About VNS - Vagus Nerve Stimulation uses specific stimulation of the vagus nerve to send stimulation to specific parts of the brain that are involved in mood.

Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) Therapy: An Overview - VNS Therapy is the first treatment approved by the FDA for both medically refractory epilepsy and depression.

eNewsletter - The VagusNerveStimulation.com (SM) Bulletin delivers patient education about vagus nerve stimulation and depression, anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, epilepsy, substance abuse and suicide.

Book - Out of the Black Hole: The Patient's Guide to Vagus Nerve Stimulation and Depression describes my experience as a study subject who has been implanted with the vagus nerve stimulator in the FDA investigational trial of vagus nerve stimulation for depression.

Resources - People who suffer from depression have access to many helpful resources.

Tell A Friend - Please be sure and tell others that you know about the information found here at VagusNerveStimulation.com.

About Us - Wellness Publishers is based in St. Louis, Missouri, but is focused on educating patients worldwide about new FDA approved treatments for the debilitating disease of chronic depression.

Contact Us - If you would like to contact us, please use the form on this page.

Depression Topics

What is Depression? - There's more to depression than simply feeling sad when something disheartening happens in your life.

Signs of Depression - Typical signs of depression actually show a change in the way a person has come to think about himself.

Evaluating Your Depression - A depression self-test may help you determine the need for an evaluation by a psychiatrist.

The Wakefield Questionnaire - This depression screening quiz will help you become more familiar with the signs and symptoms of depression.

Depression and Physical Symptoms - The relationship between depression and physical symptoms is an area that is being studied worldwide.

Understanding Depression: Disease or State of Mind? - The NMHA survey shows a major shift in public opinion in the last decade about the cause of depression.

Why Are Women More Prone to Depression Than Men? - Researchers are now constructing more scientific theories to explain why women are nearly twice as likely as men to become depressed.

Women and Depression: The Impact at Work - 83 percent of working women with depression found it to be the number one barrier to success in the workplace.

Antidepressants & Weight Gain - Within the past 10 years, the arsenal of weapons used to combat depression has increased but has made antidepressant induced weight gain a factor.

Women and Physical Symptoms - "The higher prevalence of depression among women than men appears to result from a much higher prevalence of a type of depression associated with somatic symptoms (appetite and sleep disturbances and fatigue accompanied with pain and anxiety)," states Brett Silverstein, PhD.

Depression, Suicide and Cosmetic Surgery ... How Are They Related? - According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Between 2003 and 2004 the number of cosmetic procedures increased by 44 percent

Signs of Suicide - Suicides are usually the result of a complex combination of emotional, social, and biological factors. For that reason, learning about the warning signs of suicide can be difficult yet so important.

Understanding the Causes of Suicide - You can overcome suicidal thoughts by understanding the causes of suicide.

Suicide is a Permanent Solution to a Temporary Problem - If you considering ways to commit suicide, use this National Suicide Prevention Hotline that is recommended by the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance.

Can the Familial Environment be a Factor of Suicidal Tendency? - Dr. Maria Oquendo of the New York State Psychiatric Institute and the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in New York City, was interviewed by Medscape Medical News about her reseach into risk factors of familial suicide.

Online Suicide Help - There are many sources of online suicide help and information.

Bipolar Disorder - Bipolar mood disorder, also known as manic depression, is a treatable illness involving extreme changes in mood, thought, energy, and behavior.

Bipolar Symptoms - Several recent studies on bipolar symptoms indicate that a substantial number of patients with bipolar depression, especially bipolar II depression, are initially diagnosed with unipolar major depressive disorder.

A Correct Diagnosis: Unipolar vs. Bipolar Disorder - The importance of making the diagnosis of bipolar disorder symptoms and distinguishing it from unipolar depression is self-evident, but also highlighted by the findings of several recent outcome studies.

Sleep Disorders - There is a close relationship between depression and sleep deprivation. Sleep disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea and delayed sleep phase syndrome rob you of sleep.

