The Treatment That Took My Anxiety From 8 to 1

This episode delves into the speaker's personal experience with accelerated transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) as a treatment for severe anxiety and OCD. He explains that TMS, a form of brain stimulation, has existed for decades but has seen dramatic improvements in the last 5-10 years, particularly due to researchers like Nolan Williams at Stanford. Conventional TMS treatments span several months, but accelerated TMS compresses this into a single week, involving 10 hours a day of short (3-9 minute) magnetic pulses applied hourly to the brain.

The speaker recounts his first trial of accelerated TMS, known as the Saint protocol (developed at Stanford), for moderate-severe OCD with ruminative loops and anxiety at an 8 out of 10. After a 5-day treatment, there was a delayed effect of 2-3 weeks, but then he experienced a dramatic reduction to virtually zero anxiety and rumination for 3-4 months. Subsequent booster treatments, however, yielded no effect, leading to a loss of hope. He also mentions that the Saint protocol has produced 70-80% durable remission of depression in many patients.

More recently, he underwent a "hailmary" round, doing only one day of accelerated TMS in Northern California, but this time pre-dosing with descloer (DCS). Descloer, an antiquated antibiotic, acts as a catalyst for neuroplasticity, potentially making one day of treatment as effective as months of older TMS protocols. This combined approach resulted in an immediate positive effect, with his anxiety remaining at a 1-2 out of 10 for the past 2-3 months. He notes this approach seems particularly effective for anxiety and OCD, though currently based on a small sample size.

Beyond accelerated TMS, the speaker briefly touches on other factors contributing to his improved well-being, including basic health practices (exercise, diet) and intermittent ketosis. He highlights the benefits of ketosis for addressing psychiatric and psycho-emotional pains that may not respond to medication, referencing the field of metabolic psychiatry and researchers like Chris Palmer at Harvard.