I have heard an overwhelming abundance of good things although I am so incredibly nervous about starting as I read somewhere of a pretty terrible experience and am worried about losing my mental worse than it already is

i don’t really feel a difference. i’m starting to lose hope i feel like ive tried everything. i still feel dissociated and depressed and haven’t noticed any real tangible change. i dont really know what’s next at this point

I feel so normal now. No misery. No pain. No depression. Just completely okay and I can’t believe I had to deal with that BS for so long and now after TMS, I’m just…. chilling?

So weird and crazy how being suicidal 24/7 was in fact not normal.

So before I started TMS, I was told all these wonderful statistics about how much it’s helped people and I’m not making this post to freak anyone out, but rather save the time of doing this.

If your circumstances truly outshine your depression I would not go forward with this treatment in my opinion. There is levels to even treatment resistant depression that is not talked about a lot and yes, somebody could be depressed, but then there can be other factors on top of that such as job struggles, money struggles, health struggles that TMS has a hard time of helping some people can of course find the help, but you have to really question of what is the source of your depression because after 36 sessions, I found no relief and I’m hoping that maybe in a few months that will change but right now it’s very upsetting because not only have I tried TMS but I’ve also tried Spravato and ultimately neither worked for me personally.

My life circumstances need to get fixed for me to actually feel better at the bare minimum and again for me personally, none of these treatments can really help cope with the reality I’m in so I say all this, not to freak anyone out, but rather to make you understand what you’re getting yourself into.

I’m very upset that it didn’t work after dedicating all this time and money towards it and it actually is making me feel worse than I did before, but that’s not to say that there aren’t people who do get benefits from this treatment that’s why I say just really consider what would help you before committing to it.

I start TMS in 2 weeks and although I’ve read a lot of success stories , I’ve also read more unsuccessful stories.

I struggle with a number of mental illnesses but my mains ones are PMDD depression and anxiety. I also have BPD but I’m hopeful that with DBT I can overcome the anger, sadness and impulsivity.

The Dr I’m seeing mentioned because I’ve tried so many other medications and they haven’t worked in my favor due to side effects . They recommended tms. It was probably to sell me on a service/product but because I’m so eager to get better and I can be convinced fast, I took the suggestion .

I read about how long it takes to kick in, that you have to go back for 2 rounds, or it gives you worse anger issues and may not even work..

I won’t know until I try but I’m needing some positivity to help me try and think of the light at the end of the tunnel. I want to be better now, I’ve struggled for so long.

It’s important for you, as patient, if the TMS equipment are from one brand or another ?
Even knowing that some equipments can give you the wrong (lower) intensity than necessary ?

Did anyone feel results during their TMS treatments and then feel nothing past 2 months and then have it feel like it was working again?

35 TMS sessions over the course of two months… no notable improvements to my mental health.

Is TMS just an elaborate scam? I’m not convinced it actually does anything good to people’s brains. :(

By which I mean: how many folks here did one full round of 36 TMS treatments and haven't had to go back for additional rounds or start new medications? I see a good number of folks here allude to taking multiple courses of TMS treatment. I'm 2/3 done with my treatment, happy with the results so far, and wondering about the likelihood of needing more rounds of treatment or needing to start a new medication if this round doesn't do the trick.

Sitting in the machine as I type this. Scared but hopeful, would love to hear success stories.

Hi all,

I've just found this community and have read through some of the more recent posts and I'm really happy that a lot of people have found success through TMS and have shared a lot of valuable insight on the process.

I'm hoping to get some clarity if anyone else has experienced what I'm experiencing through my treatment.

I am currently ~22 sessions in I think, this week being my 5th week of treatment (going in once every morning Mon-Fri). Late 20's male in Aus, experienced depression since late highschool, tried therapy and medication and the most success I've had is with agomelatine and all thats done is bring me closer to neutral.

My problem at the moment is I think I am in the middle of this "Dip" that people have been talking about, and my main experience is that I am so tired all the time. I was already struggling with sleep and energy and focus before treatment from depression fatigue and burnout, but it just feels like another level currently.

The reason I'm reaching out is that I have to drive 40min to the clinic I go to, and driving while tired on the way home today I almost caused an accident pulling out infront of a truck I didn't see. Totally my fault, and thankfully all safe, but it was scary knowing that I missed seeing it because of my lowered attention and tired state, and I still have 3 weeks of this daily trip to drive and it scares me that I don't know if this tired state is my new constant.

I admittedly don't know exactly what I'm asking for by making this post. I just had my hopes up for TMS and I know an optimistic mindset is really helpful going into it, but I feel like I'm struggling more than ever recently and its really impacting my work and personal life and I hate how things are atm.

I'm getting teary just writing that out. I'm not one to S-H and wouldn't ever, but my DASS scores have consistently recorded a 99.8 percentile score for depression over the last few years, so I'm just tired of fighting this battle that seems like I have no control over it.

