For Patients
General
You can make an appointment by having your family doctor, nurse practitioner or psychiatrist send a referral letter to BrainWave Clinic (fax: 204-417-5266).
Please bring the list of medications that you take, or send it via our secure e-form. Also, if you use hearing aids or glasses, please bring them to your appointment.
A full course of rTMS therapy for depression generally consists of 30 treatment sessions administered daily for multiple consecutive days. Each session typically lasts 5-15 minutes. In most cases, a minimum of 10-15 treatment sessions are required to notice an improvement in symptoms. Patients commonly describe feeling a tingling or tapping sensation on their head during the session.
During the treatment, you will feel a tapping or tingling sensation. Each person will feel a different level of discomfort. Most people report that they get accustomed to the sensation over the course of the treatment.
rTMS is generally well-tolerated and associated with few side-effects.
Common side-effects include headache, fatigue, scalp discomfort at the site of stimulation, and twitching of facial muscles during the rTMS pulses. The level of stimulation could be adjusted to reduce symptoms. If headaches are experienced, over-the-counter pain medication could be used before the procedure.
Very rare side-effects could be seizures, hearing problems, and hypomania/mania.
Presence of metal plates, pumps, implants, aneurysm clip or coil, or fragments in the head, cardiac pacemakers, cardiac stents or implantable cardioverter defibrillator, magnetic implants, or any other electrodes to monitor your brain activity
Metallic implants in your ears or eyes
Other electrical medical device implanted in or near your head
Bullet fragments
Facial tattoos with metallic or magnetic sensitive ink
History of epilepsy
Active substance use
rTMS
Dementia is a general term for any disease that causes changes in a person’s thinking skills or memory that is severe enough to impair independent functioning. There are many different types of dementia, such Alzheimer’s Disease, Frontotemporal Dementia, Vascular Dementia and Dementia with Lew Body. Most types of dementia cause a gradual decline in function over the course of years due to progressive damage to brain cells. The symptoms of dementia can vary from person to person and may include memory problems, difficulty with navigation, mood or personality changes, or difficulty speaking.
While dementia may include memory loss, memory loss by itself does not mean that one has dementia. Some mild changes in cognition could be a part of the normal aging process. Moreover, several other factors such as loss of sleep, depression, or hormonal problems can cause memory loss; memory problems as a result of these conditions are often reversible (in contrast to memory loss in dementia) after correcting the underlying cause.
Similar to other health concerns, the first thing you can do is make an appointment with your primary care doctor. Your primary care doctor can administer basic screening cognitive tests and other evaluations as necessary. They can then refer you to BrainWave clinic or another specialized center if they think further assessment is required.
On the day before your appointment, make sure you get enough sleep. Avoid excessive alcohol or other substances that might affect your overall cognition.
Also, if you use reading glasses or hearing aids, please bring them with you to the appointment.