Has anyone ever tried rTMS (Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation) or ECT (Electroconvulsive therapy)?

Have either of these treatments helped you with schizophrenia or psychosis?

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Needs a interesting button rather then the like. button. Only known one person to do TMS and was Bipolar. Lost contact with her though. She was the one to give me the heads up on it. I’m very curious on the replies.

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I had ect and it did help with the depression but not with the voices

thank you @Dreamscape. I’m very curious and was considering it.

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I was hoping either would get rid of the voices. It’s the most debilitating thing in my life. thank you for the response.

Some past discussions:

I’m doing rtms therapy in august they’re saying.

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thank you for the thread. sorry for the redundancy. That was a helpful read. I’m still undecided if either work or not. I thought as a last option, after I try new meds if they don’t work. (The chlorpromazine I currently take is calming but doesn’t stop the voices. just makes me tired) Guess I’ll just have to live with auditory hallucinations, no choice.

A friend of mine did tms and had success but he did it for depression. As you probably know the area of the brain that is associated with depression is stimulated and he found great relief. Good luck to you.

My father who was bipolar had ECT in Richmond Virginia at the Medical College there. Best treatment for his depression there ever was. It zapped his short-term memory, but was doing great for a few years. He was supposed to go back and have more treatments, but he died before that happened. So yeah, in my experience, it is helpful for depression but I don’t know how well it works for schizophrenia.

rTMS is less invasive but it’ll set you back 10 grand. Insurance doesn’t cover it as it’s not approved by the big g for treatment of anything other than severe depression. Has been shown to have a temporary reduction but eventual return of voices.

Ect I don’t know as much about but it’s a lot riskier of a process. I believe they have to sedate you due to the seizures it causes throughout the process. There are some though who swear by it.

They’re both kind of last resort. The price of rTMS will probably fall as it becomes more widely used. The bulbs for each session cost 200 bucks. That probably because there isn’t a mass market for them yet not many companies competing.

There are devices you can use at home that cost about 600$ which aren’t as thorough but you can use for 20 minutes every morning and they help to kind of break up erratic firing and over activity in the brain, but it’s kind of one of those false advertising things. Can’t tell what’s placebo or not.

They do sedate you… or at least they did me… I couldn’t imagine anyone being awake during it.

I had bilateral ECT when I was 17 and it set me back a lot… It didn’t work out for me… but that’s just me… everyone is different.

There was a member on this forum @SunGirl who had a lot of luck with ECT.

i encourage all my friends who can afford can go with rtms or ect rtms is expensive as compared 2 ect…

I have not seen any evidence to show that ECT helps with cognitions. In fact I’ve seen the opposite - that ECT can impact negatively memory.

rTMS is a much gentler and more targeted type of magnetic therapy, that research shows can be helful in cognition - a big difference. ECT isn’t very commonly used in Schizophrenia any longer - unless it is co-morbid (co-occuring) with serious depression.

Think about it - “Stimulation” vs. “Shock” - which would you rather have?

The bigger issue is that rTMS is very expensive - and very temporary, and as yet really unproven in schizophrenia. So only available to the very wealthy (not covered by insurance).

compared to Electro Shock Therapy:

I have had 11 sessions at least with ECT. On me at least it seemed to have made me less paranoid for awhile but I had trouble in the memory department. It really affects short term memory, enough that I lost months if not a year to a sort of fog feeling. I began being very afraid to speak or leave my house as I was afraid I would repeat myself several times without knowing it or I would get lost often when driving. I was uncomfortable having no control over memory. I am a control freak so I’m sure you can imagine how scary it was. I think it did help but I personally felt better when I felt I had control again. Beware though. You can have memories of the actual procedure and it is very strange and uncomfortable. I refuse them now for that reason.

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Thanks for your post. How long ago was it that you had these sessions?

It was 2006-2008.