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I’m curious about pain-free sessions. Almost everything I read says treatment sessions are painless. I’ve definitely not found this to be the case. Though we’ve gradually moved the intensity up, sessions have hurt from the get-go. My Dr seems surprised by this. My Tech is wonderful and very accommodating, but every session is still a challenge. I have left side treatment and feel it in my right temple, as if a metal skewer is trying to explode out of my brain during the left-side pulses. If we get it adjusted just right I’ll have a lot of jaw activity/left-side facial tremors. I don’t mind this at all because it means no right side pain, but the doctors won’t allow this and my Tech has to shift placement. I got through four weeks with only brief post-session headaches that were basically gone by the time I got the parking lot. Now (around session 20) I’m having incredibly painful headaches that last all day. Weekend headache that refused to budge, despite opiates from my Dr (who I am very grateful believes the intensity and was willing to prescribe me something strong.) I was hopeful my Monday session might zap things into place and make the pain chill out, but it just seemed to move it around a bit.
More than anything else I am curious about other people’s experiences. I seem to be having some atypical experiences. I’ve read people have some mild/moderate headaches to begin with and they dissipate. I don’t understand why these have come on with just two weeks left.
I’m also experiencing a long-lasting depressive dip, which is especially frustrating since I’ve not yet experienced relief or noticeable benefit. Really, really trying to stay hopeful and positive but so far it feels like I’m paying $2000 out of pocket for pain treatments that are making things worse and now causing super-painful headaches requiring days out of the office I can’t afford to take.
Can anyone relate? Even better – can anyone relate and say it was all worth it because they had a major breakthrough at the end that made life enjoyable again and I just need to have a little more patience?crk- I had one extremely painful treatment early on. The technician moved the magnetic head device up some and that did the trick, it became tolerable and then really didn’t bother me at all after a few times. Has your technician moved the device any? My theory, in my case I feel it was pulsing on a nerve that’s what it felt like, terrible pain. I experienced a couple depression “dips” that were disheartening but passed. I am now on my 34th treatment, currently tapering down and have 2 more taper treatments to go. In the final stretch (like the last week and a half of regular treatments) days 23-30 I finally felt a “lift” that is moderate but has stayed with me. The everyday work of warding off depressive feelings is pretty much gone. Although the treatment hasn’t yet brought about a drastic change it has offered relief and I am not nearly as depressed feeling as I was before I started it. Overall I feel it was worth the $2600 I also had to pay out of pocket in co-pays. Hope this helps.
Hi,
YES! I have had almost the exact same experience as you in terms where your pain is located, and having the Dr. and tech be surprised by it! I, too didn’t have any headaches in the beginning, but began having TMJ like headaches at about week 4, and found myself pretty much debilitated for the rest of the day after treatment, and on the weekends. I also felt depressed, frustrated and extremely disappointed as I believed that TMS did not work for me.
The good news… Week 5 I tapered to 3x a week, and with that I not only felt better ( headaches were more contained because I wasn’t going everyday, and I was getting better sleep), but I also felt the TMS do its job. I think I was so mired in pain and side effects that I couldn’t really feel the benefit until I wasn’t experiencing them anymore.
I felt completely blindsided by my experience, and I think Drs should be more upfront about what TMS can felt like. Maybe they don’t want to scare us off in the beginning. Think about it, when you are feeling crummy, the last thing you want to do is drag yourself to a daily treatment that makes you more miserable.
Hang in there…I really hope it gets better!!
It took 4 weeks for me to acclimate to the sessions. They told me that most people adapt much more quickly than I did. I hope the pain clears up for you.
I’ve been fortunate to have a fantastic tech team. While a little perplexed by the pain that doesn’t seem to fade with time, they’re always happy to experiment until we find a spot that alleviates the intense session pain. Some days we’re able to get it where I only feel left side tapping and it’s essentially pain-free. Some days we can’t find that spot but we adjust the intensity so it’s not feeling like It’s killing me. Without their patience and support I’d never have made it through this process. They’ve worked with my doctor to remap and have really advocated for me to get the pain meds I need to deal with post-session headaches.
So glad to hear about your positive changes that have arrived towards the end of treatment. Thank you for sharing your story and making me feel better.
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