Emotions swirl, need processing. They push against a resistant skin, demanding out but not identifying themselves. I poke and poke with therapy and music. They emerge in a storm that bursts and flees for a little while. But I haven’t experienced the full shut off for quite some time. Until I awoke Sunday morning. I…
Category: Brain Health
Writings on brain injuries, remedies, and interesting tidbits, from the perspective of one who suffered a closed head injury and didn’t lose consciousness. Mild brain injuries are injuries too.
Getting More Organized in my Speech
I spoke to Dr. Lynda Thompson on the phone last week. I hadn’t spoken to her since March. She noticed a big change in me: I was organized. That puzzled me. You get so used to being the way you are — and especially when people keep telling you you’re articulate and neglect to tell…
Touch Taboo in Therapy
This week’s reading for my ten minutes of tDCS during brain biofeedback came from my website. I decided I wanted to refresh my memory on the hypothalamus. But instead of reading Wikipedia, why not read what I’d written back in 2010 with the benefit of my trainer reading along with me, and so I could…
C4 Assessment Week and Ah-Ha Moments
Assessment week. Instead of doing a standard 30-second assessment at the start of the biofeedback portion of my session, I did three minutes like during gamma training. However, unlike the gamma training assessment, where I just sat there while the computer recorded my brainwaves and my trainer went off to work on paperwork, she stayed…
Laughter is Good Medicine but not Mid-Training
You know when you get a fit of the giggles and can’t stop laughing and how awkward that is? Well, imagine that when trying to move a virtual bowling ball down its virtual lane . . . Or worse flying a biplane with brainwaves that don’t want to co-operate so that the electric guitar in…
After Four Years, My CCAC Therapist is Leaving
My therapist is leaving. I have no idea what I’m feeling because when my emotions tried to rise and connect with my conscious mind — with the me I’m aware of — click, off they switched. Just gone. I thought I would take about 12 hours to process what she was telling me, what I…
Reconnecting with Old Knowledge While Under tDCS
As part of my psychology degree I studied neurophysiology and physiology, not knowing I was studying for the needs of my future self. But that was a long time ago. How much could I remember now? Even if I hadn’t been injured and had my photographic memory intact, how much could I have been able…
Talking Neurofeedback and Epilepsy During tDCS
The TTC decided to revert to its old 10-minutes-between-trains routine. And the new “improved” numbers-for-names signage at Yonge/Bloor station discombobulated me as it always does. And so I was rather late. (Going from appointment to appointment in this city is always so much fun.) Still, I didn’t feel too anxious when I rushed into the…
PTSD Hits During HRV in Brain Biofeedback Session
I had a flashback during the HRV screen in brain biofeedback. There I am glorying in an LF number that was higher than my sympathetic system’s number (meaning heart doing better) when boom: I know where I am, but I am reliving the early days of brain biofeedback when I was being trained in the…