Neuroplasticity in Action: Dr. Brody Miller’s Journey from TBI to PhD | E27

Dr. Brody Miller, PhD, is a 2x best selling, author, researcher, speaker, and pioneer in brain health recovery. Having recovered from severe brain trauma, drug and epileptic seizures, he created a unique, and holistic approach, called the REBOUND method (TM) with his Mind Gym Starter Course. He focuses on helping high-level, heart led, athletes and leaders from all around the world overcome brain injuries so that they can get back to their life's mission.

The invisible nature of brain injuries creates a unique kind of suffering. When Dr. Brody Miller was knocked unconscious in a street fight, his life spiraled into seizures, medication side effects, and cognitive challenges that left him feeling broken and hopeless. But what followed was a remarkable transformation that defies conventional wisdom about brain injury recovery.

From the depths of this struggle emerged a profound journey of healing through neuroplasticity—the brain's ability to reorganize and form new neural connections. Dr. Miller takes us through his evolution from "seven-year dropout senior" to PhD neuroscientist specializing in traumatic brain injury recovery, now completely free from medications and seizures that once plagued his daily life.

This conversation unveils practical, accessible strategies anyone can implement to enhance brain function and recovery. From the surprising benefits of juggling to simple "mind gym" finger exercises that stimulate the motor cortex, Dr. Miller offers tools that cost nothing but yield profound results. His emphasis on breathwork—particularly nitric oxide breathing through the nose—reveals how something as fundamental as how we breathe can strengthen neural pathways and boost healing.

Dr. Brody:

Website: https://dr-bro.com

Dr. Brody's Mind Gym: https://dr-bro.com/mindgym2025

Podcast on Spotify: Rebound Your Brain Podcast ~ Dr. Brody Miller

Book: Brain Rescue: A 90 Day Blueprint to Reclaim Your Memory After a Brain Injury or Concussion

YouTube: @drbrodymiller

Instagram: @drbrodymiller

TikTok: @drbrodymiller

Get 20% off your first order of Puori protein with code LIFEAFTERIMPACT by following this link.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Life After Impact
• 3:43 Dr. Miller's TBI Journey
• 8:06 Discovering Neuroplasticity and Hope
• 14:38 Brain Recovery Strategies
• 20:36 Overcoming Isolation After Brain Injury
• 32:31 Self-Talk and Emotional Regulation
• 39:07 Seizure Recovery and Natural Approaches

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Mm, hmm, I want to talk about, you know, isolation, because it feels as you know, people just don't get it. You know, people just don't get because they can't see what's going on inside your brain. They can't see the injury like they could if you got a big, bad cut or you know you had shoulder surgery. But just know like it's, it is an isolating process. But isolation, there's a difference between, you know, isolation and solitude.

Speaker 2: 0:32

Welcome to Life After Impact, the concussion recovery podcast. I'm Dr Ayla Wolfe and I'll be hosting today's episode, where we help you navigate the often confusing, frustrating and overwhelming journey of concussion and brain injury recovery. This podcast is your go-to resource for actionable information, whether you're dealing with a recent concussion, struggling with post-concussion syndrome or just feeling stuck in your healing process. In each episode, we dive deep into the symptoms, testing, treatments and neurological insights that can help you move forward with clarity and confidence. We bring you leading experts in the world of brain health, functional neurology and rehabilitation to share their wisdom and strategies. So if you're feeling lost, hopeless or like no one understands what you're going through, know that you are not alone. This podcast can be your guide and partner in recovery, helping you build a better life after impact.

Speaker 2: 1:33

All right, dr Brody Miller, welcome to the Life After Impact podcast. I'm so excited to talk to you. You've got such a fascinating story. You are a best-selling author, you're a researcher, a speaker, and you've developed a really amazing online community for people who have been struggling with traumatic brain injuries. You're doing so much for that community. So thanks for being on the show and I can't wait to hear your story.

Speaker 1: 2:00

Thank you, it's awesome to be here.

