Profile for User: Vasubandu

Hi, I am very sorry to hear about your wife. I am currently getting TMS, and it has completely changed my life for the better. Before starting it, I thoroughly researched by TMS and ECT. I elected against ECT because of its effects on memory. In all of the research I did, which included medical journals, I never came across a single reference to TMS causing brain injury. You would think that as long as it has been used and as many people who have had it, there would be something. You might consider asking the doctor for the basis of his diagnosis and perhaps getting a second opinion. You ought to get the specifications for the treatment as well.

If TMS did cause a brain injury, it certainly was not normal. I am an attorney, and I would think that if causation could be proven, you might very well have a medical malpractice cause that at least would pay for treatment.

I really feel for your and your wife’s situation. It sounds horrible. This seems like a tricky question, and you really ought to get some outside answers.

Hi, I am in the middle of rTMS now. I had a very strange reaction. My depression, which I have had for 45 years, lifted after the first treatment. After the second day, all traces of my active depression were gone. The doctor in charge tells me that is not possible, but it has remained the same since.

Like you, I expected that when my depression went away, the sun would come out, and I would just be naturally happy. Instead, I find that I am in a neutral state. My psychiatrist said that it is common for depressed people to thing that the opposite of depression is happiness, but it is not. The opposite of depression is the capacity for happiness. He said that when I was depressed, I was responding inappropriately to my environment because even when things were good, I was down. He said that there will be times when an appropriate reaction is sadness or anger, but that is normal. He said that I still have work to do to retrain myself to find and hold onto happiness. That made a lot of sense. In the 4 weeks since I started, I have had many moments when I was happy, but that was for a reason. The big difference is that I no longer have a constant negative narration in my head, and I do not wish I were dead.

So I think that you should consider yourself cured. Expect to have ups and downs like everyone else, but know that the downs will not last like they did before. They will be transient.

By the way, I could not tolerate Wellbutrin. I believe that it inhibits the reuptake of both serotonin and norephinephrine. I switched to Prozac, and it was way better. People respond very differently to different SSRI medications, so if you are having any problems with it, I would try another.

Hope your recovery continues. Neutral is good. It opens the door to happiness, but you have to work for it.