Dear Rosie -

At least in Los Angeles, the problem with TMS (sometimes, "rTMS") is that the one doctor I know of who is using TMS for CRPS promises only that 70% of patients receiving a month-long series will have a 50% reduction in pain lasting on average 14 months; I was quoted better odds on a 5-day in-patient Lidocaine infusion that did nothing for me. More to the point, however, I was specifically advised by his office chief administrator that the doctor set up his focusing software around a brain CT exam, one that would have to be repeated every 14 months to stay with the program. And I'm simply not interested in receiving over 400x the radiation of a chest x-ray every 14 months, just for one procedure.

And that assumes that the CT machine is correctly calibrated in the first place! Don't know if you heard about it in the UK, but there has been a scandal in the US over the last few months with revelations of patients being over-radiated, sometimes up to 7x the recommended dose, which would work out to something in excess of 2,800 chest x-rays! And this didn't happen at schlock hospitals either, in fact one of the biggest offenders is widely regarded as not only the best, but the largest private non-profit hospitals in Los Angeles. See, The Radiation Boom: After Stroke Scans, Patients Face Serious Health Risks, Walt Bogdanich, The New York Times, July 31, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/he...walt_bogdanich

And for a related NYT 10:30 video, "Hidden Danger," discussing among other things the "confidentiality" of radiation overdoses under New York law, on account of which the patient is not necessarily notified of any error on his/her account - although not dealing with CT overdoses as such - check out http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/...walt_bogdanich

So, as long as a brain CT is used to determine the point of focus for TMS - as opposed to an fMRI which should be much more productive - thanks, but no thanks.

Mike