Brain Hemisphere Coherence (brain fog, PTSD, neurological)

[daojones]

I've been dealing with neurological issues for a long time, and the brain fog is just...its just the goddam motherfucking worst.

It just ruins my life. I mean that in the sense that it keeps me more or less stagnated in my life path. I will however, tip my hat to myself for the sheer tenacity of my masculine energy for pushing my life forward in the ways that I have despite being faced against a seeming impossible situation speckled with an abusive and negligent medical system.

A recent observation is that the feeling of this brain fog is that my left and right sides are floated apart. When I feel able to concentrate and use my brain there is this balance and centered feeling in my head specifically.

Intuitively the term I came up with was that I am not able to keep hemispheric coherence. As in the electrical signals are not able to stay in sync or communicate with each other, or even perhaps theres a break in the 'form' of how the energy circulates. So I did some googling and that looks pretty accurate with academic terms for what can happen with various neurological issues, and officially called interhemispheric coherence.

I am not always in brain fog, but after expending some cognitive effort I am. So it seems to me that I'm unable to maintain the left-right communication or perhaps the container for that communication. 

 

Was wondering if this makes sense to anybody? And if so, are there any therapies or like brain entrainment devices I can try to get these things in sync?

[ilumairen]

You could look up Hemi-Sync.

 

And as odd as this may sound, try drinking some water when the fog sets in.

[daojones]

I have tried binaural beats, but am unsure which ones are legit and what frequency even would be helpful. So it was quite a scattered attempt. Any recommendations on that?

I don't think it sounds odd to drink water when it sets in, although I drink water and tea all day and haven't had any changes from that.
 

[thelerner]

Hemi-sync is good.  There's a world of biaural beats on youtube.  Give a listen with ear phones, see if any connect.  I don't think it should take more then 5 minutes to see if the entrancement works, though longer is better.  I used to find browser add-ons that turned youtubes into mp3s.  With new versions of browser they'd die or seem to get virus's.  These days I use a program called Airy to create mp3s from youtubes. 

 

If you want to go a more hypnotic route, I'd recommend the youtube channel Unlock Your Life, has some excellent hypnotic routines, that might help. 

 

Other then that, work on the basics, eating, sleeping, exercise..  sleeping can be the hardest to control.  There are devices that measure sleep, like fitbit.  I wear an Oura sleep ring and when I don't get enough deep sleep, I notice more brain fog.  So getting to bed early, not eating or drinking much at night, a shower before bed, make a difference. 

Edited June 5, 2020 by thelerner

[senseless virtue]

Neurological issues are connected to kidneys in terms of Classical Chinese Medicine. Do you practice anything strengthening your kidney and jing? Good Zhan Zhuang practice can do wonders to improve these.

 

Good sleep and healthy lifestyle are extremely important for preserving jing and shen like thelerner wrote. Neglecting the basics of healthy living affects health very negatively so I hope you these already well covered.

[moment]

3 hours ago, virtue said:

Neurological issues are connected to kidneys in terms of Classical Chinese Medicine. Do you practice anything strengthening your kidney and jing? Good Zhan Zhuang practice can do wonders to improve these.

 

Good sleep and healthy lifestyle are extremely important for preserving jing and shen like thelerner wrote. Neglecting the basics of healthy living affects health very negatively so I hope you these already well covered.

What virtue says is excellent---and well covered---- partially--- means:drink a lot of water. Try to keep your urine clear.  That is the only measure that you will ever need, as far as kidney chi balance is concerned.

Edited June 6, 2020 by moment

[Toni]

I think your problem can have another more simple cause. Bad blood and oxygen circulation to your head, which causes your kind of problems (always prefer simple explanations over complicated ones). This means it can be improved.

 

Try to do fragrant qigong, it is quite good for general issues, and some exercise. Try walking, wall squats or zhan zhuang.

Edited June 6, 2020 by Toni

[ilumairen]

15 hours ago, daojones said:

I have tried binaural beats, but am unsure which ones are legit and what frequency even would be helpful. So it was quite a scattered attempt. Any recommendations on that?

 

 

My personal introduction was through a guided sleep meditation by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and accompanied singing bowl track on a cd purchased through the ligmincha.org site. I have since purchased the other guided meditation cd’s available there (which don’t have accompanying non-vocalized tracks), but haven’t ventured beyond what is available there, satisfied to stay within what is available through a source I trust.

 

The meditations work with the “three doors” of body, speech, and mind, and there is one which is dedicated to healing, although the sacred space and sacred sleep cds also have the healing component without the emphasis.

 

 

Quote

I don't think it sounds odd to drink water when it sets in, although I drink water and tea all day and haven't had any changes from that.
 

