When reading the below, please remember that I am NOT A DOCTOR -- I AM A PATIENT JUST LIKE YOU.  Before I say anything else, let me say this:

STOPPING YOUR MEDICATIONS OR TINKERING WITH YOUR MEDS CAN BE REALLY DANGEROUS!  TAKE THEM EXACTLY AS YOUR DOCTOR PRESCRIBED.  IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH ANY OF THEM, TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR ABOUT IT and do what he or she says.

For the last 14 years, I have had recurring episodes of severe, totally disabling clinical depression, each lasting between 4 and 14 months.  In recent years, the episodes were getting longer and closer together.  It seemed to me that I was looking at spending the rest of my life in severe clinical depression, not a bright thought, and one that caused me to actually regret being in pretty good physical shape (I am a jogger when well), because it might mean that I would have to live at least another 20 years or so, suffering daily, under these conditions. 

(Suicide is not an option for me because, among other reasons, I have a wife and family to consider.)  What right do I have, I reasoned, to emotionally scar my children for life, just because I had a virtually intolerable condition?  So, I’d say to myself, something like: “Well, your life is effectively over, but that doesn’t mean you have the right to inflict your misery forever on the ones you love.”  So, I decided I would just “tough it out,” no matter how bad it got—or how long it lasted.

I have been through at least 6 psychiatrists, have tried all of the commonly prescribed meds, including even some anti-psychotics that are sometimes prescribed “off-label,” for treatment-resistant depression.  Nothing was helping me, until I found THE COMPLETE ANSWER (at least for me).

It's called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Therapy (TMS).  On 2/2/10, I walked into the Lindner Center of Hope, in Mason Ohio, (see their website).  At that time, I was not able to drive safely and could barely find my way into the parking lot.

After a series of 32 TMS treatments, one-a-day for six-weeks, I am in 100% complete remission.  They gave me my life back.  I personally consider this new treatment to be a Miracle from God, but it's a recent scientific medical breakthrough that, I predict, will revolutionize the treatment of "treatment-
resistant” depression.

I am back to 100% normal and went from being 100% disabled to 100% able through these treatments (gradually, over a period of 6 weeks).  It's not a scam or a money-making gimmick--it's for real.  It works--at least it did for me, when NOTHING else did, including shock treatments, a virtual pharmacy of meds, talk therapy, exercise, meditation, etc.

I have had three "shock" treatments that did not help.  What I'm am talking about is nothing like “shock treatments,” which shock the whole brain, cause a seizure, unconsciousness, and, at least for me, severe (especially short-term) memory loss.  After three shock treatments, I was a total zombie, could not even read a book, and so I refused to have any more treatments.  Look—if they work for you, and they must for some people—more power to you.  I’m just telling you my experience. 

TMS, on the other hand, targets the specific part of the brain thought to control mood and depression.  This is about a 2.5 inch area near the left front of your brain called the left prefrontal cortex.  During each treatment, between 3,000 and 4,000 electromagnetic pulses are passed through your skull to that target area only.

My amateur understanding is that the pulses create a magnetic field in just that part of the cortex, which stimulates the neurons in that area only (which has been identified as the small part of your brain that controls mood and depression).  I think I have read that this technology was developed from the
discovery that TMS pulses could be used for “brain mapping,” that is, determining which physical sections of your brain control things like finger movement, speech, the sense of hearing and touch, and so forth. 

This was proven to me at the beginning: they ask you to hold your right hand (forearm only) up with your thumb out like a hitchhiker, only to completely relax it. The psychiatrist moves the magnetic coil in miniscule amounts until a single pulse from the machine involuntarily makes your thumb (and sometimes your jaw) twitch.  (It really does, all by itself.)  That tells them exactly where on the “brain map” the coil is placed.  From there, the position of the left prefrontal cortex is calculated, and the exact target position is identified.  This is no low-tech procedure—it’s “cutting-edge” and revolutionary and recent.

TMS treatments do cause some mild discomfort only when the magnetic pulses are being delivered, which they are in intervals lasting about five seconds each, between which nothing happens for about 30 seconds, so you have time to rest.  For example, I would much rather get a TMS treatment than to go to the dentist or even to get a haircut (which I’ve always hated).

On the other hand, after my experience with three ECT, or shock treatments, I would not submit to another for any amount of money in the world.  Again, this may be different for you—I’m just talking about my own experience.

While the pulses are being delivered (they feel like a woodpecker is pecking on just that part of your head), there is some facial twitching and talking is virtually impossible.  The “pecking” sound the machine makes is 80 decibels—so loud that both you and the nurse in the room wear earplugs during the treatments.  With the earplugs, the sound is quite tolerable.

You are fully awake and in-between the pulses, can talk (I talked the poor nurses a blue streak, probably boring them to death, simply because it made the 36-40 minute treatment sessions seem to virtually “fly” past, and before I knew it, they were done for the day.)  Just before the actual delivery of the magnetic pulses to the target area, the machine plays a little musical scale, to let you know they’re coming.

The only side-effects I noticed were a very mild headache that followed every session and a period of mild disorientation that lasted about half an hour, so that I had to be more careful driving back (to my hotel) than I was driving to the treatment center.  I soon discovered that even the mild headache vanished within an hour or so, if I took 600 mg of Ibuprofin as soon as I returned to the hotel and also ate a meal.  The headache went away every time I did this.

If you think you are in my situation, you owe it to yourself to exhaustively research TMS and then act on it, as I did.

TMS is the first non-surgical, non-medical treatment for depression that was approved by the FDA (in 2008), since "shock" treatments were introduced in the 30s.  It's so new--not many people seem to know about it (including many medical insurance companies, who consider it “experimental”).

