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How does music help withdrawal syndrome?


LaurnaT

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I have noticed pros and cons in this forum from people who have used various music therapies for their withdrawal symptoms. I think I can help people to understand how their ears are affected by their medication and why they suffer from ear damage during and after withdrawal.  My personal experience is less with drugs than with illnesses caused by drugs, such as the terrible reaction to a typhoid shot that nearly stopped my breathing, especially when the doctor suggested I drink some whiskey to feel better. I had chronic fatigue syndrome for 8 years; the prescribed Zoloft created such a frightening mental event that I quickly stopped taking it. In 1997, our 16-year-old dyslexic and substance-abusing son and I were cured of all our symptoms within 10 days of treatment with the Tomatis Method, a binaural exposure to gently amplified, filtered music. A week later, Daniel lost his healing and became severely psychotic. A few weeks later, he was diagnosed as hopelessly schizophrenic. His family doctor and I worked together to get him off all the drugs he was given in a psychiatric hospital, which included Ativan, lorazepam, perphenazine, risperidone, haloperidol, and possibly others. After three years, I had titrated his remaining drug, Risperdal, to 0.25 mg. Later, I found that even that amount could harm his ears.

 

Daniel was schizophrenic for 10 years, during which time I made some observations about his fluctuating cognition. No one paid attention to me. In 2006, Daniel reached out for my headphones. In an inspired moment, I recalled something about Tomatis thinking the right ear is more important so I put a wad of Kleenex under the left earpiece of the headphones for Daniel's daily 2 hours of listening. I called that technique "Focused Listening." I had accidentally set up a controlled experiment that had stunning implications. Within four weeks, my husband suggested we withdraw his tiny dose of Risperdal. In a couple of days, Daniel lost all his schizophrenia symptoms. But his addictions emerged. When his addictions to alcohol and cannabis, plus some unintended LSD, made him psychotic two years later, he resumed Focused Listening. When I gave him the 0.25 dose of Risperdal, he became severely schizophrenic, but I was afraid to withdraw it. That year, I did the research to find out how music focused on his right ear could change his behavior. I gradually put together my unique observations with discoveries of other researchers and realized that Daniel's fluctuating cognition in schizophrenia was a severe form of his ADD as a dyslexic. He was displaying two minutes of left-brain influence followed by two minutes of right-brain influence; during schizophrenia, he had no left-brain dominance. The degree of left-brain dominance defines the spectrum of mental illnesses and they are caused by audio deficits in one ear or the other or both ears. My innovative music therapy was making him more left-brained; it was restoring left-brain dominance. I quickly saw that in Daniel and in all of us that the left-brain has to dominate the right-brain for normal processes of learning and memory and reason and rational speech to occur. The higher frequencies of sound contain more energy. Listening to violin music corrects sound-deprivation in the brain.

 

I studied neurology on my own to be able to explain how right-ear stimulation could produce left-brain dominance in the integrative processes of the cerebral hemispheres. Tomatis's teaching about the anatomy and neurology of the ear in The Ear and the Voice was essential because it corrects standard neurology texts in regard to the neural pathways of communication (ear to brain to larynx). During his recovery, Daniel passed through lesser forms of identifiable "mental" illness in a specific order, all of which were cured in succession by his Focused Listening. Once again, he did not regain left-brain dominance fully until his even smaller dosage, 0.0625 mg Risperdal, was withdrawn.

 

Over the next 8 years, Daniel remained left-brain dominant and defeated most of his addictions. But, following his younger brother's massive left-brain stroke, his use of cannabis escalated against a background the previous summer of occasional "partying" that had included amphetamine. He became schizophrenic again early in 2016. This time, he resumed Focused Listening with only a little supervision and on no medication. He recovered his left-brain dominance in half the time of his 2008 recovery.

 

When I met Altostrata at another site, she mentioned data posted by SSRI withdrawal sufferers for research purposes. In that data, I recognized the spectrum of symptoms our family members had suffered from dyslexia, chronic fatigue syndrome, schizophrenia, and during Daniel's recovery from schizophrenia. Music had completely healed or greatly improved all of those symptoms, but my monaural method worked better for some conditions than a binaural method and for a solid, neurological reason. I analyzed the data from the standpoint of my neurological paradigm and from my learning about the music therapies of Tomatis and of Guy Bérard. Bérard identified the specific audio deficits that cause suicidal depression that usually occur in the left ear and he healed 97.7% of his 235 suicidal patients. My work builds on the work of Tomatis and corrects and expands on the work of both those otolaryngologists. You can read my analysis of the SSRI withdrawal syndrome data, which I will edit for length so it can be uploaded here, gratis to members. Not only do I think Focused Listening could be supportive in withdrawal; I think it could help with the underlying problem for which medication was initially prescribed. You can find more information about Focused Listening at http://www.northernlightbooks.ca/mental-health-through-music/focused-listening/ 

 

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Thanks, Laurna, very interesting. I am SSH (single-sided hearing) and completely deaf in my right ear due to the auditory nerve being severed during a surgery. Do you think binaural listening can help? Also I have tinnitus on the right side.

  • Prozac | late 2004-mid-2005 | CT WD in a couple months, mostly emotional
  • Sertraline 50-100mg | 11/2011-3/2014, 10/2014-3/2017
  • Sertraline fast taper March 2017, 4 weeks, OFF sertraline April 1, 2017
  • Quit alcohol May 20, 2017
  • Lifestyle changes: AA, kundalini yoga

 

"If you've seen a monster, even if it's horrible, that's evidence of divinity." – Damien Echols

 

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Hi, FarmGirlWorks,

I read about a case in one of Tomatis's books where total right-ear deafness forced him to do something different with his binaural program. Before I attempt to answer your question more fully, I would like to find that case and take another look at it. The short answer is "no," because you cannot perceive the right-ear component of a binaural system or method. However, the auditory nerve is not the only nerve from the right ear leading into the brain. If your vestibular nerve is intact, Focused Listening with your right ear might have some benefit. You very well might benefit from Focused Listening directed to your left ear, depending on what you hope to accomplish through a music therapy. Are you simply trying to get off medications or are there underlying issues you want to solve?  As I am posting at this forum today for the first time I'm not familiar with your reasons for having started medications and your reasons for wanting to quit them.

 

I am not a doctor or medically trained. I am an educated person for whom many strands of learning came together in an astonishing way that happens to have "medical" implications because it's about human anatomy. The people I have known well who have/had profound deafness are/were affected in both ears or were affected in the left ear. I know about their difficulties but not about the challenges you may have faced. So, I have a few questions if that's OK with you. Were you right-handed before your surgery? Were you right-ear dominant? How old were you when you lost your right-ear hearing and how long ago was that? Tinnitus can be caused by a problem in the ear or by a problem in the brain per se. I might have to do some research to learn how you could have tinnitus in an ear that has no auditory nerve connection to the brain. That phenomenon might be like phantom limb pain that I have encountered in my research and have some insights about. Was the vestibular nerve severed, also? Are your medications related to your surgery or were you taking these medications prior to your surgery for some reason? 

