Today was much better. My muscle tension (EMG) was way down from yesterday and even down from last week. If it began to bounce back up to the 2.0 mark during one of the biofeedback screens, I’d remind myself to straighten my neck, and for the most part, that worked to drop it closer to…
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.
Gamma Brainwave Biofeedback: Posture is Important
Posture. It isn’t just for looking good. It seemingly affects your physiology too. I was having real trouble with my muscle tension (EMG) in today’s brain biofeedback (or neurofeedback) session. It was reminiscent of the old days, during my original stint with this therapy. As a result, I wasn’t doing too well. My heart rate…
Gamma Wave Biofeedback: Brain Training Begins
First full training session today. Phew. It was hard. To backtrack: I’ve restarted brain biofeedback, but this time I’m training a brainwave frequency that isn’t usually trained, the 40Hz gamma brainwave. It’s all experimental. As my trainer said: “I’ve never done this frequency before.” But I figure if I’m going to recover as fully as…
Gamma Wave Biofeedback, Day One
It’s been a roller coaster the last few months of hope and regression. I got a taste of what having more GABA in my brain means to good functionality. But then I was tossed out of the research trial in which I’d received the GABA-boosting research medication and the commercially available previous version didn’t work…
Recounting the Original Story for the Umpteenth Time
I have told my story a gazillion times. Well, okay, maybe not a gazillion. But between insurance docs, my docs, vocational and functional assessments for the insurers, therapists, new recent docs, it sure seems like it’s been a gazillion. So you’d think by now it would be no big deal. I could go into some…
Brain Injury Anger
I had a rather heated conversation with my doctor the other day about — anger. Brain injury anger, to be specific. It had suddenly occurred to me that since the time of Phineas Gage in the 19th century, physicians and psychologists have known about how brain injury can change personality, including bringing on outbursts of…
Sleep Study in the Raw: The Results
I got my results. They weren’t anything unexpected — for the most part. This was my fifth (I think … I’ve lost count) overnight sleep study, and the results of each have been pretty much the same. And the solution has been as well. I did this sleep study in the raw, that is, without…
GABA and Gamma Waves
I’m trying to understand GABA, specifically I’m trying to understand how I can induce GABA secretion in my brain so as to replicate an astonishing experience I had with a research drug, a GABA analogue. I started thinking, no, wondering if or how brain waves and neurotransmitters are linked. GABA is a neurotransmitter, and I…
Does a National Strategy on Mental Health Have Any Meaning in Canada?
The Mental Health Commission of Canada has released its National Strategy report. It took them five years to compile and write it. I understand that they had two Chairmen — the original one resigned. I’ve heard several interviews with the second Chairman, a physician, and the original Chairman, a Senator, and I caught a snippet…