After a long battle of denials and appeals from my insurer (you can appeal any denial), including letters of medical necessity from two different psychiatrists and an arm-twisting phone call to my insurance company from one of them, after months of determined effort, a series of denials and appeals, my insurance company pre-approved coverage at 80%, on a reimbursement basis.  That means that you have to pay up-front for the treatments (About $9000., in 3 installments), and then file medical reimbursement claims with your insurer who pays you back later.  I am now receiving thousands of dollars in reimbursement checks from my insurer. I used virtually my last money for these treatments, and I'm glad that I did.

*** HERE IS ONE OF MY MAIN POINTS*** IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE IN THIS POST, PLEASE READ THIS:

 *** If enough people fight the battle with their insurance companies that I fought, they will stop routinely denying pre-certification on the basis of TMS still being "experimental," (and thus, will begin routinely approving pre-certification, and then there will be no need for providers to collect a dime in advance).***

The people at Lindner (where I received my treatments) acted like I was one of the first people they knew of who got any kind of insurance approval for TMS treatments, so maybe I was a "pioneer" in this regard--I don't care if I'm a pioneer or not, by the way.

What I did is simply not give up with my insurance company.  I had nothing to lose, and I'm a determined sort of guy, when I've found something that appeared to have ANY chance of helping me out of what seemed a hopeless situation.

Neurostar (the only manufacturer of the TMS machine in the U.S.) told me that their statistics, gleaned from controlled, double-blind clinical trials on over 10,000 treatments or patients—I can’t remember which--, showed these stats: one of out of every three patients experienced COMPLETE REMISSION, and one out of every two experienced “significant relief.”
Either these stats are conservative, or I was one of the one-out-of-three who experienced complete remission.

They said that TMS treatments for depression are so relatively new, that their follow-up studies covered the 10,000 instances only for six months, and that during that period, the relapse rate was (a mere) 10%.  That’s when they referred me to Columbia University’s School of Medicine Brain Studies Laboratory and to the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), as the two centers in the U.S. with the most experience (nearly twenty years) of clinical trials on TMS for depression.

Again, I can only speak for myself.  Your results could be different.  Just look into it.

You can gain approval on the coverage before you pay anything, if you are willing to do as I did and not give up--the problem is that TMS is so new that the insurance companies have, at least in the past, typically denied coverage on the basis that it is an experimental procedure.

I eventually got coverage pre-approved before I started the treatments or
paid a dime.  This allowed me to proceed.

Please visit the Neurostar Website--they are the only manufacturer of the TMS machine in the U.S.

This is for-real and it works.  I am now receiving reimbursement checks for 80% of the money I had to pay by filing simple claims with my insurance company.  The more people who do this, the more they will consider the treatment non-experimental and will hopefully start to pre-approve coverage routinely.  The insurance companies will eventually recognize that they are saving money in the long run, when compared to covering endless rounds of meds, doctor visits, traffic accident injuries caused by people driving while confused and depressed, very expensive shock treatments, hospitalizations, and treatment for people who have had failed suicide attempts.

The Lindner Center of Hope is affiliated with the Medical School of the University of Cincinnati.  Clinical trials on TMS are now being conducted (and have been for a while) in places including Harvard University's School of Medicine, the Johns Hopkins University, MUSC (the Medical Center of the University of South Carolina, and elsewhere).

I was told by Neurostar that the centers with the most experience in TMS clinical trials are Columbia University's School of Medicine (their Brain Stimulation Laboratory) and MUSC's Brain Studies Laboratory.

I spoke with a researcher at Columbia University's Brain Stimulation Laboratory, and she told me that if a relapse occurs, it can almost always be reversed by a week or so of about five "maintenance treatments."  In a few cases, she said, a single treatment was enough.  I asked her if she knew whether there was a "burnout effect," in other words, "a law of diminishing returns" where the treatments have less and less effect (as I've found to be the case with meds) over years of repeated use.  She answered that, in nearly 20 years of clinical trials, they have seen NO evidence of that.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have thoughts or urges to commit suicide, please just realize that they are merely one of the symptoms of this awful,
physiologically-based illness.  Those thoughts will vanish when you are well, and your outlook will do a 180 degree turnaround, at least that is my own experience.  So, about suicide--JUST DON'T DO IT—make yourself realize that these thoughts and urges are simply a symptom of the illness, just a part of the package, like a runny nose goes with having a cold, just a symptom, nothing more—recognize these suicidal thoughts or urges as simply that—AND DISMISS THEM.

You don’t really want to be dead, anyway, you want to be well.  If you follow my advice, I think that there’s a good chance that will happen.  The suffering doesn’t have to continue.  There is a way out--at least it worked for me.  I can't guarantee that this will be the answer for you--they tell me it varies from patient-to-patient--Neurostar says that 1 out of three patients experience complete remission, and that 1 out of 2 have significant relief.  In my opinion, these stats are conservative.

Interestingly, Newsweek recently ran an excellent article on ‘double-blind”  studies using the most commonly-prescribed antidepressants, called SSRIs, vs a control group receiving placebos.  Those studies showed just a slight increase in improvement in the patients who received the actual drugs instead of the sugar-pill.  These antidepressants seem to take an awfully long time to work, if they do, and who knows whether you might have gotten better by then anyway?

By the way, I’d say that this treatment is probably just for patients who, like me, had severe, “treatment-resistant” depression.  If the meds (or even shock treatments) work for you, as they seem to do for some people at some times, and you’re willing to put-up with the side effects, count your blessings and more power to you.

But, if you knew what I've been through during the last fourteen years, the thousands of dollars I've spent on psychiatrists, meds, and treatments of other kinds, well--the list is extensive, and I was still a walking zombie.

