Originally Posted by ConniVel (Post 493479)

Hello, Everyone,

(I previously posted the same message in the "Dementia" subcommunity of Alzheimer's. In several days, I received no replies; in general, there is not a lot of activity in "Dementia". Here is the same post now under the "Alzheimer's" Community.)

I have joined this community for the express purpose of asking if any of you know of any electrical engineer who has the technical knowhow and is interested in building one of these helmets for my mother to use--she has dementia.

(I noticed some very technical comments on 1072 infrared in the Parkinson Community. I could barely follow the meaning. Therefore, I don't think that I could build anything myself, however rudimentary.)

Thank you for your help.

ConniVel

Originally Posted by ConniVel (Post 503106)

Jpak,

I was/am very happy to read your message. You are motivated and organized. I also appreciate the fact that you are concerned about whether or not your device is safe.

Yes, I am interested in having a helmet/device built so that my mother could try it.

However, first of all, I have a question for you.

You write, “There are two primary problems with this LED. It is very expensive and sells for about $400 each from Marubeni.”

When you say, “$400 each”--do you mean each LED? (50 LED’s at $400 each LED would be $20,000 for the LED’s only, without adding the cost of other parts. That would be expensive indeed.)

Please clarify.

I thank you ahead of time for your attention to this message.

Sincerely,

ConniVel
Florida

PS. What is your sister's condition, if you don't mind my asking?

Originally Posted by OverMachoGrande (Post 535216)

Hey, Guys!

My name is John Christian and I live in Orange Park, Fl, and I'm known in the hair loss forum world (of all places) as the "laser helmet guy".

Without going into detail, I reverse engineered the professional laser clinic devices and I have an site that tells people how to do-it-yourself in helmet form.

Well, I was adopted at birth, always had a "sixth sense" feeling that I was prone to Parkinson's, and I found my biological family two years ago -and, of course, the person I am the most biologically similar to in appearce (my grandfather) had Parkinson's, and he just passed away from it very recently.

With the article here "Low level light therapy proves promising for Parkinson's treatment" article (I can't post links here yet), I am DEFINITELY INTERESTED in constructing a device for this.

I'm only 36 years old -and my grandfather was 82 when he died- but I'm guessing it's pretty much a sure shot of me getting it based on the other genetics, plus sometimes I think I can just "tell", so I want to jump on this NOW, and hopefully it will be enough to completely prevent the disease.

We've been talking about both the dementia article from last year and the recent Parkinson's article, but I've recently read the full study and found that we were a little "off" in our discussion, and it would indeed take 1072nm LEDs or Laser diodes vs. the 810nm mentioned in the Parkinson's study.

Anyway, I know that you guys have already done A LOT with this, so I'm going to be asking a lot of questions in the future, I'm certainly going to take advantage of your info, and I'm going to be figuring out a way to cheaply do this.

I'm only experienced with laser diodes and not LEDs -LEDs are actually a bit trickier because you need capacitor/resistors unless you buy a panel, whereas the laser modules have the circuit board built in on them- but I'm definitely going to build something like this. If it's easier to just buy the completed panel, I'll do that, but if it's literally pennies on the dollar to make your own panel, I think that this is something that I need to learn how to do!

Anyway, thanks for your information, and I'll be around!

-John (O.M.G.)

Originally Posted by chiefgroover (Post 653500)

The LED's you require are made by Pacer international in England. This is EXPENSIVE to built due to the LED cost.

Originally Posted by kristmanson (Post 760899)

I want to make a helmet for my mother who has Alzheimer's. I read in the patent that Dr. Dougal wrote for his device that laser diodes with a frequency of 1064nm could be substituted. Perhaps more affordable? I haven't looked for a source yet.
Has anyone found any of the infrared LEDs at an affordable price?

Originally Posted by MartinWashere (Post 792041)

See the part number 751-1203-ND at the
**

People seem to have a hangup with the 1072 nm frequency, rather what you need is infrared, and not an exact frequency. The part above is priced at 100 LEDs @$30, or 500 LEDs @$100. You can even buy 1 LED at $0.55. I've already may some devices.

Originally Posted by varungoti (Post 825398)

I am a patient of dementia and i wanted to build a helmet for my self, I would be greatful if u can share your helmet designs with the group
Thankyou

Originally Posted by jpack (Post 502651)

Hello,

In February, 2008, I decided to build a helmet for my sister but had difficulty finding 1072 nm LEDs so I used 940 nm LEDs instead. She used this helmet from April through September of 2008.

In May I found a source for 1070 nm LEDs and was told that the primary wave length shifted to about 1072 nm after it was turned on and heated up to 30-35 degrees celsius. I purchased 50 of these LEDs and built a revised helmet that my sister has been using for nearly 7 months. There are two primary problems with this LED. It is very expensive and sells for about $400 each from Marubeni. I was able to get some knocked off the price but I'm not sure of the present supply and price. The other problem is the heat the LED puts out. It is technically 60 diodes put together in a single package and it dissipates a lot of heat. When I powered up the first test of a single LED I only had power to it for 3 seconds and it got so hot I couldn't touch it.

My major design goals were: 1. Control the heat 2. Protect the expensive LEDs and most importantly 3. Make sure I produced a helmet that was absolutely safe for my sister's daily use.

I think I accomplished these goals and the helmet has been working well since Early October. I have several improvements in mind for the next helmet which will hopefully be completed within the next 3-4 months.

I would consider building another helmet for someone under the right circumstances and would be willing to talk to you about it. If you are interested please post a follow up to this message.


jpack

Originally Posted by joycemordoh (Post 930646)

How are any of you people doing with your handmade helmets?
It's been a few years. How are the treatments going?

Originally Posted by chiefgroover (Post 653500)

The LED's you require are made by Pacer international in England.

You need 840 for an effective helmet, so thats 12 boards of 70.
They get hot, yes so fan cooled shrouds are needed. They may also supply these. Also required - a power supply that will power both the led's and fans on seperate circuts.
The helmet should have eight around the skull, two on top and two hanging down on adjustable brackets (light bendable soft metal) for the eyes sockets which are the most important part.
Dose is 6 to 8 mins per time, you can use once or twice daily.
Results typically start after 10 to 14 days, however it can take two to three months to get a decent result.

This is EXPENSIVE to built due to the LED cost.

Do not use on people with epilepsy.

May have postivive effects on many other neuro conditions also, but i have no personal exerience of anything but Dementia/Alzheimers. Typical results in an 84 year old who was scoring 12 on the MMSE before 10 weeks treatment.
Faster response to questions, happier mental state, asking a lot more questions, short term memory recall improvement. Now scoring 19 on MMSE, and easy to converse with.

Results on younger patients especially those under 70 happen much quicker.

Hope this helps.