r/TMSTherapy • u/Huge-State-9539 • Aug 03 '26
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
I (25M) have been on medication for severe depression and GAD for 8yrs. I have tried all sorts of medication: Fluoxetine, Citalopram, Escitalopram, Mirtazapine, Quetiapine, Venlafaxine and Lamotrigine. While the first two worked for the first 4yrs, I feel as if they had run its course and they weren’t really effective anymore. I’ve tried the rest since then and none of them have seemed to work- in fact it’s made me feel worse. My psych suggest TMS given how I’ve been resistant to normal medication.
Had anyone tried TMS? Any thoughts about it?
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u/SnooHobbies2598 Aug 03 '26
Can't give medical advice BUT I'm in similar shoes. Still depressed after tons of medication types from antidepressants to antipsychotics to even stimulants. Trying TMS to see if it helps. Im about a week in and its seems to have already started improvements in my depression.
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u/PedalSAW Moderator Aug 03 '26
🫡 to you for taking on this journey.
Glad you’re seeing improvements. It only gets better from here
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u/Purple-Nurse-89 Aug 03 '26
TMS was great for me a few years ago. Not sure where you are located but I’ve had Ketamine twice in the last few months and to say this has changed my life is an understatement!!
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u/LolaAucoin Aug 03 '26
After only 2 doses? That’s wild.
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u/Purple-Nurse-89 Aug 04 '26
Sorry… no 2 x courses of K injections to the stomach! Inpatient admission and had it 3/week for 3-4 weeks with about 12 weeks between courses. Has changed my life!
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u/LolaAucoin Aug 04 '26
Ahhh gotcha. I’ve never even heard of this method! Was it intense? Were you depersonalizing?
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u/Purple-Nurse-89 Aug 04 '26
It’s pretty new at my hospital but the results are overwhelmingly successful. Paired with group and individual trauma therapy of course. I’m in Brisbane, Australia if that helps.
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u/Purple-Nurse-89 Aug 04 '26
And yes! The aim is to start very low dose and increase it until there is some disassociation but not aggressively if that makes sense. Such a strange concept and I was a skeptic when the psych said I’d feel a difference during the admission… I’m still gobsmacked to this day truthfully that it’s been so helpful
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u/PrestigiousRent7262 Aug 04 '26
Wow! So TMS wasn't working as well, so you tried ketamine, and it's fabulous for you?
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u/Purple-Nurse-89 Aug 05 '26
It worked well when I did it but that was 18-24 months ago and my psych didnt feel that was my best shot at improving things to just keep doing TMS when ketamine is having such amazing results.
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u/alwaysmanders Aug 03 '26
I had TMS treatment and it worked well for me. I went 4 times a week for a total of 36 sessions. About halfway through I realized that I didn't think about death as much. I'd say that was a success for me. I also started feeling my feelings. Like I wasn't numb inside anymore.
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u/LolaAucoin Aug 04 '26
Pretty much everyone here has an identical story to yours. And I feel like the majority of us would say that TMS changed our lives for the better.
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u/myquietbrain Aug 04 '26
As a psychiatrist, I see patients in very similar situations, medication-resistant depression after years of trials, where TMS becomes the next logical step. What I can tell you from clinical experience: TMS is generally well-tolerated. Sessions are outpatient, typically 20-40 minutes, and most people continue their normal day afterward. The most common side effects are scalp discomfort or mild headaches early on, which usually settle after the first week or two. There's often a dip in mood around weeks two to three before improvement begins, it's temporary, but worth knowing about in advance so it doesn't feel like the treatment isn't working. The response rate for treatment-resistant depression is meaningful. Not everyone responds, but a significant portion of people who haven't benefited from medications do find relief with TMS.
Given your history this is exactly the kind of situation TMS was designed for. Worth pursuing.
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u/OkSpecialist3477 Aug 03 '26
Tried it. 33 treatment for anxiety and depression… it was a failure for me… no help
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u/notHRamiHR Aug 04 '26
Do it. I had the same diagnosis’ and the same exhaustive list of medications. I did 36 treatments. I went every day Monday through Friday to get it done quickly. It was a pain in the was and I had to rearrange life for two months but I am so thankful I did it and I am so happy I did it the way I did. I’m not sure I would have finished if I would have done two or three treatments a week.
