r/TMSTherapy

Tl;dr

Started TMS for anhedonia expecting mild physical side effects, got hit with a rollercoaster of mental health side effects. Seeking advice.

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M33, previously diagnosed with GAD,CPTSD and depressions.

Before starting treatment my diagnoses were well managed without medication. Yes I had some baseline anxiety, intrusive thoughts and so on but functioning well enough to work.

The primary issue is severe anhedonia and mild/moderate depression and anxiety.

I have tried two rounds of SSRIs. The first round gave me genuinely the best 6 months of my life. Complete remission on symptoms from all my diagnoses I would say. But I relapsed almost immediately after quitting.

A few years later I tried a second round, which had little to no effect. And I had many side effects especially cognitive ones such as memory - so I gave up on it.

So fast forward to today - I found out about TMS and did so much research on it, especially seeing how it apparently had almost no side effects apart from some headache - I thought I would give it a try.

But what happened surprised me.

I did the high frequency left side treatment for 2 days and i had immediate reactions the day after starting:

- changed sleep pattern (to little sleep)

- general agitation and restlessness, as if I drinked too many coffees. Felt an urge to just jump and run around? So weird..

- headache

- lightheadedness

- highly anxious

- complete intolerance to nicotine!! I would get a racing heart and anxiety Spike. As a nicotine user of 15 years, this was really surprising but maybe a good reason to quit?

So after this i told my clinic that, I was getting way too high anxiety and it's affecting my work.

They then recommended that I switch to low frequency right sided treatment.

After doing so i noticed:

- immediate effect on sleep (slept more, positive)

- less anxiety

- drowsy during they day, got urge to sleep midday

- memory and focus affected negatively. Would forget words, what I had eaten during the day and so on. Very scary and bad feeling.

And during the past 5 days I've also had some seemingly random and transient positive feelings:

- Clearer and sharper vision, more colors

- seeing beauty in things again

- waking without a tight anxious chest

Ultimately I am writing this after waking up at 3AM in the morning after my fifth night. I haven't been waking up mid night like this for many years, when my depression was much worse. I'm highly anxious and with suicidal thoughts (wouldn't do anything, just classic depression symptom to me). Yesterday the clinic was closed so had no treatment at all. Today I'm supposed to do my 5th treatment.

But I am worried now. Are these symptoms normal? Can someone with experience of all this advice me?

Is TMS a mental rollercoaster, but it'll all get better?

So I start neurostar Monday well I do the brain mapping then the treatments start Tuesda. is it normal to be scared I'm 31 f and have dealt with depression, PTSD, anxiety,ect. For as long as I can remember. I can't remember a time any of it didn't effect me. Sorry if this don't make sense

My MDD is quite painful and TMS has been a success so far, I’m only on day 6, and I’m hoping that TMS could restore my stress tolerance battery that has gotten completely depleted over the years because of my depression.

Has this happened successfully to anybody here?

I’m also pursuing a tough degree in university currently (electrical engineering) and I want to be sure that I can handle the stress of it and get through it, otherwise I’ll have to switch to something less stressful so I don’t get the urge to unalive myself at some point of extreme stress aggravating my depression lol

I’m on day 14 of 32, TMS has been going great and I already feel a massive difference. However, I keep having hypnic jerks (twitches while I’m falling asleep) and some random myoclonus of my shoulders (involuntary muscle movements) hours after my sessions.

Has anyone else experienced this?

I have been to 8 sessions of 10, at that mark there will be an evaluation (the same anxiety and depression questionnaires that were required at the beginning). If the test results have an improvement of ≥20% the treatment will continue, but if improvement falls short of that, it will be deemed ineffective and won't be continued.

So far I haven't really noticed any drastic changes in my mood and I'm afraid that there isn't enough improvement for the treatment to continue.

Is there any point in hoping the last two sessions before the evaluation change anything?

I have been given 3-minute iTBS, 4 times a week, if it matters

I have major depression and cptsd and debilitating anxiety, I am treatment resistant on all account I refuse ketamine and ect so this looks like my only option, how did it work for you guys and was it worth it and does it truly help?

Tms was 100% worth it because it worked better than any meds and treatment I have tried before. That being said, almost a year later I am still not really functionnal, and anxiety still hits me strongly.

