Originally Posted by Mark in Idaho

I have often mentioned how most doctors, even endocrinologists, use a very broad range of hormone levels and then a shotgun approach to treating the irregularities. That is why I have been recommending Women's International for a referral for more than 2 years.

Mike, When you mention neurofeedback, you need to be more specific. Did you use volitional neurofeedback or non-volitional neurotherapy? There is a world of difference.

I did both volitional and non volitional. Volitional wise, I did Z-Score training and non volitional wise, I did LENS. They both worked very well for me but the LENS was easier b/c I didn't have to do anything but just sit there and let the machine do all of the work. The LENS was very touch - and - go though b/c some days, I'd walk out of my therapists office feeling worse than when I got there. But in the end, it all worked out well for me.

What kind of treatments did the DO do with the CST?

Not sure on this one. I guess DO's do the original form of CST and most CST practitioners do a watered down version of it. My DO told me that if someone wishes to specialize in that area, he/she has to spend three years in training whereas a therapist who gets certified in it only spends a few weekends in training. She would basically put her hands on my feet to ground me, then she would put her hands on my chest and then she would put them under my head. I always left there feeling really good.

How many HBOT treatments did you undergo?

I did a protocol that is being researched right now that calls for 80 treatments at 1.5 ATA. The protocol was part of a research study.

Did you modify your diet by excluding any foods?

Yes! I discovered that I had a sensitivity to gluten and that my gut was a war zone. The doc who helped me with this said that a lot of folks with nervous system issues have very bad guts. I guess this happens for two reasons. One, 85% of our seretonin is made in the gut and transported to the brain. When you have inflammation in your gut, seretonin production is greatly reduced and that can cause major issues. Two, the vagus nerve innervates the gut and when you cause inflammation in your gut, you cause it in your brain as well. So, I am basically on the Paleolithic Diet right now. Feel better and lost a bunch of weight too.

How do you know what improvements resulted from each treatment modality?

Well, that's a good question. I do know that the hormone therapy played a huge part in all of this. So, I know that definitely helped. The HBOT really helped with my vision, balance and sleep. The Neurotherapy really helped with my cognition and impulse control. The diet really helped with fatigue. The CST helps but to me it's more like getting a massage b/c it really relaxes me. The next day, I'm usually back to being "normal." But I like them enough that I go about once a week. Now, I'm sure there was some overlap in there but that is what I can recall each doing.

Every treatment/therapy you mentioned has been mentioned many times here. There has been no consistency in result with different persons having the same therapy.

Yes, and that is true of any treatment. My mom contracted stage 4 melenoma skin cancer about 20 years ago before there were the treatments they had today. She was told by her cancer doc in Colorado that she had about 5 years to live. So, she decided to try a novel treatment at the John Wayne Cancer Institute that is now a standard treatment for that type of cancer. The #1 thing the doctors told her was that she had to prepare her body for the healing that would take place. So, she had to get on a special diet, she had to take certain hormones, start exercising etc to get her body as ready as she could. The treatment worked and she is still alive and doing well. I like to think of neurorehabilitation in the same way. I think people get varying results because we have varying conditions that our bodies are in. One may have a gluten allergy and not know it, so none of the therapies will work at all. Another may have a B12 or Vit D deficiency or maybe low testosterone, etc. I think the ones that do the best with the rehabilitation are the ones who had healthy bodies to begin with. This happened to me and it wasn't until I cleaned up my diet and got on the correct hormones that the therapies began to work correctly.

As the saying goes, "If you have seen one brain injury, you've seen ONE brain injury."

Very true! Not one is the same and some, no matter what they do, won't be able to recover any function. However, I believe that these are in the minority and that most can at least gain some functioning back which as I'm sure you know, even a 10% reduction in symptomology is huge.

btw, Were the 30 or so concussions all diagnosed or have you learned to identify them and track them without a doctor's input. Does the count included sub-concussive impacts? If you are so concussion prone, what changes did you make to reduce your concussion
risk?

Only 8 of them were diagnosed but I was told that anytime I hit my head and was a bit off or saw stars, that was a concussion. So, my I figured the number was around 30.

Well, of course, I stopped playing contact sports. Actually, aside from running, hiking and other endurance sports, I quit all other sports. Getting my balance back helped too so that I no longer bang into stuff. Anytime I'm in a situation where I'm at risk of hitting my head, like getting something out of the car or being on a ladder, etc. I always live by the one, two, three rule. One, asses the situation - visually examine everything in my immediate surroundings to make sure I'm aware of where everything is so as to avoid bumping my head on it. Two, slow down and breath. I take deep breaths so that I can remain calm while I'm doing whatever it is I'm doing. I like this one b/c it allows me to remember that I'm in a potentially dangerous situation that I need to be aware of. Three - stop and take a deep breath before I stop doing what I was doing. Again, this allows me to remember that I'm in a potentially dangerous situation. It takes me a bit longer to do things because of this and my friends will sometime chuckle at my when I do this, but it's proved pretty effective.
Other than that, I'm just careful. I've gotten used to it by now, so avoiding hitting my head has just become second nature to me.