CHATTANOOGA, TN (WRCB) - <\/p>\n
Each year American's spend billions on antidepressants, but studies show they can be ineffective in up to 40 percent of all patients. Bob Holmes was one of them. <\/p>\n
Bob Holmes says \"They tried to adjust my medication, but the medication had side effects that weren't desirable.\" <\/p>\n
Holmes is among the 16-million people in the U.S. who suffer major depressive episodes each year. Thatnumberincreased 18-percent over the last decade, which is why some doctors are taking a different approach. <\/p>\n
Doctors are beaming magnetic pulses deep inside patients' brains to change the way depression symptoms are perceived. <\/p>\n
Dr. Andrew Leuchter, UCLA Health says, \"We are used to thinking of the brain as a chemical organ, but, it's also an electrical organ.\" <\/p>\n
Dr. Ian Cook, UCLA Medical says, \"It's called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation or T-M-S. It's currently F-D-A approved only to treat depression, but doctors say it may prove helpful in a wide range of conditions, by rewiring a network of signals in the brain.\" <\/p>\n
Doctors tell us that T-M-S can feel a bit uncomfortable at first, but many patients quickly get used to it and report substantial relief from their symptoms of depression within a few weeks. <\/p>\n
Dr. Leuchter says, \"What TMS is doing is changing how thenetwork functions, really rebooting the network to improve symptoms of mood, anxiety, and chronic pain.\" <\/p>\n
Which may be why many patients treated for depression also say it helps relieve their pain. Raising provocative questions about whether T-M-S could one day become a viable alternative to opioids. <\/p>\n
Dr. Ian Cook says, \"This is really a transformative kind of therapy, but in medicine there's always the wish to do better, to help more people than what we do now.\" <\/p>\n
But for now, it's made a dramatic difference in Bob's depression. <\/p>\n
Bob Holmes says, \"It provided that kind of jolt to get my brain to start work again, normally.\" <\/p>\n
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