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I could also suggest that the holidays, the flu and what the Dr said could be at play. I felt the treatments right away but not relieving depression so much as stimulating my brain. They made me very tired and I felt anxiety. Also began to have extremely vivid dreams. I also had a personal problem with my first tech that made me very uneasy the first 10 days. I do remember that I had a Sunday morning early on where I didn’t wake up with as much of a feeling of dread that I normally had. It didn’t last but it did happen once very early into the treatments. My Dr indicated that there is no set way to feel or really predict. If you felt better, then you felt better. I don’t know why he told you it was too early.
The way I ended up reacting to the whole thing was kind of like that. I would realize that I felt better for a few hours or a day but it wouldn’t last. Then it would be for longer and more often.
Towards the end (although I can’t say which treatment #), I continued to go up and down but down wasn’t as far down. That’s how it still is for me-my last taper treatment was mid Oct. I am much more functional than before and when I’m down, it’s not as bad. I probably have 4 or 5 good days a week now as opposed to a couple a month(out of necessity where I had to do things). Sometimes I used to get so stressed out&overwhelmed about even considering going to the mailbox or running into anybody in my apartment building. I think it’s different for everyone though. Best of luck to you in this journey.Hi jfletcher72,
I live in Western Massachusetts but looking back, I really feel it was the condescending and careless attitude of the first tech that totally stressed me out. That is the person you see everyday and is instrumental in creating a positive experience. After I switched to the other office (there are two braches within 10 miles of my house), got a different tech and my appointments scheduled at 7pm as I originally requested, things got much better quickly. The new tech was older and had a very professional yet friendly demeanor. When I asked a question, he seemed to have a pretty good answer and interacted with me too. We watched nature videos together and he wasn’t just on his computer with his back to me. He also offered me a twizzler after one of my first sessions with him and it became a little routine after each session, etc. Stuff like that as well as never making me feel like a bother about anything even though I knew I was his last patient each day. When I finished all 36 sessions, I was actually sad about not going anymore.
I went back for my 2 month follow up in Dec with the Dr and I mentioned the situation with the first tech and how I probably wouldn’t have finished if I stayed with her. I guess they all get certificates from Brainsway(like a few days of intense training w/ a company rep&the Dr) but that doesn’t change someone’s personality or make them retain the info- there has to be chemistry and trust between you. I feel very fortunate that I could change offices.
I feel the treatments helped me mainly because the chaos in my mind has really calmed down and my memory has definitely gotten better. I can focus without as many intrusive thoughts of “why bother” etc. I’m still not social but I feel like I’m out of the unending dark abyss. I only spend maybe one or two days a week in that place and it’s not as deep. I have stayed on my meds throughout.
I’m very happy I spoke up-that’s out of character for me to be honest. I hope your situation is somehow resolved. I still feel that she(the first tech) didn’t place the helmut correctly because she didn’t hold it in place while she tightened the strap and I could feel it move a little. Maybe you should ask for remapping and see what the Dr does because you’re not feeling confident about things. I wish you very much luck because if I hadn’t finished, I may not feel better now.Hi Katie, I just finished treatment #30 and will start the 6 tapering treatments next week and although my situation is very different from yours I do see a couple of common elements. I’ve been treated for depression/anxiety for at least 30 years and I really can’t say that any meds made a real difference for any length of time. At least the anti anxiety meds would sometimes help me sleep. So I qualified for TMS and the Brainsway Deep is what this area has. I didn’t do well for the first 9 -10 sessions. My anxiety went through the roof, my tech was rude and complained because I wanted to come in the evening. I was ready to stop because I definitely felt worse and angry, very irritable as well as exhausted after the treatments. I cried after the treatments and even stayed home from work.
I told the doctor I wasn’t coming back and he got me set up with a new tech who would treat me at 7pm so I stayed. The funny thing is that the time change helped a lot since treatments really caused fatigue for me. At about treatment 22, I realized that my chaotic negative thoughts were subsiding because I found myself thinking about other things at times. I also felt much better if I ate a decent meal about 90 minutes before treatment. Now, I feel enough better that I think I had a huge adjustment or something in my brain at first. I definitely had over a week of feeling very deep agitated anxiety. My treatments were all on the left side.
Here’s the main thing I’m noticing now – my thoughts have calmed down so I actually complete a thought and don’t catastrophize as much. I’m more in control of my thoughts. I also feel like my memory is better or at least I’m not always forgetting what I’m doing. That’s enough to say I’ve had improvement.
The bottom line is that a lot of factors played into this in my case. The anxiety just kind of gradually went back down. I still take my meds of course. I don’t know if this helps you but if you think changing the time of day or your eating pattern or even your tech may help, at least give it a try. Best of luck and I hope you find that things begin to turn around. BarbHi Dave,
Thank you for your insight into this situation. I felt so uncomfortable and invalidated that I informed the doctor that I was leaving treatment. He arranged for a different tech to conduct my sessions at 7pm and it has made a huge difference! Although I skipped several days, I am now on #16. Going in the evening is key for me. The new tech is completely fine with it as well as very supportive during the sessions.
Now, I’m focused on getting there each day and not worrying about the fatigue that I experience because I can come home at 8pm and relax. I will say that I’m falling asleep about 2 hours earlier than I used to but waking up at the same time. This has been very beneficial for my anxiety and my dreams have also been extremely active but not bad dreams. I hope it continues because this alone is worth having the treatments.My stress and anxiety has caused me to stop going to the treatments. I had 7 sessions. My tech was just unsupportive and I didn’t trust her to know what she was doing.
After she applied the helmet, she would strap one side and then let go to strap the other side so the helmet would move quite significantly. When I asked her if this was okay, she said she didn’t think moved but if it did- its not a problem. I told her that I was feeling very anxious and doubtful about everything but she just said that I’d get used to it.
I was getting Brainsway Deep TMS. I’m very upset and the depression came back so strongly today that I took the day off from work after I left the voicemail that I couldn’t go in for the treatment.
The anxiety is much worse than before I started the therapy. Maybe I’ll check eventually if there are any other options in this area. I realize that office staff is very important to my success of this treatment. I hope that no permanent damage was done during the 7 sessions. I would never embark on this path again without meeting the tech first.
Thank you for listening.