Two final points: I’ve seen advertised on the internet some sort of magnetic gadget they want you to buy that’s supposed to relieve depression by delivering magnetic waves to your head, that you can use yourself, in the comfort of your own home.  I’ve never tried those things, so I don’t know, but I suspect that they don’t work and that the sellers of such items (IN MY
OPINION) just want you to pay the $100. or so for the gadget.  As I said, I have researched the whole treatment range thoroughly, and in my reading, I’ve never seen a reference from a reliable source that says they work.

The TMS machine is no simple gadget.  I was told that they cost $50,000 each (I would’ve guessed more).  After painstakingly identifying the location on your head of the target area at the beginning, the psychiatrist programs the chair’s own computer so that its movable parts hold you in that exact position, which, as I understand it, is individually programmed in the chair FOR EACH PATIENT.

During the entire treatment procedure, the nurse watches a screen at her own computer, to make sure your head hasn’t moved off the target area, which is checked for accuracy using a laser beam.  Your head is held in position by a support on the right side and by the magnetic coil on the left, so that it’s not supposed to move at all.  (The chair is supposed to shut itself off if it senses the target area has moved, but that never happened to me.)  All of this sounds uncomfortable, but it’s not in the least.  Your head is held immobile, but in a comfortable, relaxed position, and the treatments are applied while
the chair is reclining you comfortably with your feet held up.  I was told that some patients even fall asleep during the treatments, but I never did.  I just talked to the nurse to make the time go by faster.

There is another treatment that apparently works, even for many of the very worst cases: A Vegal Nerve Stimulation Implant—a surgical procedure wherein an electronic device (almost like a pacemaker) delivers electrical stimulation to a nerve in the back of your neck called the Vegal Nerve. 

I have read a book written by a patient whose severe episodes of clinical depression lasted for as long as five years at a time, and who got total relief  using this procedure.  (The book is called: OUT OF THE BLACK HOLE.)  The only problem is, the procedure and follow-up maintenance costs about $30,000. and to my knowledge, no one has ever been successful in getting an insurance company to bear even part of the cost.  Also, it takes about a year to work, if I understand correctly, and it doesn’t work at all for some
patients.  One of my psychiatrists told me that he had five patients who had undergone this procedure.  Out of the five, three were apparently helped a lot, one was unaffected, and the fifth actually asked to be un-implanted.

So, you might ask, if TMS is so great, why doesn’t my psychiatrist
recommend it?  Again, in my opinion, there are two reasons: some of these doctors went to med school, etc., more than 20 years ago, and they weren’t taught about it and haven’t kept up with the latest developments.

A lot of psychiatrists DO know about it, but they also know that TMS is not readily available and probably won’t be covered by your insurance, at least without some long-drawn out battle, as I had to go through.  They are correct in that TMS is not readily available—unless you’re lucky enough to live near one of the 14 (I believe) centers in the U.S. currently offering the treatment.  On their website, Neurostar has a program that allows you to find the closest provider to you.

UPDATE: I THINK I’VE READ THAT THE NUMBER OF CENTERS CURRENTLY OFFERING TMS HAS NOW MUSHROOMED TO ABOUT 145.

Listen to me.  After fourteen years of struggling with this illness, watching my family life, financial well-being, and ability to enjoy ANYTHING deteriorate around me, while I suffered helplessly, every single day, for periods of more than a year at a time; after going through doctor after doctor—I’ve lost count how many, really—I came away with this opinion:

There is a wide range of competence, knowledge-base, and treatment approaches among the group we call psychiatrists.  Realize that they are not gods.  They don’t know everything, and you are not at their mercy.  There are good ones and bad ones.  Keep searching until you find one of the good ones, who is up-to-date on the very latest clinical studies.  This is not too much to ask of someone who purports to be a specialist.
 
In my case, the closest TMS provider to me was a four-hour-drive to a different state, where I had to stay in a hotel for the entire six weeks and be away from my family, etc.  My wife was motivated enough that she negotiated a special long-term rate at a very nice place near the Lindner Center, for a fraction of what they normally charge on a per-night basis.

Look, even after all of this, when I went in for the treatments I was skeptical.  I gave it maybe a 30% chance of working, I guessed—after all—nothing else had worked for me, why would this?  But I was so desperate, I had nothing to lose.  At the end of the second week of treatments, I noticed that my long-gone appetite was returning.  By the end of the fourth week, I conservatively estimated my improvement at 50%.  By the end of the fifth week, my estimate was of an 80% improvement.  Midway through the sixth week, I realized that I was completely better—100% remission, and that has continued ever since then, despite being in some quite stressful life circumstances.

By the way, one final point—on the subject of meds--AND THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT:

My psychiatrist at the Lindner Center of Hope, in Mason,
Ohio, told me to just keep taking whatever I’ve been taking and not to worry about it.  If you’re better or not, be very careful about stopping your meds.  At the end, when I was all better, I asked him why I should keep taking all
these psych meds: (80 mg/da prozac/60 mg/day Cymbalta/150 mg/da Nuvigil/3mg/da Clonazapam/10 mg/da Ambien, if they’re not helping, cost a lot of money, and have a few unwanted (sexual, in my case) side-effects.  He said that I could probably, VERY SLOWLY, taper-off one-at-a-time.  YOU DON’T WANT TO ROCK THE BOAT.  He suggested I start with taking 30 mg of Cymbalta instead of 60, and leave the rest alone, until my psychiatrist at home told me to taper some more.

By tapering slowly, I’m talking about doing it via my doctor’s advice, and it will probably be 1-2 years before I’m off of most of this stuff.  I don’t know if I can ever get off Ambien, because sleep is vitally important to stay mentally healthy.  When I’ve tried to get off the benzodiazapene tranquizers, such as Clonazepam, Ativan, Xanex, etc., (which are all quite addictive, in the long term), I absolutely could not do it when I was depressed.  However, during the times when I was better, it was a “piece of cake” IF YOU DO IT SLOWLY ENOUGH. 