Speaker 2: 2:02

Yeah, talk to me a little bit about how you got your traumatic brain injuries and kind of the different insights that you've had in hindsight, looking back in terms of how that affected your life, but then also how you were able to overcome that and get a PhD in neuroscience and get into all the amazing things you're doing now get into all the amazing things you're doing now.

Speaker 1: 2:33

Sure, so I'm very open and transparent about this part of my life because it did put me where I am today. So I'm very grateful for that. But a long story short is, I was at my hometown, asheville, north Carolina, and at that time in my life I was kind of a bit of a train wreck, to be honest, and I was really into heavy into drugs and alcohol. I was actually a six year dropout senior at that time and kind of was directionless and so I was doing all kinds of crazy stuff at that time and I was outside of a nightclub one night it's called Scully's Scully's in Asheville it's no longer there and I decided to fight a bouncer I was blackout drunk in the middle of the street. I don't like to be too graphic, but I have to tell it like it was that um, I got in a fight with a guy he was about 350 pounds, about six, five Um and and he knocked me out in the middle of the street and so, unfortunately, um news TV stations got ahold of the videotape, somebody videotaped it and, um, more than over a hundred thousand people saw me really at my worst moment. It was like an insult to injury moment. So he knocked me out, my head, hit the pavement. I was unconscious for a good five to seven minutes before they got me moving.

Speaker 1: 3:59

I went to the hospital that night and I don't remember much. My memory was really poor at that time and I just remember kind of sitting and in my dark room, very depressed, very guilty, very shameful. My family had to go through all this with me and a few years later it actually got worse because I developed a brain bleed. As you know, they call this a cavernous malformation. It's basically, for the listeners, a benign brain tumor. And when it was leaking blood into the rest of my brain and it was in the frontal lobe because I had a seizure, they discovered that. They discovered that and, to make matters worse, I ended up having neurosurgery because they said this is going to fix it. We'll put you on seizure medications. You'll have, you'll remove this little tiny brain tissue that's about the size of a cranberry in your left frontal lobe and you're going to be seizure free. So I was like hooray, you know, like this is the and you're going to be seizure free. So I was like hooray, you know, like, this is the fix, I'm going to start feeling better, but no, I continue to have about three grand mal seizures a month and when you have a grand mal seizure you lose consciousness, you fall and I was experiencing more concussions. So that didn't really help things. Help things.

Speaker 1: 5:22

I was on Keppra, I was on Depakote, I was on all kinds of antidepressants, antipsychotic medications. It was really rough because all the side effects and I developed chronic neuropathy in both of my forearms. So I was really ill, bad memory loss. My impulsiveness was worse than ever before. It was already pretty high.

Speaker 1: 5:49

It was like I was a seven-year-old child in an adult's body who just could not stop blurting out words and couldn't stop himself from doing things, and I didn't know why. I thought am I a bad person? It's kind of like I was in depression. I felt like I I a bad person is kind of like I was in depression. I felt like I was a bad person or bad human being. But here's where it gets awesome and here's where the story completely turns around is I was watching a YouTube video with Tom Bilyeu from Impact Theory and he was talking to Dr Joe Dispenza and Dr Joe is talking about how we have all of these thoughts.

Speaker 1: 6:29

And then these thoughts, 60,000 to 70,000 thoughts, and most of them repeat on a day-to-day basis.

Speaker 1: 6:38

But luckily he introduced me to the idea that the brain can change, heal and adapt, which I call it's neuroplasticity the fancy way of saying it or learning, or being able to rewire your brain, and that really blessed me with the gift of hope again.

Speaker 1: 6:56

And so things really didn't change overnight, but with time, with meditation, with affirmations, with visualization, with exercise, with nutrition, with all of these little tiny natural tips that you can do to rewire your brain, I started to get better, I started to feel better and eventually I learned how to learn, which they don't really teach you in school. When you just think about it, it's two brain cells making new connections, essentially like friends, and so I became passionate about learning. I got into speed reading, um, eventually got back into school and really kind of powered through in about seven years, going all the way from transferring my bachelor credits in to my master's, to my doctorate and then my PhD research, which I did on TBI and how mindfulness meditation can help people with TBIs heal their brains. And so it's been a long journey. And you know, I recently became an author and I just kind of I'm amazed at how much change there's been. Sometimes change can be painful it still is but it's a beautiful process at the end of the day.

