After 18 neurofeedback sessions...

[lindinig]

My son (13) has finished his 18th neurofeedback session last night. We had a review of his progress to date, and the results are looking promising. When I compare his brain waves from his very first session, to Monday's session, the level of delta (the slowest frequency) seems to be decreasing. On his qeeg, he seems to have an overwhelming amount of delta, and not so much alpha (what is needed for concentration). The practicioner showed me a chart of someone who suffers from migraines, but, other than that, has a pretty normal brain wave pattern. Looking at the 2 charts, my son has a loooong way to go, but I can see some progress.

Behaviorally, he has definitely improved. He's more calm, he's not nit-picking at his brother, he's able to sit still when he's bored, and this is his second consecutive week at camp where there have not been any behavior issues. His awareness and his memory seem to be improved too. The medicine tends to interfere with this, as does his seizures. I'm not sure how much nfb has helped in this area because the longer he goes without a seizure, the more improvement I see in this area anyways. I can't wait for school to start to see if his teachers notice a difference. And...I almost forgot! His nightly nightmares have disappeared! This is a big win!

Today marks his 9th week since his last seizure (or seizure cluster). That's nothing new, since he made it to 12 weeks before. He's still on the highest dose of depakote he can be on (1250 mg), and I don't anticipate reducing that anytime soon.

He has to take the next 2 weeks off from nfb because he's going to be away. I hope he doesn't slip in his progress too much. We'll start up again right before school starts.

[RobinN]

It does sound promising. Calm... that to me is worth it all. This is such an important time for him, being 13. His brain goes through a growing period. It happens again in the 20's. I believe what isn't used dies off. So I am hopeful that you will see lasting results.

Give yourself a pat on the back mom, for the time and energy you are putting into this. It isn't easy, especially when you have others at home needing your attention. I know there is a part of you searching for a miracle. I believe it won't be an instant change, but one over time... you will compare where you were, and where you are at that point. You will nod your head and say... yes it all was worth it.

Enjoy your 2 wk break... do something nice for yourself

[Nakamova]

It's great to hear the progress report. I wonder if the better (nightmare-less) sleep is contributing to his calmer daytime behavior. Either way, it sounds like a win, and I hope he continues to improve.

[Bernard]

That's awesome! I can't remember how many sessions my wife had before we really started noticing any results, but I can assure you it was far more than 18.

I'm guessing that if the nightmares have abated, he is sleeping better at night and that alone can be significant in managing a seizure threshold.

The improved mood and memory is consistent with what my wife experienced when NFB finally started "kicking in" for her.

[karenb68]

That does sound promising. I so wish I could find a practitioner here. I found a listing for one a little over an hour away, but I got no answer when I called and the email was sent back to me so they must have closed. The next closest listing I find is over 2 hours away and I'm just not sure I can make that work long term, like once winter sets in.

[lindinig]

Yes, I do believe his lack of a good night's sleep was to blame for many of his problems. When he started the treatment, I would ask him almost every morning how he slept, and he would say "TERRIBLE!", and go into detail about his nightmares. About 3 weeks ago, when I asked him how he slept and if he had any nightmares, he had to really think about it, before finally saying he doesn't remember having any nightmares. I've asked him 2 times since and got the same response. His behavior has only begun to improve dramatically within the last week.

I've been on pins and needles at work the last 2 weeks wondering if I'm going to get a phone call from camp that he's "excessively tired" and only wants to sleep. That's the first sign that he's had a seizure. Everynight when I pick him up, I relax again once I get to see him and see that everything is normal.

My co-worker, who has severe ADHD asked for my practicioner's info too!

[lindinig]

Karen, I recommend you call the one that's 2 hours away anyways. By the time I'm done, I've travelled 2 hours to get my son there, and 1 hour home. There are 5 nfb offices within an hour from our house. One happens to be 10 minutes from my office, but I live an hour away. I have to leave work at 3 p.m., drive home to get my son, and drive back for a 5 p.m. appt. We barely make it, but he was suffering really badly and I felt it was the only thing I could do to help him, that doesn't have nasty side-effects. A couple of times, I just brought my son to my office. He brought things to keep himself occupied so I wouldn't have to leave work so early.

I considered the other offices too, but I didn't get a warm fuzzy from one, and she only wanted to see him for 1/2 hr. once a week. We would have been going for a looooong time if we went with her. I would have had to travel almost as far to get to the other offices too, but this particular office is a husband/wife team. The husband is a scientist-type, extremely analytical, who can read and understand the brain wave patterns. I feel the treatment plan is more effective because he really knows what he's doing. I'm not convinced the wife (psychologist) can even read the brain wave patterns that well, but together, they make a wonderful team because she has been able to identify psychological things that have been going on, and have been able to tweak his program accordingly.

Not all practicioners are in the directories at eeginfo, or other directories I've found. In my quest, I did a google search for "neurofeedback <city> <state>", and picked the closest city to my house. That's how I found the 5th one, just yesterday, as a matter-of-fact. She looks like she's been trained by the Othmer's, but she doesn't mention epilepsy anywhere on her site. Her office is really close to our house too.

[Blondie47]

So good to hear this lindinig!

Take Care