With your doctor’s approval, you make out a reasonable taper schedule and stick to it, unless the discomfort becomes too great—then level off for a while.  It doesn’t matter if it takes you a year or two to taper off these things, as long as you’re working in the right direction. 

Back to the antidepressants, I really hate to even bring this up, because, if you’re like I was, and you’re miserable, you want to go all-out, gung-ho, and fix the whole problem today!  It’s simply not possible to do it quickly.  Stopping any of your meds suddenly or too fast could put you in the hospital or worse.  So, I’m taking my doctor’s advice, and tapering very slowly, just one at a time—a process that might take two years, but what does that matter if you're well?

In my (non-professional!) opinon, if you are severely depressed, what you need is to have your left prefrontal cortex (only) stimulated electromagnetically, using TMS.  But, stopping your meds on your own is
not the answer, and it could be quite dangerous!

By the way, the inability to enjoy anything—not your favorite book or movie, not what used to be your favorite food or activity, not your spouse or children, not even a television show, is a symptom of severe depression called anhedonia. 

It is an established scientific fact that anhedonia is a common symptom of severe clinical depression.  In my case, it was impossible to enjoy ANYTHING, not experience a single moment of pleasure of any kind, for periods lasting up to fourteen months. 

Anhedonia is not a come-and-go kind of symptom.  It means that, for example, for periods lasting over a year at a time, it was impossible to experience a moment of pleasure of any kind, for every minute of every single day.  Not wanting to inflict my misery upon others, I was, therefore, forced to pretend to be having a good time during my children’s birthday parties, visits from friends, and so on.  This, in itself, was exhausting.

I have no "axe to grind"--I have no payment arrangements to endorse this treatment.  I'm just trying to help others who have suffered like me.

Wishing you a speedy recovery—I know what you’re going through—

“louis1888”
Out of Denial, Kentucky

Merely Me

7/ 5/10 11:28am

Hello

 

Had to respond to this since I have seen this cut and paste version of your "testimonial" before on our site and also sent to members in emails.

 

Here the  part which I find so interesting in your comment as I have seen it before.

"I have been through at least 6 psychiatrists, have tried all of the commonly prescribed meds, including even some anti-psychotics that are sometimes prescribed "off-label," for treatment-resistant depression. Nothing was helping me, until I found THE COMPLETE ANSWER (at least for me).

It's called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Therapy (TMS). On 2/2/10, I walked into the Lindner Center of Hope, in Mason Ohio, (see their website). At that time, I was not able to drive safely and could barely find my way into the parking lot.

After a series of 32 TMS treatments, one-a-day for six-weeks, I am in 100% complete remission. They gave me my life back. I personally consider this new treatment to be a Miracle from God, but it's a recent scientific medical breakthrough that, I predict, will revolutionize the treatment of "treatment-
resistant" depression."

 

 

Very interesting as these are the exact words of Ira Herman, a TMS patient of Lindner Center of HOPE who provides this glowing testimonial for the company.

 

The hype of "miracle from God" and "Complete recovery" and I quote from your web site:  "I am back to 100% normal and went from being
100% disabled to 100% able through these
treatments (gradually, over a period of 6 weeks).
It works--at least it did for me, when NOTHING else did, including
shock treatments, a virtual pharmacy of meds, talk therapy,
exercise, meditation, etc.  A SUCCESS STORY" 

 

I am sorry but you just sent us spam. 

 

Members please be extremely wary when you come across such informercials and advertisements disguised as some member who..."just wants to help."

 

Here is part of Health Central's Terms of Service which you need to both read and follow:

 

You may not post or transmit spam, petitions for signatures, chain letters or letters relating to pyramid schemes. You may not post or transmit any advertising, promotional materials or any other solicitation of other users to use goods or services.

 

 

 

sioux

7/ 5/10 11:42am

louis1888, first of all I feel that Mr. kennard IS up on the latest developments, he has helped me and I'm sure many others w/ very pertinent information. Secondly not everyone is a candidate for TMS no matter how refractory their depression is , I am one of those people, I have an implanted defibrillator/pacemaker so that would exclude me. And finally are you sure you don't hold stock in Neurostar?? If it works for people that would be great and I'm glad it worked for you, but I would argue that it is not for everybody. Sioux.

Anonymous

7/ 5/10 12:10pm

Thanks, Jerry for the info.  In fact, this fellow is incorrect about insurance NOT covering VNS (vagus nerve stimulator) as I have 2 friends w/treatment-resistant depression & one did have her private insurance cover it (after she & her doc put pressure on the insurance company which is actually a common thing, much like the gov't usually declines someone's 1st try at getting disability {& 2nd & 3rd which is even stated in The Disability Handbook that is written for the layman & totally irks me as it says that getting a lawyer is recommended & "doesn't cost the person anything"--as if someone who is filing for disability is not only disabled but STUPID!! Those lawyers are doing it for FREE! Yeah, right after they take a big hunk of your rightfully deserved disability check!!} I had to have my meds provider put pressure on my insurance co. to cover Provigil as it is "off label" for bipolar & EXPENSIVE.  My meds provider was able to provide literature that Provigil is showing to be a helpful add-on for those w/bipolar {& this was 15 years ago!!} & I think the FDA is in the process of getting it approved for bipolar {read this in bp magazine})--the other friend who had the VNS is on disability so her Medicaid (I think that is what it is called; the insurance provided by the gov't for those on disability) paid for it. 

 

The one who had the gov't pay for it had it done about 5 years ago & is doing great!! The other one who had private insurance pay for it didn't have any relief & had her doc (same doc for both of them) "turn it off" after 2 years.

 

Both were severe cases of treatment-resistant depression & have had all the meds & ECT's & various forms of therapy, etc.  The one who hasn't gotten any relief has been studying up on TMS, but I agree that your doc should be the one giving medical advice, not someone who is writing a personal opinion so I always look at people's posts here in that light.