 

I am the first person to describe the differing roles of the ears in brain function, speech, and other processes. I have a unique understanding of how the cerebral hemispheres integrate. As a pioneer on this frontier, I certainly don't have all the answers! I have not had a large clientele of people with different ear problems to see how particular problems impact the individual. However, I have read books by doctors who have had large clienteles. If you have a post (or several) here that summarize your medical history and explain your medication issues, point me in that direction so you aren't reproducing information already available. Then, I can give you a more useful reply.

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Hi @LaurnaT, thanks for thoughtfully responding and will try to answer your questions. I had a large "benign" brain tumor (acoustic neuroma) surgically removed in 2004 that severed my auditory nerve and effected the vestibular system (my balance is not the best).

 

35 minutes ago, LaurnaT said:

Are you simply trying to get off medications or are there underlying issues you want to solve? 

I am off of Zoloft (antidepressant) for 14 months now after a rapid taper from 5.5 years of use. Still in a dark place with mainly months of "waves" and a few minutes weekly of "windows." The first step is getting free of the iatrogenic effects of the drug while addressing underlying issues which led to this in the first place -- anxiety/depression due to lack of security and loneliness.

 

35 minutes ago, LaurnaT said:

Were you right-handed before your surgery?

Were you right-ear dominant?

How old were you when you lost your right-ear hearing and how long ago was that?

Was the vestibular nerve severed, also?

Are your medications related to your surgery or were you taking these medications prior to your surgery for some reason?

- I was right-handed. The surgery effected my right side only, I guess before the brain functions cross over to the other hemisphere.

- Not sure about dominance of hearing. I started losing my hearing and developed tinnitus about a year before the symptoms became too great to ignore.

- I was 38 when I had the surgery, 14.5 years ago.

- Not sure if the vestibular nerve was severed but balance is off and lots of physical therapy and feldenkrais since. I used to dance.

- Was not taking the drugs until after the surgery and the Zoloft not until 2012 after a traumatic, extended event that threatened my security and took away my career.

 

The tinnitus is rough. I was in a purely silent place this week and still hear the buzzing in my head loudly. I don't think the withdrawal has made it better or worse, possibly it is different on different days but am not certain except to know that it is always there.

 

And, if you want to look at my history here which is less than a year, the link is (I think): http://survivingantidepressants.org/profile/10100-farmgirlworks/

  • Prozac | late 2004-mid-2005 | CT WD in a couple months, mostly emotional
  • Sertraline 50-100mg | 11/2011-3/2014, 10/2014-3/2017
  • Sertraline fast taper March 2017, 4 weeks, OFF sertraline April 1, 2017
  • Quit alcohol May 20, 2017
  • Lifestyle changes: AA, kundalini yoga

 

"If you've seen a monster, even if it's horrible, that's evidence of divinity." – Damien Echols

 

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Hi, FarmGirlWorks,

I finally found the Tomatis book, which discussed a couple of cases where the brain was injured or abnormal but the neurology of the ears apparently was intact because treating the ears had a positive effect on the brain, enabling integration. Tomatis did not really understand cerebral integration and it's not easy to sort through his rhapsodic prose to figure out what he is saying.

 

I read about your surgery at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Your tinnitus and balance symptoms are completely typical of the surgery. You mention "getting free of the iatrogenic effects of the drug" by which I think you mean it was a medical mistake to prescribe Prozac and Sertraline. Or did some other medical mistake occur?  You are my first opportunity to offer my learning and see how it may be useful to a person in your situation. So let's see what makes sense to you.

 

If you were right-handed you were right-ear dominant and left-brain dominant. You must have been very strongly left-brain dominant to have survived not only the effects of the tumor and surgery but the types of medications that impair ear function.

 

1. That trauma-induced loss of sound energy through your right ear did not end your rational, left-brain learning. Those patterns of integration still exist in your brain. But the behavior changes that led you to write "If a psychiatrist got hold of me I would be labeled bipolar" are a result of that loss of the primary sound energy stream from right ear to left-brain that made you highly rational and in control of your right-brain emotions. Now, your right-brain emotions have a larger space in your life because the right-brain still receives its primary stream of energy that comes through the left ear. The natural asymmetry was interrupted. But you still have two brains to work with. 

 

2. The good news is that each ear is connected to both sides of the brain, left and right. The right ear's primary connection is to the left-brain, but it also connects to the right-brain. You have lost that lesser energy stream to the right brain, too, which dampens its force on your behavior. But you have always had a backup system for your left-brain from your left ear.

 

3. Your left ear has always connected to your left, rational brain even though its main target was your right, emotional brain. In the days before your surgery, it wasn't your dominant ear for paying attention and learning. Now, it is doing double duty. What was a "secondary" relationship between your left ear and your left, rational brain has had to become the left-brain's main supply of sound energy. I am sure new pathways have developed as a result of this situation, but I'm not sure I can venture into that territory without knowing more about your symptoms. I don't want to speculate. I think the difference now in the length of the routes from the left ear to the left-brain to the larynx, which would be direct, and to the right-brain and larynx, which are famously long, will have preserved your integration for speaking. You can still learn, remember, dream, use both sets of limbs, and so on. But the left-brain is working on short rations to accomplish what it did, and your brain overall is not getting its former supply of sound energy.

 

4.  Tomatis estimated that, after oxygen and glucose, 90 percent of the brain's need for energy is supplied by sound. You have lost half of that supply. Furthermore, your medications have had an impact on your left ear, diminishing its ability to provide what it used to provide. Therefore, it stands to reason that getting extra sound energy into your brain could help you to deal with whatever your challenges are. I can think of several ways of doing that. Supporting your left ear to counter the effects of medication is the first need. If you go to my website and read about Focused Listening, you will notice that I warn people not to listen with headphones for longer than 2 hours per day. The reason is that the tiny stapedius muscle in the middle ear can become fatigued when it is over-stimulated. After about 2 hours, you begin to lose the benefits of the listening therapy. That applies to a binaural therapy, too. So, if you decide to try Focused Listening, that warning still applies even if you are sound-starved and want more.

 

Tomatis treated stuttering by "bathing" in sound the inner arms, chest, neck, and face of people who could not respond to aural treatment. The sound receptors in the skin apparently are able to absorb sound and the brain can use that input. He doesn't explain how that works neurologically. Baring the skin of your upper body to a lively source of sound for an hour a day might be helpful. 

 

Keeping your sound environment full of pleasing, high-frequency sound (not too loud) would enhance your brain's sound supply.

 

5. Sound energy is conducted by bone. If there are viable nerves of any kind on the right side of your head, you might as well wear the headphones as if they were reaching something. Even the vibrations absorbed by the bones might have a positive effect. I read about someone with profound hearing loss who engaged in drumming that he could feel with his entire body. I do not recommend low-frequency sound, because it can negate the effects of high-frequency sound. But when all else fails for someone, that might be better than nothing.

