Q - What are some of the causes of migraine headaches?
A - One major cause of migraine headache is an irregular vascular response to autonomic arousal such as can be the result of stress. The pain can be the result of edema of the arterial wall resulting from excessive dilation. For example, a particularly frustrating form of migraine, often called the weekend migraine, occurs when people relax after a stressful time. The physiology of this condition is that the vascular system responds to stress with restriction and when the person finally relaxes the system dilates excessively resulting in the above described edema and subsequent pain. |
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Q - Who would you recommned I see about very frequent and moderate to severe migraines?
A - We treat many clients with various forms of headache. Migraine headache often responds to peripheral biofeedback such as electromyographic feedback to reduce muscle tension and/or peripheral blood flow feedback to regularize vascular activity. We also use neurotherapy for migraine conditions that do not respond satisfactorily to the peripheral treatments. |
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Q - I am a 58 year old business owner. I run a marketing and sales program. I have lost focus over the last 10 years. I now realize I'm operating on about half of my potential. Would you have a program that would help me get my focus and passion back into my life. I am in very good health and feel great physically, it is my mental game that needs improving. Thanks for now.
A - Sounds as though your 'get-up-and-go' has got up and gone. My guess is that you have a deficiency at the back of the brain that is associated with the brain's ability to restore itself. You may also have an age related decline that is a slowing of the alpha frequencies. We see many clients with complaints like your own. The treatment procedure is very straightforward. First we do a basic brain assessment to determine if our suspicions are correct about the areas that need "brightening" and to rule out other potential causes of your complaints. Once the neurological issues are determined we do some neurotherapy to bring brain functioning into acceptable range. As part of the treatment we would most likely prescribe some harmonics for you to use at home during and after treatment to keep the brain sharp. |
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Q - I am a 45 year old woman who had a 'nervous breakdown' over two years ago and had to take time off work...I still feel I'm not ready to work because every day I suffer with severe nausea around eating, racing heart (all day for 2.5 years now), severe anxiety that can only be eased with food. I can't stand food anymore and hate eating most foods, but of course I must. I've gained 40 pounds because of it. I'm lost and am seeing a kinesiologist and a Reiki Master, but am still struggling. My MD has given up on me and has put me on Paxil and Ativan (low doses for now) but they're not really helping much. Please help.
A - The condition that you describe is usually associated with a deficiency in a particular area of the brain. That area in the back of the brain is responsible for stress tolerance and deficiencies in that area relate to predisposition to anxiety states. The 'nervous breakdown' metaphor is not inappropriate here for you feel as though you have made the final withdrawal from you psychological reserves. The deficiency in this area is also related to self-medicating behavior, which of course is your eating. Often there is a precipitating event that pushes one into the breakdown such as some emotional trauma, an automobile accident, death of a loved one, etc. The treatment of this is straightforward. First we do a brain assessment to determine the exact nature and location of the problems. Although from your description I am fairly certain that we would find deficiencies in the back of the brain, we often also find co morbidities, other conditions that make the situation worse. A low level pre-existing depression, or a sleep disturbance would be examples. After determining the exact nature and location of the problem(s), we do neurotherapy, as described on the web-site, to bring the anomalous areas into normative ranges. Our success rate for these conditions is good. Medications are usually not very useful and often result in exacerbation of the problem. |
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Q - I had a nervous breakdown 6 months ago and have been unable to work since. This is my second breakdown, the previous being about 12 years ago. The hallmark of this breakdown is that I have been overwhelmed with anxiety and loud sounds disturb me very much. I have been taking daily 20 mg ciprolex, nightly 25 mg seroquel and 25 mg clonazepam whenever I'm feeling anxious. With the drugs, the anxiety has been greatly reduced, although not completely, but my aversion to loud sounds remains, along with my inability to work, feeling very nervous, trembling inside, confused thought. Could your program help me?
A - We see many clients with conditions such as you describe. In general the problem is a deficiency in the back of the brain that results in poor stress tolerance, predisposition to anxiety, racing thoughts, poor sleep quality, fatigue and a burn out form of depression. We advocate correcting the problem in the back of the brain so that you do not have to be dependent on psychotropic medications that can give rise to other problems. The first step is to have a basic brain assessment to determine the exact nature and location of the neurological problem(s) and then design a treatment program to correct those anomalies. |
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Q - How is the brain assessment performed, what type of equipment is used. Thank you, (name witheld).