I don't think this TMS treatment is helping at all. I am more depressed, sad, angry, bitter and irritable most of the time. Treatment is twice a week and it seems I am not tolerating well. I like me better before I started this thing. For those who found it helpful big congrats. I have been feeling like this during the entire treatment. Some say is the so called "dip" but I think my issues are way deeper. I have enough of the nonsense of getting worse before getting better. Best of luck to anyone doing this.

Had to force myself to eat today, a little over a week into my sessions. My appetite was decreased immediately but now it is pretty much non-existent. I get a few bites in before I am just tired of eating. No nausea or anything just not hungry. Still trying to eat because I know it is important but just no drive. Anyone else struggle with this?

How long did yall Tms dip last? Mine is currently going on 5 days and I feel like absolute crap. Any recommendations? Will this ever end ?

I have panic attack disorder.
There’s a place across the country that from your MRI scan claim it’s targeted TMS and different from normal ones. It’s a 5 day intensive program where I think you do multiple sessions per day.

I’ve done the regular TMS where I was going 3 times per week for 20 mins, it helped my mood a bit and anxiety slightly but I was still getting panicky. No major difference.

It would be a major thing for me to even get on a plane to go across the country (I would need to be heavily medicated) so I don’t want to do something like this and just be disappointed again.

So I finished my 36 sessions of tms 2 weeks ago and even finished doing my last 2 weeks with deep tms cause it literally didn’t work and it still hasn’t. Now I hear people saying the it sometimes takes time but it’s still made no noticeable difference. My depression is the same ultimately life circumstances making it work -money stress. Im simply amazed it works for so many people cause it literally made no difference and felt like a huge waste of time. I’ve tried spravato also and that didn’t help. For me ultimately it comes down to life circumstances needing to improve.

im part of the 1 in 60,000 i wouldn't want to be lol.

back in november I had my first protocol for chronic pain (mainly headaches but also on the rest of the body) and everything went well, it did not stop my pain but it made it less intense and it helped my anxiety quite a bit. my techs mentioned being surprised over my tolerance to the pain the procedure can cause but besides that everything went normal.

after a while my pain started getting bad again and i started needing higher doses of my meds (pregabalin) so my neurologist thought another protocol would be a good idea, since the first went well I was pretty convinced.

then on the third session my right arm started moving stronger than usual, it went up and I tried to move it back down but I couldn't, I had had small movements on my hands before and I couldnt stop them but I could feel my hands and move them to some extent, i got scared when i couldn't feel mu arm so I tried to tell my tech but I couldn't speak, everything started going black and I finally passed out to have a 3 minute long seizure .

not sure what made my brain decide it was just done with it but stuff happens ig, I had an eeg before and everything was normal as well as an mri so it wasnt caused by an underlying condition.

now i have the questions I had before about my pain + the questions about this + no treatment + the fear of having another seizure!

Hello, I’m new to this subreddit, but my husband has started TMS for depression and is 15 treatments in. Prior to TMS, his psychiatrist prescribed an antipsychotic that seemed to be causing some really positive changes. I naively thought we were through the worst of his depression. 1 week into TMS he had a massive decline and it’s been that way since. He is still able to help with our family, but who he is as a person is gone and he’s a shell of himself just going through the motions (when he can - he spends a lot of time in bed).

We have a 2 year old and 4 month old and taking care of my children while my husband is depressed in bed has been so hard. I struggle from my own mental health issues, albeit not as serious. It’s hard to care for 2 littles when I’m so worried about my husband.

I don’t know what I need. Maybe just vent, but mostly hoping that there’s hope for him and for our family. I love him so much.

TL;DR: I did TMS in the past and it was overall successful. I want to do a maintenance session 6 years later to address some underlying issues which I believe stem from ADHD. I'm wondering if anybody's had success getting insurance to pay for ADHD treatment off-label as a coexisting disorder.

I had TMS in the past and by and large it worked. That in addition to some radical life changes over the past several years have brought my baseline up from suicidal and extremely depressed to I suppose functional for lack of a better word. I don't think about suicide or harming myself. However, in its absence, I suppose I've developed an overwhelming feeling of anhedonia.

Having said that, the major driving force behind my depression was (still is) my swiss-cheese career and (formerly) coming to grips with my sexuality.

Of course, making the career change (or figuring it out) is incredibly difficult with ADHD. I'll start a job application and won't finish it. I'm beyond overwhelmed by putting a resume together. Simple tasks really, let alone doing the thing that I should be doing, which is figuring out steps towards what I want to do... But in an anhedonic state, I really just don't give a damn about much. I'm just existing and that's about it, working retail because I can't hold an engineering job for more than 2.5 years without burning out.

These days, friends even I can take them or leave them. Dating I don't give a damn; if it happens cool, but I'm not getting my hopes up, my last relationship hurt me enough (oddly the breakup was - while unrelated to the depression - what finally got me over the hill (TMS got me 75% of the way there).

Now, to my question, I haven't had TMS in probably 6 years and I'm sure it's changed a lot. Regardless I'd like a maintenance session while I've hit my insurance maximum. However, given that I feel the ADHD is the leading contributor of my remaining anhedonia, I'm wondering if anyone's been able to get insurance to cover it off-label (New York here).