 

6. I think you are already doing this: physical movement feeds back to the stapedius muscle in the ear, which controls both extensors and tensors. You have to be careful not to overdo it, but the Feldenkrais exercises probably help your ear muscles. Exercise increases oxygen to the brain.  If you could access the kind of help Doidge describes for transferring the balance function to your tongue, that might allow you to dance again.

 

I don't know how to create a tinnitus "mirror" the way Ramachandran did for phantom pain in missing limbs. I'll have to think about that.

 

You are doing an amazing job of improving your health! I hope this helps you to understand your symptoms better and to be easier on yourself for what your body is doing during recovery. 

 

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Hi @LaurnaT,

 I apologize for the late reply; I don't get to this forum everyday and unless the @FarmGirlWorks notation is used, then I forget to check. Anyway, thank you so much for looking into this. I addressed some of your points below.

 

On 6/3/2018 at 6:38 PM, LaurnaT said:

"getting free of the iatrogenic effects of the drug" by which I think you mean it was a medical mistake to prescribe Prozac and Sertraline. Or did some other medical mistake occur?

No surgery mistake was made; 5 years of sertraline has effected my brain and that is what I am recovering from now.

 

On 6/3/2018 at 6:38 PM, LaurnaT said:

your right-brain emotions have a larger space in your life because the right-brain still receives its primary stream of energy that comes through the left ear. The natural asymmetry was interrupted. But you still have two brains to work with.

That all makes sense and yes, I know that I have two brains (three if you count the gut which I do).

 

On 6/3/2018 at 6:38 PM, LaurnaT said:

the left-brain is working on short rations to accomplish what it did, and your brain overall is not getting its former supply of sound energy.

The concept of sound energy is new to me. I know that hearing requires extra energy and fatigues me if I've gone to a party or a restaurant with a lot of ambient noise. At home, I play a lot of news shows or audiobooks. To clarify, you are saying that sound energy is more accessible as high-pitched music (like violins)?

 

On 6/3/2018 at 6:38 PM, LaurnaT said:

Tomatis treated stuttering by "bathing" in sound the inner arms, chest, neck, and face of people who could not respond to aural treatment. The sound receptors in the skin apparently are able to absorb sound and the brain can use that input.

I know a person who combines this with her reiki. I practice kundalini yoga and every session includes a gong layout where we lie and listen to the gong before doing a chanting meditation. This seems like it could help (it definitely can't hurt).

 

On 6/3/2018 at 6:38 PM, LaurnaT said:

Sound energy is conducted by bone. If there are viable nerves of any kind on the right side of your head, you might as well wear the headphones as if they were reaching something.

That's a good idea. Any stimulation to the right side can't hurt.

 

  • Prozac | late 2004-mid-2005 | CT WD in a couple months, mostly emotional
  • Sertraline 50-100mg | 11/2011-3/2014, 10/2014-3/2017
  • Sertraline fast taper March 2017, 4 weeks, OFF sertraline April 1, 2017
  • Quit alcohol May 20, 2017
  • Lifestyle changes: AA, kundalini yoga

 

"If you've seen a monster, even if it's horrible, that's evidence of divinity." – Damien Echols

 

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1. I have specialized in the relationship between the ear and the neurology of the brain, as contrasted with the effects of chemicals, although I spent some time with those issues a while back. My experience is that music restores the normal energy level of the brain so that it can perform normally once the chemicals are withdrawn. Part of that performance entails a flow, like a river system that normally has two separate sources: the left ear and the right ear. Fortunately, each ear produces a "back up system," but I am not entirely sure what happens when the right stream is stopped.

2. A very close friend N. went through something similar to your surgery but in her left ear. She had been dyslexic (which is caused by listening alternately with each ear) and those symptoms ended. You, deprived of your right ear, could not develop dyslexia, but you probably have lost your formerly strong left-brain dominance. That must be terribly disconcerting because your self-concept that is formed in your rational left-brain depends on that right-ear supply of energy. My friend's other big symptom was fatigue. She had to cut back on her workload. I think she got a hearing aid that helped her to hear better in the noisy situations you describe. I wonder if the left ear is trained to do a poorer job of masking out sound, which the right, dominant ear learns to do? I think her hearing aid does that masking job for her. (But I am not an expert on hearing aids. You would have to ask about that.)

3. A lesser symptom for N. was flatter "affect," i.e., muted emotional reactions. I think she had less energy for "putting up with stress."

4. Yes, like violins. The higher frequencies of sound have more cycles per second as they compress the molecules of air that exert pressure on the eardrum. We perceive that pressure as "pitch" with the cochlea in the inner ear. But before the energy gets that far it activates the vagus nerve by vibrating the stapedius muscle in the middle ear. That little muscle is connected by a nerve fiber to the vagus network, which runs from the middle of the brain to the end of the digestive system, affecting many body systems as it "wanders" through the body. Unlike other nerves, messages travel both ways on vagus nerves. Thus, how well the stapedius muscle vibrates affects the whole body. And, how it vibrates affects the transmission of high-frequency sound through the middle ear to the inner ear: vestibular canals and cochlea. Listening to violins exercises that muscle, which strengthens it, allowing it to have an optimal influence on the body and brain. Drugs damage it. Exercising it carefully supports it even when it's under assault from drugs (or other things I list on my website). Once the drugs cease, it recovers faster.

5. Singing bowls vibrate like gongs. I have felt the energizing effects of someone playing a singing bowl. However, a more efficient way of getting high-frequency sound is through a Mozart or Vivaldi violin concerto. I experienced a healing of chronic fatigue from being exposed to a smoke alarm's shrieking but I don't recommend that as a regular practice!

6. I did a study of SSRIs from the standpoint of their effects on the ears. It's too long to drag and drop here so I am working it into two separate files that I can share here. If you check back in a couple of days it should be available.

7. I should have thought to ask about your left ear. How is your audition there? Do you have a  recent audiogram?

 

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Hi, FarmGirlWorks,

I have experimented with other formats and succeeded in getting my SSRI study into a Word document that is now much smaller than the original, which must have had something to do with the original typesetting program because the content is the same. I am opening a new topic so it will be easier for everyone here to access. I hope it helps.

If you decide to try Focused Listening or some other music therapy I'd love to know how that works for you.

 

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Hi, Everyone,

The attachment is my 2012 analysis of data provided by people experiencing SSRI Withdrawal Syndrome. It is written from the standpoint of my research and personal experience with music therapies and with my unique innovative technique of Focused Listening that has cured schizophrenia and less severe forms of ear damage.  

 

If you decide to try a music therapy, this document will help you how to decide what to use. I would love to hear back from anyone experienced with a music therapy because the schizophrenics I am coaching with Focused Listening all are medicated and some of them heavily. I advise them to come here for assistance with tapering. If you already have experience with a supportive music program, that's a plus. 

