Questions about TMS? Find the answers to what it is, how it works, what side effects you might experience and more, below. If you still have questions about whether TMS is right for you, contact us for a free consultation!
TMS stands for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, which is a medical procedure that works by delivering a highly focused MRI-Strength magnetic pulses. This stimulates the part of the brain that controls the mood center and treats major depression. Patients receive an initial consultation where we perform mapping of areas to treat followed by 30 consecutive treatment sessions over a 6 week period with 6 Taper sessions, each session lasting 18-25 minutes.
The procedure, like an MRI, utilizes magnet strength to administer pulses of magnet fields. The patient remains awake, alert, with no anesthesia as this is a non invasive procedure. Patients are reclined in our comfortable leather chair in a relaxing environment. This a painless procedure with long lasting symptom relief when you target the area of the brain that regulates emotion and moods.
At your consultation, Advantage TMS’s physicians will complete what is called a mapping of your brain where we locate your motor threshold, the minimum amount of power necessary to make your thumb twitch, which varies from patient to patient. By measuring your motor threshold, we can personalize your treatment and determine the amount of energy required to stimulate your brain cells. Once the desired reflex is found in your hand, we map to the area in front of your reflex band, where your mood center is located.
We provide TMS therapy sessions right here in our own office, with a comfortable and relaxing environment. Patients remain awake during treatment, and can return to normal activities right away. During our sessions, patients can watch television, listen to music or just enjoy the environment that we create for our patients. Our number one goal is to provide the best experience for our patients. Our offices are conveniently located in Clearwater, along with extended office hours and we are open Saturday!
Compared to other invasive therapies, TMS has few to no side effects at all. Most commonly patients may have mild discomfort where treatment has been administered to a mild headache. These side effects diminish quickly as your body adjusts to stimulation over time. Advantage TMS’s team of physicians and coordinators will thoroughly evaluate each patient for the potential of minor side effects.
TMS therapy is an FDA cleared treatment (2008) that is safe, tolerable and most importantly, patients do not have to stop taking medications during therapy.
TMS therapy has shown to be an effective option for treatment resistant depression. Studies have shown that TMS has a 75%-85% positive response with patients reporting improvement of their symptoms. At Advantage TMS, we approach your therapy with an encompassing lifestyle management program including nutritional counseling and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as a part of the therapeutic process. Our multi faceted approach is geared towards providing TMS therapy and a healthier lifestyle to truly see better results. We provide fitness trackers for our patients to monitor sleep and daily information to provide an objective approach for our patients. This is the TMS Advantage.
TMS is widely covered treatment through most commercial insurance and government health plans. We accept Florida Blue, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Beacon, Cigna, Aetna, Tricare and United Healthcare Insurance plans. In addition, we at TMS Advantage offer financing options to our patients.
At TMS Advantage, we accept patients for other indications such as PTSD, anxiety, and sleep disorders.
Scientific literature shows remarkable results when TMS is combined with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and a nutrition/lifestyle modification program. Each patient will receive this unique treatment during the 6 weeks they are in our program in the form of weekly group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and nutrition counseling. Fitness trackers are given so patients can monitor their activity and sleep and we can track your improvements.