Posted by SLS on December 10, 2003, at 7:27:16
In reply to Re: TMS » SLS, posted by Pfinstegg on December 9, 2003, at 12:41:37
> Hi Scott! Yes, I go to Atlanta approximately every four months for six follow-up TMS treatments- given at the rate of two daily, so the visit is only three days. It seems to be extremely effective; my next treatment is at the end of January, but I am so far depression-free, which is a HUGE improvement compared to pre-TMS. How are you doing?
>
> Pfinstegg
Yay!!!I am so happy for you. There must have been a time when you thought you would never get well, so you probably feel like you are doing better than you could ever have dreamed.
I'm not doing so well, but I'm afraid to complain all of the time for fear people will get sick of hearing it. I had a few drugs produce transient antidepressant responses last spring and early summer. I was actually shocked that any of them worked at all. I take that as an encouraging sign. My doctor thinks that the reason for the transience of effect has something to do with gene expression downstream. My brain is too friggin' good at maintaining a dysfunctional homeostasis that it, for some reason, believes is normal.
If I remember correctly (a dubious assumption at best), you never had ECT. Is that accurate?
I failed a course of 15 ECT treatments in 1991. My question is this: Is non-response to ECT a prognosticator of non-response to TMS? I would love to know Dr. Hutto's opinion. I did FAX him, as you suggested, to ask him, but his office simply responded that I should make an appointment to come in. Ouch. Recently, I corresponded with Mark George, MD regarding this issue. He declined to opine, citing a lack of data. Another TMS investigator told me that his "gut feeling" was that failure to respond to other biological treatments probably indicated a reduced chance of responding to TMS. My doctor seems to agree with this. However, that statement can me made regardless of which treatment is chosen subsequent to a series of treatment failures. Argh.
Thanks for responding. Stay well. :-)
Sincerely,
Scott
poster:SLS
thread:136050
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031208/msgs/288282.html