Ringing…Buzzing in the Ears

Tinnitus (TIN-i-tus) is noise or ringing in the ears. A common problem, tinnitus affects about 1 in 5 people. Tinnitus isn’t a condition itself — it’s a symptom of an underlying condition, such as age-related hearing loss, ear injury or a circulatory system disorder.

Tinnitus involves the annoying sensation of hearing sound when no external sound is present. Tinnitus symptoms include these types of phantom noises in your ears:

Ringing
Buzzing
Roaring
Clicking
Whistling
Hissing

The phantom noise may vary in pitch from a low roar to a high squeal, and you may hear it in one or both ears. In some cases, the sound can be so loud it can interfere with your ability to concentrate or hear actual sound. Tinnitus may be present all the time, or it may come and go.

A number of health conditions can cause or worsen tinnitus. In many cases, an exact cause is never found.

A common cause of tinnitus is inner ear cell damage. Tiny, delicate hairs in your inner ear move in relation to the pressure of sound waves. This triggers ear cells to release an electrical signal through a nerve from your ear (auditory nerve) to your brain. Your brain interprets these signals as sound. If the hairs inside your inner ear are bent or broken, they can “leak” random electrical impulses to your brain, causing tinnitus.

Other causes of tinnitus include other ear problems, chronic health conditions, and injuries or conditions that affect your auditory nerves or the hearing center in your brain.

Common causes of tinnitus:

* Age-related hearing loss.
* Exposure to loud noise.
* Earwax blockage.
* Ear bone changes.

Other causes of tinnitus:

* Meniere’s disease.
* Stress and depression.
* TMJ disorders.
* Head injuries or neck injuries.

Causes include:

* Head and neck tumors.
* Atherosclerosis.
* High blood pressure.
* Turbulent blood flow.
* Malformation of capillaries.
* A number of medications may cause or worsen tinnitus. Generally, the higher the dose of medication, the worse tinnitus becomes. Often the unwanted noise disappears when you stop using these drugs

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Anatomy-In-Motion/147107135344108

COGNITIVE CONNECTIONS uses an individualized NeuroCognitive Training and Cognitive Rehabilitation protocol to address the specific needs of each client.

The symptoms of Tinnitus can be drastically reduced or eliminated through our unique process of calming the central nervous system. Sleep and Anxiety issues (if present) are always addressed as well.

“My tinnitus has improved so dramatically over the past two months. I am sleeping so much better and my wife tells me how much nicer I am!!” C.H. 67

A Thought from Dr. Lise’

Imagination and Creativity in the Making…

Years ago I started a school for educating children using the Arts and a brain based learning method. I called it Creative Learning Center Preschool and Meridian Academy of the Arts Elementary and Middle School.

This school used Music, Dance, Drama/Puppetry, Language, Literature and the Visual Arts as tools to teach all the academic subjects.

The children were awesome people…we insisted everyone was treated with respect and honored for their own individual personalities, the Arts were a perfect way to assist in this style of learning.

We found all their basic Cognitive skills excelled from Auditory skills to Executive function abilities (found in the Prefrontal Cortex). This school allowed and facilitated people to succeed, (even the staff found confidence in their abilities to teach while at MAA & CLC).

We started the little toddlers out with the basic ‘who, what, when, why & where questions as we believed these were the leading questions that allowed the brain to create to solidify the Neuro-pathways for conceptualization, creativity and experimenting.

15-18 years later…these children have grown into young adults that all mastered higher level thinking skills. We have individuals studying to be Ph.D’s, MD’s and a variety of people that are contributing to society in extremely important ways.

I am truly honored to have been the instigator of a system that allowed access to knowledge for these young people. Whether they had learning disabilities or were extremely ‘gifted’ but didn’t ‘fit’ into a public school system with traditional learning techniques; they all have now found a place of honor midst their peers.

Today research is confirming the positive effects of what MAA/CLC practiced so many years ago and I have to smile at all the children that proved many years ago, that taking apart clocks, and toasters was fun, but learning how to put them back together and make them into something even better than they originally were was truly AWESOME!

Here’s to all of you parents that believed in us…and to all the children that succeeded!!! Well done!!!

Another Dr. Lise’ Thought (alias…Mrs. D)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/16/us/study-finds-early-signs-of-creativity-in-adults.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y&_r=2&

Is the Senate in Texas Bullying Woman?

Bully: Use superior strength or influence to intimidate (someone), typically to force him or her to do what one wants. Dictionary.com

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/07/12/19441556-only-a-good-guy-with-a-tampon-can-stop-a-bad-guy-with-a-tampon?lite

Forcing ALL women to throw out their tampons before entering into a Federal Building is intimidation, threatening, teasing, harassment, mean, an exclusion and embarrassing to a group of people, due to their gender!

We think of children bullying other children and we ALL agree this is wrong…it must be stopped!

But when we look at the definition of bullying we can see there is bullying happening all around us!