Speaker 2: 8:19

Yeah, are you still on all those medications or were you able to take some of those out as you got better?

Speaker 1: 9:37

I'm so fortunate to say I'm completely off of medications and I'm now completely, 100 percent, seizure free.

Speaker 2: 9:45

Wow, because I know once people get put on things like Keppra, doctors really want to keep them on that for life. So was that?

Speaker 1: 10:01

a bit of a struggle for you, or you know what. What was the decision making into that piece of it in terms of the seizures and the seizure medications? Really I felt that it exacerbated my symptoms. It didn't stop the seizure frequency at all and it had these bad side effects, kepra I was actually an alcohol and drug recovery center when I was on Keppra and it it like infuriate. I got infuriated, like I turned into the Hulk, like when I was on that. It had weird, weird side effects and Depakote made me feel like sloggy and tired and if it wasn't helping me in the first place, you know, I had to be like mama.

Speaker 1: 10:36

I'm not taking this anymore, you know, and and luckily I got off of it and does it? Does medication have its time and its place? Yeah, but only, I would say, for two to 5% of the people actually is. Is it going to be helpful? For the rest? You know I'm very biased, but, but that's my perspective that most, most medications um can be very detrimental and actually, you know, hurt the nervous system in the brain yeah, I mean, that was um.

Speaker 2: 11:10

one of the reasons why I wanted to write my book was to also present people with non-pharmaceutical options that are out there, because a lot of times you know people's doctors aren't really talking about non-pharmaceutical options. I'm always surprised when you start to recognize that a lot of pharmaceuticals they don't even fully understand their mechanisms of action. And then it's like they obviously come with their big, long list of side effects, like you experienced. And it's like you said there's certainly a place for them. There's a place and there's a time, and for some people they're absolutely life changing. But when they're not working for you, then, yeah, time to look at other options.

Speaker 1: 11:50

Yeah, totally. And you know, we all seen those commercials like they'll be taught. The guy, the doctor, will be talking and then all of a sudden it's just this long list of side effects. It comes with that seizures and all these things, and you're just like, huh, I don't. I don't know if taking a medication is worth risking death.

Speaker 2: 12:10

Right but because there are people dancing in the street? You're supposed to pay more attention to them than the side effects.

Speaker 2: 12:18

Yeah, yeah, for sure had kind of like a lack of interest in school and in learning and then once they really just get interested in a topic, then all of a sudden they find that joy in learning. And it sounds like you really did, like you found the thing that was very interesting for you, which was how do I heal my own brain, and that allowed you to actually like put in the seven years of work. That's incredible.

Speaker 1: 12:53

Yeah, yeah, I think that it showed me what my passion was. I didn't even know I. My passion found me really is is just the magnificence of what's actually going on in between, you know, our two years. I was just like I can learn about this endlessly and it the things are changing every single day. The most magnificent piece of architecture in the entire universe. Perhaps you know right here, in between our two years.

Speaker 2: 13:26

Yeah, absolutely. Have you met Joe Dispenza in person.

Speaker 1: 13:31

I've met him. We haven't had like a long conversation, but I've met him. Um, we, we haven't had like a long conversation, but um, I, I have met him and and he seems he he's a, an inspirational guy because of what happened with him and his spine um being able to regenerate that and he's been able to influence so many people in a positive way and I really respect that.

Speaker 2: 13:52

Yeah, I had downloaded one of his meditation apps once and it was so funny because every time I'd start listening to it I'd start laughing, because it starts out with him being like sit up straight. And it's like whoa, whoa okay, okay, here we go yeah.

Speaker 1: 14:07

It's kind of like a drill sergeant in a way, you know.

Speaker 2: 14:10

Exactly that's how it felt. Yeah, yep, you wrote your book. Tell me a little bit about the process of writing that. Did you start writing it when you were still in school or when you were working on your PhD? Did you think you would write a book, or how did that develop?

