FDA Approves Nerve-Stimulation Therapy for Depression

Major depressive disorder is a serious illness that affects nearly 19 million Americans every year. This disorder influences normal every days’ activities, loss of pleasure, diminishes wish to communicate with other people, decreases libido and even causes suicidal attempts.
One fifth of these people don’t respond to conventional treatments like medicines and psychotherapy.

Vagus Nerve Stimulation therapy was first used to treat people who suffer from epilepsy to reduce the seizures but also proved affective in treating depression, but was not an approved method for depression.


FDA has finally approved vagus nerve stimulation therapy as a long-term treatment regime for patients with treatment resistant depression.

The treatment involves a small pacemaker-like device that is being implanted in the chest area. This device sends mild pulses to the brain through the vagus nerve in the neck and is thought to modulate neurotransmitters such as serotonin and norepinephrine that are involved in mood regulation.

The vagus nerve is one of the 12 cranial nerves and serves as the body’s information highway connecting the brain to many major organs.

The results of a study conducted show that one-third of patients had at least a 50 percent improvement in their depression and one out of six was depression-free after treatment with VNS Therapy. Also, improvements in vitality, mental health, emotional well-being, and social functioning have been reported.

I was implanted on January 26th and turned on Feb. 8th. I am currently up to .75 milliamps and should be increased to 1.0 tomorrow. My Dr. has told me I shouldn't expect a lot of improvement until its turned up to about 1.5 but I have found that the severe headaches I get from PTSD have decreased in duration already so I am hopeful. Has anyone else had the procedure and how is it working for you?