BigPapaChakra

Fasting for psychiatric disease remission: http://www.orthomolecular.org/library/jom/1974/pdf/1974-v03n04-p301.pdf

Yeah, apparently there are different kinds; they all contain CBD (no difference there), but some have, as hppd24years stated, terpinoids along with dozens of other compounds that have cool lil names that I can't remember (haha). Very similar to how different all curcumin supplements are, in which some also come with turmeric essenial oil (essentially the turmeric fat), and some have dozens of other compounds that are beneficial, yet increase the cost, hence why most brands/sources don't include it.

Well that's all that matters! I'm actually glad to hear that just so I know I have more options (if something doesn't work for me I tend to try other sources of the same product to rule out a simple error in sourcing).

Unfortunately, I've heard bad reviews about that one; there are some on this site, as well as on longecity. The people behind the Cibidex products (who also sell CannaGum) are extremely kind. I still have A LOT of their products, so I may as well just take some daily until I run out.

Hmm.. do you know exactly what kind of each you've been taking? I only ask because I always stress when I speak to people that the smallest difference in quality can change everything. Not all CoQ10's are the same. I'm getting some pure powdered CoQ10 but I've also recently found some apparently extremely efficiently absorbed CoQ10's (and of course, more expensive ) that I'll try next. Try taking creatine on an empty stomach, preferably with any of the following: salt, baking soda, fenugreek, russian tarragon, or ALA (or a combination thereof). Each of those things (including taking it on an empty stomach) have been shown to either increase the absorption of creatine or have some synergy with it. The information on Aspirin as a supplement is vast; I haven't researched much on how it affects the mitochondria, but I know that it can cause mild mitochondrial uncoupling (thus heat production), and when this happens a lot of enzymes are activated downstream that are beneficial. This can decrease ATP a bit, but the heat production does a lot in and of itself. It also seems to stimulate T3, which I would hypothesize leads to mitochondrial biogenesis because T3 can achieve that; but I've never seen any direct studies on Aspirin-->mitochondriogenesis. I have seen studies indicating it aids in myelination of the brain, though.

Congratulations! You're inspiring me to do the best that I can to get mine soon - I should've had it a couple years ago, lol, but as I was preparing to get it my HPPD got bad, then some family problems, one thing leads to the next and here I am at 19 without my license. After seeing this, as long as I can adequately control my panic attacks, I'm going to try and get mine in the next couple of weeks. Once again, congrats!

I'm going to try CBD again; I'd recommend it though from my previous experience. It was no xanax, but it was mildly anxiolytic. The thing is, though, that in the literature there are doses up to 1500mg/day used, whereas Cibidex and what not contain like 1.5mg per half dropper. Odisa, I saw you post about some other brand/source of CBD on longecity, any experience with it? it's expensive (like $100), but is a much higher dose (like 1500mg of CBD per cap). I may try some next month.

