TITLE: Parkinsonism and Biofeedback
ABSTRACT: Clinical case study written by a client who went through a specialized version of biofeedback training to address Parkinsonism.
by Carolyn Ewer
In January, l990, I was in an automobile accident that resulted in moderate physical damage and extreme emotional damage. In March of l990, I noticed some irregularity in my left arm, an occasional tremor. Through several doctors and an MRI, in July of l990, I was diagnosed as having Parkinsonism. For the next three years, I used medications, physical therapy, and chiropractic treatments to address the variety of problems I was experiencing, and eventually turn- ed to an unusual approach to the physical and psychological issues associated with Parkinsonism: biofeedback.
My symptoms, aside from the tremor, were: extreme emotional anxiety, rapid heart rate, shortness of breath (hyper-ventilating), lack of air (smothering sensations), dry mouth, hot flashes (could be the age group I'm in), trouble swallowing (lump in the throat), extreme restlessness, feeling weak and shaky, trembling, extreme muscle tension, aches and soreness, constant fatigue, excessive and unnecessary worrying, fear, paranoia, trouble sleeping due to restlessness, feelings of being keyed up and on edge all the time (if someone dropped something or closed a door or popped a balloon, I would go to pieces), feeling as though I were losing my sanity, difficulty concentrating or "mind going blank" because of nervousness and anxiety (I would forget what I was saying right in the middle of a sentence), mental confusion (not knowing how to do even routine things), feeling helpless, feeling a lack of self-worth, feeling like a failure at life, and major underlying depression.
Physical therapy reduced the pain and stiffness in my neck and sacroiliac, so I could drive again. The chiropractor, Tom Collins, worked on my neck and back, and it helped to further reduce pain and caused me to be more flexible. However, my despair continued in spite of feeling physically improved. Even with taking the medications for Parkinson-ism, the extreme emotional anxiety further debilitated me, and the trembling continued.
It was in March of l993 that I went to Steve Wall, Director of the Bio Research Institute in Cotati, California, at the suggestion of my chiropractor, who believed that biofeedback might help me achieve greater physical relaxation to reduce soreness and mental relaxation to reduce the overwhelming stress and anxiety I was experiencing. I had no concept of what to expect or what it was supposed to do. However, believing in the "mind/body" relationship, I continued my visits on a weekly (or weakly) basis.
Biofeedback, as I learned, is a way of seeing what the mind/body is doing below our usual level of awareness. Sensors placed on the skin of the forehead, shoulders, jaw and scalp, fingertips, etc., measure various body systems including circulation (through temperature), muscular activity, sweat gland activity, heart rate, respiration, and brain wave activity. I could see these measurements on a computer screen that displayed different kinds of moving charts and mandalas, as well as hear them as tones that went up and down in response to increases or decreases in my mind/body activity. At the Bio Research Institute, Steve uses a training method called Bio Integration to help people learn to regulate all systems of the body to work in harmony with each other to achieve optimal health, and has recently developed a new biosystem that dramatically increases the effectiveness of training.
It wasn't until after 6 - l2 visits that I began understand- ing it was a training program and not a medical treatment. Mentally, I was so confused, I could not remember that the training had to continue at home. I could not put it in use when out of the environment of the institute. I continued return visits because of my mind/body convictions. My training began to foster benefits. Seeing how my body could tense and relax (even when I couldn't feel it), and associating these periods of tension and relaxation with the onset of symptoms, gave me a whole new way of approaching my problems. Things started happening, slowly, subtly and profoundly.
Steve did not push or overwhelm me by doing or expecting too much at any time. I worked with the audio and video aids at my own pace, although the encouragement was there to advance my training. We trained on full body relaxation, including jaw and scalp, shoulders, hand temperature, etc. The body gradually gave in to the training and began to relax when focused to do so. I began to feel less anxiety and more calm.
