Winning the Lottery

Most parents want what is best for their children. I know I do. That is why I have vowed to leave no stone left unturned in our journey to help Travis.

Recently I heard a commercial on the radio. It goes something like this - “is your child able to recite all the facts about sharks or dinosaurs, but they cannot remember to turn in their homework? Parents, it is not your fault. Life is different today. Your ten year old’s brain development may be at the six year old level. That’s why you need to call us. We can help train their brain”.

I have written about therapies that we had tried for Travis in my past blogs. In my blog titled, “Long and Winding Road”, I wrote about a vision therapy program that I had looked into. I described the therapy and explained why we decided that it was not a good fit for our family.

In my blog titled, “Blue Colored Lenses”, I wrote about Irlen Syndrome. We did try the Irlen Filters. We were skeptical, but decided trying this therapy was doable for our family. We pleaded with Travis for five months to wear the glasses. He just would not leave them on. I came to the conclusion that if they were helping him in any way he would want to wear them. I had learned to pick my battles and decided that this one was not worth fighting.

While writing about Irlen Syndrome in my blog I did a bit of research to find out what was currently being said about the efficacy of the Irlen Method therapy. I quoted an article written by Steven Novella from www.sciencebasedmedicine.org. He described Irlen Syndrome as a scientific zombie. If you have not read that blog go back and read his actual quote. He talks about therapies that have been discarded by science because they failed in rigorous evaluation, and yet they are unkillable.

If you’ve been following along you know that Travis was prescribed several pharmaceuticals. With scary side-effects.

We had a Doctor of Naturopathy perform a hair follicle test. It was determined that some of his mineral levels were out of whack. As a result we bought various drops and put them in a daily smoothie. I made a smoothie for me as well. So we could drink them together. My purpose was to tell him, see it’s not that bad. Even though it really was.

What else? Oh yes. We had a bioenergetic evaluation done on Travis. I wrote about this in my blog titled, “Hocus Pocus”. This evaluation measured electrical responses and energy flow to identify stressors or situations that might impede the electrical process.

Travis also did biofeedback sessions with another medical practitioner.

He tried TrueHope, a vitamin/mineral supplement program.

Next was the auditory processing evaluation. I wrote about that in my blog, “Good Enough for Me”. Travis was found to have an auditory processing disorder. Travis was fitted with an ear filter that helped to filter out background noise. And his school at the time followed the suggestions on the evaluation.

In my blog, “A Promise is a Promise”, I write about the Davis Autism Approach. Was this treatment a fad? Testimonials showed that it worked for some people.

There is actually a reason that I brought up many of the stones that we unturned. Before I get to the reason let me tell you about another evaluation.

In 2015, I brought Travis for an evaluation at a Functional Medicine clinic. I’m sure I heard one of those commercials about retraining the brain. Come in now…we have a special price for an evaluation.

I checked out their website. One of the services offered was Neurofeedback Therapy. It listed many conditions that can be treated with neurofeedback. Including ADD/ADHD, Depression, Anxiety, Autism. Travis’s diagnoses.

Per their website, ”Neurofeedback is a therapy that utilizes a computer-based program that assesses brainwave activity and provides immediate feedback. The program uses signals to reorganize and retrain brainwaves to treat neurological and mental health disorders. Neurofeedback has been yielding positive results for many people with neurological symptoms.

Neurofeedback works with a computer program similar to a video game. Sensors will be attached to your head, and you will watch pictures and listen to music while the computer gathers information about your brainwave frequencies. The computer program will then redirect your brainwaves toward the desired activity.”

As with many evaluations in the past, Travis was deemed to be a good candidate for Neurofeedback Therapy. Likely needing 60 sessions at $150 per session. $9,000. There was a break if you prepaid. $7,500. Still a lot of money. You would really need to be a believer to prepay $7,500.

Before committing to that amount of money I did some research. Many studies have been done on neurofeedback therapy and its effectiveness on the treatment of many diseases. Although non-invasive, its validity has been questioned in terms of conclusive scientific evidence.

Even this website said, “Results documented by scientific literature”. What does that mean? That the people that own these businesses or sell this equipment can write about how great it works using scientific words. I don’t think it means it has been rigorously evaluated in clinical studies designed to eliminate all forms of bias.

So as I have done many times before, I analyzed the pros and the cons.

Pros: Travis feels better. Travis does better.

Cons: It’s expensive and not covered by insurance; time-consuming (for both of us); might take months to show desired improvements (if any), benefits not proven to be long-lasting; current research does not support conclusive results about its efficacy.

I also wasn’t convinced that it would be done properly. The doctor has staff that performs the therapy. How well are they trained? I had heard a story about a similar business that offered a position to a person with no related experience. They were going to train onsite. Was it possible that I would be paying $150 per hour for a service that was going to be provided by an employee earning $15 per hour?

Obviously the cons outweighed the pros for me. This evaluation has literally been sitting in my in basket on my desk for five years. Although there is anecdotal stories about how Neurofeedback Therapy has helped some people, it was not enough to sway me. Keep in mind, each family needs to decide for themselves the path they take. This therapy may be a yes for others.

Why a no for us? Because with each of the above therapies that Travis has tried, (because of our pinky swear), we have yet to see any real or lasting results. I just was not convinced this therapy would be any different. And he was then and still is suffering from treatment burnout.

What might change my mind? A published scientific clinical study, peer reviewed with no bias. Winning the lottery. Travis being dressed and ready to go, and happy about it, no complaints, for 60 weeks.

Winning the lottery, in my opinion, being the most probable.

“What’s the difference between a man buying a lottery ticket and a man arguing with his wife? The man buying the lottery ticket actually has a chance to win!” - Author Unknown