ABC in Washington, DC did a story on our work.  Forgotten head trauma can ruin your life. Check out this video. Also, I usually think tennis is a relatively safe sport, but not for some people who lack impulse and anger control. I bet his scan before the injury was not among the healthiest.
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0408/508342.html
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/tennis/04/02/bc.ten.bloodiedyouzhny.ap/index.html?cnn=yes
Also, due to the success of the PBS special, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life hit the New York Times bestseller list for the second straight week.
DanielÂ
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23 Comments
I don’t know if you’re able to give advice without seeing the patient but I wanted to know, based on your website, within the 6 different types of ADD listed, if someone has the symptoms of both type 3 & 4 what supplements would you suggest. I saw that there were 2 supplements that were common between both types which were the multiple vitamin & the NeurOmega fish oil but the rest differ. Do you suggest a combination of the other supplements for a 3 & 4 type? Your opinion would be greatly appreciated!
I failed to mention in my previous blog statement that my son sustained a skull fracture at 2 weeks of age & was hospitalized for a week. He now seems to be exhibiting behaviors of both types 3 & 4 of ADD. He excels in school especially in math, although he has trouble with reading comprehension, but seems to be extremely far behind in his social skills/interactions as well as his overall behavior. Both type 3 & 4 of ADD seem to describe him pretty well but I’m not sure if he has any other symptoms of another diagnosis. I’m very leary about putting him on medication so I would prefer to take the supplement route so I would appreciate any feedback you could give. Many, many thanks…
I have a question. How many times a day we hear “In my heart I know it is true”, .
The Bible says to “hide the word away in our hearts”. I love you with all my heart..
My cousin had been an avid reader of the scripture and developed a very rapid case of Alzheimers disease that took all of her brain that in the end she was less than an animal in behavior and spent most of her days in repitition of motion and no speech. The one thing she responded to was the hearing of the word of God and would be calm for hours if listening. I think it was truly in her heart and that brings me to my question. Why can’t there be a scan for the heart to see what it is holding? How does it work when in the case of a heart transplant patient, the patient takes on a completely different feeling about sports or a certain food that the donor would have liked. What is the connection? Do we have brain cell in our hearts that keep this knowledge?
I am so glad “Change Your Brain Change Your Life” is finally getting the exposure it deserves, maybe more people will “get real” now! Yes!!
Have you had any experience with high fevers causing brain issues? While in grade school I would read the World Book Encyclopedia for fun. I learned all kinds of vocabulary that could and did get me in trouble! After a very high fever, reading became a chore. I could read about 10-15 minutes before I would get VERY sleepy. This has continued until recently, after reading Healing ADD and taking the book tests I found that I was probably an inattentive ADD. The tyrosine helps a lot. Thanks…
Dr. Amen,
You are certainly a busy man and I am glad for it. You are bringing important health information in a way that is long over do.
I’m working with a production company and hope that you might have a few minutes to discuss some opportunities.
Thank you
where do I get to read Dr. Amen’s responses?
Dr. Amen, any sport that has a ball being tossed around has the potential to be dangerous. In high school and other youth sport activities I have sustained head injuries. I’ve been hit in the head with a basket ball, a volley ball, a soft ball, and a tennis ball, and of course I’ve been hit in other places as well. Thankfully we were all generally amateurs and didn’t have strong arms of doom. Then again maybe the amateur thing is what caused the injuries to happen in the first place. I dunno. In fact, I didn’t actively remember this until I read this blog. I remembered other head injuries though. >.<
I was struck by a car and had a major head trauma to the back of my head.
The back of my head hit the windshield squarely and broke the glass.
I was in and out of consciousness and had amnesia for several days.
How do I separate my diagnosis of mental illness from head trauma issues?
I have been labeled with so many diagnoses I don’t know who to believe.
Thanks,
Mike Siletti
I am 50 years old. When I was young I particpated in many sports. Twice I was knocked out from concusions. Last year I had mono and EBV. Now I have a dfficult time remembering things. I’ve always kept a lot of information in my head with no problems until now. What might I do to improve this situation?