It was quite some time later when we started to focus on the brain (EEG). EEG training involves learning how to direct our brainwaves to the level of function best suited to the task at hand. A calm brain is associated with a calm body, and it is very possible to be calm, aware and alert simulta-neously. The EEG training began to give me an understanding of the power of the brain in relationship with the body. During the early training, the mental anxiety caused my brain to be a jumble of uncoordinated thoughts, some real, some fantasy. My brain was so jammed, it felt as if I had no control, and I didn't. It felt as if a pie plate full of live blackbirds all fluttering their wings were in my head. It was frightening!
As EEG training continued, I began to feel an internal language of awareness. I could feel things mentally, before they happened physically. As an example, I knew mentally when the tremor was going to start even before there were any visible signs. I began to notice that when the brain was calm, the tremor was calm. The biofeedback sensors revealed that when left brain and right brain were in balance, so was my body. The brain was beginning to discard jumbled and unnecessary intrusions, and started to work on building a highway of information pertinent to mind/body coordination.
Training continued, and in the weeks to come, I took notice of the tremor, when it would happen, why, and under what circumstances. It's very complicated to explain what I began to discover, but I'm going to try.
As I became more and more aware of the tremor, I realized it had many personalities. There was not "a tremor," there were tremors, different in characteristics. There is a tremor caused by anxiety, different from a tremor caused by nervousness, different from a tremor caused by lack of self-confidence or self-worth, different from a tremor caused by pain, and different from the tremor that the brain quietly allows because it feels "normal."
The latter tremor is the one I have become to understand very well, and I will try to explain what happens when it is present. My awareness pertaining to this tremor has developed during the last two months, approximately. It seems my brain is allowing this tremor to happen because it feels comfortable. Upon realizing to tremor is present, I can make just a small mental adjustment, and it is no longer there; neither does it need to be there. It does not have the urge to persist after the mental adjustment is made.
The adjustment feels simple and direct. It seems the tremor is there much in the same way that "lazy" eyes cross when they are very tired. Somehow, the brain muscle becomes tired and allows the tremor to soothe it. It takes just a small mental adjustment, very little effort involved, to put it "back-on-track." You may have experienced allowing your eyes to cross, and how easily you can uncross them. It feels like a similar adjustment.
This awareness is due to the biofeedback training. The "internal language" begins communicating with the body through "awareness" and the "information highway" begins to develop.
Biofeedback has been an enormous help in my quest for better health. Due to biofeedback, I am no longer experiencing the helplessness of feeling that I am losing my mind, the anxiety or panic attacks are few and far between, my power of concentration has been restored, I am able to complete assigned tasks, and I seldom worry unnecessarily. The mental confusion is no longer a major problem. The reduction of the tremor has been huge during the last three to six months.
In Parkinsonism, the thing that I feel causes the tremor, rigidity and other symptoms is an arousal in the brain. I think EEG training is basically a means of quieting that arousal. EEG training has allowed me not to get "stage-fright" when faced with a difficult project or situation. When I feel myself starting to become anxious, I take a break and deliberately change the way I am feeling--I can calm down at will. I believe I am learning to take care of myself on a deeper level.
If Steve had started me with EEG training at the beginning of my sessions, I feel I never would have learned mind/body relaxation, because of the mental state I was in. I think EEG training would have overwhelmed me to the point that I would have given up. Also, it's very difficult to do the EEG exercises as compared to the body exercises--you can relax your shoulder muscles more or less at will, but it is much harder to achieve a certain mental state on demand.
Biofeedback at the Research Institute is comfortable, self-paced, non-intimidating, and sensible. There are no physical or emotional side effects. It is basically "risk-free."
Biofeedback allows me to become an active participant in my own medical care. I consider biofeedback at this point in my wellness to be not so much an "alternative" approach to Parkinsonism, but a complementary one, to be used along with standard medical care.
I intend to continue developing my own "super-information-awareness-highway," through the use of biofeedback training. I sense the results could be enormous!
I invite anyone who is interested in exploring biofeedback, or has any questions about this article to feel free to contact me. I would be happy to share my experiences with you.
Carolyn Ewer
707-584-1871
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