Hi Doxsave,

I suffered from Whiplash Brain Injury (WBI), the Irlen glasses helped
me significantly, but now my WBI system has changed, and I find myself
in a constant struggle to find a perfect balance that keeps my PFC on
so I can do my tasks. I am seeing a therapist who is using the SPECT
from the Amend clinic to help me understand what happens to me. What I
discovered was my Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) shuts off, and when this
happens, I suffer from short-term memory problems... If you would like
to learn how this happens and other symptoms of the PFC you can read
about it in a book by Dr. Daniel Amen called Changed Your Brain,
Change Your Life. I go beyond the supplements he gives in the PFC
chapter…

The treatment that has helped me regulate my PFC has been a
combination of amino acids (The Mood Cure - but I modified it for my
WBI), supplements, diet, and learning how to pace myself when my PFC
turns off. It is not easy to keep my PFC on...but when I succeed it
means I am going to sail with ALL of my tasks. When I recapture my old
abilities (when I could do things and where I did not fail) I feel
like the luckiest person alive on the face of the earth. I always feel
hurt on my bad-days, because it separates me from being able to do
feel "alive" and connected... My heart goes out to you as you struggle
with your practice. It is humiliating not to…because of WBI. I work
not letting it eat-at-me, as the stress is not good for PFC problems.

Good note: Being able to educate myself on my WBI has giving me hope
that I am going to push the envelop more, and gain more control over
my WBI. The Irlen glasses helped settle my system down so I could
become more involved in my recovery. One good thing, if you were smart
before the WBI, its still there, you just have to figure out how to
get in touch with your stuff again. I am considered high functioning
for WBI, but let me tell you I busted my butt every day for years
doing writing exercises. I would do them for up to eight hours a day,
day in and day out…regardless if anything made any sense or not. That
was all I "could" do…

Interesting how you painted the color of your walls to try out
different colors. I decided today I was going to repaint the colors of
my bedroom wall as they seem to shut down my PFC…I will wait a few
more weeks to make sure this is a good idea. I love to be in my living
room, kitchen, study and downstairs bathroom. Then again, I got a new
floor in my living room, and I did not change it upstairs.
Umm…something to ponder about. I think it's a good sign I should get
retested on my Irlen glasses, even though they still work great. Good
Luck.

Lu


--- In glimmercoloredfilterglasses@yahoogroups.com, "doxsav"
<doxsav@...> wrote:
>
> Dear Marci,
>
> I am curious about how you are doing. I am a 48 year old physician
who has been on the
> cusp of giving up my practice. I have been in 7 motor vehicle
accidents ( none of them my
> fault as in several I wasn't even driving!). The worst one was 10
years ago when my 4
> children and I were hit by a drunk driver. After 2 or 3 or these
accidents I noted that I was
> unable to retain anything that I read, which was confirmed on
neuropsych testing. After
> about 3 years, things improved but I noticed that I could remember
much more if I read at
> night. In retrospect, I think it was because I read with a low
level of incandescent light
> before I went to sleep. About 4 years ago, I moved to a new office
which had absolutely
> no natural light. I drove my staff crazy with changing fluorescent
tubes, painting walls
> different colors, but I still couldn't work for more than a morning
without feeling totally
> fatigued and had to switch to an alternate day schedule. The final
blow was
> computerizing our office. I immediately noticed that I could not
recall anything about my
> patients that I read on the computer, whereas before I could
remember anything about
> anybody. I assumed that it was merely a new modality and that it
would get easier. In
> fact, the opposite has occurred, to the point that I have gone from
being able to easily see
> 25 patients a day to struggling trying to see 8, and even then, I am
struggling to do their
> charts when I get home. Purely by luck, my son was required to
have an updated
> educational assessment so that he could continue to get extra time
for exams because of
> a reading disability. No big surprise that he tested positive for
Irlen Syndrome but I was
> blown away by how severe mine is. My daughter has also tested
positive and I suspect
> that my mother has it as well. I realize that there must be a
genetic predisposition here,
> and I would suspect that you might find some other members of your
family that have less
> severe symptoms than you do. However, I have no doubt that I could
read very well in
> medical school and that my head/neck injuries played a huge part in
accentuating my
> genetic predisposition. What amazes me is that even as a physician
who is very in tune to
> the effects of pain on my proprioception and energy level, I totally
missed the boat on
> linking the light sensitivity to my symptoms. Likewise with my 2
children.
>
> I would be very interested in staying in touch with you. Although I
first heard of Irlen
> syndrome a few years ago, th personal impact has only hit in the
past 2 weeks. We are
> now struggling to deal with purchasing Irlen lenses for all three of
us. As well, I am now
> faced with trying to remove every fluorescent tube from our office
(the building recently
> replaced every incandescent flood with energy effecient flurescent
floods!) I am not sure
> how I am going to deal with the computer issue yet.....
>
> Good luck in your endeavors. I am going to pursue things from a
medical end as well.
> Because of my injuries, I have become involved with a group call the
Advanced Spinal Care
> group in Calgary, and also Dr. Chris Centeno in Denver. I am
forwarding information on
> Irlen's syndrome related to whiplash injuries to one of my contacts
in Calgary. I think that
> we should do a screening study to see if the syndrome is more common
in neck injury/
> concussion patients than the general population.
>
> Keep in touch. sharon v.--- In
glimmercoloredfilterglasses@yahoogroups.com,
> "mhawkins405" <mhawkins@> wrote:
> >
> > Hi, I am 49 years old and a teacher. Two and 1/2 years ago I was in a
> > serious roll-over auto accident as a passenger in June. The car I was
> > riding in was older and the shoulder harness did not fit well or hold
> > me in place. I was slung like a rag doll and had multiple head
> > injuries. My nose has been rebuilt, I have had under eye surgery and
> > my jaw surgery. The fall after the wreck I was enrolled in graduate
> > classes at night. It was then that I realized how much overhead
> > lights bothered me. I read my assigned text and could not recall it.
> > I thought I had forgotten to but my highlighting proved otherwise. I
> > have found the paperwork involved in teaching to be more
> > overwhelming. Have severe headaches and have been diagnosed with post
> > concusive brain trauma and severe photo-phobia. I feel like I have
> > litterally been fighting bllindly to complete my masters. I started
> > copying everthing on light blue paper, I felt crazy. Reading the
> > introductory text was both a relief that others could confirm that
> > what I experience is real and scary that there could be worse to
> > come. It seems that everything listed applied to me. Is there anyone
> > who could tell me more about trauma induced Irlen's? Or Irlen's that
> > becomes manifest as an adult. It is more difficult for me to think at
> > times, and I feel foggy. I am not sure if I can continue to teach.
> > Any information would be helpful. I probably won't proof read this
> > and appologise in advance for errors, it seems I make more of them
> > these days.
> > Thank you, Marci
> >
>