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…
Tag: Personal
Trauma Therapy is Hard on Therapist and Client Alike
Things I’ve been told: “A therapist is closer to you than a husband.” “Tell your therapist EVERYTHING. Don’t hold back.” “A 24/7 number is not about calling it but knowing you can reach someone when you’re in crisis.” “AA sponsor/sponsee is about knowing you can call any time even though maybe only have to once.”…
Exhaustion Remains a Reality After Improvement from Brain Injury
Last week, I treated myself to a couple of hours at the hairdresser’s, getting my hair primped while we gossiped and laughed. No Rob Ford talk though this time! To compensate for the extra energy use, I cut my usual walking distance when out and about in half, thinking I was being smart in balancing…
Reality is a Bad Dream
Now that the ADD Centre is training a second person with gamma brainwave biofeedback, they have begun asking me questions based on her feedback. Do you have vivid dreams, I was asked this week. Oh, I suddenly remembered, I did have a bad dream last week. Since my injury, I have not had nightmares or…
More Mines in the PTSD Minefield Courtesy of Brain Injury
In the spirit of my intention to write about my emotions since healing my traumatic memories, recovering the ability to feel is the part of my brain injury recovery I’ve barely touched, I write today’s post on new mines in my PTSD minefield. Deep breath. Before my brain injury I had this empathic ability to…
Do Therapists Need to be on Twitter?
Data don’t lie; you can’t hide from data. Mid-August my gamma brainwaves had dropped, my ever-spinning busy brain, heart rate, and muscle tension risen. Then my Pastor helped me make a necessary decision, and all my brainwaves returned to my normal the first week of September. I learnt a hard lesson about social media and…
Fatigue-Restlessness Paradox
My gamma brainwave output is returning to normal. I was able to achieve above 1.0 gamma/EMG ratio during one of the biofeedback screens this week, not just during the writing portion of my session. It’s even more impressive I could because my muscle tension (EMG) went high (temporarily) when my trainer and I fell into…
Gamma Brainwave Training and Emotions in PTSD and Brain Injury
Two weeks ago, my biofeedback trainer re-assessed my brain at the PZ-O1 position — left back of skull. Last week we continued gamma brainwave biofeedback training at that position and will do so for ten sessions total. And then re-assess. Relief. My gamma was unusually low last week. It finally rose to my normal above-1.0…
Seek, Ask, Bug, Nag, and You May Get Mental Health Help
Awhile ago, I was informed that I lived in the Mecca of mental health services: Toronto. There are 700 psychiatrists at the University of Toronto alone plus community psychiatrists, too few OHIP-covered psychologists and social workers, and a plethora of private-pay therapists in this city. These are in number completely inadequate to meeting the mental…