“TMS saved my life” is a phrase we hear from time to time at our clinic and a term we often come across on line.
TMS saved my life
When considering transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), it would be reasonable for you to look for other people’s perspectives on their experience with TMS. You might search for phrases like: “TMS saved my life”, “TMS saved me from depression”, “TMS helped me”, “TMS testimonials”, or “TMS reviews”.
Online, you’ll find many reports from various sources about people getting great results from TMS. These might be from news sites, social media, TMS clinics, or other websites like Reddit. However, when looking at these reports and people saying “TMS saved my life”, it would be a good idea to ask why, or what has changed for them.
Feeling better with TMS
At Sydney TMS, and in most scientific research, we use the term response. If someone’s depression symptoms as measured by questionnaire scores drop by 50%, it is defined as a response. For someone to reach ‘remission’, their depression would need to be reduced to questionnaire scores that would not meet the criteria for depression anymore. Having said that, someone whose scores reduce by 49% but not 50% technically doesn’t meet the criteria for a response, but would still feel much better.
So, if an individual has had a good experience with TMS, it’s likely that they’ve either experienced a response, a remission, or don’t meet the criteria for a ‘response’ but feel much better. That’s promising news, but you might be wondering what they actually feel rather than numbers on a piece of paper.
Findings
After a review of a few sources, here is what we found:
On Reddit: More functional, rational, and happy. Sleeping better and not crying often anymore. The heaviness of depression has left me. Feeling upbeat (1). I found myself laughing and smiling again. I had energy to start exercising and started losing weight. I started doing things I enjoyed again (2).
Other news websites: I was like a cartoon character drawn in black and white, and with TMS, I was back to full colour (3). A decrease in anxiety, increase in energy, and an improvement in mood (4).
Sydney TMS – our experience
In our experience at Sydney TMS, when clients have a positive outcome from TMS, they feel one or many of the following: More energy, a sensation of a weight lifting off their shoulders, a feeling of lightness, better mood, more resilient, generally less depressed or not depressed anymore, more functional, brighter, smiling more, laughing more, more productive.
When people experience significant improvements from TMS, such as a better mood, better motivation, and losing the heaviness associated with depression, they often feel much better. These positive changes can be so profound that individuals move from surviving to thriving, marking a dramatic shift in their quality of life. This transformation is why many say “TMS saved my life”.
References:
1. Various Users. TMS success stories? [Internet]. Reddit. 2021. Available from: https://www.reddit.com/r/rtms/comments/rfmvji/tms_success_stories/
2. Various Users. TMS changed my life (100% major depression + anxiety remission) [Internet]. Reddit. 2023. Available from: https://www.reddit.com/r/rtms/comments/11nwvwm/tms_changed_my_life_100_major_depression_anxiety/
3. Latifi F. I Tried Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation For Depression — Here’s What Happened. Refinery29 [Internet]. 2023 June 6 [cited 2024 Feb 13]; Available from: https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/what-is-transcranial-magnetic-stimulation-tms-depression
4. Smith L. After years of depression, gentle electromagnetic stimulation of the brain may provide relief [Internet]. UCLA Health. [cited 2024 Feb 13]. Available from: https://www.uclahealth.org/news/after-years-depression-gentle-electromagnetic-stimulation