LENS Neurofeedback: It Isn't Magic, But It Is Miraculous!

LENS Neurofeedback: It Isn't Magic, But It Is Miraculous!

I continue to be amazed at the quickly-realized and profound changes patients are experiencing in their lives with LENS treatments.

The principle of healing that underlies LENS is consistent with that of chiropractic and other holistic forms of therapy. The true miracle of the body is that it is self-regulating and self-healing; that the mind/body is genetically hardwired for homeostasis (balance), and wants to be healthy. LENS taps into that potential, using 'small doses of brainwave biofeedback carried on wisps of electromagnetic fields', to catalyze change, inviting the brain to restore and optimize its function.

A healthy, balanced and regulated central nervous system (CNS) produces the right brainwave, with the associated neurochemistry, in the right amount, at the right time, for any given circumstance. A dysfunctional brain does not.

Scientists believe that the brain's defense against significant stressors and trauma creates neural gridlock and CNS dysregulation. Communication and connectivity within the brain is impaired. This, in turn, creates dysfunctional brainwave patterns and neurochemistry-- creating constellations of symptoms. These manifest as a variety of chronic functional neurological problems.

These include: (The HealingPower of Neurofeedback, by Stephen Larson, pg. 84)

1. Mood disturbances: emotional lability, depression or anxiety, irritability, anger,    explosive behavior.

2. Energy depletion: lethargy, chronic fatigue, or fibromyalgia

3. Chronic pain: localized or generalized, including headaches and muscle spasms.

4. Sleep disorders: from sleep onset to nocturnal awakenings, to daytime sleepiness.

5. Cloudy Sensorium: mental fogginess; the world seems inaccessible/far away

6. Memory Problems: forgetfulness, short and long-term disturbances.

7. Cognitive Problems: regarding clarity, focus, planning, sequencing, and/or organizing.

8. Problems initiating behavior and pursuing to completion, procrastination, indecision.

LENS treatment is not diagnosis-based, but is effective in treating the symptoms described above, as associated with a dysfunctional, dysregulated brain.

LENS has a more broad-spectrum effect. For instance, it doesn't treat Autism, ADHD or Tourette's, but can be very effective in decreasing or removing any accompanying anxiety, depression, irritabililty, insomnia, anger, etc.. This, in turn, can dramatically improve the patient's life. And, in some cases of Tourettes, ADHD, PTSD, OCD, and more, LENS seemingly helps resolve the problem.

In addition to functional brain problems, LENS can help in cases of structural brain problems as well: cases where the patient has incurred physical damage to the brain itself. I have worked with a patient with an anoxic brain injury; showing slow, but steady improvement; and another patient with severe MS, significantly improving her ability to communicate

Clearly, these cases take more time and progress can be slow, but for some there is help and hope.

As best I can figure, Len Ochs, the creator of LENS has figured out how to speak to the brain in its own electromagnetic language, using the energy of the brain itself to optimize its own function.

As a practitioner, my experience has been that LENS isn't magic,but it is miraculous!

Optimizing the Brain

LENS: Optimizing the Brain

The following is an article from the Berkshire Eagle:

Optimizing the Brain: process goes after negative effects of mental illness

By Amanda Korman, Berkshire Eagle Staff, Feb 28, 2011

The brain is a complicated country, the tools for treating its maladies always in rapid evolution. One man here has been utilizing a "low-energy" neurofeedback system, or LENS, since October to treat patients with mental illness. The apparently simple program of receiving frequencies to "correct" the brain's negative patterns, gaining ground in the medical community, has also yielded largely positive patient response.

North Adams practitioner Peter May said that LENS is applicable to problems including attention deficit, autism, migraines, insomnia, brain injury and anxiety.

"The brain sometimes gets stuck in maladaptive patterns," said May, a chiropractor by training. "[LENS] acts as a catalyst to activate your brain's self-regulatory capacity to optimize brain function."

