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Hi Colleen. My depression lifted quickly a couple of weeks after treatment ended. It was a strange feeling – having the same old anxiety but not having the disabling depressive thoughts. Unfortunately I cannot really provide much in the way of “post TMS” advice because I am still trying to figure out medications. I have been on heavy duty doses of BuSpar as well as Trazadone because I was able to sleep before starting TMS. Am seeing my doc at the VA this week with the hope that I can begin tapering those meds.
With all that in mind, there are some steps that I am taking that help a lot.
1. Am doing a weekly mindfulness group and practice “kindness meditation” daily. I love it.
2. I really like the writing of Dr. Amen and am hoping to start on his recommended meds for my diagnosis (Wellbutrin and gabapentin)
3. I have begun one-on-one psychotherapy using CBT
4. Daily walks.
5. Avoiding processed foods.Hope that helps.
Peter
Dave,
Without hesitation I can say that TMS helped immensely with my depressive symptoms. But I am left with significant anxiety issues. Will I go back for maintenance TMS? You bet. But right now I am trying to figure out how to manage the anxiety, hopefully with less medication.
Thanks for asking.
Peter
I too have been having incredible anxiety like none I have experienced before. I am 73 and am just finishing the TMS tapering…have had 31 total sessions. I actually think that the TMS helped my depression but it left my anxiety alone which probably ended up increasing my experience of it. I never had bilateral treatments because the VA where I get my TMS is not doing any off label treatments. The psychiatrist who is treating me has been wonderfully supportive but I remember her words when we started – that she hoped my depression would be helped and had some fears that I might be left with anxiety. Well that is the outcome.
I absolutely dread evenings because I know that I can go to sleep only to awake in panic in a couple hours and be stuck in panic all night…then exhausted during the day.
Has your anxiety dissipated over time? I still have 2 weeks of tapering treatments and cannot imagine surviving for that long.
Had my first 4 treatments last week. They started at 80% of motor threshold and moved up to 120% by the end of the week. Also, the method of placing the coil used by Neuronetics was superceded by an independent method of placement that involves finding the vertex of the head and measuring from there. The third session, when we went up to 105%, bothered my right arm. I had tingles in the arm and involuntary movement in my right hand. On the last session, using a slightly different method to place the coil more exactly, I had twitches above my left eye and a minor toothache on the left side during the pulses.
I am not feeling dramatically different but I found myself smiling and cracking a joke yesterday for the first time in quite a while. On the negative side, I am tending to overeat and forgot a couple of important dates that I used to remember easily.
Week 2 starts tomorrow.
God bless you,
Peter