I wish I could write an extensive review and update the HPPD Stack thread, but since I'm feeling the way I currently do I want to get as much work done as possible. I had a very interesting experience with neurofeedback today; I took a little under 0.5mg of etizolam before I went to do it because I've been so anxious lately and I knew if I did CES before hand it'd drastically change my brain waves, so I opted not to do CES. Nonetheless, while doing (NeurOptimal) neurofeedback, I started feeling extremely relaxed, content, and almost 'lighter'. It was like what I'd imagine a really good meditation session would feel like.... except the fact that I literally didn't put any effort into it. I didn't do rhythmic breathing, I did try to force a peaceful state of mind - nothing. I just sat there speaking with the lady who uses it in her practice about HPPD, her experience with NeurOptimal, her experience treating people with dissociation disorders, and how she occasionally has 'neurofeedback parties', lol. The way I would look at the session is that it was like an effortless yet very efficacious guided mediation session. Shortly afterwards I felt a little... off? I just felt different. Not in a positive nor negative way. I still had a bit of the intrusive thoughts and I still was "looking" for HPPD symptoms (I often find myself looking at things just to see if my visuals are bad and there is "breathing", "warping", etc.). Also my visuals may have increased, I can't tell. The warping is definitely there. Yet, my anxiety level is down, and although I did take the etizolam, that was over 3hrs ago and it was under 0.5mg. Additionally, I know the feeling that it produces - to me, it feels similar to xanax, though without the 'drunkenness' accompanied with it. I felt it kick in when I got there - I was less anxious and had a kind of heavier tone to my body, similar to when I've used xanax (like a mild sedation, nothing that you can't walk around and do things with, yet still present) - yet the neurofeedback produced an entirely different sensation that I described above. I have quite a bit of motivation to do things now, too. I ran down to get groceries from my grandmas car and it felt really good that I willingly went out without fear that by simply stepping outside I'll have a panic attack within minutes. I'm potentially going to a brain based therapist tomorrow for a free consultation (I have an appointment, but I don't know if I'll be able to get there just yet), in which I'll be discussing my symptoms and what I wish to accomplish. Hopefully the doc doesn't get mad that I bring a dozen research papers backing some of the things I believe, haha. I'm particularly looking for him to do a "functional neurological examination" on me, followed by doing brain based therapy sessions and perhaps sending me off somewhere to do interactive metronome training. Additionally, Thurs&Saturday I have more neurofeedback sessions and perhaps Friday or Sunday I'll go to my z-trainer. Oh, I also have a ton of CoQ10 powder and Aspirin coming to add to my currently lagging mitochondrial stack. I'll write about it in the future but CoQ10 added to creatine extends the life of rodents and works better than either alone (for treating Parkinson's and Huntington's Disease); CoQ10 added to PQQ works better than either alone in treating Alzheimer's and neurodegeneration. So far I've only been taking PQQ and and occasionally creatine (I take creatine for a few days then forget to take it for a few days). Hopefully all of them together, along with the T3 stimulating, mitochondrial uncoupling properties of aspirin can help my brain.

I'll get to organizing the most useful information soon(er or later); tomorrow I have a NeurOptimal session that I'm actually kind of nervous about. Yet, as always, I have something to add: Yokukansan in the treatment of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Yokukansan (TJ-54) for irritability associated with pervasive developmental disorder in children and adolescents: a 12-week prospective, open-label study. A randomized cross-over study of a traditional Japanese medicine (kampo), yokukansan, in the treatment of the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia. Effects of yokukansan on behavioral and psychological symptoms of vascular dementia: an open-label trial Successful treatment with Yokukansan for behavioral and psychological symptoms of Parkinsonian dementia. Now, where to get this stuff?

Personally, I've been sober for many months and considering that I've been getting progressively worse (which really makes me want to get a SPECT scan and PET scan to make sure nothing else is happening (such as neurotoxins or something)... if anything I'd be able to use that knowledge for more directed supplementation, too) I don't mind. During my first 6+ months of having HPPD I still took benzo's and drank alcohol. If I was under the influence of benzo's and/or alcohol, I'd actually be able to smoke weed and be fine. I haven't drank alcohol in probably 8-12 months, though, and haven't smoked weed or taken anything else for much longer. I don't know if I'd drink or not given the chance - considering my past experiences with HPPD and alcohol I feel as though I'd be fine, yet at the same time considering I'm worse off now than before that may not be true. I always noticed, though, that since HPPD, although I could consume alcohol, it affected me differently. Before I could drink allll night and I swear I never had a hangover and never got sick like other people; yet with HPPD at about 6 shots I get the dizziness that one would get at double that amount (or more). Whatever. I'm more than content with being sober. In the hypothetical situation that I were to get rid of HPPD, I don't know if I'd do anything anyhow considering there are cool things like light and sound machines and sensory deprivation tanks.

I believe it was her bad psilocybin experience. Personally, my 2 psilocybin experiences were nothing short of.... transcendental? I wish I stopped there, or at least took a break and only smoked weed like I originally did. I always wanted to try Iboga and Ayahuasca, but after hearing of your experience, MissJess, as well as a few others, I wouldn't do it even if I didn't have HPPD (and considering the severity of my HPPD, I don't think I'll ever use another substance recreationally again).

