At the moment I felt the strains of my fourth minor whiplash within a span of three years, two things popped into my bruised brain: “Oh, no! Not again!” and “I must get treatment right away!” By now I had (groan!) enough experience with whiplash to know that the bad effects could take several days or even weeks to show up and I knew that getting immediate bodywork would greatly reduce the scarring and compensations that form around any injury. But as I turned to my friend, who had been driving, and tried to say something about this, I realized I had a worse problem than just a sore neck and upper back.

“That was an e-e-rupt stop,” I stuttered. Talking was . . . slow and my words . . . I couldn’t . . . they were scrambled. My brain—my ‘me’—wasn’t functioning properly.

Over the next few weeks it became clear that the post-concussive syndrome I had painfully self-diagnosed after whiplash number three (see “It’s Not All in Your Head: Post-Concussive Syndrome Explained,” Alaska Wellness, November 2008) was back with a vengeance and there were new symptoms. Not only did I have speech aphasia, but I was damaged in writing/reading skills, thinking functions, and general concentration. I had trouble holding the beginning of a paragraph in my mind until I got to the end with either the reading or the writing of it; sometimes even long sentences were a problem. In addition, I had the familiar headaches, fatigue, irritability, neck and upper back pain, tingling and nerve pain down my arms, etc., etc.

I’d done all the right things right away: within hours I was getting bodywork; I still had the special nutrients and vitamins that my naturopathic physician, Dr. Birgit Lenger, had recommended for whiplash number three; and I upped my anti-inflammatory treatments of cold/hot and castor packs to reduce swelling and spasm. However, I obviously needed more, much more to heal completely this time.

Fortunately, the Natural Health Center, where Dr. Lenger is a practitioner, had a new program that she said might be just what my damaged brain and dwindling I.Q. needed. An associate, Dr. Adam Grove, had been certified to open Crossroad Institute’s first Alaskan office. Based in Arizona, Crossroads develops programs to treat neurological issues in children and adults, problems like brain injuries, ADD/ADHD, obsessive/compulsive disorder, autism, and cerebral palsy. When I read their mission statement I knew I had found the right fit: At Crossroads Institute our mission is to provide services that promote and enhance proper functioning within all elements that make up the mind-body connection, without the use of medication therapies. But I had a long road ahead.

Dr. Grove (whom I had known for several years as a health care colleague) and his associate in the Crossroad’s BrainBuilders program, Karyn Grove, who has specialized as a school psychologist and just happens to be Dr. Grove’s spouse, were encouraging. The timing was right; the newly starting program was only the second time the testing equipment had been available to Alaskans. The first step was to get a QEEG (a test that electronically measures the speed and processing of my brain) and diagnostic evaluation. I also filled out a questionnaire that took two-and-one-half hours—it was like a health biography of my whole life! For the two-hour long brain wave mapping, Dr. Grove smeared my long hair with gel—not styling gel, but the kind used to facilitate the transmission of electronic impulses. Then he pulled a very tight cap, like a swimming cap, over my head, positioning the hard buttons of the electrodes over the correct spots. It took a long time to get them right, and by the end I had a headache. He led me through a long series of tests, some basic, like word memory and vision games; some audio, the tracking of stereo tones; some hysterically funny (or would have been if my head hadn’t been hurting so much) like translating pictograms into sentences: “The man and the cow are at the barn.” It would have been much easier if they’d made the pictograms to look like the words, but the man was a square or a triangle, I forget which, and the cow was a rectangle. As the test went on my skills decreased and my headache increased, but a few weeks later I got a fancy detailed analysis from Dr. Curtis Cripe, Crossroads’ founder.

The packet showed colored maps of my brain dysfunction compared with a ‘normal’ brain. My extensive health history was converted to an easy-referenced, color-coded graph or neuro-functional profile. The introduction fully explained their approach of examining six functions: Emotional and Cognitive at our character core, and the Executive, Perceptual, Attention, and Motor functions so important to our real-world interactions.

Shortly thereafter I embarked on a brain-training program specifically tailored to my injuries and deficiencies. Dr. Grove and the Natural Health Center are set up to provide brain training that goes way beyond the brain-teaser games and aging-brain booster programs available in books and online. Three times a week I went into their office for over an hour of number memory, concentration, and meditation exercises, with my skull wired up to electrodes that tracked my progress and personalized my assignments. At home, on the days in between, I did Crossroads’ online version of the games without the electrodes (or the dreaded sticky gel—for months I couldn’t get my punk-rocked hair clean!). I had skin-stimulation exercises and bouncing ball exercises for hand/eye skills and a nutritional diet for suspected Candida yeast overgrowth. I was in a high-intensity Boot Camp for the Brain!

At first I hated it. I had headaches every time I went in. I became more irritable and acted out my resentments. I dreaded my appointments and delayed leaving the house for them. Then, after a month-and-a-half, I began to experience some changes. I had more stamina for the daily routines of life, and I was better at tolerating loud noises, crowds, and bright lights. My ability to remember a seven-string phone number (I’d once been hired as a telephone operator for my superior number memory) came back. After all, in the lab I was now able to remember and record eight or nine numbers backwards, either visually flashed or recited through the earphones. My face and name recognition improved, as did my typing and writing fluency. Best of all, I felt cheerful again, I could appreciate life!

After six months in the lab, I subscribed to Crossroads’ improved online course of backwards and forwards number strings and their new game of maddening tick-tocking counters for audio and hand-eye skills. I was very disciplined working at home for a while, but then a short-term family emergency interfered with my routine. I felt I had naturally reached the end and graduated myself with honors. Why? I find I can remember names and faces better than before. I can talk faster because my words flow, and I’ve been able to cut back on the ‘memory’ vitamins. I have times when it all slips, when I’m tired or stressed or for no reason at all. But it is worth it, the time, the extra headaches, the expense, just to have my sense of self restored to my now-working brain.

Founded in 1975, Crossroads Institute (http://www.crossroadsinstitute.org/) has developed tests and scientifically based programs to improve brain functioning for children and adults at all levels, treating issues as diverse as reading comprehension, attention difficulties, depression, and memory. Crossroads has locations in Arizona, Florida, California, New Jersey, Virginia, Texas, and here in Alaska at the Natural Health Center. Call (907) 561-2330 for more information.

 

Jocelyn Paine has finally got the sticky gel out of her hair! She is a health care provider with over 35 years of experience. To contact her at Movement Relaxation Therapy, call (907) 276-8195 or visit
http://web.me.com/jocelynpaine/movementrelaxationtherapy/Home.html