Speaker 1: 14:27

I always knew that, while it was all transpiring that I wanted to write a book, I always knew I just didn't know what it was going to be about and I think brain injury, research and all of that chose me. It's really funny because I finished my PhD and then I really wanted to help people with stress. But then, like you know, things happen and they're like, why don't you do brain injuries, you know, why don't you focus on that? And I'm like, well, I don't know, am I really passionate about that?

Speaker 1: 14:59

But long story short, I ended up getting back into brain injury and concussion research and the book was hard to write because you really have to sit down and be focused and really kind of make it digestible as possible. And that's really what I wanted it to be was just a book for me at that stage in my life when I didn't really have that hope, and so everything that I wrote was just like to an old version of me who could really have used that and the tools, and I tried to make it as digestible and relatable as I possibly could, kind of taking out the medical speak and making it to where anybody a loved one could use it somebody who's actually struggling with brain injury symptoms could use it, or just somebody who wants to educate themselves more on the topic.

Speaker 2: 15:54

Yeah, well, I think you accomplished that goal. It's very readable and it totally reminded me of like, probably like 15 years ago there was a I'm forgetting his name, but there was a guy who used to like. He was like writing like the punk rock versions of Buddhism and like making Buddhism really accessible from this you know, like alt rock perspective and I was like reading your book and I'm like this is like the alt rock version of neuroscience, right here.

Speaker 1: 16:22

Yeah, absolutely Like I just tried. I tried to be as transparent as I possibly could and you know, I unfortunately I think doctors get this kind of God complex sometimes. I don't know if it happens subconsciously or what, but we're all human beings here and we all have feelings, emotions, doubts, aspirations and goals. And I just wanted it to be. I talk about the brain, but I tried to write it from the heart, basically.

Speaker 2: 16:59

Yeah, your book is called Brain Rescue a 90 day blueprint to reclaim your memory after a brain injury or concussion. Are you doing any consulting right now or outside of writing your book? It sounds like your goal was really to give people again these like little digestible things that they can do on a daily basis to really try to improve brain function.

Speaker 1: 17:19

Right now I'm helping people in group settings as well as one-on-one, and I've worked with people all across the spectrum. You know, I've worked with boxers who are concerned with neuroprotection and the long-term effects of combat sports on the brain, all the way down to people with very, very severe cases like diffuse axonal injury, which is a tough, a tough one, and so really, my ultimate goal is to educate and then help them, give them the tools that they need, cause I really think that the brain and I know that you'll appreciate this analogy is it's kind of like a big house that got hit with a tornado, or got hit with a hurricane or even multiple tornadoes, and so what do you need to do? You need to slowly rebuild that, step by step, and you're going to need an architect, which is you. You're the CEO of your own life. You're going to need tools and supplies, and that's going to be the nutrition and the hydration and the supplements. But you're're going to need tools and supplies, and that's going to be the nutrition and the hydration and the supplements, but you're also going to need those dedicated workers, which I think are like the brain retraining exercises that we all can learn to rewire our brain.

Speaker 1: 18:36

Does it happen in one night? Usually not. It takes time, energy and resources and belief not, it takes time, energy and resources and belief. A plan is how I see things.

Speaker 2: 18:54

Yeah, I mean, I went into my doctorate program fully in the throes of post-concussion syndrome and I felt like it took me five times as long to do the work that I was assigned. But as the years passed, I could look back and say like, wow, I mean, what I'm doing now is 100 times easier than it was, you know, three years ago. And so I really feel like that speaks to the power of of learning new things and, like you said, you know, creating the new synapses and building those connections and it might feel hard and challenging, but really forcing the brain to learn new information, I think is one of the most powerful ways that we can help the brain to to work better. You know, I used to not have very good auditory like.

Speaker 2: 19:39

I feel like my auditory learning was was weak compared to my kinesthetic learning. If you show me how to do something, I got it right, um, but if I have to listen to somebody explain something, that wasn't very good. But then podcasting came around and all of a sudden I was like listening to podcasts every day and just by doing that, and then I'm one of those obnoxious people that's like okay, so I was listening to this podcast and then. But what that was doing was, you know, my brain was learning new information from an auditory angle and then remembering it and then repeating it to somebody else. And by repeating it to somebody else, I was continuing to memorize it right, and so I developed the ability to learn more using my auditory system as opposed to my kinesthetic, and so it's like I can look back in hindsight and recognize how different learning strategies have helped me over time.

