What the?!?!
Time for a little QEEG time!
What the?!?!?!
It all started last week when I got an e-mail from my friend Jessica. She lives here in C’ville but actually we go back
That’s her on the right and then me, my older sister, and my younger sister. 🙂
Anyho, her e-mail read
Faith,
I was just reading your blog about having insomnia. You should come in and try neurofeedback. Sleep is one of the first things I’m able to improve with NF. I’ll do 5 sessions on you for free so you can get a taste and see if it helps you if you’re interested. I am sloooow right now, so finding a time won’t be a problem on my end. Maybe we could even arrange it around a lunch date or something. 🙂 Obviously no pressure either if it doesn’t feel like the right time.
J
My response?
You just made my day. Seriously. I need help and was at a loss as too which direction to head. When can I come in? THANK YOU!
You see, Jessica is a Licensed Professional Counselor with a Master’s in Mental Health Counseling and practices Neurofeedback. She specializes in ADD, PTSD, anxiety disorders, and depression, and, like her e-mail said, sleep is one of the first things to be improved with Neurofeedback treatment.
Our first appointment was Wednesday and we spent about 35 minutes talking about my history of insomnia (all 7.5 years of it!!!), past treatments (acupuncture helps a bit, Valarian makes me wired), and whether I have ever sustained a head injury (why, yes, in fact I have). Then we went out to lunch. 🙂
My second appointment was yesterday and it was all about the brainwaves.
Those are my brainwaves!
But first came the crazy cap and the goo electrode conductive gel. The gel goes into each of the twenty sensors in the cap to ensure good electrical contact (not as scary as it sounds, I only felt the slight pressure of the tight cap, NOT the electricity).
The red dots changed color on the monitor when contact was made. (Yep, that pink blob on the top of the screen is “my” nose! :/)
I think I was plugged into this ↑ thing, which was talking to the computer.
Once I was capped and sufficiently gelled Jessica instructed me to sit still with my eyes closed for 7 minutes. The hard part was that I wasn’t supposed to get droozy or dose off but stay alert. Then I sat for still for 7 minutes with my eyes open but gazing down into my lap.
By the end…
…I looked like I was on drugs and had gone a little wild with some bad hair gel!
The purpose of the Quantitative Electroencephalogram (QEEG) is to gather information about the patients brain activity to assist in diagnosis and treatment (Jess, please jump in and correct me if I am misspeaking on any of this). From my QEEG we saw that I had many big theta waves in the front of my brain
Jessica said that just from seeing this (and not knowing me or my history of insomnia) she would suspect that I constantly fell like I am “wading through mushy oatmeal”. Actually yes, I am familiar with that feeling :(.
Overall it was a painless and fascinating experience. I am excited to see what comes next!
Gracefulfitness 