Having a substitute brain biofeedback trainer is a bit like having had a substitute teacher when you were a kid, except as an adult you’re nice to them, maybe even nicer than to your regular trainer. No hard questions for the substitute, guiding them on the usual way of doing things, that sort of thing.…
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.
LORETA #11: Progress Check and Review
Session 11: time to check my progress and do something a little different. The progress check comprised about ten minutes of the LORETA software simply reading my brainwaves. It's boring staring at the little green light at the bottom of the monitor for 12 minutes while reminding yourself to relax the jaw and shoulders, but…
A LORETA Setback . . . Maybe
Last week, I had an average day at LORETA neurofeedback, that is, I achieved a string of scores like most others have. An uptick from the first screen to the second, then down down down. Sigh. At least I ended in the same place as the previous session; doing that required a Herculean effort to…
Problems with Time Management? Use The Devices Jobs Gave Us
I hear people with ADD have a problem with time and showing up to appointments on time, just like people with brain injury. The solution is to get an iPod Touch or smartphone with a decent calendar app, stick a claxon alarm on it (like my therapist did the first day she worked with me…
LORETA Number Nine
After I scored a (to me) dismal 168 points after my first five-minute screen, my trainer and I discussed what a good set of scores should look like during the standard six screens of LORETA neurofeedback. It doesn’t matter so much (except for a self-competitive person like me) where I begin as long as we…
Brain Biofeedback and Drive, Initiation, Motivation
Drive, initiation, motivation are three aspects of our human-ness I didn't think much about, except for drive, till after my brain injury. Rehab talked about brain injury inducing a loss of motivation; learned articles acknowledged there’s such a thing as initiation deficit post-brain injury. But the one thing my father talked about a lot (ok,…
Taking Public Transit to LORETA Neurofeedback
It's weird leaving LORETA neurofeedback training and hopping onto public transit (disconcerting too, to have the bus pull up right away) instead of driving off. I wonder if not having inadvertent highway exposure therapy will make a diff? I had wondered too if not having it before would make any diff? Well, as to the…
Even When Sleepy, It’s Still Possible to Train the Brain
Five and a half hours sleep makes gamma brainwave training difficult. Stupid back. Biofeedback day is not a good time to slowly devolve into stripes of pain, I said to my back. It shrugged and stiffened up more. As I had anticipated with my back going all stiff and tense on me, my muscle tension…
LORETA Neurofeedback Outs My Distractability
We experimented in this week's LORETA neurofeedback session with open door/closed door. I played the DVD with my brain with the door closed for the first two five-minute screens, door open for the second two screens, and door closed for the last two screens. We wanted to see if it made a difference to my…