Who are the best candidates for TMS?
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, also known as TMS therapy has been successfully helping people combat a number of brain-related disorders for decades now. The treatment is carried out through targeted magnetic impulses to influence the electrical and chemical activity in the brain which in turn help stabilize your mood and improve the symptoms. Although the treatment itself has been in practice for so long and has the clinical data to back up its efficacy, it still remains as one of the lesser-known treatments for mental health problems among the general public. Let’s take a look at who all can benefit the best from this advanced and highly effective FDA approved procedure.
Patients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)
Major Depressive Disorder, or Clinical Depression is a mental health condition where the patient experiences consistently low mood including but not limited to negative feelings like guilt, worthlessness, and despair. Such patients tend to lose their interest in life and leisure activities, unable to feel any joy to the point of impediment in both personal and professional lives which make it difficult for them to have a normal life. If left untreated, MDD can lead to severe consequences like suicide ideation and self-harming tendencies. What makes it a difficult to treat condition is the fact that each person has a unique response to the treatment, and sometimes, the patient may be entirely resistant to treatment as well.
In such situations, the FDA approved TMS therapy can literally become a lifesaver for the patient with its guaranteed success in improving the symptoms. The targeted therapy stimulates the brain cells to increase the production of neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine which play a key role in making the patient feel better and thus help stabilize the mood. Unlike medications and ECT, the treatment has minimal side effects and is completely non-invasive which allows the patient to go on with their day-to-day activities without any negative impact from the treatment. This safety and effectiveness make TMS therapy an ideal treatment of choice for patients with MDD.
Patients with Anxious Depression
We are all familiar with the term anxiety. It’s a mental health condition where the patient experiences extreme worry, fear, agitation, and nervousness. Anxious Depression is a subset of MDD where in addition to being diagnosed with depression, the patient also shows signs of intense anxiety. These patients have to combat both their depression and anxiety together which make the fight for normalcy even harder. TMS therapy can be of immense help for such patients by treating the problem at its root—the brain. If you or your loved ones are struggling with anxious depression and are unsuccessful in finding relief with the usual treatments, TMS therapy is for you and yes, it’s been cleared by the FDA.
Patients with Obsessive-compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Obsessive-compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a mental health condition that falls under the category of anxiety disorders. It’s a common condition where the patient has uncontrollable, recurring thoughts (obsessions) and indulge in repetitive behaviors (compulsions) to satisfy those obsessions. People with OCD tend to have strict routines/behaviors they adhere to, and even the smallest change to these patterns can put them in severe distress, sometimes to the point of seriously impairing their judgment and normal functioning. The FDA has approved TMS therapy for OCD as it can successfully help patients in controlling the urges and improving the symptoms even in situations where other OCD treatments have failed to produce the desired effect.
Patients who want to quit smoking
Everyone knows that smoking is bad for health and even so, due to various reasons, a lot of them still end up falling prey to chainsmoking. By the time they realize the need to quit, it might already be late and the tobacco cravings may be out of control making it near impossible to quit. For such patients, the FDA approved TMS therapy is highly successful in reducing the cravings and increasing cognitive control through targeted brain stimulations.
Patients with migraines
TMS therapy is not exclusive to mental health disorders. Studies are looking into expanding its scope to include various brain-related disorders and migraine is one such condition for which TMS has been approved by FDA as a treatment of choice. The targeted brain stimulations can make it so that the patient is less likely to have migraine episodes, saving them from having their regular lives being affected by frequent migraines.
What all conditions can prevent you from getting TMS therapy
TMS therapy uses magnetic pulses to influence the brain activity to produce desirable outcomes. As such, there are some conditions which may prevent a patient from being eligible for TMS therapy. These include:
- Patients with metal implants or other medical devices
- Patients with a history of epilepsy and seizures
- Patients with a history of brain damage
The next step
Being eligible for TMS is only the first step in getting the help you need. The next one is to find the right healthcare provider to help you with your TMS therapy. Reliance Health Systems has been successfully helping patients with TMS therapy sessions as required to aid them in managing their mental health conditions. As the only healthcare provider in the Tri-state area that offers TMS therapy sessions, our highly qualified experts are dedicated to providing the best relief for our patients with their compassionate care. Make sure you entrust your mental health to the right professionals.
Contact us today to know more about our services in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. You deserve to live in comfort, happy and healthy, and we are here to help you make it happen.