Electromagnetic treatments top meds

I've written to you plenty about all the non-drug alternatives available to help you beat depression, from safe herbal remedies to natural amino acids.
And now you can add one more option to the list, especially for tough-to-beat cases: magnets.

Not just any old magnets will do, however. The latest research finds promise in a form of electromagnetic therapy called rTMS, especially among patients who've had no luck with drugs in their battles with the blues.

But you don't have to fail on meds to try alternatives-- because in most cases, the alternatives work as well as or far better than anything Big Pharma wants to sell you.

In the new study, researchers gave 190 patients who did not respond to antidepressant meds either the rTMS treatment, which involves an electromagnetic coil over the forehead, or a sham treatment that looked like the real McCoy.

In the first phase of the study, rTMS helped 14 percent of the patients--versus just 5 percent of those who got the sham, according to the study in Archives of General Psychiatry.

Nothing to write home about--yet--but stay with me for a moment, because this gets better.

In the second phase, the researchers opened the real treatment up to those who had been receiving the sham--but also allowed those in the first group to continue. And the longer it went on, the more people it helped--30 percent of those who had been receiving the real treatment all along, when all was said and done.

All they needed was a little more time with the magnets.

While 30 percent still may not sound like much, it's about the same level of success as many meds--with none of the risks.

While none of the patients in this study experienced side effects, rTMS at higher frequencies may cause headaches and, in rare cases, seizures--usually in patients with a history of seizures or epilepsy.

Compare that to the weight gain, sexual problems, nausea, vomiting, suicide risk and possibility of addiction that can come from antidepressant meds... and this one's a no- brainer.

On a mission for your health,
Ed Martin
Editor, House Calls

P.S. It's amazing how far these magnets will take you. I told you not long ago about how another form of electromagnetic therapy, called sTMS, has helped many patients overcome migraine headaches. You can read more about that here. And for more on why antidepressants don't work, read "Another 'F' for antidepressants."