It's been so long since I've blogged on my brain biofeedback treatments, it almost feels like I'm not doing them. But I am. I continue trucking along, each session a 3-minute assessment, 5-minute HRV screen aka deep breathing in rhythm with heart rate going up and down, three neurofeedback screens of 3 minutes each bowling,…
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.
Biofeedback, Technology, Blogging, and Fatigue
I'm getting an iPhone. Hopefully, this year; they’re a tad in demand. I made this decision after weeks of building problems and one particularly frustrating set of days. One big problem I have is that I can write on my iPod Touch within the white noise of the subway but cannot post my draft to…
Back To Gamma-Only Life
“I don't want you coming back here in the 130s, ma’am,” my trainer half-joked about my ridiculous heart rate at the end of gamma training. Seriously speaking, I'm with her. Seeing one’s heart rate well into the 130s is not so hot. We decided to blame the heat — a sudden upswing into the 30s…
LORETA Neurofeedback’s Last Week
This week marks the end of another phase of my biofeedback journey. This week my LORETA neurofeedback treatments came to an end. Although I'm relieved I won't have to travel to Mississauga anymore, I will miss seeing the people, saying hello, discussing my progress, talking brains. I am now happily embarking on a ten-day staycation…
Beta Spikes and Grisly Scenes During LORETA Neurofeedback
The same week we began stimulation of my Wernicke’s area, we saw beta spikes for the first time during my LORETA neurofeedback session. It began right with the first screen. And it wasn’t just a spike of five or six standard deviations from the norm, it was an off-the-chart spike. My trainer spoke to Andrea…
The Days That Test
I think ongoing, never-ending family stress is retarding the effectiveness of the new tDCS stimulation and LORETA neurofeedback. On the other hand, even though I just wanted to sit on the subway train and read tweets in a zoned-out state, my brain (or mind, and what is the mind anyway?) let me do that for…
Gamma Brainwave Biofeedback: A Small Summary
Well, look at that: my muscle tension dropped. A lot. This in spite of my craptastic month continuing to roll along its craptastic way. And not only that, my heart rate also dropped. We’re back in the teens, even during the HRV screen (which ironically usually increases my heart rate). It's been too long since…
Announcing the Launch of #ABIchat on Twitter
One of the great things about Twitter is the way it fosters conversations, the way people support each other. One of the things the brain injury community is lacking is a place to chat regularly on Twitter. And so I am launching a regular Twitter chat I’ve given the moniker “#ABIchat.” After seeing other medical…
Gamma Brainwave Biofeedback: Wernicke’s, Cats, and Reading
OK, this is a bit freaky, but the words on my iPod playing into my ears are so . . . so clear. They’re reaching out and pulling me into understanding. It’s almost overwhelming to hear the words clearly enunciated instead of in my usual blurry way, like they’re making me hear them as clear…