Ear Function in SSRI Withdrawal Revised 2018.doc

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Thanks, @LaurnaT... I downloaded your document and will start to add violin concertos into my song rotation on Spotify. I did try a hearing aid last April that transferred sound coming from the right to the left ear so I could hear it.I tested it in a courtroom that had a silent background -- it didn't help much. And I was stressed about the cost of it ($2k each ear).

 

I will try the Focused Listening or, at least, listening to violin. Sorry for the short reply; the withdrawal has gotten a bit more intense and I am not so articulate.

  • Prozac | late 2004-mid-2005 | CT WD in a couple months, mostly emotional
  • Sertraline 50-100mg | 11/2011-3/2014, 10/2014-3/2017
  • Sertraline fast taper March 2017, 4 weeks, OFF sertraline April 1, 2017
  • Quit alcohol May 20, 2017
  • Lifestyle changes: AA, kundalini yoga

 

"If you've seen a monster, even if it's horrible, that's evidence of divinity." – Damien Echols

 

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Hi, Laurna. I merged your two topics so as to keep questions and answers about your method in one place.

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

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Thanks, Altostrata. I'm sorry I don't know my way around the site very well. What a tremendous service you and your crew are doing here. I am in awe. I hope this helps.

Laurna

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Thank you for posting your work. I have only glanced at it briefly but I will read it in more detail in the next week or so. I am fascinated to read more about it.

2005 St John's Wort / 2006-2012 Lexapro 20mg, 2 failed attempts to stop, tapered over 4.5 months in early 2012

January 2013 started Sertraline, over time worked up to 100mg

July 2014 Sertraline dropped from 100mg to 75mg, held for six months, slower tapering until 2019 22 Dec 3.2mg

2020 Sertraline 19 Jan 3.1mg, 26 Jan 3.0mg; 1 Mar 2.9, 7 Mar 2.8, May (some drops here) 24 May 2.5, May 29 2.4, June 21 2.3, June 28 2.2mg,  July 4 2.1mg, July 24 (or maybe a bit before) 2mg, early Nov switched to home made suspension; 29 Nov 1.8mg; approx 25 Dec 1.6mg)

2021 Some time in about Jan/Feb realised probably on more like 1.8mg and poss mixing error in making suspension; doses after 10 Feb accurate; 10 Feb 1.6mg; 7 Mar 1.4, continued monthly

10% drops until 1mg, then dropped 0.1mg monthly.

May 2022,0.1mg, now dropping 0.01mg per week

29 August 2022 - first day of zero!

My thread here at SA: https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/1775-bubbles/page/21/

Current: Armour Thyroid

 

 

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Hi, FarmGirlWorks,

No pressure. Let me know how the added listening feels. Your unusual challenges mean you are working on a frontier. Your learning, however that goes, will be valuable.

Laurna

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One quick question, @LaurnaT: do earbuds work or do I need headphones?

  • Prozac | late 2004-mid-2005 | CT WD in a couple months, mostly emotional
  • Sertraline 50-100mg | 11/2011-3/2014, 10/2014-3/2017
  • Sertraline fast taper March 2017, 4 weeks, OFF sertraline April 1, 2017
  • Quit alcohol May 20, 2017
  • Lifestyle changes: AA, kundalini yoga

 

"If you've seen a monster, even if it's horrible, that's evidence of divinity." – Damien Echols

 

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Guy Berard, one of the two otolaryngologists who pioneered in this field, strongly condemned the use of earbuds. He said they place sound too close to the eardrum. Over-the-ear headphones allow an air cushion that helps to protect the middle ear structures that are extremely small and delicate but that have a profound effect on the entire body. We live in a world where people know a lot now about how to protect their eyes and almost nothing about how to protect their ears and why that is so important. 

 

Headphones with smaller earpieces are less cumbersome and widely available for people who take their Focused Listening on a walk with a portable CD player. 

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Thanks, @LaurnaT. I ordered some Sony headphones last night. Aside from Mozart violin concertos, is there other music you recommend? I read a bit about Tomatis last night and it seems that the headphones are specially made so there is conduction on the top and also the music is put thru a filter to exercise the stapedius (sp?). Interesting work... especially for someone who is SSH on the left side.

  • Prozac | late 2004-mid-2005 | CT WD in a couple months, mostly emotional
  • Sertraline 50-100mg | 11/2011-3/2014, 10/2014-3/2017
  • Sertraline fast taper March 2017, 4 weeks, OFF sertraline April 1, 2017
  • Quit alcohol May 20, 2017
  • Lifestyle changes: AA, kundalini yoga

 

"If you've seen a monster, even if it's horrible, that's evidence of divinity." – Damien Echols

 

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I would stick with the Mozart and Bach and perhaps Vivaldi for the first few weeks. Once you have a sense of what the increase in sound is doing for you, you can branch out into other genres. I say that because the information we already have is from people who have already used those compositions. Their experience provides benchmarks.

 

If you have an audiogram and would like to share it, I might be able to contribute some insights about your left-ear hearing.

 

While I have experienced the Tomatis Method (briefly) and deeply appreciate Alfred Tomatis's genius and pioneering work in this field, I disagree with some of his ideas, his special headphones being one of them. We have used ordinary headphones and, for Daniel, with the left earpiece blocked. Your circumstances are unusual and, as we discussed earlier, you might benefit from using both earpieces.

 

The members of our family who experienced benefits from the Tomatis Method all experienced relapses. In Daniel's case, I think part of the problem was that low-frequency toning device in the right earpiece. To some extent, it compromised the value of the treatment for his stapedius muscle. However, for someone with Daniel's level of ear damage, much longer exposure to gently amplified, high-frequency sound was needed. Tomatis did not appreciate the differences in the levels of ear damage he was treating. He came up with a one-size-fits-all protocol that makes no sense. More recently, Tomatis therapists, including Berard's AIT therapists, have recognized the need for longer treatment times for autistic children, but that's only a start. People relapse because the ear is vulnerable to damage in so many ways, especially with much more frequent air travel, surgeries, loud sounds, massive prescribing of drugs, substance abuse, and annual flu epidemics. They need an inexpensive way of exercising their ears and they need knowledge of how to do that without harming themselves. More than two hours a day of listening with headphones will negate the desired effects. If your Focused Listening makes you feel tired or edgy, you have overdone it and need to rest. That is a different feeling from natural sleepiness. If I cannot sleep, I will listen to music for half an hour to ease the tension out of the ear muscles so they can relax and allow me to sleep. 

 

The Tomatis people really do not understand why their Method works. They hand out some dangerous advice sometimes for that reason. I discovered an overarching neurological explanation for how Focused Listening works, and it largely applies to the Tomatis Method, too. My paradigm also explains why Tomatis had only partial success with some clients, especially autistics and addicts. My paradigm is a fundamental discovery that explains human behavior, not just an explanation for a particular problem certain people have.

