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My doc is talking about moving to deep TMS. I am fortunate to have a very experienced doc, one of the leaders in TMS use, but despondent that even he thinks it’s not working.
Now had 25 apts and no improvement. I’m feeling anxious that I only have 7 left approved by my insurance, and my doc said that insurance is more likely to approve more sessions if my self-assessments show some improvement. My doc is trying different things – we started at 3000 pulses and then moved to 3500. This week we moved back to 3000 but added 10 minutes of right-side low constant pulse treatment. The right side is supposed to help with anxiety, and though my primary issue is depression, there’s anxiety too.
I’ve tried anti-anxiety meds before but haven’t found any that don’t completely knock me out. My doc has talked about me going back on some kind of anti-depressants, which means me trying to pick which miserable side-effects I want to go back to. That’s certainly anxiety-causing – the idea of going back on meds that either make me want to sleep all the time, give me terrible constipation, or give me nausea and body-aches.
Hey, at least I get to watch some good TV shows during my sessions…
Just to update, I’ve had another five sessions, up to 17 now and still no improvement. I still hate getting out of bed. I have 32 sessions approved from my insurance and I plan on using every one of them, but ugh, I am not enjoying this process.
I’ve now finished 12 sessions and I am definitely worse than when I started. There have been other complicating factors in my life – illness in my family and being ill myself, as well as difficulties with scheduling TMS into my daily life. I’m the most frustrated with how much it wipes me out after every session. I’m a zombie, a very depressed zombie. My go-to coping mechanism for my longterm depression is already sleep, so I really don’t need any more encouragement there. My doctor is aware of the fact that things aren’t going well for me, and is increasing my dosage. If this is ‘the dip’, it’s really unpleasant.