Of course, though it will have to wait until potentially Tues/Wednesday. I have some things to do tomorrow and Tuesday I may go in for a NeurOptimal neurofeedback session. I will definitely do what you requested, though. By the way, if you don't mind me asking (and you could just PM if you want rather than bogging down the thread, unless you see it as relevant), how was your experience with Coluracetam? I'm currently trialing it. My first day (today) was weird to say the least.

Tried Coluracetam today and it was.... interesting. I'm not certain as to what amount I took, but it was definitely around 10mg, perhaps 7mg would be more accurate. Tomorrow I'm going to try it again upon waking, though doing quantified-mind experiments prior to dosing, along with HRV, HR, body temp, and resting breath hold measurements. I first wanted to take a 'test dose' of a few drops to see if I'd have an adverse/allergic reaction, but that dose was in fact probably close to 5mg as a half of a dropper is 20mg. I started to feel "something" within 30-60mins, but I couldn't really understand what it was. I then noticed my mood was a bit brighter and I seemed less anxious, and my vision was about the same, maybe with slight increases in contrast/overall richness. Awhile later I took a few more drops while watching a movie and working on a homework assignment. I started to notice that I seemed very aware, perhaps 'hyper-aware' of objects/motion/etc in my peripheral vision. I typically notice things that my eyes aren't locked onto, but they aren't my center of attention. Somehow while under the influence of Colu. it seemed as though I was equally aware of everything in my vision, not just what my eyes were locked onto. I then began to get extremely restless. This increased into a rather significant level of anxiety, yet not a panic attack. I can't say that this was the effect of Colu because anxiety is a daily occurrence, up to the point of almost having a panic attack, yet stopping just before a panic attack occurs. I started getting intrusive thoughts, too, very similar to when I screwed myself up with tons of niacinamide ("ughh what if I never get better? What if I need to temporarily go to inpatient and get meds? I need to find a way to get through this!!"). At this point I applied CES for an hour and kept my legs/feet under a 250 watt heat lamp. As the day progressed, I actually felt good. I'd then get restless again. Then I'd feel really good. It's basically been like that up until now. I'm really hopeful that Coluracetam can have some positive, semi-permanent/permanent effects, yet since I'm such an anxious person I'm always wondering if I'll take it (or something else) and get worse. If I get all restless and anxious again tomorrow after taking 5-10mg of Colu. I'm going to also take 0.5mg of etizolam so I can trial that (I STILL have yet to take one). If it has good effects, I'm going to stock up and also get a half gram to a gram of Flubromazepam. I'm also going to receive a large amount of aspirin and CoQ10 powder soon and add that to a TULIPesque mitochondrial cocktail, consisting of: aspirin (325mg/day, maybe a few grams if I need it), 300mg of CoQ10/day, 20mg of PQQ/day, and 5-10g of Creatine/day. Other notable additions could be D-Ribose and/or Galactose.

Found some interesting information on inducing neural progenitor cell proliferation (very similar to NSI-189), and then an addition to this compound/stack that further enhances the neural progenitor cell growth. Makes me wonder if one couldn't just use this in addition to Buspirone+melatonin and get similar effects to NSI-189.. NT-020, a natural therapeutic approach to optimize spatial memory performance and increase neural progenitor cell proliferation and decrease inflammation in the aged rat.Dietary Supplementations as Neuroprotective Therapies: Focus on NT-020 Diet Benefits in a Rat Model of Stroke Exercise and NutraStem (NT-020): Effects on Stem Cells Okay, now for the addition to the stack: Spirulina Promotes Stem Cell Genesis and Protects against LPS Induced Declines in Neural Stem Cell Proliferation "In a second set of studies we examined the effects of spirulina either alone or in combination with a proprietary formulation (NT-020) of blueberry, green tea, vitamin D3 and carnosine on the function of bone marrow and CD34+ cells in vitro. Spirulina had small effects on its own and more than additive effects in combination with NT-020 to promote mitochondrial respiration and/or proliferation of these cells in culture. "

