Medicines can help you beat
depression, but for three out of 10 people, antidepressants
don’t work. Now, doctors are trying out a very unusual
treatment using magnetic stimulation.
It sounds like something out of science fiction - using a
magnetic coil to stimulate your brain, but this experimental
treatment
may help many people desperate for relief from
depression
Anti-depressants stopped working for Susan Severson, so her
doctor recommended a new treatment.
Now, Susan’s feeling much better."I Went to my first dance
Saturday night in 15 years," she told her doctor. "Had a
ball."
Susan is trying Transcranial Magnetic
Stimulation, or TMS. The technique sends short magnetic pulses
through the skull to the brain. The energy stimulates the
nerve cells that control mood.
"With TMS, we’re focusing on a particular group of brain
cells, just below the surface," Dr. Peter Rosenquist, M.D.
says.
Unlike electroconvulsive, or shock therapy, TMS stimulates
brain cells without causing a seizure.
Psychiatrist Dr. Dan Maixner is heading up theTMS study at
the University of Michigan.Dr. Maixner says the patient rests
in a chair while a device on the scalp clicks for four to five
seconds, then turns off for 27 seconds.
The patient is
awake and alert durng the outpatient procedure. Susan says
it’s relatively painless.
"It isn’t any more than somebody just like tapping on your
head," she explains.
Like all study participants, Susan doesn’t know if she’s
getting the real treatment or a fake. Still, she’s thinking
positively.
"I’m thinking about what I wanted to do with my life
instead of just waiting to die, which is primarily what I had
been feeling for years, just trying not to die for a long
time," she says.
So far very few side effects have
been reported with TMS, though some patients have complained
of headaches. If you'd like to participate in a study on TMS
you can find more information by logging on to http://www.neuronetics.com/
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