Brain and Pain Diet Help

By Amy Price PhD

Brain injury and chronic pain survivors often ask me why they are getting so fat inspite of  low fat eating. Many people blame it on the meds but patients in increasing numbers are stating they get overwhelming cravings for sweet and fatty foods. This makes sense as it is one way the body tries to bring the reward system into balance since being brain damaged and in chronic pain sucks out the feel good neurotransmitters like dopamine, oxytocin and opiod receptors which the body then tries to take short cuts to get back to acceptable levels by over indulging on sweets and fats. Sadly over time this makes things worse and the system requires more and more fats and sweets just to find a balance. Getting your thyroid levels checked after a spine injury is important too thyroid dysfunction due to injury can show up years later and thwart efforts to have clear thinking and a slim body.

Changing your diet can help as can safe effective forms of exercise not only because you will look better but because your body will operate more effectively and the brain fog will lessen.

In the spinal patient community patients have been unofficially using bio-active magnesium and benfotiamine  (along with a multi B and C supplement) for relief of CNS nerve pain along with piracetam or aniricetam to assist cognitive functioning. There is also considerable discussion on the merits of a heart healthy diet inclusive of lots of green vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins for improving cognitive function, cell repair and pain levels after spine and head injuries. Some of us have found supplementing glucosamine chondritin along with vitamin C, E and fish oil to be helpful as well, for the vegetarians flax seed oil seems to do the trick. The diet rich in magnesium may seem counterintuitive due to the brain’s demand for glycogen and sweets cravings induced by chronic unremitting pain and brain fog but many have found good results with a change in diet and supplementation. In light of  this, the following  information about research on magnesium  was an interesting find.

Here is a link to a doable diet, for recipes there are some good ones at this  South Beach Diet site. You can download free apps to your cell phone  or use this program from your desktop that will total not only calories but nutrients so you can track your progress

Toddler helped by stem cells (Denver Post, 2009)

By Amy Price PhD

Chloe Levine  is  another one of the children in the Duke University study who has shown pronounced improvement of cerebral palsy after treatment with her own umbilical cord. There have been multiple questions from parents on cord banking and the advantages of banking umbilical cords. This is a follow up on the Dallas Hextell story

It should be noted that  if you choose to private  bank there may be issues with transporting the cord cells across state lines or out of  the country both with safe transport for the cells and with legal issues. There is also a great deal of expertise needed to bring the cells back from a frozen state to where they will be of use to grow out healthy stem cells. It may be best to check  carefully in these areas to avoid complications later on down the road if the cells are needed and you have relocated.

For those that have questions on using donated umbilical cords I have found stem cell companies that claim postitive results but I have not been able to locate peer reviewed research on children or large animals for this area. This does not mean they do not exist as the stem cell research arena grows daily so if anyone has cerebral palsy stem cell therapy research using other means  I would be happy to add this

Dr Frances Verter of Parent’s Guide to Cord Blood Foundation graciously helped us  out with some answers. This site has excellent in depth information.

Dr. Amy Price wrote:

It is not clear if children whose cord blood is stored in a public bank will have access to their own cord blood should the need arise. Could you please elaborate on this? Obviously unless the disease is genetic it would make sense to use own donor supplied cells….There is a mail in component but this does not make it clear how a parent would take these steps ….please advise, we get a lot of parents asking about this

Dear Amy,

The “consent” form signed by the mother when they donate to a
public bank makes it very clear that  they are giving up all
ownership or rights to the cells.

Will the parents be able to donate?
Only IF
1) IF they are delivering the baby at a hospital which collects
for a public bank
2) IF they deliver during whatever hours the public bank operates
(sometimes only day shift)
3) IF the mother passes the maternal history screening
4) IF they register early enough

Will they get them back should a need arise?
Yes, but only IF:
1) IF the cells were not discarded.  Typically 60% of donations
to public banks are discarded, usually because of low volume, other
reasons could be infectious disease testing, etc.
2) IF the cells have not been released to someone else.

A lot of parents have the misguided idea that donation is a cheap
way to preserve for themselves.  They should not think in those terms.
Donations is an altruistic act.