May wields the LENS computer program and series of sensors that attach to the patient's earlobes and around the skull over a series of treatments.
Dr. Mary O'Malley, a psychiatrist at Berkshire Medical Center who has trained in neurofeedback, said LENS has a good reputation in her field. Its practitioners need not be physicians, she added.
"These [neurofeedback] are potent tools, and it's great to see that they're getting more use out in the medical system and elsewhere," she said.
O'Malley explained the process simply: "It looks at how the brain is a little bit stuck ... then asks the brain to shift out of being stuckusing low-impulse frequencies."
LENS won't help everybody, May said, but out of the 60 or so people he's treated since he started in October, only about 10 percent haven't seen improvements.
O'Malley pointed out that LENS is often used in conjunction with other clinical diagnosing techniques -- which May doesn't do. However, she said, even just the technology itself can be helpful.
That said, not all those who work with the brain feel as confident in LENS's potency on its own.
Beth Adams, a neuro-trauma rehabilitation specialist in Salem, is more circumspect that neurofeedback alone could create lasting change in a patient with a brain injury, which is one of the ailments May lists as being able to treat.
Adams, who is also on the board of directors for the Brain Injury Association of Massachusetts, wasn't familiar with LENS specifically, but said that a combination of therapy, medications and neuro-psychological evaluation are methods that could better facilitate brain-injury healing.
"If somebody is wanting to facilitate neurofeedback, look at the big picture to encompass all types of therapies," she said.
May feels that the patient responses speak for themselves.
May's patient Ashley, 17, who requested not to have her last name printed to protect her privacy, came to May for LENS treatment after years of poor luck treating ADD, depression and anxiety. She dropped out of high school after her junior year because of emotional problems that medications like Wellbutrin and Paxil weren't ameliorating.
As of this week, Ashley has received four LENS treatments, and her mother said her improvement in mood was almost instant.
"She used to say, ‘I just want to know what's wrong with my brain,'" her mother said. "When we left his office [the first time], she said, ‘I feel like a weight's been lifted off my shoulders."
At May's request, patients write a record of their feelings after treatment, and the compilation has a litany of stories like Ashley's -- the somber, difficult child who suddenly is willing to rake leaves with his siblings; the parents who stop yelling at their children; the depressive kid who begins to take an interest in a sick relative. People also reported negative effects, like spikes in anger, which May believes is the brain's way of beginning to address its dysfunction.
"This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen," May said, gesturing at the book of comments he keeps in his office. "I could read this forever."
Ashley's mother said she is still somewhat dubious of the method. However, she pointed out, the price of treatment -- $160 the first time; $60 after that -- is on par with what she'd spend on her daughter's medications anyway, and May never promised her instant healing.
In short, it doesn't seem like a gimmick, she said -- that, and it seems to be working.
"I was very skeptical, and I still am," her mother said. "But I can honestly say that I have seen a change in [Ashley] since we started the program."
Ashley said that her anxiety is gone, she's more comfortable in social situations and is having an easier time concentrating while working toward her GED and looking for a job. She's still seeing her psychiatrist but is off all her medications, her mother said.
"This has helped me more than any medication or any therapy session has in my entire life," Ashley said.
O'Malley, the BMC psychiatrist, said that LENS and neurofeedback is a treatment alternative that she views as a useful tool in the difficult terrain of mental illness.
"In general, I think people should be their own judge and not look to this as a panacea, obviously," she said. "But very plausibly it could be a better solution to existing problems if they haven't gotten relief elsewhere."

LENS: Up Close & Personal

LENS: Up Close & Personal

I continue to be amazed at the results I am getting with patients using LENS (Low Energy Neurofeedback System).

Most recently, I am most amazed by my own experience.

In early October 2010, I was trained and certified as a LENS Practitioner. It was also the last time I was treated. Since then patients in my office often ask; “Were you treated with LENS? And, what did it do for you?”

Up until recently, my response has been:

“Personally, I am sleeping much better. I had been waking up every 90 minutes throughout the night. Since LENS, I wake only 1-2 times a night. My dreams have become incredibly vivid to the extent that when I do wake at night, I can go back to sleep and pick up my dream where I left off…and, there is nothing better than me as an action hero, in tights, all night long. Also, my reading retention has improved.”

That’s all well and good, but nothing compared to some of the profound life-changing results many of my patients are experiencing. It’s almost the more dysfunctional the brain is, the more ‘like-wow!’ the response to LENS.

My improvement, like that of my patients, has been consistent after treatment, with one new, quite shocking, personal realization.