I venture to say, the Senate in Texas is using their superior strength to intimidate, influence and force woman to attend to ‘their rules’. They are trying to coerce and exclude a specific group of people through public harassment and intimidation.

If this was a child in school they would be punished. And yet here is a government agency that we are taught to trust, honor and respect excluding a whole group of individuals, due to a physical attribute within a gender.

I am a people advocate, I believe in loving your neighbor, NOT because it is in a religious testament, but because it is the right thing to do. Hurting someone or a group of people is wrong. It is cruel and mean.  A vote on a topic (even as emotional as Abortion) lead a government agency to bully a group of women.

We MUST teach by example…what is the State of Texas trying to teach their children? I sadly have to say the example they are setting is ‘only bully if you are strong enough you can get by with it’.

This behavior if condoned by the Federal government is a form of discrimination and I do believe we have FEDERAL laws against discrimination.   The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (CSRA) contains a number of prohibitions, known as prohibited personnel practices, which are designed to promote overall fairness in federal personnel actions. 5 U.S.C. 2302. The CSRA prohibits any employee who has authority to take certain personnel actions from discriminating for or against employees or applicants for employment on the bases of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age or disability.

 

Research has shown:  ‘Bullies’ empathetic responses seem to be warped and this shows in activity in the amygdala and ventral striatum, regions of the brain sometimes associated with reward and pleasure.’  “We think it means that they like seeing people in pain,” Benjamin Lahey, a psychologist at the University of Chicago and co-author of the study said.  “If that is true,” he added, “they are getting positively reinforced every time they bully and are aggressive to other people.”   http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/11/081107-bully-brain.html

 

We as a community owe it to ourselves and our Country to stop individuals, companies and government agencies from bullying groups of people, whether it be due to  race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age or disability.  It became a Federal law for a reason…it is the RIGHT thing to do, the humane thing to do.

 

 

Will the State of Texas be able to get by with this action?

 

 

Why Music Moves Us…

Why Music Moves Us
Tia Ghose, LiveScience Staff Writer

Universal emotions like anger, sadness and happiness are expressed nearly the same in both music and movement across cultures, according to new research.

The researchers found that when Dartmouth undergraduates and members of a remote Cambodian hill tribe were asked to use sliding bars to adjust traits such as the speed, pitch, or regularity of music, they used the same types of characteristics to express primal emotions. What’s more, the same types of patterns were used to express the same emotions in animations of movement in both cultures.

“The kinds of dynamics you find in movement, you find also in music and they’re used in the same way to provide the same kind of meaning,” said study co-author Thalia Wheatley, a neuroscientist at Dartmouth University.

The findings suggest music’s intense power may lie in the fact it is processed by ancient brain circuitry used to read emotion in our movement.

“The study suggests why music is so fundamental and engaging for us,” said Jonathan Schooler, a professor of brain and psychological sciences at the University of California at Santa Barbara, who was not involved in the study. “It takes advantage of some very, very basic and, in some sense, primitive systems that understand how motion relates to emotion.”

Universal emotions

Why people love music has been an enduring mystery. Scientists have found that animals like different music than humans and that brain regions stimulated by food, sex and love also light up when we listen to music. Musicians even read emotions better than nonmusicians.

Past studies showed that the same brain areas were activated when people read emotion in both music and movement. That made Wheatley wonder how the two were connected.

To find out, Wheatley and her colleagues asked 50 Dartmouth undergraduates to manipulate five slider bars to change characteristics of an animated bouncy ball to make it look happy, sad, angry, peaceful or scared.

“We just say ‘Make Mr. Ball look angry or make Mr. Ball look happy,'” she told LiveScience. [See Videos of the Sad and Happy Bouncy Ball]

To create different emotions in “Mr. Ball,” the students could use the slider bars to affect how often the ball bounced, how often it made big bounces, whether it went up or down more often and how smoothly it moved.

Another 50 students could use similar slider bars to adjust the pitch trajectory, tempo, consonance (repetition), musical jumps and jitteriness of music to capture those same emotions.

The students tended to put the slider bars in roughly the same positions whether they were creating angry music or angry moving balls.

To see if these trends held across cultures, Wheatley’s team traveled to the remote highlands of Cambodia and asked about 85 members of the Kreung tribe to perform the same task. Kreung music sounds radically different from Western music, with gongs and an instrument called a mem that sounds a bit like an insect buzzing, Wheatley said. None of the tribes’ people had any exposure to Western music or media, she added.

Interestingly, the Kreung tended to put the slider bars in roughly the same positions as Americans did to capture different emotions, and the position of the sliders was very similar for both music and emotions.

The findings suggest that music taps into the brain networks and regions that we use to understand emotion in people’s movements. That may explain why music has such power to move us — it’s activating deep-seated brain regions that are used to process emotion, Wheatley said.

“Emotion is the same thing no matter whether it’s coming in through our eyes or ears,” she said.

