TLDR: Cognitive FX works. Almost two years of going to doctors with minor improvement versus 1 week of the Cognitive FX program got me back to 95% pre-injury.

Injury
My injury occurred about two years ago. My concussion came from a surfboard hitting me on the head. I was lucky that the impact was on the top of the board, so I only had a minor cut. The day it happened, I had a pretty back headache and was feeling a little dizzy, but I didn't realize the hell I was about to go through.

Initial Treatment
I went to Urgent Care the next day and was told that I had a concussion and might need stitches if the glue didn't hold. They advised that I avoid any type of stimulus until I started feeling better. So I went home and stayed in my room with no lights or noise for about 3 days. The headache started to diminish, but my balance started to get worse, and my sensitivity to light increased light crazy. I had to always have my blinds down and the lights off or dimmed. I always had my phone on night mode and couldn't look at it long before I started to get serious eye fatigue. This went on for a couple of weeks, and then I went to see a "concussion specialist."

Specialist Treatment
The concussion specialist in LA was a sports medicine doctor, and they were the referrals that all the family practice doctors recommended. I went there, and they did a bunch of tests and interviews and then prescribed a PT program 2x a week for 3 weeks. Most of the program was focused on balance and my neck. It didn't really help with my main symptoms at the time: brain fog, balance, and vision. After completing the program and meeting with the doctor again and telling him that I hadn't seen much improvement, he said I needed to see a PM&R or a neurologist.

I called the neurologist and they were booked out 4 months. The PM&R doctor could get me in much sooner, so I visited them. They were more focused on adapting to the injury rather than addressing the issues. Between the PM&R and the occupational therapist they taught me some good strategies for dealing with triggers but not how to address the issues. I left that program feeling a little better, but mainly, they armed me with trigger avoidance strategies.

So, at this point, I am starting to get a little depressed. Really hoping that the neurologist is going to have the magic bullet. So 9 months after my injury I get my first appointment with the neurologist. He met with me and ordered a CT scan of my brain. It came back clean, and I had a follow-up appointment. He told me that my brain looked fine, with no damage. He could prescribe me some medicine for my headaches and inability to sleep, but not much he could do for the vision and balance stuff. So I left the office with Erenumab and Trazadone scripts and the guidance that things will take time to heal, but given a clean brain scan.

Medicine/Long-Term Treatment
Fast forward a year, the medicine kind of worked but didn't get rid of all the symptoms, and the side effects started to get progressively worse the longer I was taking them. I was still dealing with my concussion issues, which caused me to get depressed and constantly fatigued. None of the doctors I had visited had any other ideas on what to do for treatment they all said I needed more time to heal. But I was getting worse I was moody, quick to snap and was barely able to work. So I decided to start looking for answers. I got on this forum, Reddit, and Google Scholar and started searching. As I was searching a blog from Cognitive FX starting coming up more and more.

Cognitive FX
After reading probably 30 different blog posts and seeing their reviews, I got a consult with Dr. Allen at Cognitive Fx. It was so nice to talk to a doctor who knew what I was going through and was seeing patients like me every week. I scheduled a fMRI (not like an MRI, more like a movie of your brain) to see if they could help me. Sure enough, the scan was pretty bad. It showed a lot of hyperactivation in regions in my brain (probably the reason for the brain fog, headaches, etc) as well as some areas that weren't firing at all, like 3 standard deviations outside of the norm. So after the report I scheduled treatment. I was super nervous because the treatment plus scans were $13,000. I had maxed out my deductible and out-of-pocket with insurance, but since they have patients from all over the US, they don't contract with insurance. And then I had to wait of about 4 weeks to get in for treatment. The wait was really hard I was up and down like crazy because I had been to so many doctors and treatments that hadn't worked. I was getting depressed just thinking that I wasn't going to get better.

Cognitve FX EPIC Treatment
When I tell you this was the most challenging week of my life I am not kidding. You are in the clinic for 7-9 hours each day, getting treatment. They do the Prepare Activate and Rest cycle over and over to your brain, trying to help it get back to normal. I usually have trouble getting to sleep, but I would get home at 6 and be out by 8, sleeping for 12 hours a night. I was really hard first day I had the worst headache I thought they were pushing me to hard. I met with a PT, SLP, COG, OT, and LMT on the first day. They focused on my vision, balance and my executive reasoning. Day two was the same but they added in some more therapy devices I just felt crazy tired all day. Then, on day three, I kid you not, I woke up at the Marriott and was feeling good. I panicked I was scared to go to therapy because I didn't want to ruin the feeling. Annie, the nurse, said it was super common for people to start feeling more energy and better on Wednesday. Thursday came I had no headache the entire day, they were flashing lights in my eye and having me balance on this cool moveable floor and I was doing great. I was feeling super good I went for a walk after treatment and the start was by a busy road. This normally would have given me a major headache, but I did fine. Friday was the next day, and this is when they do the second scan in the afternoon to see how your brain responded. Overall my brain got much better I will have to figure out how to share the before and after scans. Only a couple of regions didn't get back in the normal band, but I was feeling better than I had since the injury. When Dr. Fong reviewed my scan, she said by week six, my brain should normalize and calm down, so I should see improvements.

Conclusion
Cognitive FX is unique all the therapists/specialists are on staff all the clinics in LA would refer you to someone else. I had seen a family practice, sports medicine, PM&R, Neurologist, and Radiologist and didn't get the right treatment. Cognitive FX is far more intensive and is the only place I am aware of that uses fMRI for treatment. If you have gone more than a year not getting better with the regular clinics, I would highly recommend Cognitive FX. They rock. Everyone is so nice, and they have a novel approach to brain injury. I am almost 4 months out since I started their process, and everything is still good. In the first month, I was waiting for the brain fog and headaches to come back. Now I don't even think about them. I only had one headache since treatment, and that was probably due to dehydration. I hope this helps people who are losing hope of getting better. I certainly was thinking I was screwed for the rest of my life but happy to report I got my life back. Hope this information helps as you are trying to navigate your injury. Don't give up.

This reads like sales copy. On the off chance you happen to work for cognitive FX, this like the other cognitive FX sales copy posts, would be FTC violations....up to $50k per violation

It was written as a positive review. I want people to know they exist because I had no idea until I wasted a ton of time. If people have Kaiser, they can't do **** for people with PCS issues they don't authorize after 6 months.

What got you feeling better? I am not saying it's the only way. What clinics in NYC would you recommend? I don't have a high-powered job, so my options were more limited. It was a financial stretch to go and a big risk. If it didn't work, I would have been screwed.

Much love and positive vibes. I am genuinely interested.

I see migraine specialists

Learned to walk and talk again, by PT, OT, ST.....
After that I took up all kinds of yoga, landed on Kundalini and it really helped in all aspects of my life.

Went to coffee shops for years learning how to meet and communicate with others.

Learned to meditate threw Mantra.

Got a Service Dog.