Woah, dude, remember that depression helmet I mentioned a while back? I recall PoC responding along the lines of "I want this."
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-27115432A helmet that delivers electro-magnetic impulses to the brain has shown promise in treating people with depression, Danish researchers have said.
About 30% of those with the condition fail to respond to medication or psychological counselling.
The new device targets malfunctioning blood cells in the brain.
In clinical trials two-thirds who used it reported that their symptoms had disappeared, and improvements in mood were noticeable within a week.
The helmet was tested on 65 patients with treatment-resistant depression.
"They were feeling well, they were functioning well, they could start work," said Birgit Straaso, chief doctor at Hillerod.
"The helmet is amazing," said Annemette Ovlisen, a graphic artist who suffered recurrent depression for 16 years and a participant in the Hillerod trials.
"It's like the fog lifts. It was like somebody hit the reset button."
The device contains seven coils that deliver a dose of Transcranial Pulsating Electro Magnetic Fields (T-PEMF) to brain tissues.
The pulses are so minute that the patient cannot detect any sensation, and the only side effect so far is occasional "tiny" nausea that immediately disappears after treatment.
Prof Steen Dissing, of Copenhagen's Faculty of Health Sciences is the helmet's principal architect.
He said: "The device mimics electrical fields in the brain, and triggers the body's own healing mechanism."
The pulses activate capillaries in the brain, which form new blood vessels and secrete growth hormones.
"We think it works so well because we have imitated the electrical signalling that goes on in the brain and we figured out that this signalling communicates with the blood vessels," said Prof Dissing.
"And blood vessels do communicate with blood tissue. And we found that communication pathway."
In the trial, whose results were published this month in the journal Acta Neuropsychiatrica, 34 patients received half an hour of T-PEMF once a day, and 31 had two 30-minute doses.
The treatment had the additional benefit of enabling patients to improve their tolerance of the anti-depression medicine, researchers found.
They are currently seeking permission from the European Union to market the helmet within six months to a year, and said the potential demand was enormous.
Someone mentioned TMS treatment for depression on reddit, others shared their experiences:
https://www.reddit.com/r/science/com...pression_have/"I've had major depressive disorder for at least 10 years and I just got this new treatment called TMS like 6 months ago. I feel amazing and winter is my worst time of the year but I just feel incredible. I sleep less now because I really want to experience all of this I've been missing."
"I was told this before and I don't think I will do it again because I honestly don't think I'll have to. It did what I needed. You feel the magnetic pull it's like flicking the inside of your head and it's not fun so yea, I can understand how it could be bad."
"Someone I know had a similar turnaround from TMS. It wears off though, hers has pretty much gone way after a few years."
I didn't know this had already taken off so much:
https://neurostar.com/neurostar-tms-...ion-treatment/There's one right by me:
http://www.baytms.com/#!directions-map/rjc7jMay be covered by insurance as well:
https://neurostar.com/neurostar-heal...ance-coverage/Hmm, although there's this so called "deep" version:
http://www.brainsway.com/us/why-brainswayWould need to find good info first about differences between various methods/providers. Likely is more effective, the best option.
Pretty futuristic that we have treatments like this available now.
"I think I'll just make a makeshift electromagnet with a copper coil and a car battery and do some home TMS."
"meh, just cut an extension cord in halve and connect the coil to an outlet."
Lanny, you aren't hard science retarded, could we actually feasibly generate a magnetic field of sufficient strength at home, at a relatively affordable price, with an acceptable risk of death?
