Local veteran finds success with TMS therapy | Local News | thenewsenterprise.com – Elizabethtown News Enterprise

In Radcliff, Army veteran Kevin Smith changes his shirt and wipes off his boots before he enters Oasis TMS, a place he has been visiting at least every week for the past year and a half.

Kevin sits down at a chair and has a peculiar-looking skullcap put on by intake coordinator Sarah Johnson, and the treatment begins.

He owns and operates a landscaping and excavating business with his wife, Annette Smith. Every Wednesday, he takes some time out of his morning for his therapy after working outside.

Transcranial magnetic simulation, a physical therapy for the brain, has has helped Kevin with his depression and been more effective than numerous other treatments he has tried.

Kevin retired from the United States Army in 2000. He then went to work at a local Burger King franchise as a district manager.

He said the job was stressful, but nothing he couldnt do. After leaving the job, he said it triggered his first major bout with depression. Shortly before leaving the job, a house fire destroyed their home.

It was so fast. I couldnt believe it. I mean, it happened (leaving the job) and then, two or three hours later, I was in full-fledged depression, Kevin said.

He said he had always had anxiety and some PTSD. Kevin said he served in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, among other places. He said with some therapy and medication, he was able to get out of that bout within eight months.

In 2016, he and Annette began their business. It was doing well, and they had been going to Florida every winter to visit with his brother who had moved there.

In 2020, Kevin said he was in the camper traveling home from Florida when he suddenly started to not feel well. He said, by the time he got home, it was clear he was depressed again.

Kevin described his depression as dry spaghetti noodles that have fallen to the floor, scattered, and hes frantically trying to pick everything up and get it organized. He said, at one point in his depression, he lost 80 pounds and found himself not wanting to do anything.

During both bouts of depression, Kevin had thought about suicide, and had attempted to kill himself with a gun, but it failed.

Medication wasnt working. He then spent two nights voluntarily in rehabilitation at the veteran affairs clinic in Louisville. He said it wasnt helpful, so he checked out of it.

Kevin then attended a three-week inpatient program in Chillicothe, Ohio. He went reluctantly, but said the program helped him to meet and talk with soldiers like him who were also going through what he was going through.

When he got home, he said he wasnt feeling well again after two days. However, at inpatient, he found out about TMS therapy.

Currently, TMS is FDA approved to treat depression and OCD. A typical TMS therapy session involves a patient coming, sitting down and being given a cap which helps to aim at the brains dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. That part of the brain, when underactive for some patients, can result in depression.

Then, an MRI-strength magnet is placed on that spot, and for 18 and a half minutes, magnetic pulses from it are sent through. Typically, patients go for a handful of weeks, five days a week.

Holly Wolfe, Oasis TMS area director, said she was the first employee hired onto the company.

Wolfe said TMS therapy has been around since the 1980s. Wolfe said that TMS is not like electric shock therapy, which can be painful.

During Kevins weekly therapy, he said the only kind of physical feeling he experiences during it is a slight tingle. His eyebrow will also move involuntarily. Other side effects patients might have are headaches, which eventually dissipate.

Wolfe said the magnet opens up lines of communication for that part of the brains pathways. TMS can also make a patients medications more effective.

She said there are ongoing studies that are looking to use TMS to treat addiction, especially cocaine, and ADHD.

Theres a lot of stuff in the pipeline, Wolfe said.

Dave Easterling is the founder of Oasis TMS. He mostly works in custom software development and founded the company after seeing his sister, who has MS, anxiety and depression, have positive results after going to TMS therapy.

I was surprised just how successful TMS was and how long it had been around. Its FDA approved and insurance covers it and I was like, Why doesnt everybody know about this? he said.

Oasis TMS currently has the clinic in Radcliff, one in Louisville and two in the Indianapolis area. Easterling said he would like to have 25 clinics open in the next five years. He said theyre currently seeing 30 patients across all the clinics, but is expecting closer to 50 patients by the end of the year.

Id just like to see it be much more pervasive. Because it really, really helps people, Easterling said.

Annette said that within two weeks of starting the program, he and Kevin could tell a difference. She said, at one point, Kevin was on 13 different medications. Now, hes on two.

After his five-week treatment, Kevin has continued to go do TMS therapy for the past year or so, going in once a week for maintenance.

Wolfe said that 70% to 80% of Oasis TMSs patient population has had success with the therapy. She said she has treated patients between 16 to 84 years old.

However, she said TMS therapy is not a quick fix. Other treatments like medication are still necessary depending on the case.

Its another tool in their tool belt that they can use to decrease the symptoms, Johnson said.

Wolfe Insurance companies have covered the treatment, but have needed proof to show that other antidepressant methods have failed. Kevin said his is paid for through VA benefits.

He said, when October starts, hell start going to TMS therapy twice a month. In January, he and his family will be going on a trip for almost three weeks. He said he wants to see if being away from the therapy will have any effect.

Annette said she had a Vietnam War veteran uncle who died by suicide. She said she wants more veterans to know about this treatment and the effect it had on her husband.

Theres something out there that can help them so that they dont get to the point of suicide, Annette said.

Read the original post:

Local veteran finds success with TMS therapy | Local News | thenewsenterprise.com - Elizabethtown News Enterprise