TMS Trials

Monday I was very sick over the weekend, and contacted the TMS center to see if I should come in. Having a cold or flu shouldn't impact treatment, but to make sure I don't spread it they asked me not to come in. Day 16 I have been on full power for a while, but today I was having a lot of hand movements on our normal power setting. I thought it was from the break, but this didn't happen before and the issues continued during the week so we think it may be due to increased inflammation from my health conditions and/or temporary illness. My tech was great and very patient. We tried lowering the power multiple times, then did an MT check, and contacted my provider to see what's the appropriate power. We ended up lowering our power from 120% to 70% just so I could do treatment and it was much better. Day 17 Today I continued to have hand movements, but I did not feel as sensitive to the train as I did yesterday. We slowly raised my power and carefully watched fo...

Day One I drank coffee and saw a sign saying I'm not supposed to! Its decaf only before treatment. Later I learned as long as I regularly drink coffee in the morning, its okay to drink caffeine before treatment. I came in and signed forms and then the technician reviewed them and set up the machine. I went in, we discussed my paperwork and started cortical mapping. They will ask questions about your daily routine every day. Poor sleep can cancel treatment because it lowers motor threshold. You can cancel for medical stuff or emergencies but shouldn't stop TMS for a week or days at a time. The longer you go without treatment the less effective it will be. You can do it with a neck brace, which I have, that's no issue. We adjust stuff with the chair then doc comes in to do brain mapping. There are different machines [neurostar and brainsway] they will make a slight difference. You will usually do a test "train" after they set the angle and strength and you will tell...

Trigger warning: self harm, suicidal thoughts [not graphic] In 2022 my depression came back quick, and in full force. I didn't just have a full depressive episode, I had it with all my old self harming and suicidal thoughts. I'm already in therapy, and the meds don't work. It took months just to get a sleep med that helped my insomnia so I didn't plan to treat this with medication. I knew that for some people TMS only lasts around a year [could be more as well] so I decided to see if I could get TMS again. I contacted a TMS provider, filled out the forms, and we had a telehealth call to discuss them. After that they called to let me know I was approved on their end for TMS so they would send everything to insurance. Soon after that I was told insurance approved me and was fully covering it.  We set a date, and I came in for my first treatment last Friday after waiting two weeks. I decided to document this journey with TMS to show people what it is, since its relatively ...