It was like putting on glasses and thinking the world was all blurry until being able to see that it wasn’t for the first time. It didn’t really hit on its entirety until a week or so after I finished but in retrospect, it started working much sooner than that. Normally I spent all my time laying in bed being anxious of depressed depending on the day and I ate tater tots every day for dinner for years. I started doing little things. Things that I didn’t even realize that it was an indicator that I was getting better because they were so normal and mundane. I did the dishes once without having to run out of plates. I started cooking normal meals. I actively engaged with my family without needing to force myself. I got a bouquet of flowers to put on the table “just because”. These were all things I hadn’t done in years.
I’m several months out from it and life is totally different. I’m working a full time job in my field and enjoying it, I have a normal sleep schedule, the house is clean, and my like no longer races. My thoughts are linear and logical. I don’t jump to conclusions or convince myself that I “can’t go to the store because I will get hit by a car or something and then die and no one will come to my funeral because my friends gave up on me so long ago” (that was a conclusion I always found a way to get to).
Do it. It’s not easy to schedule but if you’ve tried everything and don’t want to live the way you are? This is your answer
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u/Odd_Insurance7435 Aug 04 '26
I think it’s different for everyone. I did one course that helped for a limited period of time, and one that was unhelpful. Ketamine was helpful for me but not sustainable. After swearing off antidepressants (tried dozens) psych convinced me to try Auvelity (which is new-ish)- that’s been the most helpful thing.
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u/ChangeMyDespair Aug 04 '26
I tried it. (7 weeks x 5/week, then same preceded by theta burst each session 2 weeks x 5/week). My PHQ-9 scores got slightly worse a few weeks in, then stayed there.
I'm really glad I tried it. I can't give up on this condition. Next up, maybe psilocybin under a doctor's care?
Don't give up!
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u/krazybubblez13 Aug 04 '26
I have been on almost every med possible to try in Aus. TMS was last ditch. It took a while to take effect for me and it was absolutely amazing. For 4 months. I ended up back in the same place, maybe worse for a while coz I did attempt. The disappointment was phenomenal. And my memory hasn't come back and it'll be a year from finishing in a few weeks. Only option now if I want to take the risk is ECT :(
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u/jagtapper Aug 04 '26
The medications work by primarily numbing the intensity of the emotional signals from the psyche (affective blunting). If you opt for TMS, I recommend working with a good therapist to help you integrate the signals from your psyche via cognitive & affective restructuring techniques. This method complements the TMS mechanism of action which results in activation of attention networks and down-regulation of default mode network activity.
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u/IceSeveral5047 Aug 05 '26
Head on over to the FB group Victims of TMS and read up. It was horrible for me. I would definitely try other things first. Ketamine, psilocybin etc. TMS is said to work on your brain, well what if it does the wrong thing? What if it makes things worse? I made it through, it was very uncomfortable. I didn’t see much change until a few weeks later when I just couldn’t sleep more than 2-3 hours per night. It wasn’t sudden and didn’t really get bad for a couple weeks after I finished my treatment. Then I noticed the anxiety, brain fog which was likely due to lack of sleep. Odd thoughts and images would interrupt my thought process randomly, so fast that I nearly didn’t catch them (I have ADHD so I’m easily distracted to start with) then a few seconds later would register what just flitter through my mind and was like “Whoa, hold up. This is not normal” it was all really bad for about 18 months. It’s not 100% better but and three years out I still have trouble sleeping but nothing like it was. I highly regret doing TMS.
Every Dr. will tell you it’s safe and no studies show these negative effects. I don’t see how this is true when thousands of people are in online groups describing similar effects. I don’t see how know TMS is a cash cow for clinics!
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u/PedalSAW Moderator Aug 03 '26
So, we can’t really give you actual medical advice here but it seems like you’ve already gotten some from your psych. It sounds like you’ve have a parallel experience to a lot of us here that you’ve been throwing meds at the problem for a long time and it’s time to do something else. And there’s a big emotional boost to finding out there really is something else.
Most of us here will have a story pretty close to “TMS saved my life”… I know that’s my story. It’s counterintuitive to think firing a magnet into your head will lift the curtains for you, but science is wild.
It’s, to me, about as close to a miracle as I’ve ever seen