i have had a depressive illness for the past 11 years and did not respond well to most of the available drugs and i also did not respond well to 11 courses of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) but there is a new treatment in the UK for difficult cases of depression called Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) whereby a small motor is placed under the skin in the chest area and this is connected to the nerve in the neck on the left hand side (the left vagus nerve) and the motor stimulates the nerve gently every 5 minutes. The doctor can change the speed and settings of the motor from the outside via a wand-like magnet which is connected to his laptop.
This treatment has been used in America for some years now and is fairly new in the U.K, where you have to pay for it although some NHS funding is available now.
I went to see a specialist (psychiatrist) who is doing VNS and he took my history and agreed i should have it and he wrote to my NHS psychiatrist recommending that the my local primary care trust (PCT) provide funding for the treatment, given my age (32 years) and the fact that I have been seriouslly unwell for over a decade.
However, my NHS pyshciatrist is not willing to refer me for VNS and says since it is new it might not work and he himself has not heard much about it himself. He wants me to learnto adapt to my symtoms and to purse CBT therapy (cognitive behavioural therapy: counselling-like strategies which explore thoughts and behaviour).
I do agree that CBT is a powerful therapy and I am receiving this but I feel in view of my disabling symptoms, both physical as well as mental, that i need more serious intervention. Not only do i have a profound depressive illness but it has also become, over the years, an anxiety / tension disorder which makes my muscles go very tense and twitch, and which ruins my sleep at night and due to which I have to go to the gym at least 4 times a week to do ceertain cardiovascular exercises to burn off the symptoms.
I was unable to pass my year at university this year and would very much like to have VNS but privately it costs some £20 000.
I cannot really change my NHS psychiatrist due to the way in which the system works where i live. I am part of west battersea community mental health team and i can only see this one specialist who i am not happy with, and if i cry and scream, they will let me see his registrar who will undoubedly defend his boss (i have been through all those channels anyway).
I am currently taking 4 different medicines which make me feel like a zombie, one anti-depressant, one anti-anxiety drug, one beta-blocker and one anti-pyschotic which helps me sleep.
Can someone help me or advise me as to how i can beat the system or get my voice heard so that i can get this new treatment. After all, a private specialist at the Priory Hospital has approved for me to have it. I have also tried alternative therapies and yoga and homoepathy and have worked hard to try and beat it but it is a very stubborn illness which runs in my family on my mum's side. THanks for listening.
This treatment has been used in America for some years now and is fairly new in the U.K, where you have to pay for it although some NHS funding is available now.
I went to see a specialist (psychiatrist) who is doing VNS and he took my history and agreed i should have it and he wrote to my NHS psychiatrist recommending that the my local primary care trust (PCT) provide funding for the treatment, given my age (32 years) and the fact that I have been seriouslly unwell for over a decade.
However, my NHS pyshciatrist is not willing to refer me for VNS and says since it is new it might not work and he himself has not heard much about it himself. He wants me to learnto adapt to my symtoms and to purse CBT therapy (cognitive behavioural therapy: counselling-like strategies which explore thoughts and behaviour).
I do agree that CBT is a powerful therapy and I am receiving this but I feel in view of my disabling symptoms, both physical as well as mental, that i need more serious intervention. Not only do i have a profound depressive illness but it has also become, over the years, an anxiety / tension disorder which makes my muscles go very tense and twitch, and which ruins my sleep at night and due to which I have to go to the gym at least 4 times a week to do ceertain cardiovascular exercises to burn off the symptoms.
I was unable to pass my year at university this year and would very much like to have VNS but privately it costs some £20 000.
I cannot really change my NHS psychiatrist due to the way in which the system works where i live. I am part of west battersea community mental health team and i can only see this one specialist who i am not happy with, and if i cry and scream, they will let me see his registrar who will undoubedly defend his boss (i have been through all those channels anyway).
I am currently taking 4 different medicines which make me feel like a zombie, one anti-depressant, one anti-anxiety drug, one beta-blocker and one anti-pyschotic which helps me sleep.
Can someone help me or advise me as to how i can beat the system or get my voice heard so that i can get this new treatment. After all, a private specialist at the Priory Hospital has approved for me to have it. I have also tried alternative therapies and yoga and homoepathy and have worked hard to try and beat it but it is a very stubborn illness which runs in my family on my mum's side. THanks for listening.
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