 

Now on to YOUR ACTUAL SUBJECT, my meds provider does recommend the omega-3 for those she is treating for depression & bipolar.  However, I also have a chronic pain issue & my pain management doc said that omega-3 interferes w/the pain medication I am taking (I also have epidural shots as well) so he said I couldn't take the fish oil as this interference is making the pain medication not work as well as it could.  And I tell you chronic pain greatly increases your chance of getting depressed (as well as your partner getting depressed as he/she listens to you cry all night w/the agony).

 

I'm glad my bipolar "cocktail" of meds & DBT & indiv. therapy are working for me as this friend who has not found any relief yet is suffering so much & I admire her for relentlessly pursuing wellness despite all the obstacles &  things just not working for her.  She got to the point of blaming herself for her depression as she saw others in the support group we attend getting better on meds or whatever treatment & she is not.  The NY Times had an article quite a few months ago about how even docs can start "blaming" the patient when they feel like they have exhausted all their knowledge & resources & the person is still depressed.

 

Don't blame the victim!

louis1888

7/ 5/10 12:10pm

Dear Dr. Kennard:

 

(I am sorry but you just sent us spam.)

 

I am happy that you have seen my post before.  Yes, I am certainly Ira Herman, as you identified.  I apologize for resending the same post to you that I had evidently sent before.  I sometimes visit depression support group sites/forums to post "my story."

 

I've done it at least 20 times, so it's hard for me to remember which ones I've already covered.  Again, I apologize for resending it to you.

 

HOWEVER, the points I made in my cut-and-paste TMS post are true.  I have absolutely no reason to promote this new therapy other than it being strictly pro bono publico.  I simply hope to be able to help others, who like me, had just about given up hope.

 

It's really that simple.

 

I would encourage you to personally investigate this relatively new treatment (approved by the FDA in 2008 for the treatment of depression).  TMS is all over the web, now, and I respectfully request that, after doing so, you come to your own conclusions.

 

Perhaps, like me, you will realize that this is a true and recent breakthrough in the treatment of "treatment-resistant depression."

 

It really did put me into 100% remission in a 6-week period, and when I started I was 100% disabled from severe depression (the current episode had lasted 13 months).

 

I especially would like you to research TMS, because you are an expert and people will listen to you--perhaps reaching some of those who need it the most.

 

Yes, I cut-and-paste, to save time, and I put it up in as may appropriate places as I can find.  I'm merely trying to "spread the word," so that maybe, just maybe, I can help somebody.

 

I have no connection with the Lindner Center of Hope in Mason, Ohio, other than as a former patient who underwent their TMS series of treatments with amazing results.  They do not pay me to do this.

 

I would refer you to the School of Medicine at Columbia University, Harvard University's School of Medicine, the Johns Hopkins University, and the Medical University at South Carolina, to verify for yourself the assertions I make in my post.  All of these institutions have been/are conducting controlled clinical trials on the efficacacy of using TMS to treat depression.  Columbia University's School of Medicine's (I think it's called their "Brain Studies Laboratory,") but it might be their "Brain Stimulation laboratory," (I can't remember which), has had nearly twenty years of clinical trials on using TMS to treat depression.  The other center with the most experience, I was told by Neurostar, is MUSC, as mentioned above.

 

I have no connection with "Neurostar," either.  Nobody pays me a penny to do this.

 

With kind regards,

 

Ira Herman

email: ihh648@zoominternet.net

phone 304 429 6385

Mailiing Adrdress:

 

Ira Herman

PO Box 7061

Huntington, WV 25775

 

 

louis1888

7/ 5/10 12:20pm

Yes, you are correct that your implanted pacemaker would exclude you.  I am just telling you and everybody else who will listen about my experience, in the hope that I might be able to help even just one other person find the help they need.

 

No, I don't own stock in Neurostar, the Linder Center of Hope, or anything else.  Nobody pays me a penny to do this, nor do I have any monetary motive for taking my time to put up these posts.

 

I'm just trying to help someone, if I can.  Please read my reply to Dr. Kennard's post.

 

Thank you for your response, and best wishes to you,

 

Ira Herman (louis 1888)

Merely Me

7/ 5/10 12:26pm

Louis or Ira as the case may be...

 

Jerry did not respond to your comment yet.  This is the Community Moderator for this site.  I am going to remind you yet again that this is not the place for you to market services or products.

 

Also it highly discouraged for you to be posting your personal information including your telephone number, address, and email. 

 

Be advised that Health Central may delete your comments for these reasons. 

 

And Jerry...I am very sorry that your post got hijacked with all this.  I am greatly hoping that you get comments about what you actually posted about Omega-3. 

louis1888

7/ 5/10 12:36pm

Please read all of my replies and come to your own conclusions or do whatever editing of cutting you think is necessary. 

 

I was only trying to help someone. This is taking too much of my time, so I won't be responding to any further emails. I don't mean to be offensive or rude, I hope you will understand. 

 

Why people don't actually do the work I suggested (the research, investigating on their own, independent verification, and so on), is a mystery to me.  I guess it's just human nature (especially on the web) to be skeptical.  There's so much garbage on it, I can't blame people for being that way.  Also, it's a lot easier to dismiss my assertions as garbage than to actually do the work to look into it.

 

Thanks,

 

Ira

 

Christine Kennard, Health Pro

7/ 5/10 3:48pm

That's interesting about fish oil and pain management - and new to me. Thanks for passing that information on as I'm sure a lot of other people will be just as interested.

 

Jerry

louis1888

7/ 5/10 10:37pm

Look, no offense, but this skepticism is starting to get on my nerves.  I try to help somebody, and I get accused of "hijacking" somebody's post?  I get accused of spamming and things like that, just because I'm 62 years old and am not that great with computers and figuring out websites?

