Depression is a serious mental health condition that many are forced to deal with every day. While certain medications and treatments can help, some people don’t respond well to such therapies.
However, recent research has found an alternative treatment that’s worked wonders for some patients: vagus nerve stimulation (VNS).
Nick Fournie, a patient who has struggled with depression for years, spoke with CNN about his difficult mental health journey.
For about a decade, Fournie tried around 10 medications with little to no improvement—and tons of “terrible reactions.”
And we’re not talking about just the common dizziness, fatigue, weight gain, or digestive distress. No, he had been experiencing what felt like “psychotic episodes.”
“Some of [the drugs] really sent me way out of my mind,” Fournie told CNN.
Thankfully, his sister, a nurse, recommended VNS, which he was able to receive via a trial led by Dr. Charles Conway, professor of psychiatry and director of the Center for the Advancement of Research in Resistant Mood and Affective Disorders at Washington University.
“Vagus nerve stimulation involves using a device to send electrical impulses to the vagus nerve,” the Mayo Clinic states on its website. “The vagus nerve is the main nerve of the system that controls digestion, heart rate, and other vital functions. When the device fires, it sends electrical impulses to areas of the brain. This changes brain activity to treat certain conditions.”
Fournie had the device—which is similar to a pacemaker and is implanted underneath the collarbone—implanted about 20 years ago. He’s been receiving treatment ever since—in addition to two alternating antidepressants.
“It completely changed my life,” he told CNN. “I find joy every single day.”
“If it was just only medication, I don’t know that he would be alive today,” his wife, Mary, added. “I tell Dr. Conway all the time, this was a miracle for us. Not to say that you don’t also have to do some behavior modifications, and you have to learn coping techniques and all that. It isn’t this magic bullet. It’s work, [but] it has saved our lives together, and his life.”
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