Speaker 1: 20:35

That's so fascinating because it's some of the things I'm so passionate about is like why do we not treat the brain like the body? You know, if we go to the gym and we'll do our squats, we'll do our have leg day, you know chest day but why? Why with the brain, did we? We suddenly think it's different to where? Okay, well, I'll listen to a podcast and that's going to rewire a different section of the brain and a different functionality of the brain. Ok, I'm visual the same thing and it's like a full brain exercise and I think it just makes sense that that gives better results.

Speaker 2: 21:16

Yeah, absolutely. What are some of your favorite exercises? As far as things that you do, it sounds like meditation is a big one.

Speaker 1: 21:25

Yeah, I love meditation and one of my favorites is just different styles of breathing. One of my favorites is nitric oxide breathing, which is just through the nose because our nasal cavities have a very high concentration of nitric oxide. It's kind of obnoxious, but it's like or or they can. You can call a Ujjayi breathing is another, another one which is like the yogis have been doing centuries. It just kind of sounds like this, like I mean, your dog will even do that If you have a dog, he's always going but it like brings this inner heat and and like it strengthens, uh, neural pathways. It's boosting oxygen and blood flow, just like this simple thing. Who would have thought breathing was good for you, right?

Speaker 2: 22:17

yeah, and all the different ways that you can breathe and whether it's, you know, through your mouth or through your nose, or how long you hold it, how long you exhale it's, it's very powerful. It is, I think it's you know, through your mouth or through your nose, or how long you hold it, how long you exhale. It's very powerful.

Speaker 1: 22:27

It is. I think it's one of the fastest ways of like really changing the brain and, you know, boosting neuroplasticity, the breath holds and the you know, the inhalations, these simple God given tools that we've been given.

Speaker 2: 22:41

Right, that are free. Awesome. What else do you do on a daily basis just to kind of keep your brain healthy at this point?

Speaker 1: 22:52

There's a lot of different things. I fell in love with juggling Just because I heard how interest it's helpful for so many different neural pathways, like communication between the left and right brain and your motor functioning, and it's just a fun activity. I get relaxed and I just start to juggle and it's just a fun thing you can do. And of course, exercise, of course hydration and movement, weightlifting and eating healthy. I also teach people these little tiny finger movements that they can make. I call them mind gym exercises and basically all you're doing is stimulating the motor cortex of your brain and it looks. It looks, you know, easy, but really it's kind of hard and it's just a simple trick you can do to activate neuroplasticity in your brain and really just also kids love it too. It's a fun exercise that we all can do and just have fun with. So I think learning is also should be fun.

Speaker 2: 23:58

Yeah, I think I saw an Instagram video where you were doing you were making a triangle with one hand and a square with the other hand and I was like, oh my gosh, I cannot do that.

Speaker 1: 24:09

I was like I was trying to do it.

Speaker 2: 24:10

I was like, oh boy, I got to practice this one.

Speaker 1: 24:14

Yeah, totally it's. Uh, it's just all. With practice you can get better at like literally anything under the sun you know with within some, you know circumstances, because some people are going to love math and they're going to love you know logic and all of these things. Some people really aren't.

Speaker 2: 24:35

So I mean, really find the things that are good for you, that you enjoy doing yeah, absolutely, you have to be, have some kind of amount of interest in it, otherwise it just feels you dread doing it and then you won't do it. It's kind of the same thing with actually. Yeah, I mean, it's hard as a clinician. You want to encourage people to exercise and then you have those people who are like I have zero interest in exercising and it's like, well, that's going to make it really hard. But it's like if you can find something that allows you to move your body, that you're interested in, yeah, obviously very helpful.

Speaker 1: 25:10

Movement, yeah, movement, like we were made to move. We were made to move. And when you're stagnated and sitting at a desk and scrolling social media and eating fried chicken and and scrolling social media and eating fried chicken and you know bad foods and stuff like that, no wonder you know we weren't built for that. We were built to be out in nature and exploring and adventure and hunting for food and challenging ourself. So no wonder depression is, you know, really high these days.