At a previous job, I would sometimes experience brain fog, and rather by accident I noticed the refreshing coolness of water flowing from the fountain was somehow able to “cut through” this, and internally “wash it away.”
 

I don’t pretend to have solutions for what will work for you, and can only share what has worked for me. In the end, I made some rather large lifestyle changes.

[silent thunder]

decided to share less...

Edited June 8, 2020 by silent thunder

[Mithras]

Huh, I've had a lot of issues with bad habits, depression, and so on. The final nail in the coffin for me was to stop relying so much on the brain/body. They are fickle things that work sometimes and don't at other times. Rest in the awareness of the brain/body and not the brain/body itself; after doing this, for me at least, I found myself a lot more free of all the random stuff it does like breakdowns, fear, etc.

 

Otherwise, best of luck. Everyone has their own methods, I hope that you find one suited to you.

[daojones]

@silent thunder Thanks for sharing. I can definitely relate.

@ilumairen I will check out your trusted resources, thanks!

@Toni Totally agree with your ockhams razor there.

For sure there is deep underlying trauma. The brain fog is due to a traumatic brain injury, which has yet to be properly dealt with despite much efforts.

[ilumairen]

14 minutes ago, daojones said:

@silent thunder Thanks for sharing. I can definitely relate.

@ilumairen I will check out your trusted resources, thanks!

@Toni Totally agree with your ockhams razor there.

For sure there is deep underlying trauma. The brain fog is due to a traumatic brain injury, which has yet to be properly dealt with despite much efforts.

As you mentioned PTSD in the title of this thread, perhaps the book mentioned and only lightly perused in the shared thread may present something of value for you.

 

 

Edited June 6, 2020 by ilumairen

[dwai]

Have you considered diet? I have similar brain fog issues when I eat more carbs and sugar. Switch to a ketogenic style diet and the fog disappears within 3 days of being on it. Ketogenic diet is not a long-term solution (at least for me). So I do a 16-8 intermittent fasting regimen. Whenever I do so, fog disappears and there is a lot of mental clarity.

 

Edited June 7, 2020 by dwai

[ralis]

On 6/5/2020 at 1:58 PM, daojones said:

I've been dealing with neurological issues for a long time, and the brain fog is just...its just the goddam motherfucking worst.

It just ruins my life. I mean that in the sense that it keeps me more or less stagnated in my life path. I will however, tip my hat to myself for the sheer tenacity of my masculine energy for pushing my life forward in the ways that I have despite being faced against a seeming impossible situation speckled with an abusive and negligent medical system.

A recent observation is that the feeling of this brain fog is that my left and right sides are floated apart. When I feel able to concentrate and use my brain there is this balance and centered feeling in my head specifically.

Intuitively the term I came up with was that I am not able to keep hemispheric coherence. As in the electrical signals are not able to stay in sync or communicate with each other, or even perhaps theres a break in the 'form' of how the energy circulates. So I did some googling and that looks pretty accurate with academic terms for what can happen with various neurological issues, and officially called interhemispheric coherence.

I am not always in brain fog, but after expending some cognitive effort I am. So it seems to me that I'm unable to maintain the left-right communication or perhaps the container for that communication. 

 

Was wondering if this makes sense to anybody? And if so, are there any therapies or like brain entrainment devices I can try to get these things in sync?

What are your PTSD symptoms?

[Master Logray]

There is a writer Norman Doidge who writes books about brain plasticity which means a person can actually rewire their brain.  An example is quoted for a blind person to see again, not working on the eyes but working on the brain.   It may not fit the situation described, but may shed some lights on possible remedial actions, if it is brain related problem.

 

[Guest ezza]

I don't tend to bring up this subject at all with others however something within is urging me to share this.

 

A lot of great suggestions have been made in this thread and this is just one other potential avenue you can consider exploring -perhaps after the other alternatives have been exhausted - particularly as you have mentioned aspects of dealing with PTSD and brain trauma. Of course, please proceed with caution and only under supervised guidance and help because of the nature of the drugs in question to be discussed.

 

Particularly MDMA has been seen to assist with people suffering from PTSD, and it is currently in its final Phase 3 of clinical trials, which if passed could see it be used clinically in psychotherapy as "medicine". The other drugs beyond this would include psilocybin (magic mushrooms) and LSD that can help the brain to rewire and reset that perhaps could help the hemispheres to "reconnect" and function more in sync.

