Trans direct cranial stimulation has been found to help relieve major depression in patients undergoing a phase 2 trial. Its been trialled to help those patients or are unable or unwilling to try antidepressants and who havent responded to talking therapies.
It got me thinking if it could help other conditions like FND, chronic pain. I've seen it suggested for chronic migraines. Then there is TMS, trans magnetic stimulation. Wouldnt it be wonderful if people with neurological disorders could trial these?
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Sparklingsunshine
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I think this is already happening .. but there are 'hiccups' and I have no idea if the treatment is based on safe trials ..but if you want to 'have a go' ..just click below ..
Its not TMS, its transcranial direct current stimulation, now being used in over 200 UK MH clinics. I struggle to take any meds due to allergies and sensitivities so it might be a viable alternative for me.
That;s good for you ....fortunately depression is not one of my FND symptoms ..just hope it doesn't become one, given the current lack of support from the NHS and lack of known treatment for hypersensitivity and shaking.
Truthfully its not really even mine. I would say I'm more anxious and despite what doctors believe I had no trauma or depression before my weird dizziness started. But I freely admit I struggle with low mood now.
But that's a natural reaction to getting a condition that there is precious little help for. I think most people with a chronic disabling illness feel low, depressed, angry, frustrated and concerned about the future. You grieve for the life you had, the opportunities and ambitions which have disappeared. The hopes and dreams that wont be realised. Who wouldn't be sad?
If FND was better understood, had better, quicker treatments and was treated more sympathetically by the NHS then maybe sufferers would feel more hopeful. I've read FND is as disabling as MS, the difference?
MS has treatments, rehab, physiotherapy, occupational therapy. You are likely to get a sympathetic response from doctors. But FND, forget it. As its considered psychosomatic then you're on your own.
That's all so true, .... a very sad state of affairs. I am lucky FND didn't strike whilst I was still of an age to be working. My heart goes out to the ones with young families trying to cope with it. Keep sparkling as best you can.
Yes I believe so. My health authority can offer both apparently. TMS seems to require you to travel for daily sessions at the hospital whereas the TDCS is a wearable device you can use at home. I was curious if these sorts of technology could help with FND. If it could help with neural pathways for example.
But that idea for a treatment is based on the (faulty) assumption that FND is a psychological illness manifesting as physical problem & thus needs psychological interventions. Before anyone considers any treatment that utilizes electricity or electromagnetic radiation to alter (more aptly...INJURE) their brain, I suggest you first listen to the experiences of TMS, ECT, dTMS, etc survivors on Facebook, YouTube, other social media, articles, websites, etc.
Some people experience partial short-term improvement of some symptoms...but many more end up with life-altering adverse effects...debilitating pain, neurological symptoms, cognitive impairment, seizures, movement disorders, profound fatigue, tinnitus, etc. The doctors & clinics deny any wrong-doing or harm from the procedure, then abandon patients, leaving them & their families to suffer with disabling, life-altering injuries. Doctors have absolutely no liability when they disable or kill patients with these procedures, nor have they developed any treatments or support services for the people they inflict these life-destroying injuries upon. Deny. Deny. Deny (plus heavy doses of patient blaming) is how they continue to get away with these crimes against humanity.
I was thinking more along the lines of brain reprogramming. I dont buy the depression, anxiety, trauma idea either, loads of people suffer profound trauma but dont get FND, conversely people with perfectly straightforward lives can and do.
I think the whole MH label isnt anything more than a smokescreen to hide doctors lack of knowledge into the causes, and rather than admit they dont know they victim blame and try and blame past experiences for why people develop FND.
If FMRI are to be believed then people with FND have areas of their brain that dont communicate with other areas properly, something has gone haywire. There are overactive areas and also underactive areas. Similar actually to people who live with chronic pain conditions like Fibromyalgia. I was just speculating on whether TDCS could help the brain reset so it can send and process information.
I dont go on social media, its a toxic swamp, and frankly there are many unbelievable claims made. How do you know they are genuine or even real people? All too easy to make a profile and spout any old crap. There isnt any accountability on there either and far too many crazies. So where do you go to find legitimate information?