Speaker 2: 25:43

Yeah, absolutely Well, and you said you live in Colorado, so you've got access to some of the best outdoors around.

Speaker 1: 25:53

Yeah, yeah, I'm lucky for that, for sure. Not everybody is so so lucky to be, but but, like you know, do your best to your current situation. You know, like, even if you're in New York City or something, make sure that you're going to the park or make sure you take a drive on the weekends to get away from the city, and stuff like that.

Speaker 2: 26:14

Yeah, yeah, I think being out in nature is so important, Even from a visual perspective. I think people's whole physiology changes when they're able to kind of take in a scenery and they're actually focusing on more of like divergence type eye movements. You know they're not just staring at a computer screen but they're actually looking off the distance and seeing three-dimensional. And I'm very lucky I live out in the country and, like right now at nighttime in my backyard, the lightning bugs are all over, and so it's like you kind of like see the lightning bugs in the country and like, right now at nighttime in my backyard, the lightning bugs are all over, and so it's like you kind of like see the lightning bugs in the grass and then the field and then deep into the forest and it's almost like wow, like you just have this crazy amount of depth perception that's being like illuminated with lightning bugs.

Speaker 2: 26:59

I love it.

Speaker 1: 27:00

That's awesome.

Speaker 2: 27:01

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 27:02

Yeah, I love. I grew up with lightning bugs and where I'm from in North Carolina and they're, they're beautiful. You know, nature is beautiful.

Speaker 2: 27:10

Yeah, and my dog likes to chase him, so, oh, awesome. So tell me about the classes that you have or the, the communities, what? What does that structure look like?

Speaker 1: 27:23

Yeah, I have the what I call is the rebound recovery community, and we meet every Tuesday at 11 am, eastern center time, and I just go over tiny steps either from the rebound method or, like an adjunct to that, something that they can add on to that. You know, just these tiny, bite-sized lessons. We breathe together, we meditate. You know we'll talk about things that are going on, that are hard and things that we're overcoming, but ultimately, I just want to build an uplifting community where we all can pick one up and up instead of putting each other down like we're uplifting and helping one other get up. And some of these people that I work with are, I mean, just some of the most amazing resilient people I've ever met in my entire life. So that's a gift.

Speaker 2: 28:16

Yeah, incredible. And then you also have a podcast, or you said it's more of a YouTube channel. You've been doing that for a couple of years.

Speaker 1: 28:24

Yeah, so you can find it. Dr Brody Miller is my YouTube channel, dr Brody Miller, but I also have the Rebound your Brain podcast on Spotify. But, like I told you, I need to get on that and transfer the audio files into into Spotify.

Speaker 2: 28:45

Gotcha, you need, you need some technical assistance.

Speaker 1: 28:50

I'm going to do that for you, yeah.

Speaker 2: 28:53

Awesome, awesome. Well, I'll put all that in the show notes. Is there anything else that you wanted to talk about? I know that, with the work that you do, that the emotional and the psychological effects of concussions and TBI are near and dear to your heart and it sounds like, with your community, you're really focusing on that piece of it.

Speaker 1: 29:15

I want to talk about, you know, isolation because it feels as you know people just don't get it. You know people just don't get because they can't see what's going on inside your brain. They can't see the injury like they could if you got a big, bad cut or you know you had shoulder surgery. But just know like it's. It is an isolating process. But isolation there's a difference between you know and solitude, and that really hit home for me recently is isolation is like feeling like you know your. It's a brutal, painful feeling, but I think it actually gives the opportunity for solitude, which is coming back inside and getting in connection with your body, getting back in connection with your mind and your heartbeat. Solitude is like going into that internal universe you know of this amazing body that we've been gifted with, and finding really who you are and digging deep. So I think that's something I just want people to know that may feel isolated is it is an opportunity to redirect your life and come back better and sharper than ever before. I missing.