In the past 4-6 weeks I have encountered a major life stressor. For several reasons, I had to close my practice in Northampton, MA. As you would imagine, deciding to close, facing up to my decisions and choices, confronting co-tenants, and walking away from a big investment were all very stressful. About two weeks into the close/move, I realized something remarkable. I was going through the process without any of the anxiety and insanity that have characterized me in the past in similar stressful situations. No second guessing, anxiety, or depression about my decision. No bolting awake at night. No minor panic attacks, cold sweats or nervous stomach. And, no irritability, or acting-out, at home.

It took me ‘hitting a wall of stress’ to unveil my personal ‘like-wow’ experience, to realize the profound ways in which LENS has helped me.

Looking at LENS

Looking @ LENS Neurofeedback

I’ve been a chiropractor since 1986. Using the powerful combination of chiropractic and good advice, I have seen, and will continue to see, many wonderful and amazing patient responses and results with a wide range of body aches and pains.

I’ve been a LENS practitioner for about a month. I have never seen anything like it, in terms of how quickly, dramatically, and profoundly results are realized, often starting after the first treatment.

I can’t say it better than the patients themselves.

51 year old female: problem list: ‘post-traumatic stress, anxiety, grief, fibromyalgia, insomnia, vertigo, trouble organizing thoughts.’

Day after treatment: ‘no insomnia, slept through the night.’

Next day: ‘accomplished many errands in the morning, managed to pack for the weekend and leave at 1pm in order to drive an hour to the train station (on time)! This is a huge improvement for me because I’m a procrastinator and always running late. I even stopped in at my mom’s house for a visit.’ That night in NYC: ‘slept soundly all night. Next night in NYC ‘more difficult falling asleep, windows were open and city noises were disturbing. I sat up in bed to read and write—lots of creative ideas to get on paper---then fell asleep for the rest of the night.’

37 year old female: problem list: long term history ‘post-traumatic stress, anxiety, anger outbursts, no energy.’

Day after treatment: ‘less anger-that anger or anxiety knot that was in my stomach all the time seems to have went away….breathe much easier.’

29 year old male: problem list: confusion, general anxiety, being worried a lot to the point of frustration (behavioral outbursts), putting problems off…lifetime anxiety medication.

Day of 1^st treatment: ‘tired/relaxed, calm, more clear thinking.’

Next day: ‘slept well, very energetic all morning and day…accomplished a lot around house/yard, still felt calm and clearer thinking. Wife was sick, so I took care of all the house/kids…played more with them and still was calm, quiet. In a situation late afternoon my friend did something to my wife (grabbed her arm)…in a matter of seconds I got angry..I went from a 1 to a 10 in seconds and back to a 1 and got it under control myself very quickly.

2^nd day: very similar results…calm, quiet, sleeping well, getting more alert.

After 2^nd treatment: as soon as I left Dr. May’s office for about 3-5 hours I felt so much laughter and humor it was unreal…the most I have felt in years. More confidence in self decisions and overall feeling more confident. My worriedness and anxiety have been great. The treatment has given me more confidence and less thinking time about decisions in my life, making it overall easier and much better to handle stressful conditions in work and home life.’

Next day:’My boss at work noticed changes in me…calmer and more focused. My kids have noticed changes.’

After 3^rd treatment: ‘a more balanced lifestyle/mood..also my daily meds have become more stabile…my medication usage is minimal since I have been treated. I feel that my mind and thoughts are normal and balanced.’

60 year old female: problem list: chronic pain, fatigue, forgetfulness, restless leg syndrome

After 1^st treatment: ‘I had decrease overall pain. I felt more aware, brighter.’

After 2^nd treatment: ‘Pain continues to decrease.’

After 3^rd treatment: ‘Pain still improving. Increase energy level.’

42 year old male: problem list: ‘problem falling asleep and sleeping, memory, fatigue, concentrating’

After 1^st treatment: ‘I fell asleep with no problem 6 out of 7 nights. If I woke up, I was able to fall back to sleep with no problems. This has not happened in a very long time. No leg shakes at night.’

50 year old male: problem: Lyme Disease: ‘chronic muscle/joint pain and tightness, especially neck, shoulders and entire left side of body and knees…inconsistent energy levels and sleep patterns.’

After 1^st treatment: ‘first 48 hours less pain and tightness in shoulders/neck….also, my body felt lighter. Muscles have mostly returned to previous patterns. Perhaps over time and with additional sessions, these changes will hold. 80% less pain and inflammation in right knee. This change has held to date.’

