months, I finally stopped taking antidepressants at the beginning of August. It’s changed my life.”
Read In Full
Daily Mail/Mail Online
Read the feature in full at https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-6279331/Two-weeks-magnet-pulse-therapy-ended-depression-TWENTY-YEARS.html
Private rTMS for Depression Treatment
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) has been a technological breakthrough in the treatment of depression and anxiety without drugs.
Additionally, there is clinical evidence for a variety of further potential treatment applications including: addictions (alcohol, cocaine, meth, nicotine, gambling) as well as DPD (Depersonalisation Disorder), OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), BPD (borderline personality disorder).
The treatment is now available for private patients at Smart TMS, a specialist provider of the innovative treatment with an expanding network of locations around the UK and Ireland including:
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