The details of my visit to Madison. Corrected version!
Friday, August 1, 2008 at 5:50AM After I posted about my visit to Madison, I got an email from the team there gently pointing out a few things I got wrong. Most important, I was not using a Brainport, which provides Balance Sensory Substitution, but a newer treatment with the catchy name of Cranial-Nerve Non-Invasive NeuroModulation (CN-NINM). The difference is that the BrainPort therapy, which I tried on the the first day, stimulates a spot on the tongue and teaches the the taste center of the brain to take over the balance function. CN-NINM -- a literal mouthful -- stimulates a much larger area of the tongue and boggles the brain with a specially modulated signal to allow the brain to form or renew functional connections. Most of the benefits I enjoyed came from this second treatment, which the Brainport can help maintain, but not necessarily provide. To read more about CN-NINM, please visit http://tcnl.med.wisc.edu.
Sadly, the benefits of CN-NINM do not last forever after such a short period of treatment, and my brain is already reverting to its dizzy ways. Worse, I can only buy the Brainport, not a CN-NINM device, so while my home treatment program will certainly help, the benefits I experience won't be as dramatic as what I experienced in Wisconsin. So my plan going forward is to buy the Brainport and use it daily, plus go out to Wisconsin 3-4 times a year for CN-NINM treatments. Sounds like a pain, I know, but I am DESPERATE to get better, so if this is what it takes, so be it.
Once again, thank you to the team in Wisconsin, lead by Yuri Danilov and Mitch (sorry Mitch, didn't get a photo of you!) and assisted by Kelsey and Joe.
Reader Comments (1)
Bummer, BUT, it's all worth it if it helps you recover and feel better. Besides, Madison is cool!