A Chicago nurse has been liberated from her own mind thanks to a brain-eavesdropping technology called deep TMS.
Gulden, who asked that her last name be withheld for privacy reasons, had been a nurse for more than 40 years before COVID-19 shook the hospital system and took a toll on her mental health.
The mother of four worked as an ICU and ER nurse at Advocate South Suburban Hospital in Hazel Crest, Illinois.
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In an interview with Fox News Digital, Gruden described the “havoc” the 2020 coronavirus pandemic wreaked on hospitals.
“Everything I did felt like a failure,” she says. “We weren’t ready [for] Onslaught of patients. ”
Tonia Harvey, a housekeeper, changes beds in the intensive care unit at Roseland Community Hospital after a COVID-19 patient dies on April 17, 2020. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“The predictable ending of him coming in from the ER and leaving in a body bag was just shocking.”
Gruden, who was born in New York City, admitted that despite years of working in the medical field, “I just couldn’t deal with it.”
By September 2020, she was a “different person,” she said.
“I was on autopilot. I was working and living, and when I got home I wasn’t functioning…My organization and focus were gone.”
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“It was totally different for me because I’m a single mom. I’ve raised four kids on my own… But I realized I couldn’t let go of what happened that day. started.”
Gulden told her doctor about her symptoms, which included “terrifying nightmares” that disrupted her sleep and constant “crying” that “came from my soul.”
Ms Gruden, pictured, said working in a hospital during the coronavirus pandemic had made her a “different person”. (Melanie Eilers)
Doctors prescribed Gruden eight different medications and cognitive behavioral therapy for sleep, PTSD, and major depressive disorder over two years, but nothing worked.
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”[There] “She was 51 years old, had tumors on both sides, and needed a mastectomy. She had finished all her chemotherapy and radiotherapy and was ready for the mastectomy, but she had to wait about 11 months. I had to,” she said.
Gulden added, “By the time she came back, her tumor had grown again, and that’s when I thought, ‘This is never going to end.'”
Gulden said testing for major health complications has fallen by at least 84% during the pandemic, impacting a “ripple effect” of patients receiving treatment too late.
Tamara Jones administers antibiotics to James Davis as he recovers from COVID-19 in the intensive care unit at Roseland Community Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, on December 16, 2020. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
The nurse tearfully said that she had decided to quit and retire from the hospital because she “could no longer work at the hospital.”
After going out, they entered a state of “hibernation,” sleeping 16 to 18 hours a day.
“The only reason I got up was to go to the bathroom,” she said. “I’m ashamed to say I’m going weeks without a shower.”
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“I lost 54 pounds. It got to the point where I couldn’t eat because everything in the refrigerator reminded me of what was on the patient’s tray.”
Gulden’s “incredibly vivid and frightening nightmares” continued along with other symptoms, including an inability to stay awake. She called it “complete closure.”
Gruden underwent intensive TMS treatment at Relief Mental Health in Orland Park, Illinois. (Melanie Eilers)
After Gulden spent three years in “hibernation,” a friend introduced her to a new type of mental health treatment called deep TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation). This is brain magnetization tapping used to treat various disorders and diseases.
Ms. Gruden agreed to visit Dr. Teresa Poplawski, chief medical officer of Relief Mental Health in Orland Park, Illinois. Doctors helped her “piece together” what was triggering her PTSD and other symptoms.
What is deep TMS?
Dr. Aaron Tendler, a psychiatrist and chief medical officer of brain injury treatment company Brainsway, spoke about how the treatment works in an interview with Fox News Digital.
Ms. Tendler is based in West Palm Beach, Florida, and was not involved in Ms. Gruden’s care. He said the brain is primarily an “electrochemical organ” that sends messages to different parts of the body.
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Tendler said most conditions, including depression and anxiety, are controlled by changes in the brain, which can be treated electrically.
He told FOX News Digital that deep TMS is a more “targeted” approach than electroshock therapy.
Gulden described the sensation of deep TMS as “tapping a specific part of the brain.” (Image; Brainsway)
“Transcranial magnetic stimulation uses the principle of electromagnetic induction, where magnetic pulses induce electrical currents inside neurons,” he said.
“Essentially, we’re changing the electrical activity of a group of neurons in a region of the brain.”
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These magnetic pulses stimulate specific areas of the brain for “brief periods,” with treatment times ranging from six to 20 minutes, he said. Patients receive treatment for several days as needed.
Tendler described the therapy as a “learning experience” that changes “the state of the brain” through repeated treatments.
Experts say deep TMS interrupts the brain activity that is creating undesirable patterns. (Brainsway)
Mr. Gruden underwent deep TMS treatment five days a week for six to eight weeks. She described her feeling as “like tapping a certain part of my brain.”
After 3 weeks, she reported a noticeable difference in her cognitive status.
“I realized, ‘Oh my God, it’s been three years since I’ve heard a bird,'” she said. “I can see life again. I can see my flowers. Before, I couldn’t even look at them because they reminded me of funerals.”
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Gulden said his quality of life has been “so much better” since undergoing treatment.
She says she still attends cognitive behavioral therapy sessions to hone her coping skills.
“If I ever need deep TMS again, I’ll be right back there,” she added.
According to one expert, Deep TMS is covered by “every insurance company” nationwide. (Brainsway)
“Very useful tool”
Gruden’s goal is to teach others not to be ashamed to seek help for mental health issues.
“I want people to know there are interventions,” she says.
“Medications weren’t working for me. I don’t know what would have happened to me if I hadn’t gotten this treatment today.”
Although deep TMS technology was developed in the 1980s, the first therapeutic application for depression received FDA approval in 2009. (Brainsway)
Most patients experience a 40 to 50 percent improvement after four weeks of treatment, Tendler said.
After completing a typical course of 36 treatments, patients showed 75% to 80% improvement, he said.
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Although deep TMS is “not a cure,” Tendler says, many patients can regain normal function over months or years at a time.
Tendler said electrotherapy does not have the side effects that antidepressants and other treatments can cause, and that the brain manipulation is “temporary.”
“If I hadn’t gotten this treatment today, I don’t know what would have happened to me,” Gulden said. (Melanie Eilers)
“While this may sound like a disadvantage, it is also an advantage,” he says. “We’re not doing anything permanent to a person’s brain. We’re temporarily changing the state of the brain.”
He added: “Typically we get you out of your current state…and then nature takes its course.”
Deep TMS can also be used in conjunction with other medications, such as antidepressants, Tendler added.
Fox News medical contributor Dr. Mark Siegel cautioned that deep TMS can cause some changes in cognition and behavior, but said overall it is a “very useful tool.” (Dr. Mark Siegel)
Fox News medical contributor Dr. Mark Siegel cautioned that deep TMS can cause some changes in cognition and behavior, but said overall it is a “very useful tool.”
He told Fox News Digital that deep TMS is “also very helpful for movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease and has a high success rate.”
“We are temporarily changing the state of the brain.”
Siegel cautioned that deep TMS can cause some changes in cognition and behavior, but said that overall it is a “very useful tool.”
”[Deep TMS is] “It is currently being studied for various purposes to block abnormal nerve conduction,” he said.
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For other medical professionals struggling with mental health issues, Gruden emphasized the importance of having a “healthy medical team,” especially after the pandemic.
“I don’t care how tough you think you are,” she said. “We need to know what the signs are and what treatments are available.”
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