Speaker 2: 30:33

It was really more about recognizing like how do I become my own solar battery, right? Like, how do I just help to like recharge myself so that I'm this self sufficient whole being that doesn't feel like they have to constantly be like searching for something to make me whole? And that mind shift was so helpful in, like how do I just become my own solar battery? What do I need to do? You know, to just feel good in the moment.

Speaker 1: 31:09

Yeah, yeah, absolutely Like finding that peace in that presence now because it is there.

Speaker 2: 31:17

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 31:19

And I know you had mentioned when you were going through all this that you you didn't have good impulse control. You mentioned when you were going through all this that you didn't have good impulse control and then you also kind of like felt, am I a bad person because of that? And it's, I think, one of the brain that inhibits your emotions isn't firing on all cylinders, and so now all of a sudden your limbic system gets to be in control and in the driver's seat, and for some people that's such a hard thing to even understand. And I think that that educational piece is so important, because once people do understand what's happening, well then they don't blame themselves, right, they're not kind of like turning that on themselves. But then also they can start to recognize okay, well, if I start to actually work on the cognitive piece and kind of bring more energy and activity to the frontal lobe and strengthen that prefrontal cortex, well then it can start to do its job of inhibiting the limbic system and kind of, you know, rebalancing that whole, that whole connectivity.

Speaker 1: 32:31

Yeah, exactly, and that was my quote. Unquote get out of jail free card was like oh wow, I'm not a bad person. This is just. This is a brain health issue, and not only that.

Speaker 2: 32:45

It can change and get better than it ever was before If you put the time and energy into facilitating that of making that connection and what kinds of kind of cognitive games and exercises they can do to just help bring more to that prefrontal cortex so that it can work better and they feel more in control of their emotions. And do you see that working with the community that you have?

Speaker 1: 33:18

Absolutely. I think that that's one of the most empowering things that we can do, because the front as I knew that so well on such a deep level, because that was my issue. So if I just teach people the same things that work for me, it's just replicable to some extent, that you just have to boost blood flow. It's all a game of blood flow and oxygenation. Imagine, you know, visualization, all these things that the frontal lobe is known for, and I mean it improves your decision making, improves your focus, your concentration, your inhibition ability to inhibit behavior and stop. So it's about what we do, but also the things that we stop doing in our lives that are so important.

Speaker 2: 34:05

Yeah, and I think having that self-compassion piece is so important too in terms of I hear people report to me that every time they forget something or maybe they have a moment of where they just kind of aren't in control of their emotions and they they yell at their kid or whatever, that they immediately start beating themselves up and I, I, or they immediately start beating themselves up and I, I or they say oh well, that's my brain injury, so that's just another sign that I'm, I'm still broken.

Speaker 1: 34:33

I am not healing.

Speaker 2: 34:33

And I think that, um, for me, I had to really just stop that, uh, stop that self-talk. And so now, uh, the reality is I have a hundred thousand things happening in my life. I'm spread super thin, I work seven days a week, and so now the reality is I have 100,000 things happening in my life. I'm spread super thin, I work seven days a week, and so, yes, I am forgetful and I do make mistakes, but I don't use that as an opportunity to say, oh well, my brain is injured, or I don't use it even as an excuse, If anything. It's more of a reminder of, hey, maybe you need to slow down, Maybe you need to have better systems in place, Maybe you need to not be spread so thin.

Speaker 2: 35:09

But I use it more. I'm so much more compassionate than I used to be towards myself. I'm not saying, oh well, I, I, I misplaced my wallet again because, oh look, I'm still, I'm still concussed. You know, it's like I don't even use that language anymore because I don't think it's helpful to beat myself up or to try to constantly have it serve as a reminder of the fact that I've had concussions. It's more of just a okay, let's be nice to ourselves and figure out how to do it better the next time.

Speaker 1: 35:41

Yeah, that's. That's such a such a relevant and important point is like we talk, talk to ourselves like we're our own worst enemies. We're so self. No, you wouldn't say those things that you're saying to yourself. So why do you say them to your best friend yourself, like why would you do that? So know that. That's those, that icky voice in your mind. You can calm it down and you can change it. I mean, at first, just starts with being aware of what you're saying.