Do you still have any symptoms? Is day to day life still difficult? It's hard to say if HPPD is 'curable', because it has so many causes, so many treatments, and every individual is entirely different in essentially every way, thus further complicating treatments. Additionally, It's difficult to know if one truly has HPPD or other disorders/diseases that can fall under the extremely wide range of symptoms associated with HPPD. Yet, in my opinion, yes, it is curable. In my opinion essentially everything is curable, at least if you look at things on a "bio-energetic" level. Some of what you described resonates with me (at least in terms of having to drop classes due to panic attacks, extreme fear, and excessive visuals). I've gotten progressively worse in the past 2 years. For a time I was temporarily 'partially-cured'; I used transcranial LLLT (low level light/LED/laser therapy) with near infrared light (850nm) along with some mitochondrial enhancing supplements and some dietary changes (lots of coconut and mct oil, some butter, and complete lack of vegetable and seed oils). Not only were my symptoms about 50% (or more) reduced, but my general cognition was greatly enhanced in almost every facet, along with a consistently increased sense of well-being and emotional resiliency. I stopped for about 6-8wks and the effects persisted but with every passing week my symptoms gradually came back; then an intense stressor made my HPPD wayyy worse than before, to the point of me being essentially nonfunctional nowadays. Two things are helping me now, z-health and CES. I could go on and on about potential therapies and our bodies innate regenerative capacities when fueled with proper nutrition (especially when supplying large amounts of nucelic acids/nucleotides) and simple supplementation with things such as aspirin and baking soda, but I tend to distract various threads, haha. You can check out the HPPD stack thread, or my "journal" thread for more information. Or you could pm me.

I agree with everyone here. Personally, I've had to essentially stop hanging out with ALL of my friends. In a way, that's probably better because at times I can feel pretty terrible and be rather un-functional, especially so after my niacinamide experiment in the middle of february (interestingly, around the 'anniversary' of the events that caused my HPPD). I still talk to a few of my long time friends via facebook, texting, etc. The last time I saw my 'friends' (well, only one or two of them are true friends, I've come to realize, the rest are just acquaintances) was probably 2 months ago; I may end up seeing one of my long time friends (since middle school/beginning of high school) soon, as we are both going through a lot of problems, and thus he has some foundation of understanding - he doesn't have HPPD but has had a history of similar issues, and has recently went through benzo withdrawal and now has frequent panic attacks and residual anxiety. We're both willing to try some benzo-derivatives and alternatives, so if anything we can experiment with them while working on some music and just having therapeutic conversations. Overall, though, I don't have the social life I once had where I was out literally every single day, and on weekends/breaks from school I'd often stay out until 4am and only get a few hours of sleep per night. In fact, it's the exact opposite. I don't get out or do much other than when I'm with my fiance and/or her/my family. Besides for my fiance and immediate family, along with my one friend who I spoke about, I don't have much social contact outside of forums such as this and some facebook groups. In fact, I've got to say I'm tremendously gracious for many of the people I've come across on a variety of forums and groups, where I've had some very intellectual, oftentimes emotional conversations. Some I may even skype with. I don't consider myself socially isolated by any means, but I'm not very socially active, either. Since this is very detrimental to both hormonal and nervous system functioning, I may start up some other hobbies for the time being until some things I've been trying really work out for me; I'm probably going to start gaming again, specifically playing The Elder Scrolls Online, which would involve a lot of socialization (also, I've been finding some interesting studies showing various forms of gaming increasing cortical thickness and increasing brain functioning outside of a gaming atmosphere, such as surgeons having enhanced surgical abilities if they play FPS video games). I may start some minor form of permaculturing and planting, too, along with teaching myself what I view as important skills, for instance, ordering DIY/home-constructable biology/chemistry labs, programming lessons, or learning Polish. If you feel as though something is getting in the way of you healing, even if it is your friends, dispose of that 'something'. I actually regret a lot of the decisions I made with people I previously viewed as friends, because I had HPPD for months without necessarily believing it was HPPD, and thus still smoked weed and abused benzo's and alcohol, took amphetamine-like compounds, and so forth. I'd imagine that simply exacerbated things.