There is only one bank which accepts mail-in donations,
Cryobanks Intl in Florida.  I have heard that their rejection
rate is very high, because on top of sample size there is also
shipping time issues.  Here is their enrollment form:
http://www.cryo-intl.com/enroll/donating/

I hope this helps,
Fran Verter

"Junk DNA" Courtesy Crystal Links.com 2009

By Amy Price PhD

Not so many years ago we were told as students that a very small part of the genome coded for genes and the rest was ‘Junk DNA”. The questions why? followed by what if  come quickly when I am faced with such literal statements. The answer they are junk because no one knows what they do brought cause for alarm in my view because I don’t know what a good portion of the human race does  yet I would not relegate them to junk. I countered with I want to know what happened when you took them all out…turns out that was not doable and I was relegated to the divergent thinker category and lectured on the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle.

I later found a few people such as McClintock who saw this DNA may have value in the 1940s and worked tirelessly  to explore the DNA as a regulatory source for determining which genes are turned on and when they were activated (McClintock, 1965) Around the same time  Britten and  Davidson agreed and further  speculated the junk DNA plays a role in generating different cell types and different biological structures, depending on where in the genome they insert themselves (Britten & Davidson, 1969).

Recently, scientists from Princeton  and Indiana Universities studied the genome of a pond organism and found  that junk DNA or transposons may perform functions that are central to the existence of an organism. Apparently  these genes jump from location to location rearranging  the genome in a way that initiates growth just as McClintock thought. 

These genes are labelled transposons. In and during development, the transposons appear to first influence hundreds of thousands of DNA pieces to regroup. Then, when they are no longer needed the organism can erase the transposases from its genetic material, paring its genome to about 5 percent of its original load.

“The transposons actually perform a central role for the cell,” said Laura Landweber, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biologyat Princeton and an author of the study. “They stitch together the genes in working form.” This research  appeared in the May 15 edition of Science. (MacPherson, Princeton, 2009)

We are just now finding the science that existed in the mind of a researcher over sixty years ago and can watch revelation unravel as  science begins to explore how extensive the role of  junk  or as sometimes coined selfish DNA plays in  the circle of life….Sometimes just as in life it is those quietly working without accolades that are holding it all together who are the real stars!
Britten, R. J., & Davidson, E. H. Gene regulation for higher cells: A theory. Science 165, 349–357 (1969)

 McClintock, B. Components of action of the regulators Spm and Ac. Carnegie Institution of Washington Year Book 64, 527–536 (1965)

MacPherson ,2009 http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S24/28/32C04/ accessed june 27, 2009)

Autism and I Phone

By Amy Price PhD

“Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.”- Napoleon Hill: Author, Think and Grow Rich.
Posted by Kathleen

“You are what your deepest desire is. As your desire is, so is your intention. As your intention is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny.” ~ Upanishads

Intention is the starting point of every spiritual path. It is the force that fulfills all of our needs, whether for money, relationships, spiritual awakening, or love. Intention generates all the activities in the universe. Everything that we can see – and even the things we cannot – are an expression of intention’s infinite organizing power.As the ancient Indian sages observed thousands of years ago, our destiny is shaped by the deepest level of our intention and desire. Once we plant the seed of an intention in the fertile ground of pure potentiality, our soul’s journey unfolds automatically, as naturally as a bulb becomes a tulip or an embryo becomes a child.

by Amy Price PhD

In work with people a team means everything. Self esteem and ways of relating are constructed by what is learned from team interaction. Even in graduate school students learn that the key to power for scientists is flexibility and cooperation.

Many experiments show success after numerous well planned failures. Sometimes it takes only a new way of seeing to trigger a break through. We can mourn the past or prepare for the future, we can not do both. Often weakness in one team member will trigger unknown strength in another so it pays to obey the three fs of creativity,. Fun, flexibility and favor.

Your family and friends are a team that cares about you. Remember them, be thankful for their care and treat them well

The future depends on what we do in the present …Mahatma Ghandhi

When I first met Dr Rohn in 1980, he had already had 7 years of experience as a psychologist in the office of the brilliant pediatrician Dr. William Crook. He was working primarily with kids who would now be diagnosed as ADHD, but some were just unmotivated and underachieving. They were not doing what they needed to do to succeed in school and in life.

