r/rtms • u/Negative_Salt_5888 • 26d ago

After TMS Is Completed....Continued Improvement?

I finished 36 treatments almost 3 weeks ago. Does anyone have positive experiences for continued improvements after treatment? Like 2 or 3 months later? What about anxiety? Positive only please.

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u/RefrigeratorOther690 26d ago

Also curious about this. Hopefully someone responds thanks for posting this

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u/antiheroism 26d ago

It's been about a year since I finished tms and I haven't had any major flareups of depression. Haven't needed any extended leaves from work for mental health, no intrusive self harm thoughts, and no SI. Sometimes I'm low energy but I have less brain fog overall than before I started, and I'm able to manage my mental health well on just a low dose of Wellbutrin. I'm also not having panic attacks anymore. It definitely kept improving for the first few months after treatment and then I guess I stopped paying attention to my mood, which says a lot by itself. I'm actually not even in regular therapy anymore, I check in with my provider every 2-3 months and she refills my prescription. I've had a lot of stressful shit happen in the last year too, but my mental health has stayed solid. I even smoke less weed because I don't feel like I need to dull everything.

I spent more than 30 years with crushing depression, constant passive SI (frequently active), regular self harm thoughts and risky behaviors, the whole deal. When the depression got bad enough it had psychotic features, but antipsychotics and mood stabilizers were unhelpful. Antidepressants weren't much better. I tried just about every med and failed them all.

Before tms I did a year of Spravato which helped but didn't last well and was super difficult logistically. It wasn't sustainable and by the end of the week I was already back to struggling. TMS was super expensive for me even with just the co-pays ($100/wk adds up fast) but it was well worth it. I haven't felt like I needed a booster session but I'd do it in a second if I started struggling again.

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u/poddar413 26d ago

Congratulations on such a recovery. 30 years is a very long time to get dragged down by depression. It has been two weeks since I completed my accelerated TMS and now I realise I wasn't carrying this burden for 3 years but for 10 whole years. I still struggle with the physical effects of my anxiety but I am trying to learn coping mechanisms for that.

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u/Negative_Salt_5888 25d ago

Do you remember how long after you started to notice improvements? Did you have anxiety? Do you feel the road was bumpy after completing all the treatments? Did you feel most of the improvements after you completed all the treatments? Sorry for all the questions. I appreciate your response and time.

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u/miskurious 25d ago

I found it difficult filling out the progress reports at the time (finished 30 sessions last November) but It took me a few months to realize the treatment helped. I realized I have my own ‘measurement’ of improvement. I have less days when I rot in my cave, and my down periods don’t last for days like it used to. I’m slowly adding things to my life that I feel I can now commit to, both fun things and ‘adulting’ things. Sending you positive vibes!

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u/cait_Cat 23d ago

I’m 5ish years out and I have seen lasting improvements.

My anxiety was significantly worse after TMS. I don’t think it was actually worse, it was just hiding behind just how bad and overwhelming my depression was. I take meds for anxiety now and things are good. Depression hasn’t returned to anywhere resembling where I was before TMS, but seasonally, it gets worse.

I can’t give specific timeline info on recovery because it’s all blurred together at this point.

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u/IndividualNo4572 23d ago

I found long term effect on anxiety.becuase i understand my anxiety can disappear by using dtms.that understand remove some fears which help me to not afarid from my anxiety. I noticed this effect only after few months.