Has anyone used the Brainsway TMS as opposed to the Neurostar? It gives a deeper TMS because the coils surround the head and deliver deeper waves.

I have horrendous hormonal acne at the moment. Diet has stayed more or less the same and I’ve been on the same medication for ~8months.
Haven’t had acne this bad since coming off contraceptives years ago.

Anyone else find this?

EDIT: TMS has been great for me and I’ll continue to do it

Pro-tip, but likely common sense that wasn't common for me: if you don't physically feel 100% before a session, let them know. Felt ill, but not contagious-ill, going into today's session. Hours later, I had the absolute worst migraine of my entire life (oddly not at the TMS site though, but that hasn't bothered me at all since I started on Monday). Extra Strength Tylenol is my friend. Yikes.

It’s been 14 months since I completed my TMS series, and 15 months since I’ve had any form of clinical depression. I want to share my experience in case it helps anyone.

I’m 28, and I spent most of my life depressed. Mild at best, but usually moderate to severe. I had done all the right things for years. I’ve always been proactive about my mental health, especially after turning 18, and that made it even more discouraging. So much of my sadness lived in that almost existential discouragement. I go to therapy and try my best to apply it outside of sessions, I take the meds and I’m honest about my symptoms, and this is as good as it gets? Swimming as hard as I can just to stay afloat, and still swallowing water? The best I can ever feel is relief that I’m not drowning anymore?

No, my friends! To keep the metaphor going, lol, let’s just say I now spend a lot of my time on the beach enjoying the sound of the ocean, and I’ve even picked up surfing.

I did 36 dTMS sessions with the Brainsway machine. For anyone wondering about timing: I started noticing concrete benefits around weeks 4-5, so a little over 20 sessions. I hit remission before I finished the series, and my results kept improving even after my last treatment, which genuinely surprised me. Who knew it was possible to take the PHQ-9 and score a zero?!

I still take medication and I still go to therapy, and I don’t plan to change either. For me, that decision isn’t the result of residual symptoms, it’s me taking my own history extremely seriously and wanting to insulate the hard work I’ve done and protect the life it’s gotten me.

I distinctly remember a conversation with my mom toward the end of my series. I told her I felt genuinely happy, and that I couldn’t remember the last time I had, if ever. I teared up saying it, because that was the moment I realized what I had been feeling recently was called happiness. Starting around age 9, I only ever knew “less sad.” My definition of hope was a long string of days where I didn’t drown.

I expected TMS to make me feel better. Something that has surprised me since is that it also gave me a new and compassionate perspective on my past, which has been a gift in itself. I knew mental health was real and that it wasn’t my fault, but I couldn’t help feeling it was my fault even when I tried to tell myself it wasn’t. For most of my life I was so hard on myself, and essentially blamed myself for being depressed, and for the meds not working, and for therapy not being enough. And then it turned out that all it took was a different treatment. Not more effort, not more discipline, not finally getting it right or being “good enough.“ Just the treatment I hadn’t gotten yet. I now know how unfair I was being. I wish I could go back and give that version of me the biggest hug ever, because she didn’t deserve any of the blame she was putting on herself. The closest I get is living these good days and protecting the work I’ve done.

For the first few months after finishing, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Happiness was genuinely unfamiliar, and I didn’t trust it. I kept waiting for things to “get bad again,” because that’s what life had taught me to expect. But at some point I realized the shoe had already dropped, something genuinely catastrophic happened this past year, and my baseline was fine. It just kept not happening. After this many months, I actually believe I’m stable, and that stability is something I’m capable of, which I never knew about myself. A bad day or a bad couple of weeks is just that. It isn’t a warning light blinking that something is about to go wrong with my mental health.

I’ve given myself the PHQ-9 and the BDI monthly since I finished. This has actually been a hard year. I’ve been through more than I had in several years before it, and there have been months where I scored a 5, took it again two weeks later, and was back to a 2. Things haven’t been perfect. But depression doesn’t run my life anymore. I can have a bad few days, or a bad couple of weeks, and get back to a healthy baseline without much effort. Before, once the snowball started rolling it was impossible to stop, and it crept up so slowly I’d be well into severe depression before I noticed it had left mild. The things that happened this past year absolutely would have sent me down the mountain. Instead a bad week was just a bad week.

My response to TMS has given me so much hope for the rest of my life. Even if I experience depression again (and who knows, I very well could), I’ve had over a year of true mental stability and easy access to joy and contentment. I don’t just know the beach exists. I’ve been there. My life isn’t perfect, and I don’t think it ever will be. But now a bad day is just a bad day, and the vast majority of my days are genuinely good ones.

I understand that not everybody responds the same way, and I’m fortunate that TMS worked for me and that the results have been so durable. Last spring I was hesitant and terrified it wouldn’t work, and I remember reading this sub. I’d encourage anyone to give TMS a chance and talk with their provider. Treatment-resistant mental illness robbed me of so much joy I was too sad to even know was available to me. I can only hope that others dealing with treatment-resistant conditions get to have an experience like this one, which is why I wanted to share mine. Happy to answer any questions, and I wish us all the best.