I've been meaning to write this review for a few months now, but today is the best day to write it. Because after two months, I used the substance I was addicted to. I feel hungover and really paying the price. I feel scattered, nervous and weak. I have no desire to go back to that common feeling. Today was a strong reminder for me how life used to be. I don't want any part of it.
Today was how I used to feel at least once, usually twice a week. It doesn't matter what you are addicted to, be it heavy drugs like herion, crack, or meth. It could be cigarettes, sex, alcohol, the internet, or gambling. The feeling is always the same the next day (or a few days). I know you know what I mean. I don't feel like myself, I'm not clearheaded. I feel like shit. In many ways it's a wasted day, a day I need to recover.
For me it was caffeine addiction. The pain and discomfort is the same no matter what it is. The struggle is the same for everyone. I was sensitive and just as hooked to caffeine and chocolate as any heroin addict.
Gary's neurofeedback is the only thing that helped me successfully have the willpower to stop using long enough for the cravings to die off, as I like to put it. It takes more than 30 days of abstinence. It took me about 45 days for the last headaches to disappear and the receptors on the cells that were used to getting their caffeine fix to give up, shrivel and leave me alone. Without sounding like an info commercial, I have my life back, I guess one could say for the first time in 30 years.
I have no idea how the neurofeedback works. Gary answers my questions, but I still don't understand it. Brainwave sensors are placed on the head and then you watch this computer screen make interesting patterns with weird sounds. It's painless and very relaxing. It has something to do with the brain teaching itself to function optimally again, not stuck in patterns of addiction and obsession.
It takes time. I saw Gary twice a week for 4 months before the addiction was gone. At first I could only go 4 days without using; then 7, then 10 days, then two weeks. I made it to a month and beyond. For the first 6- 8 weeks I thought this isn't working; but be patient, it does work. It is the only thing that worked for me. I have tried everything else in existence. I believe in neurofeedback so much I want to learn how to do it and start offering it to others. There is so much addiction in our society that cripples so many amazing talented creative people. But they never get to offer their gifts to society, to their families, to their own selves because of the dysfunction.
I am forever grateful to Gary for helping me. Scott O'Brien, Germantown, PA read more
