| The manufacturer of the vagus nerve stimulator | | | | trained about vagus nerve stimulation. The results |
| has begun face-to face meetings with | | | | of the studies have been accepted for publication |
| psychiatrists nationwide to educate them about | | | | in prestigious peer reviewed journals such as |
| vagus nerve stimulation therapy, how it works | | | | Biological Psychiatry and Journal of Clinical |
| and for whom this treatment is indicated. It is | | | | Psychiatry. I know it has been a long, agonizing |
| very important that both you and your | | | | waiting game for you and your families. The most |
| psychiatrist fully understand vagus nerve | | | | critical item has been completed; FDA approval of |
| stimulation therapy so that you can make an | | | | vagus nerve stimulation therapy as an adjunctive |
| informed decision together about this | | | | treatment for chronic depression.I attended a |
| ninety-minute out-patient implant | | | | Conference about VNS Therapy last week. The |
| procedure.Three-hundred thirty representatives | | | | speakers included the nation's leading psychiatrists |
| and case managers are participating in this | | | | in treating the most severe depression. I will |
| nationwide education process. In addition to the | | | | report on their very positive findings in my next |
| face-to-face meetings with psychiatrists, the | | | | article.Charles Donovan was a patient in the FDA |
| awareness and education process will | | | | investigational trial of vagus nerve stimulation as a |
| include:Satellite Broadcast Event in 50 cities for | | | | treatment for chronic or recurrent |
| 1,750 psychiatrists | | | | treatment-resistant depression. He was implanted |
| Fifty nationwide symposiums for 3,200 | | | | with the vagus nerve stimulator in April of 2001. |
| psychiatrists | | | | He chronicles his journey from the grips of |
| One-hundred Regional Symposiums for 2,000 | | | | depression thanks to vagus nerve stimulation |
| psychiatrists | | | | therapy in his book:Out of the Black Hole: The |
| Ninety teleconferences | | | | Patient's Guide to Vagus Nerve Stimulation and |
| Continuing Medical Education Monograph (CME | | | | DepressionThe book is availalable on Amazon.com, |
| Credit)-7,000 psychiatrists | | | | Barnes & Noble.com, 1-888-VAGUS-88 and on his |
| Psychiatric Society MeetingsDon't get frustrated | | | | web site. |
| if your psychiatrist has not yet been informed or | | | | |