What I learnt about my brain scan

Have you ever wondered how that organ in your body, that runs absolutely everything, from how your heart beats, to how your heart skips a beat when you experience something magical, actually functions?

You know - your brain?  That vital organ that we rarely even talk about, let alone look at?

Fascinated to better understand how my brain works as part of my journey to become a Certified Brain Health Coach, last year in April I visited the Amen Clinics in the USA to get my brain scanned using a technique known as qEEG - Quantitative Electroencephalogram.

Why?

Because if I want to be there for my daughter Lilly's 60th birthday, not only physically, but mentally, I want to make darn sure I'm doing the things that help my brain stay young and avoiding the things that hurt it.

I was also noticing some issue with memory loss.  You know, forgetting where you've put your keys or your phone, or forgetting words sometimes?

Having read that memory problems can manifest themselves decades before you show any 'clinical symptoms,' I wanted to make sure that I caught any risk factors early.

I wanted to be sure that I knew about them before they manifested into issues that might lead to dementia, for which there is currently no cure.

I wanted to be equipped to take the appropriate action for my unique brain type to reduce my risk factors.

This is the world of preventative healthcare.

I didn't want to be that person blindly going through life eating rubbish, living a lifestyle that was bad for my brain and whole-body health, hoping that something wouldn't happen.  Hoping that if it did, that even though I knew I could have taken better care of myself, there would be a cure out there and that someone else would pay for it. 

For me it was about taking the steps necessary for me to reduce my risk factors so that I could minimise the number of issues ever arising in the first place.  For me it was taking responsibility now for my brain and whole-body health and owning it.

So what did I learn?

Here's five key things that I learnt that I wish I knew years ago.

1. If you don't look, how would you ever know?

It's astonishing to me that despite all the advances in medicine and science, psychiatry is the only medical profession that rarely looks at the organ it treats - the brain.  I'm really not ok with that.

If you hurt your arm and suspect a fracture, your get an X-ray.  If you have a chest complaint and it's suspected you have a heart condition, you get your heart scanned.

Yet if we have a brain struggle, whether that's classified as a mental health issue, psychiatric disorder, or disruption to blood supply to the brain, unless there's obvious damage to the skull, or you have a catastrophic issue such as a stroke, no one looks. Even then, they typically only do a structural scan, such as an MRI or CT scan to make sure your brain is intact.  They don't do a functional scan to look at how your brain is working - whether it's working too hard or too slow.

As I was breast-feeding, unable to take advantage of a full SPECT evaluation, I opted for qEEG (Quantitative Electroencephalogram).  This is a diagnostic tool that measures electrical activity in the form of brain wave patterns. It is sometimes referred to as “brain mapping,” and can show you if your brain activity is too high or too low.  It can also reveal how your brain cells are communicating, and is particularly helpful in identifying cognitive or psychiatric problems, as well as evaluating the effect of Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) on how your brain functions.

2. Traumatic Brain Injury doesn't constitute a single blow to the head

My results from my qEEG scan showed that not only did I have a very active cerebellum - or fast processor, but that I had damage to both temporal lobes in my brain due to multiple minor knocks to my head as a child or young adult.

This explained why I was suffering from some memory loss and word recall.  The conclusion from all my minor impacts to my head was that I had moderate Traumatic Brain Injury.

Wow.

No one tells you that lots of little knocks to your head when you are a child and young adult cumulatively can create a problem for you when you're older - increasing your risk factor for developing dementia.

3. How you look after your brain when you are young can affect your long-term brain health

I had never fully appreciated that what you do as a child and young adult can significantly affect how your brain operates when you're older.

Whether that's suffering from a childhood trauma, getting anxious, stressed or depressed, drinking excessively or taking recreational drugs, falling off bicycles or horses.  All of these can affect how well your brain functions when you're older.  All of these increase your risk factors for developing memory problems in the future.

Does that mean you wrap yourself in cotton wool?

No!

You ask for help and equip yourself with the knowledge of what your risks are and what you can do to mitigate them.

Your brain doesn't fully mature until you are around 25 years as a male and 27 years as a female, so you're not done with growing up at 18 years old from a brain development.

If I'd known what I know now about brain health when I was much younger, I would have certainly taken better care of my brain.

Thankfully I can now impart that knowledge on to my daughter Lilly.

4. Brain imaging allows for more targeted treatment

By knowing how each area of your brain operates - whether that's too fast, or too slow, allows for a more targeted treatment approach to optimise your brain's performance.

The findings from my brain scan and supporting brain health assessment allowed me to not only better understand why I think the way I do - and be ok with that, but also take the steps necessary to improve my brain.  Whether that is through better nutrition, taking high quality supplements such as BrainMD supplements, doing regular exercise appropriate for my brain type to help calm overactive parts of my brain and better manage my stress levels and racing thoughts.

I was also diagnosed with moderate depression, however I was told what the root cause was from a biological, psychological, social and spiritual health perspective.  This enabled me to take a really targeted approach to better manage my brain health - to manage the root cause of my depression and aim to eliminate it.  As a Brain Health Coach I also now had the tools and techniques available to do this.

All this without any medical intervention.

No drugs.

No long-term side-effects.

No labelling or shaming of my brain health struggles.

Just honest, scientifically proven, targeted treatment suited to my unique brain type, with a treatment approach of 'first do no harm.'

5. You are not stuck with the brain you have - you can make it better

Ever struggled with stress, anxiety or depression?

Ever struggled to manage racing thoughts in your head and wondered what's causing it?

Frustrated at not being able to stay focused for long periods of time and easily distracted?

The great news is, whether you're struggling with managing stress, anxiety, depression, racing thoughts, ADHD, dealing with the consequences of having a Traumatic Brain Injury, or any other brain health condition, help is available.

You are not stuck with the brain you have.  You can make it better.

By better understanding how your unique brain operates, by uncovering what the root causes of any brain struggles are that you have, you can make your brain better.

That is why I became a Certified Brain Health Coach.

That is why I have established clinical reach back to the best brain health imaging clinic in the world with exclusive discounts for my clients so that they can get the best brain health advice available to them.

So my clients can get access to psychiatrists that don't just diagnose you based on symptom clusters, but actually look at the organ they treat and understand how that organ functions.

So my clients can get access to expert brain health nutritionists to help them better understand how what they eat and drink can significantly impact how they feel and show up in the world.

If you would like to learn how I can help you, register for your FREE Unleashed Strategy Call at: https://calendly.com/ruthmaryallan/1-on-1-free-unleashed-strategy-call

To learn more about brain health coaching and how it can help you take back control of your mindset, optimise your brain health and boost your performance in all that you do visit: https://www.ruthmaryallan.com/brainhealthcoaching.