A - There are two types of assessments that we normally use to determine the nature of the problems and the areas that would benefit from treatment. The first is the basic limited brain site procedure in which 5 or 6 critical sites are assessed. This basic procedure is adequate for most of our clients. It involves putting electrodes on each ear and one on top of the head that is moved as required. For the full cap assessment (19 sites) a cap is placed over the head and 19 sites are recorded simultaneously. This provides a great deal of information about brain site to brain site interactions. We tend to use the latter for brain injury and serious disorders such as seizure disorders, psychoses, and the like. We have many different EEG recording systems including Lexicore, Mitzar, Brainmaster, J&J, Capscan, and others. |
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Q - My daughter has recently has her second concussion in two years. The most recent one did not receive a "grading" but we have been told to treat it like her previous one - which was a Grade 2 level. Would she benefit from nerotherapy? If so, when should she start? I also believe she may have undiagnosed mild ADD, due to conversations we have had recently. Are these both treatable with the same 'program' - or are there different therapies for both of these?
A - Yes, your daughter would benefit from neurotherapy for sequela of head injury. Not too early to start. Depending on the form of ADD that your daughter has, many of the treatments for the head injury would benefit the ADD as well. For example, one issue with closed head injury is excessive slow frequency amplitude, usually in the frontal regions. This excess slow frequency is also found in many forms of ADD so the treatment may be identical. Generally, treatments for one condition involving excessive slow frequency activity benefit other areas with the same problem as well. |
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Q - I have a child in my care that has been diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, Narcotics Abuse Syndrom, and ADHD. She is 10 years old and is on concerta medication for the ADHD, but even with that is very impulsive, has learning problems and has to have a one on one aide in order to get any work done in school. Is there any help through neurotherapy?? How long would the process take and how much would it cost?
A - Neurotherapy can be very helpful with these conditions. Degree of improvement depends on extent of brain compromise and areas affected. FAS and NAS always implicate the frontal regions of the brain thus affecting impulse control, mood volatility and oppositional behaviors. Treating FAS in particular can be a long process because of the damage to brain. The estimate of how many sessions is difficult until we see exactly the nature and severity of the brain dysfunction. Parents generally persist in treatment as long as continued progress is observed. However, we are certainly in the range of 30 plus sessions for these conditions, although parents generally notice improvement after 5 or so sessions. The treatments average about $115, most are at $105. Extended medical plans cover some of the costs. |
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Q - My husband died in 1990 and shortly thereafter my oldest son was diagnosed with the same heart defect. He now has a defibrillator installed in his chest and his dreams of becoming a pilot were no more. Some years ago he began drinking and I believe he is now an alcoholic (he is 30). Is there help with neurotherapy for his condition? What would it take for him to get better?
A - Neurotherapy can be very helpful in the treatment of alcoholism and other addictions. The most important variable, however, is that the person must be committed to becoming sober. Without the strong desire to be sober all treatment options have dismal success rates. In addition to the neurotherapy we also advise that the person become engaged in some support organization such as AA or the other similar organizations. If the client cannot stop drinking on their own we advise a short stay in a detox center. Residential rehabilitation centers can also be helpful although many clients elect to simply have neurotherapy in conjunction with a program such as AA. Our success rate is good, again assuming a committed client. |
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Q - My daughter aged six had a severe head injury two months prior to her second birthday. She had exhibited delayed deveplopment from a young age, and had been diagnosed with mild global developmental delay. After the head injury she appeared to return to her usual self within two weeks. However she has continued to develop at a delayed rate. She was also formally diagnosed with autism just before she turned five. She recently had a neuropsych assessment with the report indicating that her symptoms are related to autiam rather than injury. As I understand it, many head injury symptoms are similar to autism. My question is, could the head injury have contribtued or increased the symptoms of autism? Thanks for your help.
A - As you note from the list of symptoms associated with head injury, autism like symptoms can be associated such injuries. We also have a number of cases that would suggest that head injury and other brain injuries exacerbates ASD conditions. From a neurotherapeutic perspective the origins of the conditions are largely irrelevant for the treatments are quite similar. |
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Q - WHAT is neurotherapy? my granddaughter, age 6. whom i am raising, i am sure will have a diagnosis of aspergers. huge problems at school. much less at home where i can provide a fairly steady environment. HOW does it work???
