Brain Injury & Seizures

Client's Name: Paul

Age: 22

Symptoms:

Diagnosis: TBI closed injury
Head, neck, and back pain
Chronic fatigue
Word finding difficulty
Anxiety
Depression
Unable to regulate emotions- easily irritated
Seizures
Trouble falling asleep without meds

Developmental/Complaint History:

Manic depression-pre-existing condition
Car accident- fell asleep at the wheel
5 days in ICU
7 days in coma
Collapsed lung
Broken pelvis
Frontal brain injury

Prescription Medication:

Klonopin
Prednisone
Zoloft
Trileptal
Asacol
Trazadone

Ongoing Therapy:

Massage, PT, Yoga, Cognitive therapy

Outcome:

Paul’s father brought him in to see how he could further his progress with alternative methods. Since he was already taking a lot of pills I decided not to do any nutritional therapy with. I suggested we start with neurofeedback. Session 1 of neurofeedback Paul’s neck and back pain subsided and didn’t return until 2am, but it wasn’t as intense. Session 2 his pain disappeared and he felt his muscles and head relax more. Paul is now communicating with me more at this point. Session 3 he said he didn’t feel a need for his afternoon naps and word finding and communicating his thoughts came easier. Session 10 things are still progressing and he had surprised his cognitive therapist by balancing his check book. Session 11 began with pain in lower back, which subsided by the end of the session. At the end of the session he walked out humming a tune. Session 12 he told me he had been forgetting to take his anxiety medication. Feels he no longer needs it. He wants to lower his dose of antidepressants. He also no longer takes trazadone to fall asleep. He is still taking his seizure medication, but wants to taper off to see how it goes. I told him he had to work with his doctor on that one.

Session 13-20 he continued to maintain his improved status with minor set backs of occasional aches and pains, but still not enough to take pain medication. He said his memory has returned about 70%. He still can’t remember anything leading up to the accident, but he can retain what he just read, which he couldn’t do before neurofeedback. The medication was pretty good at controlling his seizures, although he would have an occasional, unexpected seizure. During his neurofeedback training he did not report any seizures.