Received my Coluracetam late this evening. I'm going to take a couple drops in the morning just to rule out an adverse reaction, then take about 5mg roughly a half an hour later; depending upon if I'm sensitive enough to derive any effects (whether positive or negative) from 5mg, I'll take another 5mg about 4hrs later. I want to find both the lowest dose AND lowest dosing frequency I can derive benefits from, as Coluracetam is not cheap. If it were to prove anxiolytic, or shall I say, anxiety-preventing, along with even modest cognition-promoting effects, I'd be very happy. I may purchase a milligram scale along with oxi&aniracetam. Oxircateam enhances acetylcholine utilization in a variety of brain regions, and Coluracetam increases acetylcholine throughout the brain. They both have excitotoxic neuronal cell death protective properties; some in regards to NMDA receptors, some protect (or reverse) damage from amnesic compounds, along with NMDA-antagonists such as PCP. Other things I'm thinking about purchasing are: bulk MgT powder; GABA powder, or sarcosine. Today was a bad day, unfortunately. Last night I shot a laser at my forehead just to try and do some LLLT, and when going to bed I was getting these night terror sensations. I woke up and felt okay. Not terrible, but okay. Roughly how I typically feel. After doing my z-drills and keeping a 250 watt infrared heat lamp on me, along with taking PQQ and Butter Oil+FCLO, I felt pretty good. I went to my fiance's house and within about an hour, maybe a little more, I felt all crazy again. Extreme DP/DR and a large amount of residual anxiety. Interestingly, I used CES for a total of 1.5hrs (broken up into two sessions) and did the z-drills and felt better. I still felt really weird, but better. I was seriously considering taking 0.5mg of etizolam, but I didn't need to. I'm going to start taking etizolam soon, though - I purchased some a few weeks ago and still have never used any. My old friend has started using etizolam from the same source, so now my irrational anxiety of it somehow being something else and messing me up has been put to rest. Me and my friend may actually throwdown for a bulk order of Flubromazepam and/or diclazepam, too. I'm pretty certain that diet, supplementation (with things such as butter oil and mct oil, eggshell calcium baking soda, aspirin, etc (all very cheap)), and z-health will help me a lot, but it will take a very, very long time. This is okay, but I'm also a student, have a job online, am in a relationship, have to pay bills with my family, etc, therefore I also need something NOW to help me get along. If taking Flubromazepam once and awhile, along with etizolam 1-3x/week achieves this for me, that's fine by me. Although I'd much prefer being capable of extreme self-regulation in terms of emotions, thought processes, and general perception, this currently isn't possible for me and I'm open to a pill here and there helping me out for a bit. I'll post my experience with a very low dose of Coluracetam tomorrow; it should be interesting because I have to go and finish these CPR videos at my local college's library, and that is very stress inducing for me. Just being in a new environment, although very healthy for the brain (neuroplasticity), provokes immense fight-or-flight reactions in me despite all logic pointing in the direction of those sensations being irrational. Additionally, I'll have to look for these videos in a huge library filled with thousands of other DVD's and video tapes, and the library was recently remodeled, thus I'll have no idea what I'm doing, haha. It may be a good time for me to also try etizolam, but I'd rather not mix two compounds I haven't trialed yet.

You should look into some more "alternative" practitioners; and by that I'm not indicating switching from a psychiatrist/psychologist, to, say, a Naturopath (not that there is anything wrong with them, though many don't have immense knowledge in biology, neuro-pharmocology, etc). But there are some reallyyyy open-minded "neuro-psychiatrists" that will not only experiment with what meds you and they think are optimal, but can get you the correct testing to understand what is wrong with you (i.e. qEEG's, SPECT scans, etc), along with trying other treatments such as rTMS, which has been shown to get rid of DP/DR and stop hallucinations. That's besides the point, though. How are you to get disability - a doctors note indicating that you are disabled and can't engage in any demanding work? I know my general practitioner wrote a script of a CES device and said I have depression and insomnia (which I don't have); if it doesn't need to be directed towards the people giving disability checks, I may be able to claim I'm going to see a psychiatrist and get him to 'agree' that I'm disabled and have HPPD, PTSD-like symptoms, etc. and then just use that, lol. I don't even want to be on disability, but for the time being it actually seems as though it'd be a viable route to me helping my family and myself. I just don't know how to even go about getting it.