What do you think is the reason for snaping in anger?
I had an incident recently that completely bewildered me. I was at the grocery store and I am in a wheelchair so I put the basket on my lap to shop. I had got some clorox but it had leaked on my brand new pant suit that I had worn for the first time that day. I got mad. And the anger kept on going as if it took on a life of its own. I could not stop it. I tried to calm down with some Klonipin but it seemed to fuel the anger more and more. I was truly out of control and couldn’t stop. I was calling people on the phone and cussing them out (even those I love dearly – what an embarrassment later and I had to apologize to them all – I felt just terrible.) I ended up in the emergency room and they put me in the Psych ward, locked doors and took all of medication away from me. It was horrible. But they did let me out in three days – not a lifetime but I just don’t know what happened. I do have a history of a previous head injury in car wreck 20 years ago. My boyfriend (one of whom I cussed out and told him all of the things I hated about him – oops) said I had a brainstorm. But I cannot find any information on this site or other sites. My boyfriend had a stepson with a head injury and said he had seen the very same thing happen with him – getting angered and just losing it. Is this real? None of my doctors seem to want to give me a reason for this happening. I do not take drugs other than ones prescribed by a doctor and I take them religiously and daily. What could have happened? If anyone has anything that could help me with this I would be so greatly appreciated. I am afraid to do anything because if I get angry again who knows what will happen. This is very frusterating. And the ADD thing – I think I have it also. My pituitary gland is not sitting in its groove…Sjogren’s Syndrome. This was discovered from x-rays of my head at the time of the accident but I don’t think the accident did it. I think I was born this way given my horrible menustration period – pain and PMS and Dysphoria before there were words for it, I had it. I am post menopause now though but could that have played into it. Clorox leaking onto my pants and ruining them even though they were new just should not have produced this reaction. And anyway I am sewing person and know about fabric and I can fix it…after I calmed down I realized this but while the anger episode was going on there was no reasoning with me whatsoever. I am afraid. I have doctor’s appointments scheduled in the next three weeks. But I am really scared of it happening again and who knows what I will do. Perhaps even harm myself or someone else. Has anyone heard of this before?
It took 13 years from the onset of non-recurring MS, fibromyalgia, cervial, and lumbar damage to even have proper imaging. It takes a healer to think beyond the box by using the SPECT scan and knowledge of behavior in the areas of the brain as diagnosis.
I have not had a SPECT scan for 13 years. I asked for it when the MRI’s at the time where not effective of my brain. I now will be asking for a 2008 SPECT, I know this is going to help my team of healers bump up the pain and cognitive managemnet. THANK YOU THANK YOU! Please come to South Florida with a lecture.
On your way to south Florida, please stop somewhere in the panhandle of Florida for a lecture!
Dear Dr. Amen,
I heard about “Change your brain…” on PBS and I got it from the public library. It was such an eye-opener to me that I bought the book as well to be able to read it again. I have already forgotten lots it.
When I was kid I fell off a bicycle hitting my head, was unconscious for about 30 Minutes, could not remember the incident, was in the hospital for a concussion. I now have trouble memorizing things, getting things in order, just organize myself. I cannot remember names well, have thoughts on the “tip of my tongue” and can’t get them out. I am in my early 50ies now. My husband died young in 2002, and I cannot get my life in order. Your mentioning people with brain injuries have become homeless have hit home for me. I just have not been able to take are of myself and gone down that road a bit which frightens me.
I hit the right side of my head back then. I always had trouble with math (and still have) but I can read, write well (I write for a little newspaper in my native language). As a kid I had trouble finishing my homework, was dillydallying around for hours; just could not concentrate and finish it. It was painful, but nobody was talking about ADD back then.
I don’t have health insurance, because I could not hold a steady job. I am taking a long time to learn on a job. At least, I taught myself pretty well how to use a computer.
Good anxiety is helping me to use good judgment when I am on the road but it is often paralyzing me in my daily life and moving on.