Restless Legs Syndrome and Depression - Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a neurological disorder characterized by unpleasant sensations in the legs and an uncontrollable urge to move when at rest in an effort to relieve these feelings.

Sleep Apnea - Those who suffer from sleep apnea, a breathing disorder characterized by brief interruptions of breathing during sleep, often also have signs of major depression (most likely due to lack of quality sleep).

Depression Treatments

About Vagus Nerve Stimulation - The VNS Therapy system consists of the VNS Therapy Pulse Generator, the Bipolar Lead, the programming wand and software and the tunneling tool.

Vagus Nerve Stimulation vs. Antidepressant Medications - Preliminary results from Cyberonics' of the Vagus Nerve Stimulator study suggest that the long-term use of vagus nerve stimulator therapy can produce improvements in depression.

About Electroconvulsive Therapy - Doctors prescribe ECT mainly to treat depression that does not respond to antidepressant medications and/or psychotherapy.

Electroconvulsive Therapy - 2007 Updates - Memory loss attributed to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) may to a large extent be associated with how the treatment is administered, according to a study of patients referred to one of seven hospitals in the New York metropolitan area for ECT.

Medication Options: A Survey of the Most Common Types - Within the past several years, depression and anxiety medications have become enormous in popularity, be it from prescribing physicians, drug companies, or (and most importantly!) patients with depression.

New Antidepressant Developments - New antidepressant development, until fairly recently, was at best a random, and at worst a problematic and frustrating, process.

Remission in Patients with Depression is Possible, But Hard to Sustain - Patients who recover from a major depressive episode are at high risk of a relapse according to a study released by the National Institute of Mental Health.

Psychotherapy - Psychotherapy is often the first form of treatment recommended for depression. Called "therapy" for short, the word psychotherapy actually involves a variety of treatment techniques.

Psychotherapy Techniques - Psychotherapists employ a range of techniques based on experiential relationship building, dialogue, communication and behavior change and that are designed to improve the mental health of a client or patient, or to improve group relationships (such as in a family).

Introduction to Brain Stimulation Therapies - There is renewed interest in brain stimulation techniques as therapies for psychiatric disorders.

Deep Brain Stimulation for Depression - DBS is brain surgery and involves drilling a hole in the part of the brain known as Area 25. This part of the brain may have key implications in future treatments for patients suffering from very severe chronic depression.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation - TMS Therapy involves the use of very short pulses of magnetic energy to stimulate nerve cells in the brain.

Long-term Bipolar Treatment - A long-term bipolar treatment can be in the form of a Mood-Stabilizer Monotherapy or a Mood-Stabilizer Combination Therapy.

Are Antidepressants Effective for Bipolar Disorder? - The use and effectiveness of antidepressants as a bipolar medication during depressive episodes in patients with bipolar illness are not fully understood.

Symbyax as a Treatment for Bipolar Disorder - New data show that Symbyax^TM Associated With Suicidal Thinking in Patients With Bipolar Depression within the first week of treatment.

Risks of Combining Mood Stabilizers & Antidepressants - Although, a mood stabilizer monotherapy can be an effective bipolar disorder treatment in some patients, for others, improvement will be insufficient.

New Depression Treatments - For many people who suffer from depression, the traditional treatments of therapy, antidepressant medications, and electroconvulsive therapy (shock treatments) offer little or no relief.

Depression Comorbidities

Substance Abuse & Depression - To relieve the misery of depression, some people turn to drugs or alcohol.

Anxiety Disorder: the Need for Diagnosis - Millions of Americans with clinical depression and/or generalized anxiety disorder symptoms are not being diagnosed or treated.

Obesity and Depression are Common Comorbid Diseases - Incidences of obesity and depression are immensely on the rise throughout the world.

Type 2 Diabetes Overview - Type 2 Diabetes is often called non-insulin dependent diabetes. This is the most common form of diabetes and it affects 90% - 95% of the 21 million people who have diabetes.

