Does TMS Therapy Hurt?
No, the most common side effect related to treatment was scalp discomfort during treatment sessions. This side effect was generally mild to moderate and occurred less frequently after the first week of treatment. If necessary, you can treat this discomfort with an over-the-counter analgesic. If these side effects persist, your doctor can temporarily reduce the strength of the magnetic field pulses being administered in order to make treatment more comfortable.
Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, or Deep TMS, uses magnetic fields to regulate brain structures associated with mood disorders. During the treatment process, patients normally hear a tapping sound and feel some pressure over the treatment site, though these usually go away after several sessions. Deep TMS therapy side effects usually do not cause any persistent discomfort.
Side Effects
In addition to the above real-time reactions, some mild and passing side effects have been reported by a minority of patients: in a recent BrainsWay study from 2019, patients suffering from major depressive disorder (MDD) who underwent Deep TMS treatment reported experiencing a headache following treatment. A small percentage of patients also reported site discomfort, site pain, jaw pain, lightheadedness, or insomnia following their treatment. While there is a rare risk of seizures to all forms of TMS, it is either less than or comparable to seizure rates experienced with antidepressant medication.
As BrainsWay’s Deep TMS process is noninvasive, all the equipment involved operates completely outside the body, without penetration of the skin. In cases where the patient experiences local discomfort during the procedure, the Deep TMS helmet placed over the patient’s head can be adjusted by the system operator to help diminish it.
What To Expect
Learn more about what you can expect during your consultation in the video below.