What do I have to do to get some help??? I’d do anything for a SPECT scan and meds to get myself out of this. I just want to function normally and be able to take care of myself.
Thank you for your patience reading through all this. I appreciate it very much.
I am a Prevention/Intervention Specialist in middle and high schools. Recently diagnosed with a seizure disorder.
I teach students about the effects of drugs/alcohol on the brain. I am interested because I have had several traumatic brain events, including drowning and being unconscious when I was 3. My older sister fell off a bunk bed and was unconscious for 3 days when she was 5. My dad used to knock our heads together when we were little as a form of punishment, not to mention throwing anything within his reach (and he had good aim). I got “dinged”when I fell out of trees,into an empty swimming pool, off bicycles, wearing no helmet, running into the hard skull of my brother, during football was hit over the head and knocked unconscious by my sister. I believe my mother drank when she was pregnant with me. I remember chewing the windowsills before age 5, of the condemned apartments in Chicago in the 50’s. I also played the “chocking game as a 10 yr old, which make us go unconscious for a few seconds.
No wonder I have a seizre disorder!
It seems that Dr. Amen had his heart in the right place. However, his fees for initial consultation and assessment is horribly expensive-$3000+. I am alarmed that Dr. Amen would suggest medications (non herbal) to treat anxiety, for this is what I suffer from. As science has shown but is almost always ignored these anti-anxiety meds in the form of SSRI’s, tricyclates, MOAI’s, etc do more harm then good. Their side effects are harsh, common, frequent, and even permanent. As a society, we are always looking for the magic pill to fix our problem….it makes no difference if it is a herbal or chemical remedy, it’s still a pill. We need to find the root of the problem, not just address the symptoms. Unfortunately, this is not how psychiatrists function. They only deal with the symptoms.
I am very curious to read what Dr. Amen recommends when I find and read his book, likely from the public library. I may fork over the money for the CD’s or search for them on the various file sharing sites if I am impressed by his methodology and ideology.
At least for this guy, we can all help him remember that he ‘hit his head’ later on in life…
How does one go about getting a SPECT scan done? Can you request it? Does it have to be done by or does one have to be referred by a neuropsychologist? Two of my sons have had head traumas (football, baseball, soccer, falling off a roof, a slide, etc.) and they also are diagnosed with ADHD/IT and on meds. One also deals with bipolar disorder and GAD while the other has been dx’d w/cyclothymia, GAD, panic disorder, etc. They are on meds and doing terrific! They are highly functioning and brilliant. One, however, is developing some muscle tremors and is having problems with OC muscle movements in his face. I want to know if this is caused by physical damage from head trauma or from the effects of medicinal treatments. It would have been tremendously helpful to have a baseline SPECT scan when they were younger, before medicines, but it would still be quite helpful, I believe. so… HOW do we arrange for them? Both boys are covered by two insurances.
Where do you find the answers to these blogs?
excelent, thanks.
Can you please tell me the ratio of DHA/EPA in NeurOmega?
Wow! I have waited, it seems a lifetime for a person like Dr. Amen. I fell from a cliff in 1990. Have no recollection of the event except just prior to and waking in a primitive hospital in a third world country. I have had a bout every year with the exception of pregnancy and was stable from 2001 to 2005. Since then I have suffered again yearly, sometimes twice. I had 7 electric shock sessions in 2000, which resulted in nothing more than memory loss, confusion and throwing up. I was desperate. I have been depressed now since January. Waiting for medication to kick in seems eternal. Does the SPECT scan reveal evidence if the person is not depressed when it is done? My dad believes in “power of the mind” you can will yourself out if you really want to. I have told him that I know my brain looks different when I am depressed as opposed to when not. What is the cost? Does insurance cover it? Fighting daily to keep from ending life is exhausting. When dreams are more pleasant than reality and death seems the only way out, it is a sad life. This is the first sign of hope I have had. I have had cancer and would take that any day over what I am feeling. I have to remind myself in the darkest of moments that I can not make my boys suffer so that I can be at peace. The sacrifice of a mother is killing me slowly.