1st day of TMS treatment

Today I went into the lab at UTHSCSA and had the first treatment of irTMS. I didn't expect to burst into tears; I didn't expect it to hurt alot.

I did get a little used to the violence of the magnetic bursts into my cranium- about 18 fast pulses, then 20 seconds of break, and pulses again and again with the 20 sec. breaks for about 37 minutes. The first full TMS brought me to tears and was a pain level of 8 out of 10. It is hard to explain- the electrical current pulls the left side of my face- down over my eyelid across and down my cheek and down my nose to my left nostril. Some bursts are more localized and my perception of them is about a 5 pain level, with very little facial involvement and just a knocking on the scalp but a light one is always followed by a very hard pulling one.

I feel very awake, no pain after the pulses ceased, no pain after the treatment. I am to expect a severe headache anytime now until the middle of the night. I have decided to wait for it and then take Ultram or Advil to ease the headache (so I know what I am dealing with). Then I can take a pain reliever before the treatment and head it off maybe.

Please God, let this treatment help me.

I have this inspiration to draw/paint and I am no artist. It is a fem figure light against a dark canvas with arms outstretched upward - there is a big copper coil in the top left corner and on the left side of her cranium is a glowing dot.