3 ms·

TMS involves strapping a very strong electromagnet directly to your head. Field strengths routinely hit 2-3 Tesla, about a million times stronger than the stray

TMS involves strapping a very strong electromagnet directly to your head. Field strengths routinely hit 2-3 Tesla, about a million times stronger than the stray EMF from high-voltage transmission lines. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcranial_magnetic_stimulation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcranial_magnetic_stimulat... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(magnetic_field) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(magnetic_...

FollowingTheDao 3y ago
I am familiar with TMS. I have a friend who became suicidal after undergoing TMS. And regarding orders of magnitude, if a lot does something, what is the lowest order if magnitude that does anything? And to who? Does genetics matter? Does genetics matter in TMS? And are short pulses of high Gauss the same as long term exposure to a lower Gauss? Are we comparing apples to apples? So many questions and so much certainty...
- ooterness 3y ago
  In short: No, they are not the same at all. I do not work in this field, but have taken a class or two on biomedical engineering. Some background: Neurons in your brain communicate with adjacent neurons by various chemical signals. But each neuron has an all-or-nothing threshold. At any given moment it's either activating a pulse called an "action-potential" or it's idle and waiting for stimulus from other neurons. TMS applies very short, very strong magnetic pulses to brain tissue. The affected region is small but contains millions of neurons. By electromagnetic induction, the changing magnetic field creates just enough localized voltage for those neurons to start activating at random without any external stimulus. Stray EMF is nowhere near strong enough to create a similar effect. The TMS effect is not strong enough to cause physical damage, but having all those neurons firing at random does have various effects, some good, some bad. I'm very sorry about your friend. Researchers are trying to learn if and how TMS can be used safely and effectively, but it is still experimental. If a doctor recommended it, they must have exhausted better-understood treatment options.
  - FollowingTheDao 3y ago
    "Stray EMF" is carrying a lot of weight. You know, I have lived in houses and surveyed houses with magnetic fields over 1000nT or 1 µT, simetimes over 2! And this is equal to an exposure of someone working in the electrical supply industry. https://www.arpansa.gov.au/understanding-radiation/what-is-radiation/non-ionising-radiation/low-frequency-electric-magnetic-fields https://www.arpansa.gov.au/understanding-radiation/what-is-r... Effects of much lower levels have already been shown in rats https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2466/pms.2003.97.3f.1307 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2466/pms.2003.97.3f.... And humans: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S075333220190006X https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S07533... These magnetic fields will turn into currents in the body and change our biology.
    - phren0logy 3y ago
      The falloff of that field strength is very rapid over just a few cm.
      - danielheath 3y ago
        Right. It’s not enough to have a field in the house; despite using massive high-energy fields, these processes require a shaved head to get close enough to work effectively.
      - FollowingTheDao 3y ago
        The measurements I took were inside the house. and the strong magnetic field was coming from the electrical wiring from the house not from overhead powerlines. I think you’re confused about what I was talking about.

FollowingTheDao 3y ago

I am familiar with TMS. I have a friend who became suicidal after undergoing TMS. And regarding orders of magnitude, if a lot does something, what is the lowest order if magnitude that does anything? And to who? Does genetics matter? Does genetics matter in TMS? And are short pulses of high Gauss the same as long term exposure to a lower Gauss? Are we comparing apples to apples? So many questions and so much certainty...

ooterness 3y ago
In short: No, they are not the same at all. I do not work in this field, but have taken a class or two on biomedical engineering. Some background: Neurons in your brain communicate with adjacent neurons by various chemical signals. But each neuron has an all-or-nothing threshold. At any given moment it's either activating a pulse called an "action-potential" or it's idle and waiting for stimulus from other neurons. TMS applies very short, very strong magnetic pulses to brain tissue. The affected region is small but contains millions of neurons. By electromagnetic induction, the changing magnetic field creates just enough localized voltage for those neurons to start activating at random without any external stimulus. Stray EMF is nowhere near strong enough to create a similar effect. The TMS effect is not strong enough to cause physical damage, but having all those neurons firing at random does have various effects, some good, some bad. I'm very sorry about your friend. Researchers are trying to learn if and how TMS can be used safely and effectively, but it is still experimental. If a doctor recommended it, they must have exhausted better-understood treatment options.
- FollowingTheDao 3y ago
  "Stray EMF" is carrying a lot of weight. You know, I have lived in houses and surveyed houses with magnetic fields over 1000nT or 1 µT, simetimes over 2! And this is equal to an exposure of someone working in the electrical supply industry. https://www.arpansa.gov.au/understanding-radiation/what-is-radiation/non-ionising-radiation/low-frequency-electric-magnetic-fields https://www.arpansa.gov.au/understanding-radiation/what-is-r... Effects of much lower levels have already been shown in rats https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2466/pms.2003.97.3f.1307 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2466/pms.2003.97.3f.... And humans: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S075333220190006X https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S07533... These magnetic fields will turn into currents in the body and change our biology.
  - phren0logy 3y ago
    The falloff of that field strength is very rapid over just a few cm.
    - danielheath 3y ago
      Right. It’s not enough to have a field in the house; despite using massive high-energy fields, these processes require a shaved head to get close enough to work effectively.
    - FollowingTheDao 3y ago
      The measurements I took were inside the house. and the strong magnetic field was coming from the electrical wiring from the house not from overhead powerlines. I think you’re confused about what I was talking about.