Or……”It’s All in Your Head” Have you ever had someone tell you that you should have your head examined or said “it’s all in you head”? I have; usually when I had one of my ” brilliant” ideas or was doing something particularly weird. Some of you may know what I’m talking about. Finally, as part of the Wellness Program with Carolina HealthSpan, I have had my head examined. More specifically, I have had my Brain Function tested. The brain is the most powerful organ in our body and controls virtually all functions, thoughts and emotions. I don’t believe we give this fact the attention and respect it deserves. Having a Neuro Assessment to better understand how the brain functions was absolutely fascinating and I wish I had done it sooner.ƒcƒ
My greatest concern with the aging process was that I would get Alzheimer’s or some other debilitating disease and become a burden on my family. I know many people share this concern, but did you know that there are Bio-markers that can predict whether you are a likely candidate for these diseases? I didn’t! I learned through talking with Dr. Brown and reading the information on the Website how powerful Neurofeedback is for diagnosing and treating not only Alzheimer’s, ADD, Depression, Insomnia, Concussion and PTSD, but other conditions as well. It’s amazing how much we don’t know and our Primary Care Providers don’t share with us.
There’s a wealth of Medical information to describe the Neuro Assessment that you can read in depth on the website but I’ll just tell you my impressions in my own words. I didn’t know what to expect from the testing process, but I had been forewarned that they would put some gel on my head and it would get into my hair. Trust me, hair gel is not a good look for me and certainly not one that I wanted to walk out with. My favorite wig solved this problem. I suggest you take a hat, a scarf or your head-covering of choice to wear post testing. After I got the “Magic Cap” on, I could actually see my brain waves on the screen before me. Wow! Normal waves look like lazy worms crawling across the screen…very serene; then Britney, my Neuro Clinician, had me grind my teeth and suddenly the brain waves looked like the jagged edges of a hack saw. What a difference. Think about that if you grind your teeth while you sleep. Then we got down to testing memory, response time and reasoning. I’ll admit this was challenging. I started off thinking “this is not so hard” then I had to look at 15 words which showed up later in the exercise for me to choose which ones had been in the previous list; not so easy after all. I’m guessing this was to test short term memory. Overall, my advice is to slow down and think about the directions onscreen before you make a response.
The results of the tests showed that I have completely normal brain function! As Britney says “Beautiful Brain Waves”. My report included a brain map in full color and a complete recap of the results of the tests performed. Never in my life could I have imagined having access to this type of information. Maybe I’ll carry a copy of this report with me at all times; after all, how many people do you know who can prove that they’ve had their head examined and they’re normal? The Biggest Bonus is knowing that I don’t have to be concerned about Alzheimer’s and you can bet that I will continue periodic testing to ensure this peace of mind. If, in future, there are markers of cognitive decline, I know there are treatments available for improvements or avoidance altogether. The positive impact it has on my quality of life is immeasurable.
You can’t put a price on that!
In case you missed it, follow Joh’s progress here:
Update: 7/2018 – We recently launched the reconnect program. The ReConnect Program is based off the framework and fundamentals of The Bredesen Protocol® with variations based upon our clinical experience of improving the brain function of over 10,000 individuals. To learn more visit our cognitive decline page.