If you find anything out, you should let me know too, haha. I've been wondering about this... I currently work online, creating this blog/app, but I can definitely use more money to help out with bills and what not and I'm in no condition to do physical work; if it wasn't for online courses idk how I'd be making progress on my degree.

Hey guys, I just wanted to make a post about neurofeedback (NFB) so more people can see it - I'll post more about it (details/research, my experiences, etc) in my journal-like thread. I really think that things like NFB and z-health have the potential to help people far more than current drug treatments; perhaps even more than the current state of neurogenic drugs/supplements/peptides, etc. My reasoning for this is, currently, rather unfounded outside of some basic information. One reason is that we have HPPD for different reasons; therefore, if I were to find that MgT and Coluracetam were to surprisingly 'cure' me, that doesn't mean it will do so for someone else who may have gotten HPPD/HPPD-like problems from using some obscure research chemicals and/or going on amphetamine binges. This is why NFB is promising, because (for the most part) it's not going to be as directed towards, say, a neurotransmitter or neurotransmitter 'system' (for lack of a better term). Additionally, things like z-health use movement, eye, and 'brain' exercises to cause neuro and synaptogenesis, along with training different regions of your brain and nervous system to pick up the slack of lagging brain regions. So, if you have vestibular or reticular issues, some other region can be trained to function similar to those regions. See this thread for insight into that. Now, one thing I've stressed before in various forums is that the source/'kind' of/for said treatment is almost always one of the most important aspects of it working. What do I mean by 'kind' - well, for instance, some people get benefits from ginkgo biloba, some don't. Is it because it doesn't have much effect, it's all about the individual, or, something else? I'd opt for 'something else', and this is because there are hundreds of compounds in something like ginkgo, EACH with different effects, which can then be further altered by what ratios they come accompanied in. Not many people are going to contact EVERY provider for a supplement/herb/drug and ask what metabolites and other compounds it contains; I asked a couple providers of ginkgo awhile back to provide me with information on what bilobalides, ginkgosalides, etc. make up their product, and each of them had compounds in their products that had very unreliable research. Why did I babble about proper sourcing of different compounds? Well, because NFB is very much like that. There are different 'systems' and 'protocols' that induce drastically different brain changes. Some of the seemingly most efficacious NFB protocols, some of which I may use starting next week, are: NeurOptimal: supposedly 'guides' your brain into making its own decisions on how to change (brain waves, micro-structures, connections, etc), thus it doesn't purposefully induce different changes in different regions, which makes the changes potentially safe, more gradual, and subtle (yet noticeable after looking back upon your behavior, performance, and so forth) TAG-Sync: Induces Theta-Alpha-Gamma 'synchrony' throughout different, large brain regions. This system can also run different 'protocols', such as Ultra Low Frequency protocols; in the NFB world, this protocol is seen as efficacious yet 'alternative', and potentially dangerous if not used wisely. This makes sense because it very rapidly induces changes similar to those seen in 'hyper-advanced' meditators, and meditation has been known to cause acute states of psychosis, violence, and more in prone individuals. Many forms of meditation also induce lasting bouts of dissociation. Beta-Reset: This seems awesome for HPPDer's; it will very likely bring up traumatizing thoughts, sensations, and memories which can plague us, and has been used for neurodegenerative diseases. Here is an interview about its use in Parkinson's. Here is the website where you can learn about their "Beta-Reset Retreats" in Colorado. Additionally, there are forms such as Alpha-Theta and SMR-Beta NFB; I have to do more research on both, but Alpha-Theta seems like it could potentially exacerbate HPPD by attempting to induce brain wide Alpha and Theta brain waves, thus putting you in a dissociated, dream-like, deeply meditative state.... as your daily state of being. After I do some z-health drills, I'll post these other very informative links on NFB that aren't associated with any one form/protocol, yet simply seek to educate people on each form, their pros and cons, and so forth.

