sorry for the delayed response. I did go to cognitive fx in march of 2017 and wanted to give the post treatment (brain HQ) some time, before I weighed in on the overall experience/efficacy.

The week at cognitive fx was exhausting. They really push you hard cognitively. I had some problems sleeping that week, which probably didn't help matters. My initial fMRI showed significant abnormalities in blood flow, which are supposed to correlate to neurological activity with respect to a given mental task. I asked for the raw fMRI results, and they claimed that they were proprietary, and instead they give you a detailed summary of the various brain regions activity based on certain mental tasks. I guess that the fMRI processing that they do is their 'secret sauce', that they have spent a lot of research money refining it, so they want to protect it. After the treatment week, myfollow up fMRI showed normalized blood flow, and their departing statement to me was that my neurovascular coupling was reset, and I am well on my way to recovery from symptoms, and should probably be experiencing a vast improvement already.

The problem is that this improvement in fMRI didn't necessarily correlate with symptom improvement. My symptom index was relatively consistent across the whole week, meaning that I didn't experience much relief in any of my symptoms. I did however notice that my performance improved on the cognitive exercises that they employed on me throughout the week. I can also say that I had some weird symptoms immediately after the week at cog fx. I felt a vague opening and clearing of the head, like it had less cob webs in it or something. I also felt a strange opening feeling in my sinuses, like I could smell better. very peculiar and interesting. I was taking it as a sign of real changes occurring in my brain, until about 3 days after I got back from cog fx when I went back to feeling about the same as I was feeling before I went there.

When I got home, I devoted myself to doing brain hq exercises for about 30-60min/day for about 2 months. Again, performance improvements, but little symptom improvements were noted. So, I stopped the exercises as my functional time is a valuable commodity for my family, and not to be spent frivolously.

I've read that it takes about 6 weeks for neurogenisis to take place for a given stimulus, and I believe that that is the desired end goal of cognitive fx's focus on neurovascular coupling. I am now 7 months out from my treatment at cognitive fx, and though I have had some improvement since then, I can not definitely say that the improvement was from cognitive fx and not from my normal healing trajectory over time. It was an educational experience for me in cognitive exercises and stimulated me to look for other ways I can promote neurogenisis through cognitive demand (exercises). That said, I have talked to another (and hear of others) who have had profound improvement in their week at cog fx. Its hard to ascertain how they are able to get this kind of improvement when all the research shows that neurogenisis takes time. I am thinking that maybe these fortunate recovery stories at cog fx stem from a different type of cognitive compromise than the rest of us. They may be experiencing symptoms from some other pathology other than neuronal damage, like for instance brain noise. A brain that is structurally sound can malfunction from excessive noise (misfiring or improper inhibition at the synapses). In which case, a simple reboot (a week of intense cognitive demand at cog fx) might get the neurons to start communicating better with each other. don't know...

Next up, I'm trying infrared light therapy. Red light man just came out with a new infrared device that is pretty powerful at the 830nm spectrum.
thanks for all your input,
Shane

2.5 years out from initial head injury: current symptoms - cog fatigue with mod-heavy cognitive stimulation. headache, wooziness, phonophobia also with excess stimulation. occasional sleep problems. exercise intolerance above 120 beats/min.