Dr. Shashita Inamdar, Achieving Results with TMS

Dr. Shashita Inamdar,

ACHIEVING RESULTS WITH TMS By Jaime V. Habert

WE'VE ALL HEARD THE PHRASE, "think positive" or "be grateful," but for some, being happy is not a choice that they get to make. For some, being happy is a daily struggle. The Mayo Clinic defines depression as a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Also called major depressive disorder, or clinical depression, it affects how you feel, think and behave and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. You may have trouble doing normal day-to-day activities, and sometimes you may feel as if life isn't worth living. More than just a bout of the blues, depression isn't a weakness, and you can't simply "snap out" of it. Depression may require long-term treatment.

This long-term treatment has typically been a cocktail of medications; however, a new answer has come in the form of TMS. TMS stands for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, and it is a treatment option that is now FDA cleared for depression and covered by every major commercial insurance carrier. This safe, localized and non-invasive treatment involves magnetic pulses that penetrate the cerebral cortex to stimulate the mood center of the brain. It works by placing a cushioned helmet with a magnetic coil on the patient’s head. MRI-strength magnetic pulses are then directed into the mood center of the brain where they stimulate and depolarize cortical neurons that are underactive in depressed brains, improving neural conduction and promoting the release of neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. You can think of it as a traffic jam on the freeway with TMS opening up lanes that free up blockages and get everything moving again.

Patients begin treatment by receiving an initial brain mapping where the mood center of the brain is identified and targeted. Once this area is located, a certified and trained technician administers the treatments while patients comfortably recline in a chair surrounded by soothing music or entertainment. Patients report that treatment feels like a pulsed tapping on the side of the forehead. The typical course of treatment approved by most insurances is a 20-minute treatment five days per week for six weeks. The response rate for TMS vs. medications is staggering. Where medications show a 30-40% response rate, TMS has a 70-75 % response rate and remission rates of 45-50% meaning no depressive symptoms for these patients when treatment ends.

Unlike medication which must go through the entire body and GI tract before making its way to the brain, TMS treats the exact area of need. When an individual takes prescription medication such as Prozac or Zoloft only a small amount reaches the brain. Not to mention, that there are generally sexual, emotional, and physical side effects with prescription medication.

At Achieve TMS Centers, a multidisciplinary approach to treating depression and anxiety is used incorporating a wide array of healthcare providers to ensure the best possible result for each patient, Achieve TMS is committed to making TMS treatment available and accessible.

The doctor behind this revolutionary treatment center is Shashita Inamdar. Dr. Inamdar is the Medical Director of Achieve Medical. Beyond being an extremely accomplished professional, she is the driving force behind Achieve TMS’ success and one of the most powerful influences in bringing TMS treatment to the masses. Dr. Inamdar is a member of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology as well as the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Board. This medical genius has over 20 years of expertise in the treatment of various psychiatric disorders. Achieve TMS’s principle concept comes from Dr. Inamdar’s belief that an all-encompassing and comprehensive take on psychiatric care is the only proven method of treatment.

This comprehensive care includes a 360-degree approach to healthcare. Achieve TMS advocates for both therapy and medications when necessary, but, also looks to each patient’s individual needs first and foremost. An innovator in her own right, Dr. Inamdar seeks to work with clients on their own terms; finding alternative methods of treatment that may not be in the mainstream diagnosis. Often, she finds her clients respond best to a combination of diet, personal training, counseling, and TMS sessions.

Micronutrient Testing is a pillar of treatment. With Micronutrient Testing, a comprehensive nutrient analysis of one’s dietary intake is taken, and functional deficiencies are measured at the cellular level. This allows us to assess how well your body utilizes 31 vitamins, minerals, amino/fatty acids, antioxidants, and metabolites while meeting the body's need for micronutrients and enabling the production of enzymes, hormones, and other substances essential for proper growth, and development. There is overwhelming evidence that micronutrient deficiencies are

Photos courtesy of Dr. Inamdar

associated with chronic diseases and therefore affect a patient’s physical and mental health.

