Has anyone gone to a cognitive therapist?
 

I was a passenger in a car accident on 12/11/10 and hit my forehead on the driver's side headrest. About a month afterwards I began noticing that my memory "flubs" were more than just they typical forgetfulness and went to a neurologist. MRI and CT were normal. Tried Nuvigil at two different doses but couldn't deal with the depression so he referred me to a cognitive therapist.

I went for an eval yesterday and actually did much worse on the tasks than I expected but she assured me that I'm not a "worst case" scenario. I have "executive dysfunction" and I understand that to mean that the front of the brain is like the supervisor for the rest of the brain. I have the pieces I need to do something but the "control center" can't organize the data so that I can evaluate it and make decisions quickly, if at all. This seems logical based on my own experience and I'm willing to give it a shot.

My first appointment to begin working on the things that challenge me is tomorrow. I hope it will be more than just "use a notepad to jot down your to do list" and would love feedback from anyone who may have gone this route. Thank you all - whether you know it or not, your posts always help me and remind me I'm not alone in this little nightmare. :winky:

I have not been to one but just wanted to wish you good luck with your appointment! Keep us posted! :)

crgravitt,

I went to a neuropsychologist first, to be evaluated thru testing to see what was lacking - seems like my short term memory scoring was very low compared to everthing else, and second for follow-up work to improve what was lacking.

What was done was lots of audio based lessons where I worked with first remembering and recalling numbers, then groups of numbers, then the challenge went up from there to recalling groups of numbers with background noise or distraction, to then performing math computations in my head then using the result in the next set of calculations.

Tough for me, but it helps, plus advise on mindfullness meditation which brings my attention to better focus. I've noticed improvement and I look for similar type exercises.

If you were evaluated, I'd think they would tailor the therapy for what specifically you need.

Good luck! :)

Thanks!
 

Thanks so much for your responses - I'm excited to begin the process b/c it's really the only thing I've felt could "help" - the meds were just a crutch for me, not really solving anything and ultimately making me feel worse. This is at least something I can actively work on and be involved in!

The parts that I did worst on during the eval are the auditory tasks - listening to the "dings" on an elevator and counting the floors, than adding high tones to indicate you're going higher on the next ding, or low tones to indicate you're going down a floor on the next ding. I thought I was losing my mind - after about the 4th set of dings I was almost beside myself. :confused:

Thanks again - hopefully I'll have some good news to report soon. Best to everyone!

Crystal

Update on Appointment
 

I had my first real session following the eval and I'm cautiously optimistic. The therapist has tailored a program that is geared toward my needs. She has advised that a lot of it will be tedious, I proabably won't like it, and it's not designed to be fun - gotta love her for being upfront about it. :D However, she does constantly affirm that I'm not stupid and I am capable - just hearing someone say it does make me feel better. I've already recognized things about what I "should" be doing vs. what I "am" doing, such as reading directions, making sure I understand them, finding the most logical way to follow them, etc. I have a lot of homework to do, mainly learning to deal with distractions when focusing my attention - easier said than done.

Best,
Crystal