Speaker 2: 36:30

I mean, at first, just starts with being aware of what you're saying. If you need to journal out those negative things that you say, because they really can make or break your recovery. No-transcript, yeah, yeah, absolutely. That's another great way of thinking about that For me too. I often pay attention with my patients on trying to touch in with to that concept of, like, what is your self-talk? You know what are you telling yourself? And if people are beating themselves up all the time, I think it's important to know that and to address that for sure.

Speaker 1: 37:08

Yeah, and I mean it is an ongoing battle too. You know like I still struggle sometimes with being too harsh on myself and too critical on myself, but I know it, I know now it's a journey, that it's it's not, it's not a destination. It's always going to be something that's there and something I constantly want to try to improve. And listening to tapes has been very helpful for me. They call them subconscious mind reprogramming tapes that you listen to and, believe it or not, it does change that inner voice.

Speaker 2: 37:45

Yeah. Is there anything that I haven't asked you, that you wanted to touch on today?

Speaker 1: 37:50

Yeah, maybe we can really quickly like jump into like epilepsy. That's another passion of mine, like helping people. I'd love to talk about it just because I think that a lot of seizures are caused from this incoherent signal. Basically I really equate it all down to at least for me in my own seizure recovery is there's this electrical signal that happens, that's disruptive, whether it's a brain leak or whether it's just miscommunication between the brain. And I just believe that if you continuously quote, unquote, interrupt that signal, that it, that signal can change over time into something that's more coherent and peaceful. And and so I, I just I think my second book perhaps may be on seizure recovery and a natural way to do so, because it just is so devastating.

Speaker 1: 38:50

I think everybody can relate to a panic attack. That's what a seizure feels like. It's like all your walls are closing in. It feels like this big sense of doom that all your walls are closing in and your body's about to take control. But just know like a panic attack can be changed. Seizures can improve in the frequency and intensity, just like a panic attack in some ways.

Speaker 2: 39:16

How many years have you been seizure free at this point?

Speaker 1: 39:21

Going on a year and a half and that's the longest it's ever been for me, so by far it's a miracle to me, honestly.

Speaker 2: 39:31

And did you use CBD as part of that at all?

Speaker 1: 39:48

helpful, but I'd say the most impactful thing for me is a Vegas nerve was a Vegas nerve stimulator that I started to use about two years ago and it's been. It's been incredibly helpful because I was on that pathway of becoming seizure free but it did just keep happening and I think that was like the tip of the iceberg that kind of helped me get past all of it.

Speaker 2: 40:08

Which one do you use?

Speaker 1: 40:10

It's called the Truvaga T-R-U-V-A-G-A. I met the CEO of the company, his name's JP Errico, and just such a brilliant and gifted guy and helpful'm in helpful guy and I'm not affiliated with them. I just I've had such amazing results myself that I just want to shout it from the rooftop, kind of thing.

Speaker 2: 40:34

Yeah, amazing, I do, and that is a transcutaneous one Like you. Hold it to your neck.

Speaker 1: 40:42

Yeah, so. So it's non-invasive stipulation.

Speaker 2: 40:46

Yeah, excellent, that's incredible. I love that they're coming out more with these non-invasive, non-surgically implanted devices that people can try before just immediately jumping to some kind of invasive surgical device.

Speaker 1: 41:02

Yeah, yeah, I'm, I'm all for that. I think that our, our body and our mind have the natural ability to heal, change and adapt. Sometimes we just have to find the way of facilitating that and help helping that, helping it do what it what it was designed to do.

Speaker 2: 41:18

Yeah, absolutely. Well, thanks so much for coming on the show. Totally, it was awesome to be here.

Speaker 1: 41:22

Well, thanks so much for coming on the show.

Speaker 2: 41:23

Totally, it was awesome to be here. Medical disclaimer. This video or podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine or other professional health care services, including the giving of medical advice. No doctor-patient relationship is formed. The use of this information and materials included is at the user's own risk. The content of this video or podcast is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment, and consumers of this information should seek the advice of a medical professional for any and all health-related issues. A link to our full medical disclaimer is available in the notes.