 

I won't go into other aspects of the Tomatis theory that are odious and harmful. But sheerly from the technical standpoint, Tomatis did not understand cerebral integration and in some ways undermined the achievement of left-brain dominance. The binaural method is not ideal for someone with a right-ear problem that prevents strong left-brain dominance. Berard, the colleague, who quit their collaboration over the psychiatric theory Tomatis adopted, actually warned against using his binaural method for schizophrenia. That makes sense from the standpoint of what I learned about the driving force of sound from the right ear underlying cerebral integration. In fact, it may be the case that Focused Listening is a preferable approach for all mental illnesses and learning problems except depression. We don't know yet. Even when the left ear is known to be the source of depression, it may be important to bring the right ear into treatment at some point and we don't know if that should be sooner or later.

 

As you can see, I don't have all the answers. But my success in curing severe conditions that neither of these doctors understood has allowed us to push the frontier forward so we can cautiously try some new approaches to old problems and see what happens.

 

 

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About Tomatis's filtering. I don't think it is necessary to filter all the low sounds out of music to achieve a beneficial effect on the stapedius muscle. Tomatis did that as part of his experimental work with singers' voices. He analyzed them in terms of the frequencies they could and could not produce. That is how he learned that the voice can only produce the frequencies of sound that the ear can hear. However, the ear is a filtering device. The muscle of the eardrum (the tensor tympanum), which is much larger and thicker than the stapedius muscle, tenses in response to loud sound so that the eardrum is somewhat detached from the first bone of hearing (the hammer). That detaches the whole chain of tiny bones from the loud sound. The chain of bones is effective in transmitting the higher frequencies of sound because they are so fragile and can vibrate so fast. As I am sure you know, the porous bony surroundings of the middle and inner ear also conduct sound, especially the lower frequencies of sound. Since the mechanism accepts different types of sound with its different parts, I don't think you have to filter sound further to achieve the desired effects.

 

Of course, if you have a device that is patented and if the client thinks it is essential, you can go on charging a lot of money for treatments. That strategy backfires if treatments must be longitudinal. Most people can hardly afford two weeks of therapy, which was around $6000 a few years ago according to one informant. Fifteen years ago, one Tomatis facility was residential and charged double that for 10 days of treatment. Who could avail themselves of months of treatment but the very wealthy?

 

My reasoning is this: if you can cure one of the most severe kinds of ear damage caused by 10 years or more of substance abuse and if you can do that repeatedly -- as well as helping people with less severe illness or behavior problems -- then the inexpensive headphones and unfiltered music played on cheap walkmans must be good enough. 🙂

 

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11 minutes ago, LaurnaT said:

My reasoning is this: if you can cure one of the most severe kinds of ear damage caused by 10 years or more of substance abuse and if you can do that repeatedly -- as well as helping people with less severe illness or behavior problems -- then the inexpensive headphones and unfiltered music played on cheap walkmans must be good enough.

That I can totally get behind 😀 I don't have a spare 6k hanging around yet. * I really appreciate you answering all my questions in depth, just want you to know that. After the brain tumor surgery 14 years ago, it has been impossible to tease out why my mood has taken such a dive. I've done various things like feldenkrais, talk therapy, acupuncture, massage... Exercise is definitely a factor (I used to dance and run and cannot do either now) so I am going to renew efforts to get to the gym in addition to the kundalini yoga. And the increased oxygen to the brain has to help. I practice "breath of fire," a breathing pranayama, for the last week as it is recommended for brain problems in kundalini. From what I understand of your aural theory, the decrease of left-brain dominance from not hearing on the right side rings true to me for why there has been such a shift in mood. There are a lot of factors -- intersectionality! -- and sound is probably one.

  • Prozac | late 2004-mid-2005 | CT WD in a couple months, mostly emotional
  • Sertraline 50-100mg | 11/2011-3/2014, 10/2014-3/2017
  • Sertraline fast taper March 2017, 4 weeks, OFF sertraline April 1, 2017
  • Quit alcohol May 20, 2017
  • Lifestyle changes: AA, kundalini yoga

 

"If you've seen a monster, even if it's horrible, that's evidence of divinity." – Damien Echols

 

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You are welcome.

Exercise is good, but there, too, you must be careful not to push yourself. I don't know what your right stapedius muscle is doing, but it may have reduced tonus from not working with the inner ear. It may still be connected to the vagus network; that's another question I cannot learn easily from the description of your surgery that I found. It may not be functioning in any capacity. If your left ear muscles are controlling all of your body's muscles, that might be a job that could run into overload.  Even if you feel terrific with extra sound getting to your brain, don't try to use it all. Try only small changes in your routine and stick with them for a week or three before trying more. 

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Hi, Shep,

Perhaps you would like to take a look at my website and add it to your list of music therapies. I made some groundbreaking discoveries about fundamental neurological processes while healing our son Daniel from schizophrenia. I used a simple, unique technique I call Focused Listening that uses gently amplified, high-frequency music directed only to the right ear. That technique allowed me to draw specific conclusions about what was happening in his brain because the hearing system is asymmetric: the right-ear nerve pathway in the communication "loop" is shorter (more efficient) than the left-ear pathway. 

 

During the 9.5 months of Daniel's second healing (he relapsed from his first healing due to drug use), he passed through a spectrum of discrete syndromes in a specific order on his way to normal behavior, normal brain integration, and normal ear strength. Then, I realized he had passed through those same syndromes but very rapidly in a run-up to psychosis. Bipolarity (both bipolar-I and bipolar-II) is on that spectrum. In fact, the only form of mental illness that is usually a left-ear problem is depression. Depression is tricky because it is also a feature of manic-depression aka bipolarity. The audiogram can help to distinguish the two because the French otolaryngologist Guy Berard identified the points of hyperacusis that indicate mild, moderate, and suicidal depression. I have more information on my website: www.northernlightbooks.ca and you can email me if you have specific questions at rtallman[at]xplornet.ca  

 

I am not surprised that music helped you and I think it might help you even more, when you learn about the Tallman paradigm and how to used Focused Listening to improve your speeds of cerebral integration.

Best regards,

Laurna

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20 hours ago, LaurnaT said:

In fact, the only form of mental illness that is usually a left-ear problem is depression.

 

I've never read about depression being caused by a "left-ear problem". What is labeled "depression" can be attributed to many factors. A great book on that is Johann Hari's book Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression

 

This is Hari being interviewed about his findings: 

 

Johann Hari: Lost Connections podcast

 

Income inequality, child abuse, poor diets, loneliness,  not having meaningful work, and disconnection from nature can all cause what is labeled "depression". 

 

21 hours ago, LaurnaT said:

Depression is tricky because it is also a feature of manic-depression aka bipolarity.

