A new year, a new blogging direction. 2014 was a shit year, pardon my swearing. But really, I’m heartily glad to see the back of it. Bring on 2015! May it bring hope. My brain biofeedback is continuing as usual, no dramatic changes in me from it; since my neurodoc changed direction right at the…
Category: Brain Power
Musings on what makes for a powerful brain. This category also includes the sub-category Brain Health, which covers all things related to brain injury.
Accepting Reality: an Ongoing Process After Brain Injury
We’re going to stick to no tDCS and do gamma brainwave biofeedback at PZ for the forseeable future. It seems to be working better for me, although I’m still having trouble with the floaters in the dead centre of my vision. The flashes are almost gone. Last week, the floaters were like some malignant black…
Flashes, Floaters, and a Responsive ADD Centre
The people at the ADD Centre are so responsive and careful. I developed flashes in my eye with the intact retina (the other one is scarred). I, of course, like a 21st century engaged patient, Googled it. And I also began thinking about tDCS and retinas even though the part of my brain that is…
Retreat for NaNoWriMo
Last week, I went on retreat. I left my writing setup, with familiar desk and computer, to go to a hushed place to be fed and to walk and to think and to write on my iPad. I wasn’t sure how novel writing would go on the iPad. I am rather particular about where I…
Novelling Can Help Only So Much With PTSD
Writing is good for me. Writing a novel during NaNoWriMo is exciting and takes me out of the reality of my PTSD and brain injury. But writing can only do so much. And when reality intrudes in the form of a requested conversation with one’s insurance broker, the heart can go a little wonky. I…
Reading a Sign While tDCS Stimulating Wernicke’s
ShireenJ (@ShireenJ) 2014-10-22, 8:59 AM @ADDCentre -> MT @mattgallowaycbc: great sign about distracted driving. RT @BrentToderian: Clever. Spread the word. pic.twitter.com/OKVyYrxWf7 When that tweet I MT’d came into view on my Twitter feed, it caught my attention, not for its rather obvious message, I mean who’s dumb enough to think texting and driving is a…
We Humans are Social; We are Not Meant to Abandon our Sick and Injured
This is not an easy post to write — I don’t even know if I want to write it. Deep breath. Here goes (assuming autocorrect doesn’t stop me in my tracks!). Personality re-creation (shifting) is a neurophysiological process that is shaped by psychology, as I see it. Emotionally, it gets a little hairy. Think adolescence…
Write, No, Don’t Write, the War of Personalities
My brain biofeedback sessions always end with SMIRB — stop my irritating ruminations book. This week, I didn’t want to write during SMIRB. Or rather, a personality within me didn’t want me to write. For a few interminable seconds there, I thought I wouldn’t be able to start at all. For someone like me, this…
Brain Injury, Brain Healing, and Emerging Personality
I wrote on the back cover of my book Concussion Is Brain Injury that I had died when I suffered a closed head injury, not literally physically died, but the person that I was died that day. Since then, my health care professionals and I have talked on and off about who I am. This…