I'm having a consult for TMS soon. I'm depressed, in part, from having had several mild traumatic brain injuries and possibly from cptsd and my executive functioning stinks.
Did anyone notice a change in their abilities to plan, organize, stay focused, etc?
I’ve had 11 sessions so far (two weeks at 5 days/week). On the days I get treatment (at 8:30 am), I have been having at least a couple hours of improved mood in the afternoon. (Time of onset and duration of relief vary). The weekends in between (two weekends thus far), however, have felt unbearable.
Notably, I stopped all controlled substances (occasional alcohol, moderate cannabis, prescribed ketamine, prescribed Vyvanse, prescribed Xanax) the Friday before my first treatment, as directed by the TMS team. A couple weeks earlier, I had stopped Cymbalta with a cross-taper to Effexor, but I had to stop Effexor after about 2 weeks due to intolerable side effects (restless legs, insomnia). Predictably, I was miserable the weekend before my first treatment, and I hoped that things would improve quickly. The past two weekends, though, I have remained miserable, perhaps even more so because I am discouraged and unable to use medication or other substances for temporary relief. I am also noticing an increase in mental fatigue and pronounced irritability that has led to a couple instances of poor judgment, after which I feel ashamed.
At my worst, I feel like I have a “head full of bees,” distracted by inner noisy dialog and mental anguish, which precipitates an increase in SI. I am concerned that I am at risk for harming myself during these periods, given the instances of poor judgment that have occurred already. Hence, I have used 988 and support from a trusted friend to manage.
Can anyone relate to any of what I just described? Thoughts? Suggestions?
I took my first exomind session yesterday , the technician was asking me what beat I am comfortable with , she tested out the highest and then went to 75 . Is this normal . I have GaD , insomnia and I feel very low after benzos which was prescribed to me and I can’t take anti depressant .
So after my first exomind session , I take .5 Klonopin every night for my insomnia , it roughly gives me 5 hour of sleep but after exomind first session , I could only sleep 3 hour . Is this normal and I was restless . After exomind I felt light , very tired lethargic and unmotivated too . I don’t see depressive symptoms but my right side of head which is always heavy and have dull pain is still the same . No change in that .
Please please please advise .
Probably a tedious post but I’m a bit anxious about this. I had my 14th session today and have noticed no changes, good or bad. I thought this was relatively normal based on everything I read - but the doctor at my clinic is asking me PHQ-9 questions almost every (daily!) session and seems concerned that i’m not noticing anything yet. They added on a couple minutes to the right side for my anxiety, and today when I went in they switched up the pattern of the zaps because I’m not yet responding. Still nothing.
Does this mean it doesn’t or won’t work for me? For those who TMS DID work for, did you notice gradual improvement or did it come later? Starting to feel like my brain is truly broken.
50 sessions in 5 days, what can I expect for each day? does it get easier/harder? any dips?
I need help grounding myself and finding the strength to hold on.
I got a call from the clinic stating that not only was insurance denying my 15 session extension requested by the psychiatrist but that they were denying the rest of my treatment and would only cover 30 sessions, abruptly ending on Monday and not cover the 6 remaining that the clinic staggered out over 3 weeks.
Reason for denial is that I have not shown an at least 50% decrease in depression symptoms.
I thought that TMS could take all 36 sessions to help and that some people didn't feel better until even a month or two later?
Needless to say I feel absolutely crushed, broken and lost. Nothing like insurance dictating you're done when your doctor says you need more time. Seems counter productive to leave a depressed patient hanging... with a score over 20.
Regence can go right ahead and f*ck right on off.
They said they would look into Spravato treatments (which I feel super anxious about) but that the clinic is book 3 months out.
I can't wait until October to try and feel better. Too close to the kick off of seasonal depression which I can't manage on top of my newly out of control depression.
I feel like the light at the end of the tunnel is dimming.
I started taking Wellbutrin 150mg xl + buspar 7.5mg for four weeks, starting May 15th. While the medication slightly helped their motivation to work, it also caused brain fog and fatigue. I know Wellbutrin causes these side effects because they have taken it in the past; historically, when I stop the medication, the brain fog and fatigue go away, but the depression comes back. After the four weeks of taking Wellbutrin, the I underwent a 5-day accelerated TMS treatment(June 8th - June 12th) at cognitiveFX, remaining on the medication the entire time. The day after TMS ended (Saturday, June 13th), I stopped taking the Wellbutrin 150mg xl + Buspar 7.5mg. From the following Sunday through Thursday, I lacked motivation but completely stopped experiencing the brain fog, just as I expected. However, starting the Friday after treatment concluded (Friday, June 19th which would be exactly 1 week), I suddenly began experiencing horrible brain fog again. This time, it was so severe that it became hard to understand simple sentences and follow simple logical solutions and because of this my mood has completly dipped and I felt SI. It's even hard to try to keep up with watching movies and TV now because I feel like I need more time to process everything even though a normal person would process it right away.
Please give me advice because I am quite scared now. I don't know if this is a TMS dip or what. If you are wondering about me I am 22 years old and have tried multiple meds(failed them) in the past and that's why I even considered TMS.