Surprising Diabetes Symptoms - Depression sufferers are at twice the risk of developing Type II diabetes than the general population, but not be aware of some unusual symptoms of this disease.

Diabetes and Depression - Depression can strike anyone—it affects about nine percent of the U.S. population.

Migraines - An overview of migraine as presented as part of the scientific program of the 2006 American Academy of Neurology (AAN) 58th Annual Meeting.

Depression and Chronic Pain - Pain is real; it is debilitating; and can restrict normal activities leading to anxiety, and if experienced over extended periods of time without relief, can lead to depression.

Related Topics

Alzheimer Disease - Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is safe and beneficial for some patients with Alzheimer disease, according to a report in the August 2006 Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Vagus Nerve Stimulation may be a New Way to Control Autoimmune Diseases - A neurosurgeon at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research on Long Island New York, Dr.Kevin Tracey, MD has disproved the long held theory that there is no connection between the brain and the immune system

Bulimia & Vagus Nerve Stimulation - Research on a new treatment for bulimia, stimulation of the vagus nerve (vagal nerve stimulation), may provide a broad therapy so that more individuals can recover from this debilitating disorder.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - Chronic fatigue syndrome can be misdiagnosed or overlooked because its symptoms are common to other many disorders.

Understanding Epilepsy - Epilepsy is a neurological condition that from time to time produces brief disturbances in the normal electrical functions of the brain.

VNS Therapy for Epilepsy - The United States Food and Drug Administration approved the VNS Therapy System in July 1997 for use as an adjunctive therapy in epilepsy patients over 12 years of age in reducing the frequency of partial onset seizures that are refractory or resistant to antiepileptic drugs.

Vagus Nerve Stimulation Therapy: Epilepsy Indication Overview - Epilepsy is a disorder of the brain characterized by recurrent seizures that are categorized as either partial or generalized at onset.

The Relationship Between Epilepsy and Depression - People with epilepsy may be more likely than other people to experience emotional changes.

A Brief History of Epilepsy - In epilepsy history, the basic pathophysiological understanding of epileptic seizures was deduced by the 19th-century physician John Hughlings Jackson based solely on clinical observations.

Causes of Epilepsy - The most specific diagnosis as to why seizures are occurring depends on finding a cause, and the best therapy will be one specific to the etiology.

Symptoms of Epilepsy - The kind of seizure a person has depends on which part and how much of the brain is affected by the electrical disturbance that produces seizures.

How Does Epilepsy Effect the Brain? - Epilepsy is a disorder of the central nervous system, specifically the brain.

Depression Is Common In People With Epilepsy - While researchers agree that there is frequently a link between chronic illnesses and depression, for people with epilepsy the link appears to be especially significant.

Childhood Epliepsy - For children whose seizures are not controlled by medication or who experience unacceptable side-effects, several treatments including surgery, the ketogenic diet, and the vagus nerve stimulator (VNS) may be effective in treating child epilepsy.

Coping With Childhood Epilepsy - Fifty million people have epilepsy worldwide, and more than 2.7 million are in the United States, half of them children.

Depression and Epilepsy - "Depression is a common occurrence among epileptic patients and constitutes, along with anxiety disorders, the most frequent psychiatric condition in these patients," states Andres M. Kanner, MD and J.C. Nieto of the Department of Neurological Sciences, Rush Medical College and Rush Epilepsy Center, Rush Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois.

Epilepsy - Medications - Medications to prevent epileptic seizures are called antiepileptics. The goal is to find an effective antiepileptic medication that causes the fewest side effects.

Vagus Nerve Stimulation as a Complement to Epilepsy Medications - While there are several types of epilepsy medications that can be used, there are also complementary treatments.

What is Fibromyalgia? - Fibromyalgia is a disorder that causes muscle pain and fatigue (feeling tired).

The Vagus Nerve & Obesity - Virginia Commonwealth University researchers are enrolling people in a study testing an implanted weight-loss device that curbs hunger and increases feelings of fullness so weight drops almost effortlessly.