Open Focus by Les Fehmi can help seizures

[nagendra]

Hi,
Recently I came across this book titled "The Open-Focus Brain" by Les Fehmi. The techniques are based on Bio-Feedback. So thought of sharing the info with u.

Nagendra

[epileric]

Glad you shared that with us.

I moved your post to the "library" on our site because I thought you might want to write a review of what you thought about the book & why.

I'm sure it'd be of use to many others here.

Thanks.

[occb]

Hubby Scott bought this book for his chronic pain, and I was hoping it might work for the seizures (or whatever they are) as well.

I will keep you updated on his progress when he really starts to get into it (we just began doing 20 minutes a day on the weekend).

[Nakamova]

I've heard mixed reviews for this. Hope it works, keep us posted.

[occb]

All right, so it's been... 11 days? and hubby has only just started doing it more regularly, and only at 20 minutes a day (30 is recommended).

It helps with pain, in particular on those days where he hurts all over, which were always related to the moods he would get. His moods have improved -- this seems to help him lift the one-track thinking he always gets with angry or sad moods, and shortens the duration of them.

His back pain hasn't diminished, but that may come with time and more pratice (hopefully). He says he hasn't noticed a significant difference in bad smells yet. He still spaces out in the evenings, but it doesn't seem too bad, even though he's having a bout of worse symptoms at the moment--this was the same time last year when things got really bad with the rhythmic jerking in his sleep and severe moods. Happily, this isn't anywhere close to what that was.

Because this is similar to mindfulness/awareness meditation, we've picked up books about that in relation to chronic illness and pain. One added benefit he's noticed is that it he's now more aware of how medications and foods affect his mind and body.

[Nakamova]

That all sounds very promising!

BTW Jim Robbins, who co-wrote the Open Focus Brain, also wrote "A Symphony in the Brain" about neurofeedback. I found it to be a fascinating book, and it explained why neurofeedback hasn't become as widespread as it ought.

[Nakamova]

The other day I read about the NeuroSky MindWave headset. It's a high-quality EEG headset that you buy, and then there are a whole lot of Apps to choose from depending on what brainwaves you want to work on. One of the Apps is geared towards meditation -- maybe that would complement Open-Focus stuff.

Here's the link: http://www.neurosky.com/People/WhatWeDo.aspx

[occb]

Well, isn't that interesting! It's something we've discussed looking into -- either building or purchasing an EEG, simply out of curiosity's sake. Thanks for the info Nak!

I just looked at it -- OMG! I want it! It's soooooo Star Trek!

[Nakamova]

I want it too! I emailed the company to see if they would be developing any apps specifically related to increasing SMR brainwaves and suppressing theta ones (in other words an epilepsy-related app). We'll see if they respond...

[occb]

Definitely keep me updated on how they respond.

While I was looking into Neurosky, I also found one from an Australian company that might be more appropriate: emotiv

It's more expensive, and the games are limited at this point, but it has 14 sensors, tracks four channels of wave activity, and there's a "brain map" program that allows you to see what waves are active where in the brain. They've also set up an area on the site regarding eeg research.

I think I actually squeed when I read all that.

EDIT: Darn! The headset is only available in the US right now.

[Nakamova]

Oh yeah, Emotiv looks very promising. More sensors! But not mac-compatible.

[occb]

Stoopid Mac uncompatibleness.

Eventually it'll all be available. it's only a matter of time at this point.

[occb]

Oh yeah, about the open focus again -- it is promising in some ways, but in others nothing yet, namely with his sleep-based problems. Last year he had a lot of bad sleep episodes, especially with pain in his legs likely due to the "ski jump" legs he sometimes woke up to. Anyway, his legs have been hurting again lately, down the front, but we hadn't seen any activity, until this morning. I woke up to him sleeping with his right leg lifted off the mattress, just holding it there, while he scratched/fumbled with his right hand.

I wonder if continued meditation can help with the sleep-related episodes at all. We'll have to see.

[Nakamova]

Here's an EEG headband device that's designed to help with sleep: http://www.myzeo.com/pages/44_how_it_works.cfm

The neurofeedback guy I talked to said the Zeo has a decent reputation for getting a sense of what's going on in your sleep.

[occb]

ZOMG! So much awesome in one day!