No problem - I agree; I was actually thinking of starting a different thread but didn't know if it would be viewed, haha. Yeah, I'm not quite sure; I'm hoping there is more information on it in the coming chapters - I just know I have to take a hiatus from reading it to finish Hans Selye's The Stress of Life and Ray Peat's Mind and Tissue for some school projects. I'm going to compile all the citations in The Brain That Changes Itself, though, and look through them and post them (here? in my 'journal thread?). So many of them are indirectly related to HPPD with how people can have sensory disorders/diseases and how to cause positive, lasting changes to, if not fix them, 'get around' them. After I get back from school (fingers crossed that the things I've been doing in the past few days prevent a random breakdown and panic attack, lol) I'll post some more relevant videos to the one above. I know there is a 30(ish) minute one of Bach-y-rita's experience with the woman with the vestibular issues - I believe that'd be the most relevant to us HPPDer's because vestibular issues can cause very similar, perhaps the same kind of symptoms that some of us have (weird environmental 'changes', perception of movement, vertigo, etc); I know that a few of the drills I've been having the most success with are all vestibular system related; for instance, drills to induce the vestibulo-ocular reflex.

this actually gives an awesome visual for bach-y-rita's work (he is not the only scientist spoken about in the book, just the chapter that I read); "We don't see with our eyes, for example, or hear with our ears." It gets pretty interesting when they show how you can send visual information through the tongue to the visual cortices to produce vision through the sense of touch, all without the need for the eyes.

Yes, I agree with you, yet that is largely the point of bach-y-rita's work - if one has a severely damaged area of the brain that controls speech and they literally can't speak at all, it doesn't matter because you can train a different region of the brain to pick up that slack and fulfill the other regions roles. Hence how he got people who couldn't see to see; the second chapter begins with a woman who has strong points of cognition and then such severe deficits in other areas that she is thought to be mentally ill, and it was do to certain regions in her brain being severely under developed since birth. All it took was training other regions and neural pathways and her more thoroughly developed brain regions fulfilled the role of the under developed ones. That's why Bach-y-rita claims every region of the brain is 'polysensory' - hence why you can take out a region of the brain in an animal and then train, say, it's auditory cortex, and it can see again despite not having a full 'visual cortex'. Well, that's the point of most of the book - even if you have an extremely dampened state of cognition you can retrain it, even if you are 'mentally ill', clinically insane, paralyzed, etc. It may be extremely difficult, but no less possible. For instance that woman lost her job and essentially stayed in bed all day because she could no longer walk - due to her vestibular issues if there were even lines/stripes on a carpet/rug her brain would perceive that as motion in a different direction and everything seemed as though it was moving, even if she wasn't moving. Bach-y-rita's helmet not only took this sensation away, it lasted afterwards and she continued to do proprioception exercises and maintain the new neural pathways despite the fact that her vestibular system was still 98% inactive; meaning, other regions of her brain picked up its slack. I have only read the preface/intro, chapter 1, and started looking through all the citations, so I'm not sure if they describe things you can do at home, or go through all these pioneering researchers case studies. The second chapter sounds like it'd have some meaning to HPPD, too - speaking about a woman who is intelligent yet "retarded" at the same time and can't understand body language/facial cues, etc. and believes everything has some 'meaning' behind it; I've actually had this happen to me in the midst of a bad day of HPPD - I just couldn't understand facial cues, my emotional intelligence was dampened, and I kept wondering what people were thinking... very much like if I were tripping on LSD, lol. Nonetheless, I think this is why I'm having success with z-health.

