Hello,
I am a practitioner since 1991 and one of the authors of Standards of Practice in Neurofeedback. *edit* paper published in the Journal of Neurotherapy.
The treatments you received were not well vetted. Neurofeedback (NFB)
when properly practiced by a skilled mental health licensed person who is certified rarely has side effects at all and none that are permanent. But anything that can do good can do harm. The problem is we have people who obtain equipment, licensed or not and start practicing without proper training and use techniques that seem simple but are not. If the original practitioner was licensed I urge you to file a complaint with his or her licensing board for failure to meet minimum professional standards. If a member of the International Society for Neurofeedback Research *edit* I urge you to file an ethics complaint. Training at .1 Hz is very difficult to do correctly. It is called slow cortical potential training. It is difficult in part because the sensors themselves may be unstable, or it is difficult to distinguish noise, or sweat or muscle activity from the EEG and thus train the wrong signal and reinforce the improper brainwaves and also it may be difficult to follow the rules of operant conditioning when doing so, though it can be done. Neurofeedback is a complex science - see *edit*
Anxiety is controlled by a network within the brain and not by one or two sites nor frequencies. A proper assessment matched against a validated database should have occurred prior to treatment. Two such databases are in use: Neuroguide and Nxlink. The first came out of NIMH and the Univ of Maryland and the second out of NYU many years ago.
If is CRITICAL to choose the right practitioner with proper training and credentials.There are a group of us who have seen these effects and have learned how to reverse them in most cases. Please feel free to backchannel me at*edit*
Gerald Gluck Ph.D. LMFT
Board Certified Neurofeedback, Senior Fellow
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jpm2292
I started neurofeedback bc of anxiety. After doing some research online it seemed like a treatment option that could provide good long lasting results without having to deal with side effects, which is why I discontinued medication. So I decided to give it a try. When I had my first appointment the practitioner told me that I had high beta frequencies, explaining my anxiety. So he proceeded by lowering arousal by training at .1 MHz, while using the cygnet playform. After about 3 sessions I started to feel some progress but by the 5th session I began feeling bad side effects similar to the side effects that I was having with medication. The side effects included muscle fatigue, dizzieness, and my head started to feel numb. When I explained these side effects to my practitioner he said that they were normal side effects that would subside in a few days or so. So we continued with the training. After 2 more sessions the side effects of muscle fatigue, emotional flatness, and head numbness increased. I am a d1 runner and the side effects have effected my running tremendously. My times began to slow down and runs that we're once easy became increasingly more difficult. With great concern about the side effects that I was having I asked my neurofeedback practitioner if he could reverse the treatment. He said he could. In my 8 th session he tried to reverse the treatment, it didn't do much. After exchanging emails my practitioner said that if I stop the treatment the side effects should subside. I stopped for 5 weeks and nothing has changed. My running has gone down the drain due to muscle fatigue and I feel a constant daze from the numbness in my head. After 5 weeks I went back to the practitioner, as he said he could reverse the side effects. We did 3 sessions and all I felt was an increase dizzieness. Without any resilience of the side effects I consulted another practitioner in my area. I explained my situation and the side effects that I was experiencing. She said have a very sensitive central nervous system and that the platform she uses called neuroptimal by zengar is more effective and side effect free. I had a session with her and nothing was acomplished with regards to fixing the side effects. My side effects actually got worse as my feet swelled up that night. Neurofeedback has not only ruined my d1 running career but also my quality of life outside of running . I constantly feel dazed and emotionally flat. I am hoping that over time the side effects will subside and I will be able to run again. To anyone who is thinking about trying neurofeedback I would not recommend it unless you are willing to take a big risk and live with the possible consequences. To the practitioners I think it is very dangerouse to mess with people's brains. Neurofeedback has been the worst decision I have ever made in my life.
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