Interestingly enough, Emma’s highly recommended and respected neurologist, her latest psychologist, and now Dr. P, her neurotherapist (brain-based or EEG biofeedback) do not believe that Emma has schizophrenia. Schizophrenia has been deemed to be a lifelong condition, so while this is somewhat of a relief, it also presents a problem – how to treat whatever it is that Emma is suffering from?
Yesterday, Emma went for her 2nd biofeedback session with Dr. P. Her first session was a few days prior and ended shortly because she complained of a headache.
During sessions, Emma tiny sensors are attached to the head, connected to a computer that monitors brain wave activity with an EEG. [Last month, Emma saw her neurologist who did an extensive EEG analysis to see if Emma’s brain showed any damage. The results indicated no brain damage at all.]
I was asked to sit in for Emma’s 2nd biofeedback session as Emma was hooked up to the computer via three sensors on her head and watched as cartoon fish moved across the screen, slowly, steadily, sometimes stopping. The therapist’s screen showed graphs as the fish moved – a somewhat staccato pattern at times. A brain map that looked like a moonscape of clusters of hills was predominantly blue, with occasional red hills.
In a private consultation before Emma even met Dr P, I was shown the equipment and its workings as well as a case study of what the brain map would look like for a person with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia shows up on the right side of the brain mapping as big red dominant “hills”, just to the left of that area was the map area that indicated Bipolar disorder if those hills were red. It was not uncommon to see both of these areas as a section of red.
Emma’s brain map was blue, without red, and once in awhile, a red hill would scroll through – on the left side of the map. On the right side, there was NO activity, no red hills. Was this indicating no schizophrenia, no bipolar disorder?
Emma is having a harder time concentrating. She says she forgets things and now thinks that she cannot write out checks to pay her bills. She is in a stage of doing nothing but staring ahead just zoning out.
I was not surprised when her 2nd session of neurofeedback ended early, and she again complained of a headache. Dr. P was sympathetic and said she would see her next week.
After the first session, Emma said she didn’t feel any different, and when asked how it went, she said it was okay, and that Dr. P was nice.
After the second session, Emma said it was okay, nothing more, and that she didn’t really know what she was supposed to be doing. I told her to ask Dr. P next time.
In the late afternoon, Emma said she felt like she was on “speed”. She felt hyper but she was still moving slowly. She was not able to sleep that night. Was this caused by the biofeedback? That will be reported on our next visit to Dr. P.
3rd session
Dr. P did not know why Emma felt like she was on speed. She referred us to a good psychiatrist who preferred the non drug route for mental disorders first, and drugs as the last resort. Unfortunately, he said he was unable to see Emma. The search continues.
Emma did well, I sat in on the last part of it. The purple line represented her memory, and it was very very low. A blue line was erratic and above the memory line, which meant a LOT of fear. Dr. P is working on having the blue line below the memory line.
4th session
Emma did very well, according to Dr. P. For the first time, she did not complain about having a headache, hurray! Today was a good day. I hope it continues!
{this post will be an ongoing report as these sessions continue}