The study is detailed today (Dec. 17) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Stratton Skull Electric Violin
Cost: $2,999.00 at the Electric Violin Shop: http://bit.ly/VVHo5h

Ful Article Here: http://bit.ly/X9Nmha — with Linda Elizabeth, Max Surin, Jimmy Appudurai-chua and 35 others.

This is an older article found in Anatomy in Motion on FB…interesting huh?

Language Found to Increase with Early Remediation After a Stroke

Strokes can affect many aspects of our lives from physically moving our limbs to using or comprehending Expressive or Receptive Language. The effects are devastating!

Article on Regaining Language After a Stroke:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130627161434.htm

There are basically 3 types of strokes

1. Ischemic (clots) 87 % of strokes are an obstruction
2. Hemorrhagic (Bleeds) weakened blood vessels usually cause hemorrhagic stroke: aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). Most of these come from untreated high blood pressure
3. TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack) is caused by a temporary clot. Often called a “mini stroke”,

What are the most common general effects of a stroke?

• Hemiparesis (weakness on one side of the body) or
hemiplegia (paralysis on one side of the body)
• Dysarthria (difficulty speaking or slurred speech), or
dysphagia (trouble swallowing)
• Fatigue
• Loss of emotional control and changes in mood
• Cognitive changes (problems with memory, judgment,
problem-solving or a combination of these)
• Behavior changes (personality changes, improper
language or actions)
• Decreased field of vision (inability to see peripheral
vision) and trouble with visual perception

What are common changes with a left-brain injury?

• Paralysis or weakness on the right side of the body.
• Aphasia (difficulty getting your words out or
understanding what is being said)
• Behavior that may be more reserved and cautious
than before.

What are common changes with a right-brain injury?

• Paralysis or weakness on the left side of the body.
• One-sided neglect which is a lack of awareness of the
left side of the body. It may also be a lack of awareness
of what is going on to the survivor’s left. For example,
they may only eat from the right side of their plate,
ignoring the left side.
• Behavior may be more impulsive and less cautious
than before.
• It may be harder for the survivor to understand facial
expressions and tone of voice. They also may have less
expression in their own face and tone of voice when
communicating.

What are common emotional effects of stroke?

• Depression
• Apathy and lack of motivation
• Frustration, anger and sadness
• Pseudobulbar affect, also called reflex crying or
emotional lability (emotions may change rapidly and sometimes not match the mood) Denial of the changes caused by the brain injury

Courtesy of : http://www.strokeassociation.org/idc/groups/stroke-public/@wcm/@hcm/documents/downloadable/ucm_309716.pdf

Suggestions for regaining Expressive Language:

* Use rhythm sticks as you converse
* Record the stroke patient’s language as they talk ( hearing themselves can make a help them make changes)
* Use Music to sing/talk
* Use a stress reduction system to promote relaxation
* Give the person a lot of time to complete a thought or a sentence.
* Use Functional Sign Language or a visual representation of the word or concept. This serves as a ‘cue’ to the topic.

http://www.cognitive-connections.com/Brain-Shop/product/33-functional-sign-language-dvd-course

If you suspect you have had or are having a stroke, get help immediately from your local emergency facility!

For more information on Warning Signs go to:

Click to access ucm_309532.pdf

Just Another Thought by Dr. Lise’

Do You Use a Boo-Boo Strip on Your Brain?

Do You Use a Boo-Boo Strip on Your Brain?.

Do You Use a Boo-Boo Strip on Your Brain?

“I am so embarrassed my hippocampus isn’t functioning up to par”…haha, we would never say this, however, how many of us feel as if when our brains are not working as fast and efficient as we think they should, we take it very personally! Many people are embarrassed or feel as if they will lose their minds and be seen by others as ‘feeble and weak’.

When you break an arm, do you think someone will think less of you? Do you worry you will never be the same person? It is a body part…we believe the arm will heal, we are very ‘matter of a fact’ about the process, we proudly show off the cast…even ask friends to sign it! We do our arm exercises so we have full use of the arm again and we move on.

However, as people find they are slowing down mentally, or their memory is not as sharp as it used to be, they sadly start to feel ‘deficient’ but do nothing about it! They think it is a part of life, saying “I am just getting old”, as if this is the way it SHOULD be…or they may even feel too embarrassed to do anything about it!

Do NOT TAKE IT PERSONALLY! Be proactive…let’s discover what part of your brain is not working as fast and then let’s ‘remediate’ it, do the exercises that will allow you to ‘re-train’ that part of your brain and MOVE ON!

Your brain isn’t broken…
Your ‘personality, or mind’ is not impaired because one component isn’t working as well as the other components.
You are still YOU…
DO NOT TAKE THIS PERSONALLY…but don’t just put a boo-boo strip on it (an excuse)…let’s re-train it so that 3 pound powerhouse organ is AWESOME!

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

Just a Thought…from Dr. Lise’