 

You're speaking in the language of psychiatry, which doesn't apply to people dealing with a psychiatric drug-induced illness and withdrawal syndrome. Please see:

 

Bipolar 1, bipolar 2, bipolar 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5, 6 -- which bipolar are you?

 

One theory of antidepressant withdrawal syndrome

 

Many people are labeled with "manic-depression" or "bipolar" after being manic due to taking an antidepressant or withdrawing from one. Instead of recognizing the symptoms of mania as an adverse drug or withdrawal effect, they say that the drug "unmasked" a pre-existing psychotic disorder.  Please read Alto's post: 

 

On 5/24/2011 at 10:59 PM, Altostrata said:

In the medical literature on antidepressant withdrawal, symptoms of alerting system disinhibition -- anxiety, panic, sleeplessness, irritability, agitation among them -- are sometimes misidentified as "unmasking" or emergence of bipolar disorder. This leads the clinician to medicate with a cocktail of drugs upon which the patient does poorly, the neuropsychiatric damage from antidepressant withdrawal being compounded by additional medication and attendant reactions.

In Anatomy of an Epidemic, Robert Whitaker describes this process as the way many children, suffering adverse effects from antidepressants, are led into a lifetime of medications for misdiagnosed bipolar disorder.

 

 

21 hours ago, LaurnaT said:

I am not surprised that music helped you and I think it might help you even more, when you learn about the Tallman paradigm and how to used Focused Listening to improve your speeds of cerebral integration.

 

As for recommending your program to me, please note I don't have any problems with my ears, and I don't listen to music with my ears - I listen with my soul.  

 

I don't see anything on your website of interest to someone going through psychiatric drug withdrawal syndrome. 

 

21 hours ago, LaurnaT said:

I made some groundbreaking discoveries about fundamental neurological processes while healing our son Daniel from schizophrenia.

 

 

On 6/2/2018 at 7:02 PM, LaurnaT said:

His family doctor and I worked together to get him off all the drugs he was given in a psychiatric hospital, which included Ativan, lorazepam, perphenazine, risperidone, haloperidol, and possibly others. After three years, I had titrated his remaining drug, Risperdal, to 0.25 mg.

 

It's likely that getting your son off these kinds of toxic drugs is what "healed" your son. Before drugs like these were used to "treat" people labeled with "schizophrenia", the symptoms would disappear on their own. It's the drugs that made chronic an illness that - before the use of neuroleptics -  would heal on its own in a few months to a couple of years. Now people suffer for decades while using these drugs. 

 

The best book I've read so far on this is from Dr. Loren Mosher's ground-breaking research done while he was head of schizophrenia studies at the National Institute of Mental Health: 

 

Soteria: Through Madness to Deliverance

 

Please read through the site and familiarize yourself with what members are dealing with before recommending - and selling - your own solutions. 

 

 

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Hi, Shep,

Getting Dan off most medications did not heal him. He remained schizophrenic for 10 years.

 

He was an alcoholic and drug addict, too. His substance abuse started to improve only after his second healing from schizophrenia. As he developed stronger left-brain dominance, he could learn from his mistakes and start to self-correct.

 

I have defined the spectrum of right-ear mental illnesses. You won't find that in a psychiatry text because it is a new, scientific discovery.

 

I spent many months at the website where Altostrata hung out before she started this one. She inspired my study of SSRI withdrawal syndrome by directing me to the symptoms of 107 people who posted data at that site for the use of researchers, which I happen to be. My experience in curing schizophrenia and other conditions allowed me to show the congruence between those symptoms and those I knew to be ear-related, either from personal experience or through reputable sources. I also happen to be able to help people to heal schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.

 

I agree that psychiatry is bankrupt of answers, but the labels they have attached to syndromes of behavior are based on the observations any attentive person can make. I have been observing abnormal behavior all my life, as my father was bipolar as well as a research scientist. I was raised with the scientific method ingrained in my thinking, even in religion. The neurology I discovered is based in the teaching of the noted French otolaryngologist Alfred Tomatis. His colleague Guy Berard (accent on the e) made important discoveries by using his adaptation of the Tomatis Method, especially in the field of depression. He identified the audio deficits (points of hyperacusis) on the audiogram (at 2 and 8 kHz) that reflect suicidal depression and the specific deficits for the range of depression. He healed 97.7% of his suicidal patients using his music therapy, 90% of them within two weeks. He noticed that clinical depression is usually a left-ear phenomenon, although it can occur in the right ear. The originators of these music therapies and their followers have healed at least one million people.

 

I made a breakthrough when I directed music only to our son's right ear because that method, which healed him (and has proven replicable), allowed me to deduce the neurological explanation for his healing, based on the anatomy Tomatis taught (at the Sorbonne and in his book The Ear and the Voice).  Those two doctors couldn't heal schizophrenia. That would be because their methods were binaural, Berard's strongly emphasizing stimulation of the left ear (which is why it healed depression so well).

 

The right ear controls the dominance of the left-brain in the integrative processes of the brain (my discovery). You need left-brain dominance to be able to exert self-control over any behavior, including tapering off SSRIs. Focused Listening can increase your left-brain's power--literally energy--for doing so. I think ear support can greatly ease and shorten the drug withdrawal process because it did for Daniel and it has for others. 

 

I'm glad music has helped you. You don't need to understand why unless you want to. You can still listen to music with your soul through one ear or the other. But it does make a difference to your brain which ear you choose and whether or not your listening is binaural. Hey,  Focused Listening might even help you with the wave you are in. 

Kindest regards,

Laurna

 

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Music Therapy is a worthy topic of discussion as a potential aid to healing from withdrawal syndrome.

 

Thank you for sharing your theories here, Laurna. I remember you from PaxilProgress.org. I was not on the staff there, we were both members, and while we corresponded, I would not take credit for any part of your highly original work.

 

Please note we don't permit promotion of goods or services for sale on this site, and people offering therapy are required to include licensing information in their signatures.

 

 

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

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Laurna, please discuss your theories in this topic only. You can post a link to it in other topics. Thank you.

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

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HI Laurna,  

I have just read your posts and visited your website.  I plan to start my daughter Glo on your music therapy.  Would it be best to email you directly? Contact you through your website or talk here?   I am trying to get her off risperdal (she is on due to psychosis event in March of 2016 from short term prednisone use for hives) and i was wondering if you have any clients who have tapered 'more successfully' with the music therapy?  I started the right ear music therapy with a violin station on spotify with her head phones today  and i would almost swear I have seen a small improvment almost within the hour? Is that possible? I plan to try to get her up to 2 hours a day  if we see improvements as we continue to taper and then maybe assist her to get back to her normal after she gets off her risperdal completely.

 

I am excited to try this especially as i think i have seen it 'calm her' and help with her speech just today!  