 

The Lindner Center of Hope, in Mason, Ohio (a stone's throw from Kings Island) is affiliated with the Medical School of the University of Cincinnatti.  Does that sound like some kind of bogus outfit to you?  Make a phone call or send an email and check for yourself.

 

Don't tell me that there's something hard about keeping up with the latest developments in treatments for "treatment-resistant depression," when I spent MONTHS researching it on the web, fighting with my insurance company to get pre-approval, reading clinical studies without being a doctor, all while I had to ask my wife every day what day it was and couldn't be trusted to drive because I was so confused I couldn't judge distances and wrecked two cars.

 

Don't tell me that clinical depression is too debilitating when I was so doped up on Lamictal that I couldn't walk straight and fell headfirst down three flights of stairs and fell any time I was off of level ground, because of the loss-of-balance side-effects, and before I got used to my limitations, fell at least six times, twice breaking ribs and once a bone in my right hand.  My poor wife had to put up with a husband who was a blithering idiot for YEARS, and who couldn't even help his kids with their homework, because he couldn't figure it out.

 

Don't tell me there's something difficult involved when I was told that there was nothing left but ECT and after three shock treatments couldn't even read a book and left against medical advice.  Don't tell me it's discouraging, after I was told by my wife that she couldn't stand it any more and that if I got sick again, she would leave me.  Don't tell me that there's a bit of effort involved after I was told that if this final shrink couldn't help me, we were giving up and I'd just have to stay like I was, because we couldn't afford the bills and the pills and the negativism that was drowning me.

 

I finally came up with this conclusion: If nobody will help you, you have to help yourself.  That meant trying yet another doctor, against my wife's wishes, who happened to mention a thing called TMS that, he said, was sort of like shock treatments but didn't have the memory-loss side-effects, but that I'd probably have to travel to Pennsylvania to get it, and that the insurance company wouldn't cover it without a long fight (he was right about that).

 

And finally, having literally nothing left to lose, wandering in for my first TMS treatment on 2/2/10 and having one a day, every week day for six weeks (plus two final spaced-out "maintenance treatments" for a total of 32), and that on 3/19/10, after spending six weeks in a hotel away from my wife and family, I walked out of the Lindner Center dead solid normal and have been ever since.

 

I'm sorry if I bothered you with this--I really thought I might be able to help somebody who was in a similar fix to mine.

 

louis1888 (aka) Ira Herman.  (Louis Gaffin was my grandfather, who was born in 1888, and who once met Teddy Roosevelt.)  So, I've shaken the hand that shook the hand of the "Old Rough Rider."  I've never felt better or more sharp and clear-headed in my life, and I sincerely hope and pray that you will find the same relief--but it probably won't be easy.

Anonymous

7/ 6/10 10:21am

Dear Fellow Poster:

 

I am sorry I am confused as to what your name is (Ira or Louis, I think, but it doesn't really matter).

 

You sound upset & angry & like you have been attacked.  I'm sorry about that.  I also am older (56) & have been ill since I was 15 w/my 1st suicide attempt.  My dx is bipolar I & acute anxiety (oh, yes, have PTSD & ADHD--love all the acronyms thrown in; it's like we have our own "secret" language--except that might be a symptom so I won't talk about "secret" languages!). 

 

I also was accused of "hijacking" a thread (not here; people here do seem more polite), but on another mental health site (that I don't go to anymore! I am in no way suggesting YOU not come here.) when I mentioned in passing another subject that I thought related to the main topic but the person who did the original post didn't & even sent me "private messages" calling me "Stupid" & cussing at me, asking me if I can read (as I obviously didn't understand her post, I guess), etc. for this "crime" of hijacking her post!!

 

I actually didn't know what that term meant, but I was very upset (as it sounds like you are, though I was more scared & hurt than angry & you sound angry & defensive).  I reported it to the moderator.  The moderator said the site had been having problems w/this person & was actually being "coached" by this particular moderator to learn some "social skills", but this person did end up getting banned from the site due to attacking people like that (I also left the site).  Again, I am only relating my personal decisions & feelings & am not suggesting anything re: you.  I just wanted to say there is another elderly person here who has been "attacked" for the crime of hijacking!

 

So I didn't want you to feel alone here, but I also think you are escalating things w/your anger & defensiveness.  You are blaming people (like that person who called "Stupid") for not researching things themselves, etc.  It seems from my experience w/people in the DBSA (yeah, more acronyms!! Depression & Bipolar
Support Alliance) support group I go to that everyone is doing the best he or she can.  I think I mentioned the friend who despite being very depressed for so long is still putting one foot in front of another (I have attempted suicide quite a few times & she is basically "white knuckling" it through every day w/out ever resorting to that kind of extreme behavior). 

 

I am so impressed w/her & her relentless pursuit of treatments to help herself, but some days getting out of bed is a major ordeal for her.  Some people ARE debilitated by their illness or can't think as clearly as you can to read & concentrate (she has a hard time reading & retaining anything) & the exhaustion that comes w/depression (not to mention hopelessness) precludes some people from doing extensive research as you did.

 

I think it is wrong to blame people for not doing enough when they are doing as much as they can at that particular time.  I went to all kinds of therapists for about FORTY YEARS & couldn't apply what I learned due to not being on the right medication (went to my GP who misdiagnosed me w/unipolar depression despite my mother having bipolar also).  I could only cry, cry, cry.  I couldn't think w/the immense chest-crushing sadness & anxiety. 