A - Neurotherapy is one of the most promising treatment options for ASD children. Basically, neurotherapy addresses the brain inefficiencies associated with the disorder and brings brain functioning into more normative ranges. There are several standard procedures used in neurotherapy for ASD. Our clinic developed the driving procedure that can be used for serious ASD clients who are not initially capable of volitional procedures. Look on our website for detailed information on the process of neurotherapy or review our archives in the media section, in particular, the one titled "Introduction to Neurotherapy". You may also be interested in reviewing the Q&A section to see the responses to queries from other parents of children with ASD. |
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Q - I have 2 sons one active one sluggish, both have learning issues, ADHD and ADD with neurological disorder. How do we access your help?,What cost?I live in Victoria B.C and am a working single mom of 4. (name withheld)
A - When clients live at some distance from our clinic they often come in less frequently for multiple sessions. Unfortunately there are no neurotherapists in Victoria that we can recommend. The treatment costs vary depending on the level of service required. For less serious problems such as ADD most of the treatments are $105 per session. Specialized treatment that may be required from time to time vary from about $130 to $150 per session. These specialized sessions may include remediation for reading or written output, parenting skills consultations and the like. The initial intake assessment is $180. Our services are covered by many extended medical plans and are tax deductible medical expenses. Be cautious of franchise like practitioners who offer one-size-fits-all treatments. They are generally NOT licensed/certified in the Province (and therefore their fees are not covered by extended medical nor tax deductible) nor certified to practice neurotherapy. |
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Q - My 6.11 year old son has Childhood Apraxia of Speech (severe but now sentence level with understandability about 3 yrs and comprehension, vocabulary, etc age appropriate), Subclinical Seizure Disorder (on Divalproic (?) for 2.5 yrs), Stereotypic Movement Disorder (diagnosed by Roger Freeman, B.C. Children's Hosp.), and Developmental Coordination Disorder. He presents as a very typical boy, socially, physically and academically, in spite of his diagnosis. I was wondering if your techniques would work with my sons needs (especially the speech, as I have already read about your successes with seizure disorders).
A - We see many children with complex conditions such as the one you describe. From your description it sounds as though the SMD and DCD are mild. The Depakote also may have some cognitive side effects such as cognitive slowing. The procedure that we use includes normalizing some of the brain inefficiencies and then using braindriving procedures with tasking. This procedure involves having the child engaged in a task (e.g., speech) while the area(s) of the brain associated with the task are under treatment. We find it a very effective procedure for remediation. We would also address the seizure threshold issue with a view toward reducing the antiseizure medications. |
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Q - Dear Dr. Swingle, I am doing some research on behalf of my brother who has been suffering from M.E & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for approx 8 years now. Thus far he hasn't made a huge amount of progress. It has been recommended that he start a course of neuro-feedback - he is wondering how the benefits of this compare with meditation - i.e promoting alpha brainwaves. Are you able to advise ? Very Many thanks (name withheld)
A - Neurotherapy is very effective for these conditions. You ask if neurotherapy can be as effective as medication for increasing Alpha amplitude as a treatment. Increasing alpha may not be the best strategy for treating these conditions. Often, particularly with CFS, excessive frontal slow frequency, particularly slow alpha, is associated with the problem hence treatment is often the suppression of alpha not enhancement of alpha. However, often in these conditions we find a deficiency of slow frequency in the back of the brain associated with poor stress tolerance, poor sleep quality, and the like. Under this condition a specific slow frequency enhancement treatment protocol would be appropriate. The first step is to have a brainwave assessment to determine the exact nature of the problems. Treatment is then directed at correcting the anomalies found in the assessment. The success rate of neurotherapy for these conditions is impressive. Please don't hesitate to ask another question, or call our office in Vancouver to book an appointment at 1 (604) 608-0444. You may also find some products helpful at our affiliated website, www.soundhealthproducts.com . Sincerely, Dr. Paul Swingle |
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Q - At the age of 46 I lost all hearing in both ears. It was replaced with very distracting tinnitus. I have been to many doctors and had a vast amount of tests done with no concrete answers as to why I have completely lost the ability to receive sound messages to the brain. I hope you can well imagine how this has abruptly changed all aspects of my adult life. All of this has caused great frustration now in my coping with day to day events. Your website was given to me by a family member who thought you may have some input on this matter. Please if you have knowledge to share with me do email me back asap. My warmest regards, (name withheld)
A - As I assume you know there are many forms of tinnitus, some are relatively easy to treat and others extraordinarily difficult. The causes of tinnitus vary as well including hypertension, infection, brain trauma, medications, damage to ear etc. Our success in treating these conditions depends largely on the type of tinnitus. Some of our treatments target the brain specifically others address the peripheral nervous system. I assume since you have lost your hearing that the usual medical treatment of a sound mask cannot be used. In such cases we generally try two different forms of brain biofeedback each of which has had some success in the treatment of these difficult cases. If neurotherapy is going to be successful in providing some improvement, the client usually is aware of improvements within the first few sessions so they know they are on the correct path for achieving some relief. |
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