2016 - Oct -Daughter started Risperdal (for steroid induced psychosis that never went away after stopping prednisone)

Nov - dose increases stopped at 1.5mg in Dec

2017 - Jan- weaned from 1.5 to 1.0 in 2 weeks then 1.0 to .5 in two weeks and then off. Feb. 3 weeks of increased psychosis, pacing, insomnia, other awful symptoms so late Feb  - Back on 1.5 mg Risperdal. May  - decrease to 1.25mg, two weeks later 1.0mg - symptoms started again. June - held steady at 1.25mg for 6 weeks and switched to liquid (3 ml syringe). July - started 10% taper every 3 weeks, October -  .8 mg, December - .7 mg .

2018 -Jan- 0.65 mg,  Feb- 0.59,  Mar-0.50, late April - .40mg, July- .36 mg, Aug - switched from 3 mL syringe to 1 mL syringe for more accuracy (her dad and i were not sure we were giving her the same dose when in between the 'dashes' on the 3 mL syringe.) Aug -.30 mg (3mL syr)/.44 mg (1 mL syr) difference due to med in the tip of both syringes). Sept- .28 mg (3mL syr)/.42 mg (1 mL syr). Oct - .16 mg (3 mL syr)/.30 mg (1 mL syr). Nov.- .06mg (3mL syr)/.20 mg (1mLsyr). Dec. - tip only/unmeasurable (3mL syr)/.10 mg (1mLsyr)

2019- Jan -.06 mg (1 mL syr), Feb- .025 mg (1 mL syr), Feb 27, 2019 - jumped to zero!!

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Hi, Glosmom,

It would be better for you to email me at rtallman[at]xplornet.ca because my emails can become rather long-winded. Briefly, yes, your daughter could respond very, very quickly to music stimulation. I have seen responses within a few seconds as high-frequency sound animates facial muscles, moves through the vestibular canals to allow the person to sit or stand straight, enters the left-brain to allow greater rationality and clearer speech, and so on through a list of ear-body connections.  Prednisone affects muscle, including the tiny muscles in the ears. If you look at Wikipedia it mentions bipolarity as a possible side effect from that drug, but I know of at least one case of severe psychosis that turned homicidal, although prednisone wasn't the only drug involved in that tragedy. That said, it takes time to build strength and flexibility into a damaged ear muscle and that is also an individual matter. We can discuss the pros and cons when you email. Thanks so much for asking!

Laurna

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Hi, Glosmom,

I don't know how to post my email on my profile and didn't leave it here for you earlier today. I am at rtallman[at]xplornet.ca 

I have scanned your daughter's history here. Happy to help if you are looking for more information.

Best regards,

Laurna

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On 7/29/2018 at 8:23 PM, Altostrata said:

Please note we don't permit promotion of goods or services for sale on this site, and people offering therapy are required to include licensing information in their signatures.

Hi, Alto,

I am not promoting goods or services for sale on this site. I ask people with serious problems to pm me because the glare of public view is restrictive and I can protect confidentiality. I can share longer downloads. I can cut and paste other kinds of information more easily. I can share other information for which I have been granted restricted permission to share.

 

People listen to music with headphones by the millions all the time, sometimes with one ear or the other. I explain to people what is happening to the ear, the brain, and behavior when they do that. I recommend that they do that wisely and knowledgeably. If you give a programmed iPod to a senior in a nursing home, as the Music & Memory folks are doing, you are offering a "music therapy." But you certainly don't have to be licensed to do that. Sharing music that way is reversing Alzheimer's symptoms and other dementias, but nowhere near as effectively as it might be. They don't know why the music is changing symptoms; they have some theories. I can explain why. Explaining to someone how listening to music will affect them doesn't require licensing. Other people here are already recommending music without understanding how music accomplishes its effects. Music actually can heal people of all kinds of problems: asthma, hay fever, eczema, dyslexia, and most of the mental illnesses you have heard of. It's a matter of doing it every day, knowing which ear to listen with, and sticking with the listening long enough to make the ear muscle strong. About a million people have been healed by practitioners of the Tomatis Method. They charge a small fortune for treatments using special headphones (that I think are actually harmful) and filtering the music to lose the lower frequencies. But ordinary headphones and CDs accomplish the same things! We can become smarter about how we listen to music. 

 

Focused Listening is not for sale; it's a recommended way of applying music stimulation to an ear. How could it be? (I wish I knew!) Listening to music with just one ear or the other has different effects on the nervous system because the neurology of the two ears is not symmetrical. You can actually harm yourself if you have some kind of ear weakness that is destabilizing your brain (psychosis or suicidal depression, for example) if you stimulate the wrong ear. That's why Tomatis and Berard, who could cure many mental and learning problems with music, couldn't cure schizophrenia: their method was binaural and schizophrenia/psychosis is a right-ear problem. If you have an ear weakness, like the daughter of Glosmom who never recovered from prednisone, which weakens the body's muscles, including the stapedius muscles of the ears, you can listen to music intentionally to strengthen the ear muscles. It's literally a kind of physical exercise for the tiniest muscle(s) in the body.

 

Glosmom could see the effects of the music on her daughter within minutes. I have had the same experience often. The day Dan picked up my headphones after 10 years of being schizophrenic and began to show those small changes in expression, posture, alertness, etc. I knew the music was affecting his schizophrenia the way the Tomatis Method music had affected his dyslexia. A month later, he was off his tiny bit of Risperdal and he was symptom-free. I think what I have learned could shorten tapering times and help to alleviate withdrawal symptoms because I have seen music do that when it is used appropriately.

 

I have noticed that music usually also cures the underlying condition for which the drugs were prescribed because those problems essentially are ear problems that most doctors have not taken the time to learn about. (That is what my SSRI study shows.) Tomatis knew that the ear(s) were involved in schizophrenia, autism, and other conditions even if he hadn't figured out the right-ear trick applied for long enough. You have learned a tremendous amount about drugs and the harm they do that doctors also have not taken the time to learn about. I have had a fair amount of success teaching people to listen to music intentionally to help themselves. Today I tried to attach a disclaimer to my profile along the lines of yours. I hope I did it correctly and that it helps.  

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3 hours ago, LaurnaT said:

I am not promoting goods or services for sale on this site.

 

Please clarify if members would have to purchase the books you have for sell on your website in order to do the training you are advocating. 

 

If not, this needs to be made clear when you direct people to your website or invite them to email or PM you. 