That's akin to doctors disbelieving patients in healthcare settings.
Iatrogenically harmed patients would rather be living a normal life, but since there is no research or treatment for their injuries, they struggle through each day trying to survive, and (possibly/unlikely) get justice & compensation, acknowledgement & treatment for their injuries...but eventually realize the medical community & government don't give a darn & just want them to disappear (or at least stop warning others of the dangers of these procedures).
Also, the study of electrical injury, brain injury & biomedical engineering corroborate the stories/symptoms reported by people suffering from injuries that doctors inflict with ECT & TMS devices...as do world experts in these areas: Dr. Bennet Omalu (world renowned brain pathophysiologist), Kenneth Castleman (former NASA Biomedical & Electrical engineer), Dr. Marc Jeschke (electrical injury researcher/doctor), Dr. Beatrice Golomb, Dr. John Reed...And the countless brave injured patients (or family members of deceased patients) who testify before our governments to protect others from similar fates.
You can't reprogram a brain with 450volts/900mA of electrical current or strong electromagnetic radiation any more than you can reprogram a computer with those mechanisms. The sooner humans realize that ionizing & non-ionizing radiation is incompatible with the human body...the better.
As I said I was ruminating on the possbilities. There is no need to be quite so aggressive when answering. When people are stuck with troubling symptoms and feel like they're on their own with no help or input from doctors then they start looking at weird, wacky, out there, even sometimes dangerous therapies in a desperation to get their lives back. This is meant to be a support forum isnt it?
I apoligize. It's easy to be reactive when living with doctor-inflicted injures. Especially since doctors that inflict the injury make the same claim that ECT & TMS "stimulate" or "reboot" the brain. I 100% understand being desparate for solutions...but can't stand the thought of anyone else suffering the same fate as I and millions of other who suffered worse fates after trying dangerous medical procedures in desparation (& without comprehensive honest informed consent of the risks).
I do personally know a woman who was on a clinical trial for magnetic stimulation for depression. She ended up with a terrible tic and was then diagnosed with FND! She was sent to a neuropsychiatrist who told her it was because she never had children. I 100% believe her because I was sent to the same guy who said equally wacko things to me. She had signed a disclaimer so had no come back. Oh yes, and she's still got depression. I also watched a webinar put on by the Dystonia society with a top doctor in the field saying that they should be more careful with these new technologies because they don't really know what they're doing. It's kind of trial and error.
I have personal experience of this, long story short here, same neurologist for ten plus years and I was always allowed to feel like part of my own medical team with great success. I did do a lot of research and I also learned a lot during physiotherapy because I went private after my doctor accused me of malingering and I should get back to work and at the same time my works doctor told me I was in no fit state for work. Some friends helped me find a private physio and a terrific amount of work was done with her with excellent outcomes and again in short I was taught how to do chores or activities by starting at what I would call the goal post and break the task down to effectively bite size pieces and firstly I achieved the task which very much improved both my confidence and muscle use and secondly I actually got back to doing swimming twice a week I swam 20 lengths of the pool I managed a line dancing class and a circuit training class for people with difficulties, I could do my own housework and shopping. Life wasn’t the same but I had a life after being told the problems were in my head. I willy add at this point that the turning point for me during the physio was that a vertebrae was clicked back into place which was even looked at by the NHS. I continue to use the lessons learn and have a really supportive GP who will support anything I ask for within reason and one example is I went for my first new neurologist appointment who was intent on negating all previous work and attempted to diagnose me with FND and in the process I was at the hospital 24 hours later and diagnosed with a soft tissue injury to the upper spinal area which cost me six weeks on my back and on morphine for the pain using previously learned CBT etc I managed to get fit enough to attend a second appointment which included a room of six doctors all firing questions at me and then followed up with an assessment and I made it clear as I could that there was an issue with my spine which they ignored and then a medical event happened and six doctors got up and left the room telling my daughter to give me rescue meds which were not necessary as it was a physical injury they caused and not a medical event. The outcome of that was strained and pulled muscles to the left side of my neck and back flat in bed and back on morphine
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