 

Once I got on the right meds (after switching to an internal medicine doc who right away dxed me as bipolar & being in a mixed episode & sent me to a pdoc)--speaking of which,  I was on Geodon only 4 days as I broke my toe on Geodon due to the dizziness as I tried to run back to bed before falling over & hit my toe on the bed's leg.  I also had to lie down on the floor at work when a wave of dizziness hit me--not good as I worked in a very public place, but I had to lie down as the room started spinning.  Then a wave of exhaustion hit me & I had to leave--I had not revealed my mental health condition to anyone at work & just said I had a bad reaction to a new medication & then I FELL ASLEEP WHILE DRIVING HOME.  Luckily, when  my car was veering off the road the sound of my tires hitting the gravel shoulder woke me up.  I barely made it in the front door & had to lie down on the foyer floor to sleep; I couldn't make it to the couch.

 

But this goes to show how some medications & treatments work great for some people & not at all or are dangerous for others.  I have the chronic pain issue & you wouldn't believe how much other people BADGER me to see their chiropracter, follow their diet, see their guru or that I am causing the pain myself just by the fact I am going to see a doc--seems I'm "making my own reality" by going to a doc (& it ends up I have a neurological condition w/similar symptoms to ALS that has no treatment or cure other than pain management; it is a genetic condition & my younger brother has it & has lost his sight & is in a wheelchair so I am LUCKY in that I am still mobile & can read but am experiencing incredible pain). 

 

I know these people mean well, but please, I am doing the best I can.  I cannot afford the money much less have the time & energy to see everyone's favorite treatment that they are convinced will help me. I sometimes have medical appointments every day of the week (including therapy).  I also want to be somewhat of a "normal" wife to my saintly husband!  I just have to shut up about the pain as it was making me feel worse as people stated telling me that if I gone to see the person, place or thing they recommended 2 yrs. ago when the pain started I wouldn't be in the bad shape I am in now...

 

Really.  That really does not help me to blame me for a neurological condition & that I have chosen to see a pain management doc & neurologist for my diagnosis--DNA test is virtually 100% accurate-- & whatever treatment for the relief of the pain these docs are recommending & not the different "providers" these people recommended so basically, it is my own fault & I probably deserve this kind of pain. 

 

Give people a bit of compassion & don't blame them for causing their own misery by not following your path or example.  It is really great you can read, digest, & retain all the info. as you did your research while falling down stairs.  I'm just not as talented or gifted or whatever.  I'm just hanging on some days w/the pain & then the mental health issues.

 

But, now I am probably "hijacking" & rambling (which is a major problem of mine).  So I apologize for that.  I DID want to mention that since you are feeling so good mood-wise after your TMS treatment that therapy might be a good addition to your treatment plan.  It is usually recommended that therapy in conjunction w/medications or whatever treatment is effective is the best thing to do.  Being as depressed as long as you were (& as I was, though Lamictal has helped me a lot; Lithium was WONDERFUL but had to get off it after 2 mos. due to kidney malfunction & even have some kidney damage after just that short period of time, but we each are so individual as to what treatments work for us), therapy might be a wonderful addition to your treatment plan as I found after being depressed for so long that I had a lot of dysfunctional ways of thinking (cognitive distortions) & that these unhelpful thinking patterns were causing me to be angry, defensive & trying to change other people's thoughts, emotions or behaviors to MAKE ME FEEL MORE COMFORTABLE.

 

Through Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT, of course!) I learned I cannot control other people's thoughts, behaviors or emotions.  I can politely express my requests or desires for them to change (needed to learn effective communication skills to do this as I was very defensive & quick to anger mostly because I had an enormous amount of fear & feeling unsafe unless I could manipulate my enviornment & thus the world to suit me), but if the person does not choose to honor my request then I have the decision as to whether I can "let it go" & allow that person to be an individual or if the issue is too huge for me (such as a morality or abuse issue) then I can cut that person out of my life.

 

But as far as I know John Irving never considered calling his book, "The World According to MY NAME."

 

It actually was a tremednous relief to stop trying to mold the world & start trying to learn better coping skills & thereby change me & my reactions.  My husband has also benefitted from attending some educational classes as we have been together since I was 15 & married 36 yrs. so he has a "new wife" & needed to also learn about my symptoms & that helped to take a lof of the blaming issues away, too.  I can't help having a mental disorder, but I can do the best to my ability at this particular time to cope & utilize tools that I have been given.

 

Anyway, I apologize to everyone for maybe hijacking the hijacking, but I just wanted to let this fellow know that he doesn't need to feel so defensive & angry & that it is such a relief when I finally learned how to not react to people who didn't follow my instructions for the world!!

 

I am happy so many issues are discussed here & do learn a lot.  I also recommend people talk to their health providers & work in conjunction w/them (such as my learning from the pain management doc that omega-3 would hinder the effectiveness of my pain medication; I had no idea about that).  And if your provider will not treat you as an equal partner in your attempts to get the best quality of life "fire" him or her (I have done so) until you find that person (for me it is a psychiatric nurse practictioner) that will work w/you in a collaborativve way & treat you w/respect.

 

Anyway--so glad you are feeling better & that others have learned about omega-3 & can talk to their providers to see if it is an option for them.

louis1888

7/ 6/10 1:27pm

Dear Anonymous:

 

Thank you so much for your kind post in response to my angry one.  I just had to "vent" my frustration.

 

People do seem to be missing my point.  What I am trying to do is to tell people what I found-out after doing so much work--so that they won't have to!

 

Look, maybe I'm wrong to assume that my condition was the same as most of the other people's here, and that the thing that worked for me will also work for everyone else.  But, I was amazed by what finally happened to me.  I had at least nine episodes of severe, major clinical depression during the last fourteen years.  Each episode lasted an average of about nine months, during which I was totally disabled. 

 

And then, after all this (it sounds like you have had it even worse), in desperation I try this Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation therapy as a last-ditch attempt since I had nothing left to lose, and it worked!

 

I don't mean that it worked just a little, or partially, I mean that it took me from the poiint from where I couldn't find my way to the treatment center to the point of absolute normalcy!

