The London Psychiatry Centre
After several months of taking a combination of Lamotrigine, Prozac and Olanzapine, prescribed by my psychiatrist, I was about 10% improved, which from 0% was not much of a result.
In desperation, I started to research other treatments for my severe anxiety and depression.
One that I came across was RTMS, a relatively new treatment that uses an electromagnetic coil pressed against the scalp to stimulate growth and blood flow in the frontal cortex of the brain.
A typical RTMS machine.
Desperate to try something new, I googled RTMS in the UK to see if anywhere offered it.
I managed to find a clinic in Hove, about a 30 minute drive from home.
My mum was away in Spain so, reluctant to go alone, I asked my grandma to go with me. We discussed with the doctor my symptoms and he showed us the RTMS machine.
He demonstrated the strength of the magnetic frequency by applying to the magnet to my arm and triggering a pulse. It immediately made my fingers involuntary move.
I left happy to have a better understanding of the machines and agreed to think about it.
Tom Robinson
I did some more research and found another clinic on Harley Street that was offering RTMS treatment for resistant mood disorders.
I read through some of the testimonials on the website. I came across a review by a man called Tom Robinson. He added a link to his blog https://www.dyingtostayalive.com/
In the blog he described his 20 year excruciating battle with treatment resistant depression. In which he mentioned his time in a Psych ward, his awful experience with Ketamine infusions and being bed bound for years, desperately battling his suicidal thoughts and feelings.
He went on to describe the treatment he received at the London Psychiatry Centre. And how it had successfully led to full remission of his symptoms.
I told my mum about his story and we agreed to go for a consultation.
Dr Andy Zamar
We immediately booked in a consultation and travelled up to Harley Street to meet the doctor.
He was very switched on and explained what he suspected I was suffering from. He detailed how there are 3 types of bipolar: Type 1, Type 2 and Subthreshold.
Sub-threshold involves more subtle mania symptoms in the presence of depression for example, agitation, racing thoughts, high libido. All symptoms that I was experiencing.
He then went on to tell us the official government guidelines only provide treatment recommendations for the first 2 types of bipolar, with complete disregard for Sub-threshold Bipolar.
We then learnt that he had developed a groundbreaking treatment for the condition using a combination of High doses of thyroid replacement hormone and RTMS. The theory is that the thyroid hormone creates new mitochondria which had been damaged by the disease, and the RTMS induces neural-plasticity allowing the nerve cells to repair and regrow.
He gave us a lot of confidence by showing us evidence of a 96.4% remission rate using the treatment, but warned us that as it is very new, it is very expensive.
After consideration, my mum and I agreed that we had no choice but to go ahead with the treatment, in an attempt to give me my life back.
I immediately began RTMS treatment and titration of Levothyroxine.
The RTMS treatment at the London Psychiatry Centre.
I am currently 3 weeks in to treatment and I’m. beginning to see signs of improvements.
Dr Zamars main concern is the Anti-depressants are causing problems, as evidence shows that they only exacerbate symptoms in bipolar spectrum disorders.
So I am currently tapering very slowly off Prozac, which is a pretty god awful experience. Causing severe nausea, but following a catch up today, he told me that it is imperative that I get off the drug to aid in my recovery.
George
