New Treatment for Depression to be FDA Approved by Late June


With the next few weeks, the FDA is expected to issue its final approval of vagus nerve stimulation as a treatment for chronic or recurrent depression. The approval of vagus nerve stimulation will be the first ever FDA approved long-term treatment option for the four million desperate Americans( and their families) who have not had an adequate response to traditional anti-depressants.

When approved, this treatment will be considered the one of major breakthroughs in medical device history. The benefits of this therapy include:

• Vagus nerve stimulation is more effective than anti-depressants
• VNS does not have the side effects of antidepressants
• Compliance is guaranteed. Once the device is activated, there's no further action required
• Efficacy improves over time ("No Prozac poop out")
• Quality-of-life benefits improve over time
• No drug interactions
• No cognitive impairment (i.e. memory loss)

Stimulation to the left vagus nerve has been proven to favorably modulate those ares of the brain that are responsible for mood and depression. The procedure is unrelated to brain surgery or electroconvulsive therapy. The stimulator is implanted in the patient's upper left chest, just below the arm pit. A lead wire is then tunneled underneath the skin and coiled around the left vagus nerve in the neck. For cosmectic reasons, the incision is at the lowest fold of the patient's neck. The scar heals very quickly and is barely noticeable as it is difficult to diffentiate between the fold and the healed scar.

Learn more how this therapy can bring genuine happiness and joy to your life at http://www.vagusnervestimulator.com/ There is a free newsletter to keep you up-to-date on the latest developments. Also available on the site is the book Out of the Black Hole: The Patient's Guide to Vagus Nerve Stimulation and Depression. Do yourself a favor and become fully educated about this remarkable device. It could change your life.

Charles Donovan was a patient in the FDA investigational trial of vagus nerve stimulation as a treatment for chronic or recurrent treatment-resistant depression. He was implanted with the vagus nerve stimulator in April of 2001. He chronicles his journey from the grips of depression thanks to vagus nerve stimulation therapy in his book:

Out of the Black Hole: The Patient's Guide to Vagus Nerve Stimulation and Depression

The book was exhibited at the American Psychiatric Association's Annual Meeting, May 21st-May 26th in Atlanta, GA. This is the largest gathering of psychiatrists in the world( 25,000 attendees). It is available on http://www.Amazon.com

He is the founder of http://www.VagusNerveStimulator.com Web Site.

More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Depression Information:

Related Articles

Anxiety and Depression Treatment - 5 Tips for Beating Depression
Everyone has days when they are down, worn out and just notfeeling all that happy.That's OK, you need to have days like this, otherwise how wouldyou know when you are happy.
Are You Someones Puppet? Four Ways People Manipulate Others
With the current interest in mental health topics, a mentalhealth language has emerged with words such asmanipulation, boundaries, limits, rescuing, dependence, andcodependence. Many people are unclear what these words meanwhen applied to relationships.
Suicide Prevention: 12 Universal Laws
The Law of PermanenceSuicide is always a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Always.
Fighting Depression by Restoring Your Routines
When we have depression, one of the things we drop from our lives is a routine. Most humans need routine as it adds structure to our lives.
More Than You Can Handle?
There's a dangerous illness afflicting women everywhere across the nation. It's linked to considerable physical and mental suffering.
Efficacy and Safety of Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Depression Published in Journal
On September 1st, the efficacy and safety of vagus nerve stimulation for depresssion was published in the prestigious peer reviewed journal of Biological Psychiatry.The data from the pivotal clinical trial of vagus nerve stimulation and depression was been on published September 1st, in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal of Biological Psychiatry.
Antidepressants: Control or Cure?
What's curious is that most of them will be on these drugs for life. Equally curious is that over seventy percent of people who stop taking them, for any length of time, will relapse into another painful episode of their illness.
Tips to Beat Depression
We all have days when we are down, worn out and just not feeling all that happy.That's okay.
Ten Tips For Beating Depression
I heard about a woman who was suffering from depression, so her concerned husband took her to a psychiatrist. The doctor listened to the couple talk about their relationship, and then he said, "The treatment I prescribe is really quite simple.
Tuning the Music Therapist
Music so strongly evokes emotional responses that it is being more frequently employed in the context of psychotherapy as a powerful healing modality. As a novice in this field I inquired at a recent conference on music therapy as to how this tool effects healing in clients with emotional disorders.
10 Simple Coping Strategies When a Family Member Has Clinical Depression
1.Remember that it is an illness:Clinical depression often requires medical supervision as well as professional treatment.
Recognizing Depression's Warning Signs
Depression is a serious illness, not a harmless part of life. It is a complex disorder with a variety of causes.
To Long Term Care Professionals: How to Dramatically Improve your Residents Psychiatric Care
Long term care facilities and residents' doctors shouldconsider combining medication treatment with psychological andbehavioral approaches, such as strength-embedded psychotherapy,for a range of psychological disorders.Currently, psychiatrists and primary care providers in long term care are prescribingdrugs and more drugs as the only treatment for psychologicaldisorders.
Hurricane Recovery: Steps to Start Putting Your Life Back in Order
It seems unreal, another major storm hitting Florida after experiencing four last year. The beginning of hurricane season, Floridians were just starting to get past the destructive events that caused many of people stress and even, depression.
The Formula for Preventing Depression
While it is arguable that depression is not always preventable, there are many cases, when using the following ideas, will keep you in good spirits - most of the time. Unfortunately, we cannot be happy all of the time, but there is something we can do about it.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome And Depression Are Not The Same Thing!
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a very misunderstood illness and this is perhaps why there are so many myths about it. Perhaps the most common myth about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is that it is effectively a mental condition, and another name for depression.
FDA Nears Completion of Review of Vagus Nerve Stimulation For Chronic Depression
On June 2 at 8:00 pm ET, Reuters news service issued a press release announcing that the FDA have nearly completed final review of the conditions outlined in the February "deemed approvable" letter for VNS Therapy as a treatment for chronic depression. Cyberonics Inc.
So You've Been Diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder?
If you've been diagnosed with bipolar disorder (also known as manic depression) you are not alone. It has been estimated that over 2 million people in the United States suffer from this form of mental illness which involves episodes of both mania and depression.
New FDA Approved Therapy for Depression: Timeline from Prescription to Procedure
On July 18, 2005, the U.S.
Mood Disorders And Depression
We all suffer with bad moods from time to time. But if you are someone who is in a bad mood or depressed much of the time, take heart.