This is Audra’s second neurofeedback training session. A 30 minute eyes open session was performed where she was watching a movie on the screen. After her first session she stated that it was hard for her to watch the movie on the screen as it made her feel dizzy and nauseous. During her second session, she stated that again she felt dizzy and nauseous after watching the movie, however it was not as intense as the first session.
Audra will continue three more treatments in the F7/F8 locations before moving to the next locations. Due to the severity of her migraines and seizures, we will be doing treatments on three different locations of the brain, focusing on five sessions each time before moving on to the next area. After all areas have been trained, the process will then repeat. By doing this method, we are hoping to reduce the migraines and the seizures.
Thank you for continuing to follow Audra’s story.
Please remember to keep her in your prayers. God Bless….
Audra first appeared on our blog here.
Hello, my name is Audra. I have been a speech patient since August of 2018 after what we believe to be a bad reaction to Botox. I stupidly listened to my doctors and had the 31 injections to my head and neck for migraine relief. I never got relief. March 6, 2018 was the treatment. Instantly my pain was worse. I was warned that could happen. My overall pain was more intense and in the following weeks, I was hospitalized, put on steroids, and had severe facial drooping. The doctor’s office said it was a bad reaction to the Botox. In May, my normal passing out (now diagnosed as syncope or non-epileptic seizures) went from 30 second to a few minutes up to 30 minutes or more, was accompanied by hours of full body paralysis and limited speech. While the botox was in my system, I had 4 of these “episodes” as I like to call them. I had 2 in May, The first one left me with limited speech but I could understand what was said to me. The second dropped me to three words; yes, no, move. This is when my neurologist at the time sent me to Melissa for speech. I had one episode in June of 2018 before I saw Melissa and Kristy for a diagnosis. Words I gained from the second episode were reset back to the three. I was diagnosed with Acquired Apraxia of Speech. I had one episode in September of 2018 while working with Melissa. Again, words I gained were lost. I started from scratch and it seemed words were coming back slower than the previous two times. When Melissa told me about neurofeedback, we thought it would be a good thing to try.
I was then diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder, FND (another diagnosis medical professionals cannot agree on). Melissa did research and found that neurofeedback therapy was one of the treatments for FND. At first, the therapy took a huge toll on me. Left me dizzy, extra nauseated, and tired. Melissa would tell me my eyes were bloodshot and I looked tired. I would go home and do nothing after because I was exhausted.
I stopped for a while when the quarantine hit. I resumed neurofeedback therapy a couple of weeks ago. Not only are my results starting to look better, it is not as hard on me to do the sessions. Today, 6/25/2020, I had a session. I was so relaxed, I fell asleep. I had a bit of dizziness when we finished but that was short lived. Melissa noted that I looked tired but that my eyes were not blood shot. I also noticed that my brain was tired as my spelling was off. I am able to be up still and get some small projects done unlike before.
Neurofeedback therapy coupled with my speech therapy is helping in my opinion. While sometimes my words come and I cannot say them again, I am still gaining words and I am talking more. I spell most everything, but that is a vast improvement over where I started two years ago. I attribute my success to the amazing therapy I have received. Not always easy to do, but definitely worth the efforts. Melissa is so caring, patient, professional, and kind. She makes “work” fun and learning easy. Even if I still say move for most everything, I know that working with Melissa and Kristy on my speech and doing neurofeedback with Melissa, one day I will be able to hold regular conversations and not have people look at me like what on earth are you saying. Thank you Melissa for all your dedication and hard work. I appreciate all you and Kristy do to help me find answers or research to help my doctors who have been stumped for almost 6 years.
If you are considering this therapy, please do yourself a favor and say yes. It is non-invasive and can help you if you let it.