 

As I said to one of my psychiatrists once (who also tried every kind of med and none worked, but God Bless her, she tried, as did all the others), "When you've been depressed as much as I have, you learn to cherish normalcy."

 

But my whole point for visiting this site was simply to share my experience, so that maybe I could give someone who was in my former situation a shortcut, so they wouldn't have to go through all the hell I did, to arrive where I am now--utterly depression-free!

 

What they told me at The Lindner Center and what I came to believe although I was as skeptical as a person could be was this:

 

Severe depression or "treatment-resistant depression," or whatever you want to call it, is caused by a physiologically-based condition in which a 2.5 inch area on the left side of your brain called the left prefrontal cortex is inactive, for whatever reason.  And, that they've found that they can stimulate this part of the brain by sending electro-magnetic pulses through your skull to that target area only.  Basically, I arrived in a state of panic--and the psychiatrist basically said to me, just wait, you'll see, you'll get better, but it will take about six weeks of treatments.  I still didn't believe him, but here's what happened:

 

By the end of the second week of treatments, I noticed that my long-gone appetite was returniing.

 

By the end of my fourth week of treatments, I realized that my head was clearing-up to the point where I could sit at a computer and do "mental kinds" of work again.  I reported this to my TMS nurse, who had instructed me to do just that, and when the psychiatrist in charge heard this, he actually increased the strength or power of the magnetic pulses from 3,000 per treatment to 4,000.

 

At that time, I conservatively estimated my improvement at 50%.

 

By the end of the fifth week, my estimate was of an 80% improvement.

 

By the middle of the sixth week, I realized that I was in complete remission--100% normal!  All of a sudden (it seemed like), not only could I enjoy everything again, I could work, had energy, and couldn't get enough to eat (my problem when I'm depressed is severe weight loss, because I don't want to even think about food).

 

My whole outlook had changed, a complete 180, from the point where I fought nearly constant urges to commit suicide to the point where I was so happy to be alive that I want to live to be 100, God willing.

 

What I'm trying to say is that it took me from being 100% disabled to 100% able in a six-week period.  I have since started a new small business, which is looking good, am enjoying everything to the point where my wife jokingly tells me I'm TOO HAPPY, that I talk too much, that I dominate conversations (the life of the party sort of thing), and that maybe they even overdid it and fixed me TOO much.

 

What I try to explain to her is that, for me, the change was so dramatic, that I still can't get over it.  I wake-up every day now refreshed and happy, I have so much energy and want to do so many positive things that I wish the days were twice as long, so that I could work more (after the frustration of not being able to work at all, for years).  When I was depressed, I used to watch the clock and hope that the day would be over soon, so that I could take my Ambien and go to sleep, that being the only respite from continual suffering.

 

What I'm trying to say is that I don't even need any treatment plan anymore because I am no longer sick at all!  Since March 19th, I've been guided by my doctor here to gradually taper off a few of the meds I had been taking.  For example, I'm totally off of Cymbalta; she asked me if I had energy, and I said. "Baby have I got energy!" and so she tapered me off of Nuvigil, which was prescribed to give me energy.  She said that I'm now down to the "cheap stuff" like generic prozac, etc.  The eventual goal (I'm in no hurry), is to gradually taper me off of everything, but we don't want to take any chances, so the plan is to do it really slowly.

 

So, what I'm saying is that I don't feel just SOMEWHAT better--I feel 100% normal, healthy, and happy again!

 

My whole purpose in being on this site and ones like it is to tell people about TMS, so that maybe the same thing can happen to them.

 

My other main point is that TMS is so relatively new, the insurance companies routinely deny coverage on the basis that it is 'experimental."  That makes the providers have to make their patients pay up-front for the treatments--about $9000!  What I'm trying to get to here is that, the more people who fight the battle for precertification of coverage, the more the insurance companies will consider it "routine" instead of experimental, and will finally realize that they will be saving money in the long run (money is the language they understand), and so they'll routinely begin to precertify approval, which will then allow the providers to provide the treatments without making the patients pay up-front, and the whole money problem will be solved.

 

Incidentally, while I did have to scrabble-up the $9000. (I drained every penny out of my I.R.A. account to do it), I have since been reimbursed by my insurance carrier for all but $186. of that amount.  Bingo--a check for $4200. arrived in the mail, after I filed my first claim.  Another check for close to $5000 arrived after filing my second claim.  Further, I'm not worried at all about money now (I used to be obsessed with it), because now I can work and make a living and bring new money in, whereas before I could not work or make a liviing at all.

 

So, ALL I'm trying to do is to spread the word about the help I found (which seems miraculous to me, it's so dramatic) in case maybe somebody else can achieve the same thing without going through the whole rigmarole I had to.

 

I got angry, because I was met on this site, and one other, with skepticism, an accusation that I had some money-motive involved, was engaging in "advertising" or "spamming" or "hijacking" Dr. Kennard's post about Omega 3 fish oil (which I happen to take myself), merely because I didn't know how to make a post and did it the only way I could figure out, by replying to an existing one.

 

OK, I'm done.  And thanks again for your understanding.  I happen to be a somewhat religious person, and so I talk in terms like "a miracle from God," which I can see sounds like hype for some kind of bogus treatment, but I believe in giving credit where credit is due.

 

Wishing you and everyone else a speedy recovery--

 

louis1888

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am someone who was taking the Omegas regularly because they can help with Arthritis.  I wasn't taking it for my mental state.  But I allowed my supply to run out and within 3 weeks I had to up my psych meds because I was starting to have Bipolar symptoms.  I started taking the higher dose of meds and resumed taking the Omegas at the same time so I will never know for sure cause and effect.  But I do know I will be extra careful not to let my Omega regimen fall by the wayside again.