Interesting observations today. I went back to my z-trainer and re-did most of my assessments (which I did better on even prior to doing the drills), and then did drills and added some realllyy far out neurological training. I did training to specifically activate/induce the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR), which according to my trainer, can be quite intense and thus is best to take slow and try out at her facility first - when she first learned about it and tried it she almost threw up and was extremely dizzy for a half hour or so. I've gotta say, at times it produced a weird response, or, at least physical sensation in my left eye. Interestingly I saw an old post about Odisa and his visuals in his 'left side' and how sometimes things are perceived from his 'left side' - this is EXACTLY how I feel (most of the time, anyhow)! When doing various assessments, my left eye is always the one lagging behind, too. Well, when doing the VOR drills, my left eye was getting significantly strained, and at one time when trying to do the drills while keeping my eyes on an object, since I was moving my eyes towards the left outermost region of my visual field, my eyes just jumped off the object unwillingly and tweaked out, for lack of a better term. The VOR drills were similar to other eye exercises, only with one large difference - in those eye drils, for the most part you keep your head entirely still while moving your eyes; with VOR drills you did the opposite - you'd keep your eyes locked on a object and then jerk your head in a specific motion while keeping your eyes on the object. Overall, the past 2-3 days, as well as today, my DP/DR has been present yet at a significantly reduced amount, and I haven't had a panic attack; though, perhaps that is the cumulative effect of doing 0.5-1hz CES for the past some odd days. Today I felt pretty well, and in fact, I forgot to bring my CES device, etizolam, and l-theanine to go out to the z-trainer (all of which I brought last time). Went to my fiances and her (step?) aunt was over and her family was discussing a bunch of topics that could really stir me up, yet I maintained a certain amount of levelheadedness. The one thing I'm a little disheartened over, though, is my visuals right now are worse.... Visual acuity is increased, to a small degree my auras are decreased, yet my visual snow, eye floaters, flashes of light/starbursts, orbs/colors, and after images are all more noticeable. This could just be an indication of fatigue, though. I'm not sure how I should spend allotted amount of my paycheck now, lol. I've been getting good results with z-health and will be going and doing more 'hands on' sessions in the coming weeks, along with training at home, but I don't know if I should purchase some of the needed TAG-Sync gear and wait until next month to use it since I need a lot more gear than I can afford; pay for 5-7 NeurOptimal neurofeedback sessions; or, just seek out some quality organ meats, get some diagnostic testing, and maybe some nootropics to stack with Coluracetam, such as Oxiracetam. Any ideas, lol? Oh yeah, tomorrow or Saturday I'll be starting Coluracetam, so I'll be updating this thread daily. I'm going to try just a drop at first to rule out any allergic/adverse reaction, then test 5 or so mg to see if I'm 'sensitive', then mess around with single 10-20mg doses upon waking. Everything I've read about Colu. has pointed in the direction of it helping me A LOT due to my personal history with HPPD and what I believe caused it.

Nice find(s) Odisa! I'll have to glean them over this weekend when I have more time. You guys should both check out the book "The Brain That Changes Itself" - it has a ton of information about not only the 'plastic' nature of our brain and nervous system, but how it is actually "polysensory" and the idea that any region controls a certain process in our body is entirely flawed. For instance, Mrigunka Sur, a neuroscientist, completed a study where he surgically attached the optic nerves of a ferret to its auditory cortex and it learned how to still see and hear the same as a typical ferret, only with slightly less visual acuity (akin to someone who wears glasses). There were other studies where brain regions were removed and placed in backwards and everything, with time, functioned normally. Also, some fascinating information on this Russian biophysicist, psychopharmacologist, inventor, etc, Bach-y-Rita; he developed some technology for this woman who had symptoms similar to us HPPDer's - she had vestibular issues (which is something I'm working on at z-health), thus making her perceive herself as 'falling' 24/7. Her vestibular canals were 98% dysfunctional. Well, essentially he had her wear this helmet which took away her problems. Surprisingly, when she took it off, new neural pathways were created and with various vestibular exercises she maintained the benefits though while still having a near-completely dysfunctional vestibular system. He then did similar things for blind people, giving them sight despite their visual cortex being almost non-existant. He also is developing technologies to give people (such as Spec Ops forces) 'supersenses' such as infrared vision. Point being, even if neuro/synaptop/myelinogenesis isn't working, you can use a different region of your brain to achieve the same thing as your dysfunctional region (for us, perhaps our occipital lobe, tempo-parietal junction, etc). Oh, this was all found in the first chapter, haha. But yeah, I'm gonna take a look into these papers this weekend!