16 year old male: problem list: ‘anxiety, nervousness, OCD about appearance.’

After 1^st treatment: ‘I felt more alert, easier to put thoughts together and more apt to do work in school…less rages of anger, but instead, rages of happiness. For some reason I haven’t thought about my neck pain as much and haven’t had any typical things that would put me in a bad mood over almost nothing. I stayed more focused on school work than normal. I woke up feeling alert.’

While there have been a few people with little, to no, response to LENS, these dramatic, life-changing results in most patients is an incredible beginning!

Certified LENS Neurofeedback Practitioner

Dr. Peter D May, Certified LENS Neurofeedback Practitioner

MINDbody Health

Dr Peter D May has completed training and is now certified as a LENS Neurofeedback practitioner.

LENS Neurofeedback is a revolutionary treatment. Whereas other forms of traditional neuro and biofeedback require active patient learning, and use some form of sensory feedback to specifically train the brain, LENS Neurofeedback’s remarkable success is based on a passively applied subtle, imperceptible low energy signal that frees the brain to fix and optimize itself.

Neuroscientists believe that the brain’s defenses against stressors, trauma and functional problems can create neural blockages, like traffic jams going from five lanes to one. The Low Energy Neurofeedback System’s (LENS) signal is so subtle that it can work around these defenses. Addressing the brain in its own electromagnetic language, LENS seems to open the way, getting traffic flowing again, allowing the brain to restore itself, and optimize function. This, almost routinely, results in patient reports of increased energy, focus and clarity in thinking.

Because LENS addresses and helps correct brain dysfunction, it works very well for a wide variety of conditions. LENS is very effective in treating the affective/emotional component related to anxiety, depression, insomnia, (PTSD) post-traumatic stress, impulsive or explosive behavior, anger, fatigue, and lack of motivation, among other things. It also helps with cognitive problems associated with ADD/ADHD, stroke, (TBI) traumatic brain injury, some learning disabilities, and more. It is also helpful in decreasing pain in brain-generated pain syndromes including some types of fibromyalgia and migraine headache.

Many people see broad improvements very quickly, often within the first 2 to 4 sessions: especially related to better focus, increased energy level and improved mood. Anxiety and depression lift. Insomniacs sleep better. ADHD kids regain focus. Athletes perform. Artists create. And, because the brain wants to be balanced and functional, once shown the way, the improvement, in most patients, is enduring.

For more information, a free consultation, and to receive introductory rates, call Dr. May at: 413.664.9050, or email at, docmay@gmail.com. Dr. May has offices in Northampton and North Adams.

Note: portions of the above have been used and modified (with permission) from a LENS brochure written by David A. Dubin, MD

Waiting for the Bailout

ARE YOU WAITING FOR THE BAILOUT?


This financial meltdown we are in is no surprise. Yet, most of us, including many financial ‘experts’ and politicians, say they never saw it coming.

Who could ever have predicted that giving a $ 720,000 mortgage loan to a California field worker earning $14,000/year would be problematic? Multiply that times tens of thousands of similar sub-prime mortgages with greedy banks packaging and reselling worthless loans to speculators, also blinded by greed, and who could possibly have ever predicted the looming financial disaster?

Now, everyone sits on the edge of their seat questioning if, and hoping that, a bailout will save the day. Nothing less than an economic financial hail-Mary! Forget Treasury Secretary Henry Paulsen, where is Doug Flutie when you need him?



I can hear you say, “I thought this was a health blog!”

Indeed, it is; for the most part.

So, is your health a looming disaster like our economy?

Are you feeding yourself sub-prime foods and re-packaging yourself with cosmetics and trendy clothes while you sit on the couch watching hours and hours of TV?

Are you popping more and more pills to quiet your body’s life-saving distress signals of progressive system failures; pills to ‘control’ cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, anxiety, depression, indigestion, infertility, ‘erectile dysfunction’, 'restless leg', etc.

These drugs are nothing more than ‘toxic loans of health.’ They may stave off symptoms and buy you some time, but they will never create health.

Are you sitting by and watching your health disappear along with your 401K? And, when disease hits, will you say you never saw it coming?

Your health, like our economy, is a continuum. If it is not improving, it is only getting worse.

Have you invested wisely in your health and will you do so in your future?

If not, you may be looking for a medical bailout or hail-Mary as your only and last resort.