New TMS Therapy To Help TBI-Depression Sufferers After Vehicle Wrecks
If the doctor has told you that you’ve suffered a concussion or traumatic brain injury (TBI) as a result of an auto, motorcycle, or truck wreck it can be an extremely difficult and confusing time for you and your family. Learning to cope with and understand all of your symptoms is often emotionally taxing not only to the victim, but their loved ones as well.
Depression is one the brain’s common symptoms post-TBI. In fact, about half of all individuals who receive a blow to the head or some other form of brain injury experience depression within the first year after their injury. But now as Knoxville News Wate 6 reports, “a breakthrough treatment for depression is bringing hope to many people here in East Tennessee. It’s designed for patients who haven’t been helped by traditional anti-depressants.”
Brain-imaging technologies, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), have shown that the brains of people who have depression look different than those of people without depression. When a person suffers from diagnosed clinical depression research suggests that the brain may be hard wired differently, or may be (for lack of a better term) “short-circuited” somewhere. Some researchers believe that it works a bit like an on/off switch. It was this theory that helped develop a treatment called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, or TMS Therapy. The therapy works by directly stimulating the “depressed” region of the brain by using electrical impulses passed through a coil of wires to create a powerful magnetic field. The energy produced by the magnetic field re-activates the brain- turning it back “on.”
Dr. Lane Cook, Board Certified Psychiatrist and proponent of the groundbreaking treatment is now specializing in TMS Therapy at his Knoxville clinic. It has opened the doors for many people suffering from chronic depression in the East Tennessee area. In an age and a region where over-prescription of pharmaceuticals run high, TMS, which was cleared by the Food and Drug Administration in 2008, gives people a better possibility of feeling like themselves again without pills.
If you were describing the treatment to a friend in need, it might sound a bit “Frankenstein-esque.” And in fact, the treatment categorized the same family as a few other Electroconvulsive Therapies often used to treat severe cases of depression to produce seizing in the brain which helps to immediately dispel severe depressive symptoms. However, TMS is far less invasive, relatively pain-free and doesn’t require the patient to be put under anesthesia.
Yet, TMS is not without its rigors. For best results, individuals should undergo treatment every day for four to six weeks (or a 20-30 treatments). It is important to remember also that change is not guaranteed or always immediate but Dr. Cook says that he has had a 64 percent remission rate among his patients.
For more information on TMS of Knoxville visit Dr. Cook’s website here.
If you have suffered a blow to head or neck as a result of a wreck, please first, always seek medical attention, and then give us a call. A wreck is hard enough to go through when you have no injuries to deal with, let alone a head or other serious injury. We are the good guys. We are people fighting for people. We can help stream line the process and guide you through- like we have for hundreds of other East Tennesseans over the last 15 years. And there’s are no fees until we win. Let our team of experienced attorneys fight for the recovery you deserve! Call us today (615) 425-2500.