Here's what it did for me:

- I not longer need sleeping pills. I follow CBT-I guidelines, and I sleep okay. I'm still tired more often than not but it's an improvement regardless

- My depressive symptoms are much better. I have less SI, more hope and more energy

- I've started new activities, made new friends and reconnected with old ones

- I feel a bit more clarity in general

- I travelled a bit and started projects

Here's what still sucks:

- I have trouble working on most days because of brain fog and tiredness

- I have low energy even when I sleep well, exercice, take some sun

- I don't have much fun or motivation doing the things I'm supposed to love

- My anxiety is almost as intense as before

- I still have some SI (mainly because of the previous points)

I keep going to therapy and I still have hope that I'll one day have a normal, functionnal, happy life. I'm currently undergoing a 3 week maintenance and I'm considering starting ketamine IV therapy eventually. Thank you for reading me, I hope you get all the peace you deserve

Hi, asking for tips again since I leave in a week for my one day TMS. My main day will go for over 10 hours. My biggest question is what are good things to do in my downtime? Even if you just had regular TMS, maybe you have ideas. Do you watch shows during the sessions? Also, is it not advisable to use edibles for sleep the night before or after? Thanks!

I had my first session today. I was pretty worried about it before but it went well. My insurance approved dTMS only for depression and I told the Dr. about my OCD as well and idk if he's placing the helmet in the OCD area or the depression area. Does anyone know where the placement is for both? I feel it in the top right of my head and like on the left side kind of by the temple.

Also, is it typical for them to move the helmet to treat different parts of your brain? I would like if we could treat the OCD and depression concurrently tbh. The tech was kind of adament that we were treating depression but isn't it the Dr. that maps it?

Does anyone ever feel any benefit on their first TMS treatment?

Hi all,

I have anxiety related depression and major depression. I am currently on session 22. When does it start to work for people? I feel like very small improvements but symptoms are still significant. I still have a lot of physical anxiety even though anxious thoughts are better an I have some positive thoughts and more motivation but it’s short lived and is sporadic

My adult child is starting TMS treatment. Halfway through, we have a family obligation that would require her to miss three treatments. We can extend the treatments on the back end. Has anyone had a similar situation, and how did they handle it? Any suggestions would be helpful.

i’m about 10 weeks post tms, and it was an amazing decision for me. for those of you that tms worked for, how long did setbacks go on for? overall i’m feeling very good but sometimes ill have multiple days where ill go back to how i was feeling. obviously it takes a while for the brain to balance out after tms, theres just not a lot of info online about the months after tms. what did these months look like to you guys? every time one of these balancing weeks happen i get scared. admittedly every time i get these kind of setbacks its after i smoke weed which is why i think my brain is still rebalancing. its just hard when i literally dont know

Pretty sad I went in helpful till the end and even my sleep improved but no changes or improvement in depression anxiety ocd. I'm extremely disheartened and had so much hope. Don't know what the next step is. Any advice?

Hi all. I’m 27 and have been struggling with a myriad of mental health conditions since I was very young. My depression has been particularly difficult to manage the last year or so, to the point where I’ve been unable to hold a job and have been hospitalized 3 times for suicidal ideation. I’ve been on a couple different meds since age 14, and am on Cymbalta, lithium, and Abilify at the moment. They’re not super helpful for the depression (though they’ve helped a lot with the suicidal thoughts and OCD).

My psychiatrist suggested trying TMS recently, and I’m very nervous about that recommendation because I’ve heard mixed reviews on side effects and experiences, plus the time commitment. The pros are that the clinic I already go to has a machine, so I won’t have to go somewhere new, and my psychiatrist thinks it’ll be approved by insurance. I know I’ll have to make the decision for myself but does anyone have any advice?

hi, i’m currently on session 8/30 and i was wondering how tms has effected your internal monologue

i think depression and dissociation has already made my thoughts and internal narration quite distant and quiet, but im curious how tms could potentially reawaken my internal voice, and make me more receptive to the things going on around me enough to be making internal comments on things - by decreasing my depression and allowing me to feel emotionally connected to things and find things interesting to be curious about

did tms change your internal monologue?

I just finished my tenth session and I cried the whole drive home from the pain. I’m doing both the left and the right side. I’m 120 on my right side but anything over 100 on my left is uncomfortable and painful. My whole session takes around 40 minutes and it sucks. Today was the first time I thought about quitting. I’ve been taking ibuprofen but it doesn’t seem to help. I’ve read that some people experience pain and get remapped but I’m not sure it’s worth it. Outside of treatment I’ve had headaches and new soreness. I’ll talk to my psych but I’m so discouraged from the pain. I get so anxious that I don’t really feel like I can speak up during the session/don’t know what to say.

severely anhedonic, i don’t feel depressed/sad, just chronic borderline painful emptiness. currently on 300 mg bupropion. looking at tms eventually, wanted to have realistic expectations.