TMS does not hurt. You may have a mild headache during the first week which will subside. This can be addressed with as needed Advil. It feels like a tapping sensation on your head.

Each patient is different and some respond within the first few treatments and others need to complete the entire 36. The standard approach is to complete the full series - 36 sessions for it address your symptoms. How do you know it is working ? You will begin to feel happy, motivated, improved energy levels, sleep better, improved libido, and more importantly you will feel like you're living your life to its fullest potential.

The first step to beginning treating a patient is to ensure that the first day is done precisely. This is known as the mapping day which is the key to success for the other 35 sessions to be purposeful. Our team invests that time up front to make sure day 1 is as close to perfect as we can achieve and we do so using the advanced technology of the neurostar machine and the experience of our physicians. Once we know your mapping settings on day 1 we replicate it each time for your treatment sessions.

While patients do find remission from undergoing TMS therapy the decision to stop medications is done on a case by case basis. It is done with careful supervision and involvement of you, the patient, and psychiatrist. Some medications can't be abruptly stopped so they may need to be tapered off.

Optimistically, we wish for all our treated patients to live their life in remission. If however your depression does come back, we can always pursue another round of TMS. It is not unheard of for patients to come back in the distant future to repeat the treatment. This is sometimes referred to as maintenance TMS.

No. While TMS is safe and has minimal side effects, ECT requires general anesthesia which can carry some risk.

To date, there is no evidence that TMS causes any kind of long-term damage to the brain. TMS does carry a very minor risk or seizure during treatment, specifically less than 0.1%. This risk seems to be more associated with those who are already at risk of seizure, whether due to a medication, a chronic condition such as epilepsy, or secondary to drug and alcohol use.