Neurofeedback Therapy

Koru_Kiwi - thanks for telling me about your experiences too. It's really helpful to hear, and to have a point of comparison, since there aren't many people who are familiar enough with it to talk with.

So, I chatted with the guy helping me about how I had gotten a little nauseas from the training. He talked about using a different set up for the reward - instead of the rocket game, it's all audio. It just plays different tones (not actually music) as rewards. You can read a book while doing it (or watch the Bioexplorer screen, I assume, since I did this a little).

He also suggested the same thing you did, trying to lower the reward.

So I did this last night, used the tones with a reward that was lowered just 0.5Hz (11.5 - 14.5).

Oh wow - it was terrible! I'm sure it was the lowered reward, but it was soooo awful. Not while I was doing it (I don't understand why I don't feel the effects while doing it), but a few minutes after, I was washing the electrodes, I breathed out and felt like I was going to fall down. It literally felt like I had been drugged, and might lose consciousness... just so so so so slowed down. I tried listening to some fast music to help counteract it (it was the only thing I could think of, I probably should have got back online and tried to reach the guy to see if he could recommend something, but I felt really awful and it was kind of late). Slept poorly, then still felt pretty off this morning. I didn't feel like I had my brain back until after lunch (and chocolate).

Yikes. It was crazy. So the next time I train, I'm going to go back to the higher reward (12-15) and try the tones again, to see if that helps. I really do wish I could find a way to keep using the rocket game though, as it's pretty fun/engaging to me.

I can see why the fractals would be fun, and less frustrating! I think the concept of a "game" is kind of hard, because there's nothing you can consciously do to perform better - which I find frustrating too. With the rocket, I try to hold on to the idea that I don't have to do anything, but just watch it, like watching a movie.

Thanks for the tip about the cotton rounds! My ear clips seem to have electrodes on both sides (I add gel to both sides), so I'll have to ask him if it's OK to put something on one side.

Oh! And my "chat" was all online. My first check in phone call will be Friday! I'm looking forward to that, I think it will be helpful. I'm not very good about reaching out for help, so I've been a little shy about asking questions in the chat channel that I have.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to that.

When you did C4-A1, do you happen to remember how long you trained for at a time? They've got me starting with ~20 minutes, but said that they'd eventually bump it up to 30 (after they see how I react).

Your alpha-theta training sounds so much better than anything I've heard about it! But, you're really lucky to have that support from your husband! I'm on my own, so no one to help out here, but that sounds like such a nice way to do it! I think it will be awhile before I can get to the point of even thinking about AT training though... my brain definitely does not feel very stable or well-regulated at the moment!

I'm beat... need to try to get to bed early tonight since I didn't sleep well last night.

Thanks again! And, thank you for the offer to message you, I'll keep in touch.

apologies, i only have a moment for a quick response:

this is what i did too...started doing it for 20 mins and then eventually increased the time to 30 mins.

agreed, i didn't first start doing A/T training until i had addressed many of my truama symptoms and knew that i was more stable and regulated. it was about after four months after starting NFB that i started doing A/T training. perhaps journaling after doing A/T training could be helpful for processing too. also, not sure if you are still seeing a talk T, but at that time when i first started doing NFB, i was still seeing my talk T and i would also discuss some of the things that had come up from doing A/T training in my therapy sessions, especially if i still needed some help in processing them.

Thanks for the response!

That's really reassuring to hear that you didn't jump into AT training until you were a bit more stable, but wow... you were able to do that after 4 months? That's pretty incredible!

I'm a little freaked out tonight. I let my guy know about the bad reaction, and asked if it was OK to just go back to 12-15 @C4 (since between the two, that was better - I actually had some positive effects, just felt nauseas).

He wants me to try the lower frequency at CZ. I told him I was nervous, given how awful my reaction was, but he said that CZ runs a bit slower than C4 and is "gentler" so it's worth a try.

And now I'm full of anxiety. And it's late here, so I'm not going to do it tonight... will try tomorrow after work, I guess.

Oh, and he said he was surprised by how bad my reaction was to the lowered reward, that that's not normal (he wasn't sure if it was actually from the NF, but I explained how bad it felt right after). I feel like I'm always an outlier/weirdo!

I'm not sure that my talk T is going to be much help. I saw her today, and she was excited to hear about the NF (my first session since starting) - but the conversation was really hard, and I'm not sure why. Like, she's not doing a good job of reading me or helping with regulation, so I got overly revved up, and left with a headache. I think I was louder/faster too... I left feeling like the conversation was more of a tug-of-war!

Anyway, no need to rush to respond, I don't want to bug you! But I appreciate having someone to share this with... and please keep your fingers crossed for me with the CZ training. My anxiety is now through the roof with it !