 

 

 

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Hi, Shep,

I have uploaded to this site for free to members here two things that I usually charge for on my website (and I don't know my way around this site very well so it will take me time to find out how to link to those uploads). The first is a study I did of the symptoms of SSRI withdrawal syndrome, which were offered to researchers by members of Paxil Progress where I met Altostrata. She pointed me to that cache of data. I have a background in research design, running projects, etc. so I downloaded that data and I analyzed it (very simply) from the standpoint of what I had learned about ear-related symptoms. By ear-related, I mean symptoms that I or some other researcher saw vanish when the ear (sometimes the right ear, sometimes the left ear, sometimes both) had been stimulated with high-frequency music (violin music, sometimes filtered to remove the lower frequencies, sometimes straight from an ordinary CD). That study showed that a great many withdrawal symptoms are identical to the symptoms of ear damage. That does not mean that all withdrawal symptoms are ear-related. However, the connection of the middle ear muscle (the stapedius) to the vagus network that runs from the middle of the brain to the end of the digestive system means the ear has an influence on that huge network and that huge network feeds back to the ear. That type of neurological "loop" is called "cybernetic" because it has a point of control: that tiny ear muscle. As sound flows into the ear, those sound frequencies directly impact that little muscle. The sound frequencies also impact it because it controls the transfer of that sound stream through the bone it's attached to, the stapes (stirrup), which vibrates against the oval window. That is the thin tissue that covers the entry of sound into the inner ear where the sound energy affects the vestibular canals (balance and motion) and the cochlea (the frequency analyzer that allows the left-brain language center to understand and produce thought and language). That sound to the left-brain normally makes it dominant over the right-brain in their integrative processes (my discovery from having healed our son's schizophrenia). Thus, sound entering the ear has a huge effect not only on the brain but on the whole body and the condition of that tiny muscle is vital to all of those nerve networks.

 

The second upload is my summary of my discoveries Awakening Normal and it includes a description of the very simple "Focused Listening" technique Daniel used to heal his schizophrenia. (1) the music must be high-frequency, such as classical violin concertos (2) unless the problem is clinical depression (and here is where having an audiogram is important because depression shows up on the audiogram and usually is a left ear problem) the music should be focused on the right ear. The left earpiece of the headphones can be blocked with a wad of Kleenex or a thick cloth  (3) no one should ever use headphones for longer than 2 hours per day or that tiny muscle will become so fatigued that the benefits of listening to music will be reversed. An hour to an hour and a half is enough. That's it. I am sure tens of thousands of people do that without realizing they are making a specific impact on their bodies.

 

Because the technique was limited to the right ear and because it altered a specific array of symptoms, I could make certain deductions as to how the music changed those symptoms. The important conclusion is that the ear itself changes. The stapedius muscle becomes "toned" or "tonic," meaning it's more flexible and stronger. It becomes more able to carry all of the frequencies offered to it. It has more endurance. It can respond more sensitively to the frequencies running through the ear. Some of those changes show up on the audiogram. Thus, the "before" and "after" audiograms Tomatis and Berard made of their patients allowed them to specify the weakness of one ear or the other or both that were involved in specific types of learning disability or mental illness. But anyone at all could see the changes in behavior, learning ability, thinking patterns, digestive upsets, etc. these patients had. Just as anyone can see the difference between severe schizophrenia and normal brain function.

 

If a person is heavily medicated, the person's reaction to music may be hard to notice. If the person is taking only one or two drugs at a low dosage, you can often see responses immediately. That is what happened to Glomom's daughter when her right ear was exposed to high-frequency music and that she reported here a couple of days ago. All mental illness is a condition of sound-deprivation to the brain, and it depends which half of the brain is sound-deprived what the symptoms will be because each half of the brain is specialized in certain ways.

 

If you email me at rtallman[at]xplornet.ca I can send you those two downloads.

 

Because of my research interests, I am in touch with other people dealing with "mental illness" -- and some other problems not labeled as "mental" such as Hashimoto's thyroiditis that has symptoms of psychosis. The thyroid gland is fed by the same nerves that feed the larynx (voice) so its function is part of the ear's influence on those nerves. I am learning about other approaches to treating those symptoms, too. We are working on the cutting edge of a new frontier of knowledge where the brain is concerned. And where the ear is concerned. Sadly, the use of certain chemicals as "medication" has tossed a monkey wrench into those delicate, finely tuned body systems. Stopping the damage from chemicals is the first line of approach and the people at this site have earned their chops doing that. Restoring damaged tissues is just as vital and I have a unique contribution to make there that might make the #1 approach faster. Both approaches can be made simultaneously. Plus others. This is a great place to share information. Thanks for listening!

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Thanks, Laurna.

 

Please note that Laurna's theory is her own, as is her therapy program. I do not know if it works or not.

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

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Thanks, Laurna.  Glo is with her dad for the next several days and he plans to keep up the focused listening. I will check back in with you once some time has passed. Just an fyi, Glo is also dyslexic.....this could be very, very interesting.  :) peace   glosmom

2016 - Oct -Daughter started Risperdal (for steroid induced psychosis that never went away after stopping prednisone)

Nov - dose increases stopped at 1.5mg in Dec

2017 - Jan- weaned from 1.5 to 1.0 in 2 weeks then 1.0 to .5 in two weeks and then off. Feb. 3 weeks of increased psychosis, pacing, insomnia, other awful symptoms so late Feb  - Back on 1.5 mg Risperdal. May  - decrease to 1.25mg, two weeks later 1.0mg - symptoms started again. June - held steady at 1.25mg for 6 weeks and switched to liquid (3 ml syringe). July - started 10% taper every 3 weeks, October -  .8 mg, December - .7 mg .

2018 -Jan- 0.65 mg,  Feb- 0.59,  Mar-0.50, late April - .40mg, July- .36 mg, Aug - switched from 3 mL syringe to 1 mL syringe for more accuracy (her dad and i were not sure we were giving her the same dose when in between the 'dashes' on the 3 mL syringe.) Aug -.30 mg (3mL syr)/.44 mg (1 mL syr) difference due to med in the tip of both syringes). Sept- .28 mg (3mL syr)/.42 mg (1 mL syr). Oct - .16 mg (3 mL syr)/.30 mg (1 mL syr). Nov.- .06mg (3mL syr)/.20 mg (1mLsyr). Dec. - tip only/unmeasurable (3mL syr)/.10 mg (1mLsyr)

2019- Jan -.06 mg (1 mL syr), Feb- .025 mg (1 mL syr), Feb 27, 2019 - jumped to zero!!

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3 hours ago, LaurnaT said:

rtallman[at]xplornet.ca

I would like the downloads, but this doesn't appear to be a valid email address.  

2007 - 2008          Paxil and Klonopin

2008 - 2012           Mirtazapine following CT from Klonopin and Paxil.  

2012                       Unsuccessful taper of mirtazapine; reinstated.     

7/2013 - 1/2014   Successfully tapered mirtazapine from 7.5 mg to 0.00.

 

Sertraline (Zoloft) Taper  Aug 4, 2017 - July 18, 2021 - Current dose 0.00

Alprazolam (Xanax)  July 19, 2017 - Nov 15, 2021 0.25 mg.

Began 10% taper  Nov 16, 2021 - 0.25  Jan 11, 2022 - 0.203;  Jan 13, 2023 - 0.0499;  Jan 21, 2024 - 0.0137;  Mar 17, 2024 - 0.0099;  Taper is 96% complete.

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