What Does TMS Feel Like?

For me, the only challenge I had to deal with during the first week was the intense tapping that required some getting used to. It felt like a small woodpecker tapping on the left side of my head in the front above the temple. The tapping was very quick for four seconds and then it was off for twenty-six seconds and then on again for four seconds. This sequence lasted for the thirty-seven minute session. It “smarted” only for those four seconds. I was a bit of a wimp about it, and because I was so fragile and depressed, it made me feel even more pitiful. But it’s like anything else, you get used to it—sort of like buying a pair of shoes you absolutely adore but they hurt your feet for the first week or so until you break them in. Then you feel like you could walk a mile and back in them. The same thing happened with getting through the adjustment to the tapping. Eventually I hardly noticed it.

I have had a variety of sensations, depending on coil position. With each new session’s first pulse if I have any serious discomfort (such as pain radiating down into face) the tech has made minor adjustments to the coil position to remedy that. The typical sensation for me is a firm tap on the scalp almost as though with a small hammer. It does not hurt, but I would not say it is pleasant. The one thing that happens to me that I am really unsure about is that my right hand and fingers violently twitch with each pulse….so no holding onto anything during treatment sessions.