Dr Rohn learned about Dr Crook’s pioneering work with food allergies (he later wrote the groundbreaking book The Yeast Connection). But after the allergies were taken care of, the kids and the families still needed help. So he devoted himself to finding out what they needed, including using what he called “psychological vitamins” which was basically noticing the positive in the child and in the family and bringing the positive to the forefront. Dr Rohn worked with whoever came through the door, intuitively finding the child’s strengths and finding some part of himself that could identify with and work with the child.

Dr Rohn’s work took him in many different directions including working with boys at the Eckerd Youth Development Center in Okeechobee. This was basically a prison for kids, the end of the line in the juvenile system. I was afraid to go into the place, and I don’t think that I ever did. These were kids who failed at school and in society. It didn’t stop Dr Rohn from connecting with the boys, identifying their strengths and developing programs that helped them

When he was in Okeechobee he started going for his Doctorate in Educational Leadership from FAU. After he got it and we moved to Boca Raton, Dr Rohn started working as a Family Counselor at 7 schools in Coral Springs. There he saw how many kids were not getting what they needed in schools, and were becoming frustrated, rebellious and depressed. Many could be diagnosed as ADHD, but many were bright underachievers. Dr Rohn started looking for strategies that could help these kids.

They say that we are never given a problem without being given the solution. When Dr Rohn was in Coral Springs, he learned about Play Attention, a computer program that worked to help kids learn to pay attention by given them real time feedback. He left his day job and started Thinking Pays, Inc., using Play Attention and other computer programs to help kids learn to pay attention. He focused on ADHD kids, because that’s what the software was designed for.

But we didn’t just get these kinds of kids. We got adults with age-related cognitive decline, mild dementia and brain injuries. And we got lots of bright underachievers. That’s what stimulated Dr Rohn to start Sparks of Genius, where he could really focus on the strengths. We use Spark of Genius with all of our students, but it was really inspired by those bright underachievers who needed something to motivate them.

At a time of self-reflection, Dr Rohn said, “When I was a kid I was so bored with school. I couldn’t wait for it to be over. I used to beg my teachers to give me special projects, something that would interest me. I love what I do now, because so many of the kids that I work with remind me of myself. I had trouble fitting into the school system, and so do they. They need someone to remind them of their gifts, their sparks of genius.”

By Ninah Kessler, LCSW
Life Coach

A recent article in the New York Times (“Slow Down, Brave Multitasker, and Don’t Read This in Traffic”) summarizes research on the limits of multitasking.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/business/25multi.html?_r=1&ref=health&oref=slogin

Neuroscientists and psychologists have discovered that we benefit from not multitasking so much at work, doing homework, or while driving a car.

The brain cannot concentrate on two things at the same time. Distractions and interruptions hurt our ability to process information. Cognitive scientists are saying that multitasking slows you down and increases mistakes.

Here’s one quick example: It took Microsoft employees who were interrupted by email or instant messaging while writing reports or computer code an average of 15 minutes to return to their work.

What did people do after being interrupted? Things like answering other email or browsing the internet. Sound familiar? It sure does to me.

Here’s another example: Research at Oxford University compared two groups (18-21 years olds versus 35-39 year olds) performance on a simple task. One would think the younger generation, with their iPods, instant messaging, camera phones, etc., would be better at multi-tasking. But not really.

“While the younger group did 10 percent better when not interrupted, when both groups were interrupted by a phone call, a cell phone short-text message, or an instant message, the older group matched the younger group in speed and accuracy.”

The older group, it seems, “…had faster fluid intelligence with which to block out interruptions and choose what to focus on.”

At Sparks of Genius we use a combination of software to train the brain for success to improve cognitive skills. Children and adults can learn to improve attention stamina. They can learn to stay on task and not respond to distractors. The result is an ability to ignore distractions and interruptions, stay on task and successfully complete the task.

“[When I am interrupted,] it sometimes takes me as long as an hour to get back on track.”

At dinner the other night, a friend of mine confirmed the problems of multitasking and has decided to work more at home, where there are fewer interruptions. A brilliant thinker and programmer, he said something like, “It sometimes takes me as long as an hour to get back on track. Not only do I waste time and energy, but multi-tasking is not good for my health. ”

I don’t have time, energy or health to waste. Do you?