Other innovative treatments are Pharamacogenomic testing and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. Pharmacogenomic testing analyzes gene variants that can influence how a person may respond to specific medications and can help guide treatment decisions. A simple, noninvasive buccal-swab test helps eliminate the need for trial-and-error treatment

by revealing personalized information about drug efficacy and adverse drug reactions/events for each patient. This information helps clinicians design a customized treatment plan to maximize impact

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy releases air pressure at a rate of three times the norm which allows for your lungs to gather more oxygen that can be transmitted through blood to fight bacteria and stimulate the release of stem cells that promote healing. Hyperbaric oxygen treatment has been shown to increase memory, balance, and circulation. The benefits are neurological (depression, anxiety, autism, concussions), rheumatological (arthritis, fibromyalgia), musculoskeletal (soft tissue injuries, fractures), cardiovascular (diabetes, aging), and relate as well to immunology, and chronic pain disorders. HBOT sessions last 60 minutes, and it is recommended that patients receive 40 sessions in order to gain the full physiological and neurological benefits. Most people who receive HBOT see results after only a few sessions with antioxidant and protective responses appearing 24 hours from treatment. HBOT is used in conjunction with TMS at Achieve Centers to help moderate the effects of traumatic brain injuries and provide a full recovery from high-impact insults to the body received by athletes.

At Achieve, Dr. Inamdar has done wonders with familiarizing the public with alternative answers to depression and anxiety. Her work within her field is unmatched, and while we are in awe of her intelligence, we are more impressed by her dedication to helping those affected by such illnesses. She is approaching medicine from the human perspective, holding counseling sessions with clients and getting to know their individual needs before prescribing any medications or methods of treatment. TMS was foreign to me when I stepped through the doors at Achieve in La Jolla, but when I left, I was well informed about the benefits of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. I met with technicians and Doctors with whom I would entrust my health, not only because of their vast knowledge of the field, but because of their desire to improve the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of every individual that steps foot through those doors. It is refreshing to see medicine through the eyes of people who genuinely care and are taking every effort to educate themselves on new innovations in the industry. If there was anywhere that was on the cutting edge of psychiatric care; it would be Achieve. TMS ,Dr. Inamdar and her team set out to constantly better themselves and provide the highest level of care for their patients.

For information visit AchieveTMS. com or call 844-HOPE-TMS.

WHY AUSTRALIA, OF course! This island continent is almost the same size as the continental USA. This enormous land which barely has 24.77 million inhabitants, contains approximately 7.6 million square miles, while the continental USA is 7.9 million square miles.

In Australia, everyone travels to know their own country as do the foreign visitors who flood to this place all year long. Australia has a lot of camping grounds for your trailer, the traveler, or tent with full amenities including hot water, bathroom services and sometimes even laundry and ice. They are in almost every town and dell. The weather from May to November is sunny without hardly ever a drop of rain. Skies are a bright, beautiful azure-blue. Normally the temperatures are hovering between 95-105 degrees Fahrenheit. The nights are so clear that you can almost touch the stars and travel in your spirit through the clear, crisp, clean air atmosphere, all toward the Southern Cross that dominates the skies in this part of the world.

In this article, I will concentrate on three months into our meandering trip. It took my wife Betssy and I almost an entire year to drive around and through some six thousand kilometers, and we did not even go through the South West Sandy Dessert which is another one thousand two hundred kilometers.

After several months of blowing our money, hours on the beach, consorting with the friendly locals in the pubs and even in their homes, we were broke. Upon arriving at Katherine in the top center corner of the Northern Territory, we needed a quick solution. The bulletin board in our campground had all kinds of wanted ads for work. Australia has lots going for it but lacks people, and the immigration laws are quite strict in the coastal states such as Victoria or Queensland. However, the laws are more flexible in the interior, such as the Northern Territory, where you find all kinds of foreign visitors like myself and Betssy who need a job just to eat. The best ad for us said: WANTED: Cowhands male or female. Beautiful ranch/ station with all included. Good wages for the coming three-month cattle round-up (July to September). So I made a phone call, and it took us a long day's drive