This post is about my own experiences and thoughts about eTMS treatment. It should not be used as medical advice or be considered an authoritative source for medical information. If you think TMS/rTMS/eTMS could help you, check with a medical professional for the latest information and steps to get help. If you are a Veteran, First Responder, or Law Enforcement officer struggling with substance abuse, mental illness, sleep disorder, traumatic brain injury, sexual trauma, PTSD, concussions, or other brain trauma, contact eTMS Ohio for treatment options.

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Finally got the video up and edited! The first day took about an hour and a half, but I cut out the parts where all that was happening was typing on a computer or tablet, and left in the “interesting” parts, including the entire treatment. (There are timestamps on YouTube if you want to skip ahead.)

Unfortunately, the state of Ohio intervened and rescinded the permission I was given to record my sessions, so for now there will be no videos.

Here’s what happened:

First we did Scales. These are done every five sessions and are designed to track my progress. It’s a series of questions that you answer on a numeric scale to identify depression, anxiety, etc. Unfortunately, I can’t access the account where those surveys were put right now, but I know I was surprised by some of the results: The general anxiety and PTSD were expected, but I also scored as having moderate depression, which had never come up before.

So, the GAD-7 says I have moderate anxiety, the ISI says I have moderate clinical insomnia, the PHQ-9 says I have moderate depression. The PCL-5 and BDI-2 sheets didn’t have the interpretation information, but DuckDuckGo helped me get the answers. According to Wikipedia, a BDI-2 score of 19–29 indicates moderate depression. According to the VA, there are currently no empirically derived severity ranges for the PCL-5, but a cut-point score of 31-33 is reasonable for a provisional diagnosis of PTSD.

After that, Ron mentioned how this could make me crave carbs. The test is basically a 14-minute, 40-second walk on a treadmill for my brain, and it burns a lot of energy. After each treatment, I’m offered a snack of various trail-mixy foods and juice.

Then there was some government-mandated education. It was actually a little interesting, especially the part about sunlight. According to the script, getting out in the daylight (e.g., going for a walk) for about 45 minutes between 7 and 11 am will supress your melatonin, allowing it to start ramping back up in the evening. Then, if you stop using screens (or at least use a blue filter) at 9 pm, you can go to bed and fall asleep at around 10 pm. According to them, the best restorative sleep happens between 10 pm and 2 am.

My protocol is set for a 10.4hz Mean, 36 trains, 5 second bursts followed by a 20-second interval. This means that a pulse cycling at 10.4 cycles per second will be administered 36 times. Each pulse will last five seconds, followed by a 20-second pause before the next pulse.

First, though, Ron had to find my power threshold. He did this by putting the electromagnetic above each side of my motor cortex and giving gradually stronger pulses until my finger moved involuntarily. I didn’t even notice it happening at first, but he was able to turn my finger on and off as he narrowed down to a strength of 47. I missed what it was 47 of, but at that strength it started me moving. My target strength was set to 80% of that (38). This allows the pulses to reach into the first couple of centimeters, but not start making me twitch.

Then I was invited to lay back in the recliner as Ron put the magnet at the top the “FPZ”. It’s at the top of my forehead, over my prefrontal cortex. He described it as a one-inch circle. We started at the top, and as the treatment continues, will gradually move down to just above my eyebrows.

The first pulse was half of my target strength. I didn’t really feel much of anything at that point. When you listen on the video (or from the waiting room), it can sound a little scary (at one point I thought it sounded like a cattle prod!). But sitting in the chair with it on my forehead, it wasn’t a big deal.

Through the 14-minute, 40-second treatment, Ron gradually increased the power every few pulses. After the first bump, it actually tickled a little. When we got to 30, I started to get a little bit of a headache, so we stopped the increases there. “Tomorrow” (which was yesterday, since I’m a little behind!) we will start at 30 and build from there.

I started getting used to it as the treatment went on. Ron said it takes a couple sessions to get used to it, but most of his patients actually start to feel good and have a general sense of peace and well-being as the pulses go.

By the end of the session, I was pretty much used to it, although the pulses made my head hurt just a little. If you watch the video, you can see we start chatting about other stuff, like how much they’re finding TMS useful for conditions like OCD, ADHD, PTSD, and even autism! 82% of patients see some kind of improvement. If you haven’t already, you should watch that part of the video. Ron is very knowledgeable, and you can tell how much he loves this work.

After the pulses, Ron put my “Frankenstein hat” back on (so named by me last night after my wife said she was reminded of Young Frankenstein when she watched the video). He took a 30-second EEG to just check that everything was good to go. I wasn’t able to get a copy of that, but I did get a copy of my initial EEG from May 29th during my initial appointment.

In a healthy brain, the three charts should look similar. My alpha waves (top graph) are slower, so the peak is to the left. Over time, the peak should move right into the darker zone, in sync with my theta and beta waves.

And that was it! I grabbed a snack (Power Up Antioxidant Mix and Sunny D) and headed out!

That night I didn’t feel a lot of difference and just went about my night.

Next up, I celebrate my birthday at full power, and learn just how much you can crave carbs!