 

This is one framework that helps to outline such a process: https://medium.com/@tuckermax/how-to-get-started-with-plant-medicine-therapy-2517a789690d

 

MDMA and PTSD: https://maps.org/research/mdma/ptsd/phase3

Psilocybin and neural plasticity: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6082376/ 

How to Change Your Mind (a good summary on use of psychedelics in medicine): https://www.amazon.com/How-to-Change-Your-Mind-What-the-New-Science-of-Psychedelics-Teaches-Us-About-Consciousness-Dying-Addiction-Depression-and-Transcendence/dp/1594204225/

 

There are a ton of other resources out there on this subject and you'd have to dig around. Again, to emphasize this should be a last resort after Occam's razor suggestions here have been explored. And only with professional help and guidance!

[daojones]

@ralis its hard to tell where the ptsd ends and the effects from injury begin. My nervous system is wrecked from both, but theres a clear physical injury (indirectly impacted due to the trauma) to an important nerve. Dissociation, brain fog, and being stuck in a sympathetic nervous system state are the main issues psychologically. Its a real liver qi stagnation situation.

@ezzaI'm glad you felt compelled to share, because thats actually not the type of thing thats on my radar. Its helpful to know about it to keep as something in my backpocket, like as you say as a last resort. Looks promising and a phase 3 clinical trial is pretty serious business.

 

@Master LograyThanks, yes I am familiar with Norman Doidge's work. I'm actually looking now at Joaquin Farias and his movement therapy now that leverages neuroplasticity.

 

Edited June 7, 2020 by daojones

[Encephalon]

I'm in the middle of my tenth year of consistent brain entrainment programs.  I started with Holosync, finished up and went on to other programs and am now in the 12th and final monthly session of Zen12.  I am entirely convinced that this is a deeply therapeutic program that does wonders for enlivening a neocortex that has been distorted or impaired by trauma.  I've been on a mission to "fix" my own predicament, mostly healing from developmental trauma, using a variety of techniques including general fitness, nutrition, nei kung, and yoga, all of which have played their part but in terms of obvious benefit, brain entrainment has been the most powerful. (Nei kung and other energy arts are ultimately most powerful, but in terms of delivering results in a short time span, that's not their style). I've read Bill Harris'  Thresholds of the Mind and I might as well have highlighted the book in its entirety.  My Witness is much greater than my Reactor and very little bothers me that I used to find intolerable. 

There is no substitute for proper medical care (and that includes fishing for diagnoses in TaoBums - I've done it too!) but you owe it to yourself to try this program and stick with it.  Zen12 takes one year, 12 monthly programs, and the price of $37  is within range of anyone. 

https://zen12.com/

[Creation]

7 hours ago, Encephalon said:

I am entirely convinced that this is a deeply therapeutic program that does wonders for enlivening a neocortex that has been distorted or impaired by trauma. 

I remember you as a no-bullshit kind of bloke, so that's quite a recommendation. Why would you recommend Zen12 over other entrainment programs? I like the 12 minutes a day bit, rather than the 30-60 recommended by other programs, because I have a committed practice already which I have no intention of mixing with brainwave entrainment.

[Encephalon]

Some might remember me differently, but thanks for the kind words.  I recommend zen12 because it's straightforward and the customer service is good, but 12 minutes is mighty handy.  The last few months have been closer to 20 minutes.  
But mostly, I can feel the progress of the last twelve months exceeding the rate of progress of the preceding 9 years, if that makes sense.  I am noticably more alert, focused, imaginative, and optimistic than 11 months ago.  The effect I'm having at this point in time could very well be cumulative.

Its being bandied about as a substitute for meditation, as an accelerant of meditation, and there is overlap between zazen, say, and this.  Clearly the entire contemplative element of zen, not to mention the critical component of renunciation and the training of the will is missing from this entirely.  

But if you're a 20-21st century mess like me, its good to have some extra tools handy.

 

[Cleansox]

On 2020-06-06 at 7:19 PM, daojones said:

@silent thunder
@ilumairen
@Toni
For sure there is deep underlying trauma. The brain fog is due to a traumatic brain injury, which has yet to be properly dealt with despite much efforts.

If there was an TBI, in addition to the neural damage there will be a dysfunction of the brains cleaning system. You can look up the glymphatic system for reference. 

Coherence breathing combined with breathing towards the spine (not too much of that in the beginning) will work with the physiological bases of this, and will allow the other rehabilitation methods to work better. 

[daojones]

@Cleansox I never heard of the glymphatic system before or coherence breathing - can you recommend resources to learn more about both of those things?

[Cleansox]

Google Scholar. 

 

It's a rather new area of medical research (the glymphatic system). 

 

Coherence breathing =Respiratory Sinus Arrythmia =Heart rate variability (more or less). 

Edited June 10, 2020 by Cleansox
Added sentences.