Treatment for Hard-Core Depression

TMS brings relief to longtime depression sufferers

Some depression sufferers live with the illness for years, moving through life as if through a wall of molasses and with zero relief from medication.

But technology is catching up with depression, a condition affecting approximately 15 million Americans. And Fargo boasts North Dakota’s only facility equipped to administer an innovative new treatment that might be the first real relief for sufferers of hard-core depression.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation is virtually side-effect-free because the treatment is administered by an electromagnetic pulse that targets the specific, quarter-sized area of the brain responsible for the depressive effects. “Medications hit receptors in your gut, heart, and every other system you can think of,” explained Dr. Rachel Fleissner. “TMS treats only that very small area, so there are no systemic effects.”

Though approved by the Federal Drug Administration, the state-of-the-art treatment is still in its early stages of use. Nevertheless, reports on effectiveness have been of a rather dramatic nature.

“One patient was on the phone with her sister, who said, ‘What have you done? You’re like my sister from five years ago.’ She could even tell the difference in her voice,” Fleissner said. “Others have said, ‘I’d forgotten I could live like this. I can see the colors in the flowers for the first time in years.’”

Inside her TMS suite at Attentive Mind on South University, Fleissner sees patients with treatment-resistant depression – those who’ve tried at least one anti-depressant with either no result or intolerance due to side effects.

The treatment area is located by using pulsating magnets, a mathematical algorithm, and lasers. The dose is determined by how much energy it takes for the electromagnetic energy to penetrate that particular area of the brain. “The very first time a patient comes in we have guide wires and lasers to help, but once we’ve set it up, it’s very easy to put (the patient) in the same position and simply plug in the numbers and cross-wires.”

For the actual treatment, the patient simply sits in the chair –an Italian spa chair – and lets the pulsing begin. “People describe it like a woodpecker,” Fleissner said. “You feel it as energy going through your skull, but by about three sessions the brain gets used to it and you don’t even notice.”

Treatment lasts for about thirty minutes, and the process is repeated daily for six weeks. Less than ten percent of patients need additional treatment for six months to a year out. And of those, about 97 percent continue to hold that response.

Since depression is a “whole body illness,” it can affect one’s ability to concentrate and organize, and can create lethargy and moodiness. “A lot of people don’t realize they have the illness, and even if they do they don’t always get help,” Fleissner said. ” Instead, they get stuck in that horrible ‘I can’t get out of here’ mode.”

She views TMS as a response to the need for a more innovative treatment, and an introduction to the idea that medication might not be the answer to every ill. [AWM]

For more information about the TMS treatment, call Dr. Fleissner, 701.364.9723.