Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive treatment using targeted magnetic pulses to stimulate your brain cells. NeuroStar TMS therapy, which the FDA cleared in 2008, helps people struggling with major depressive disorder when traditional medications and therapies do not effectively relieve their symptoms.
This treatment-resistant depression is frustrating and challenging. However, we want you to know there is hope for reducing or eliminating your symptoms with NeuroStar TMS treatments. Keep reading to find out how NeuroStar TMS therapy in Decatur works.
NeuroStar TMS therapy targets the cells in your brain’s prefrontal cortex. This area of your brain is associated with mood regulation. Research has demonstrated that this area is underactive when you have major depressive disorder.
If you decide to undergo NeuroStar TMS therapy, a medical professional will place a magnetic coil near your scalp during each treatment session and focus the magnetic pulses that stimulate your brain cells.
These pulses, which are similar to those an MRI machine produces, will stimulate areas of your brain connected to mood disorders. No anesthesia or sedation is necessary during a NeuroStar TMS session, so you will be able to resume your daily activities immediately afterward.
Unlike electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), the NeuroStar TMS process is non-invasive, which works well for our Decatur patients.
Each NeuroStar TMS session lasts from 20 to 40 minutes, depending on the protocol developed during your first consultation and initial treatment appointment. Several factors influence your treatment protocol, including your anatomy and the severity of your symptoms, and the length of time you have had them.
During your initial visit to our Decatur practice, we will establish a motor threshold that will help determine the location and strength of the stimulation needed to make NeuroStar TMS therapy work for you. A computer will control these settings to ensure you get the exact magnetic stimulation you need. You will be awake and alert during your treatment. Most people receive five sessions per week for seven weeks.
NeuroStar TMS works effectively for our Decatur practice’s adult patients who have been diagnosed with treatment-resistant depression because they have not received relief from traditional therapies. The FDA has also cleared NeuroStar TMS as a treatment for anxious depression and as an adjunct therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in adults and for major depressive disorder in adolescents.
You may be a candidate for NeuroStar TMS therapy if you are seeking an alternative to medications to avoid systemic side effects associated with medications. However, because the NeuroStar TMS process uses magnetic pulses, it is not appropriate if you have an embedded medical device such as a pacemaker, cochlear implant, or deep brain stimulator. You are also not a good candidate if you have a ferromagnetic ink tattoo on your head or neck.
As we tell our Decatur patients, the NeuroStar TMS process works only on the brain, unlike medications that affect the entire body. NeuroStar TMS therapy does not have the systemic side effects that antidepressant medications can cause, which include weight gain, fatigue, and sexual dysfunction.
Most major insurance providers cover NeuroStar TMS therapy. Many people begin noticing symptom improvement four to six weeks after starting their treatments.
NeuroStar TMS therapy provides many benefits that traditional treatments you may have been prescribed, such as antidepressant medications and ECT, do not offer. The NeuroStar TMS process is non-invasive and does not have the systemic side effects like antidepressant medications do. You will not need sedation or anesthesia for your NeuroStar TMS sessions, so no recovery time is necessary.
When you are living with major depressive disorder, anxious depression, or OCD, NeuroStar TMS could be a transformative therapeutic approach. To better understand how NeuroStar TMS therapy in Decatur works, it helps to recognize how this well-tolerated option targets brain activity to relieve your symptoms.
If you are considering NeuroStar TMS therapy, contact us today to schedule a consultation and explore whether this safe, non-invasive treatment is the right fit for your mental health needs.
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