The Functional Neurologist that helped me heal more in 5 days, than I had in the 8 months since my concussion
“Alright here’s the deal, you're pretty fucked up, but I can fix you.”
Those were the exact words Dr. Zielinski, my functional neurologist, spoke to me as he examined the results of my eye assessment 8 months after my initial concussion.
Dr. Zielinski is a no bull shit, highly intelligent man, with the voice and facial complexion resembling Gerard Butler’s cousin. In his spare time, Zielinski performs jujitsu and makes wine in his basement.
Zielinski’s confidence is backed up by his extensive education and research in the functional neurology world. In 2014, he received Neurologist of the Year by the International Association of Functional Neurology and Rehabilitation, the highest award in the Functional Neurology profession.
When Zielinski drops scientific jargon to explain my body’s ailments, I often feel like we hail from different planets. I like it, and have a lot of faith in his planet.
Before seeing Zielinski, I had been rehabbing with various doctors and clinicians for 8 months. I am incredibly grateful for all those people, as I was improving. Yet, despite my rigorous efforts, I felt like my progress was like a car stuck in an LA traffic jam.
I believe injuries (especially brains) take time, but in my heart I knew there was something I could do to heal faster. At this point, I still couldn’t read or write for more than 15 minutes without invoking a headache and feeling disorientated. Car rides made me nauseous. Loud music and bright lights sent an electric shock through my entire body. Short walks drained my energy.
This specific functional neurology treatment (I tried other ocular and vestibular rehabs) was the first one that significantly improved my symptoms. And it all happened in a week.
During my treatment, my soul was on fire. That week reinstated my faith that I was going to get better. It also made me think about how helpful this modality could be for the countless other people who are searching relentlessly for answers and religiously following doctors orders, to no avail.
The Initial Assessment
When I first arrived at the Northwest Functional Neurology clinic, I was taken into a room to perform an eye assessment. I sat in a chair and goggles were placed over my eyes. These goggles have a built-in camera that track your eye movement throughout the test. The goggles look like a virtual reality video game, but don’t be fooled. If you’re a concussed individual, this evaluation feels more like a torture chamber than an entertainment center. Once the goggles were fastened, the assessor, turned the lights off, and for the next 30-ish minutes, I was instructed to follow a myriad of green dots and flashing lines that were projected onto the wall in front of me.
After completing this test, I engaged in a few other assessments. My favorite one (if it were opposite day) involved putting on another set of goggles, an assistant grabbing my head, and manually jerking it back and forth while I stared at a dot on the wall. I think I’d rather be squirted in the eye with a water gun filled with cranberry juice.
By the end of the evaluation, I felt like a drugged zombie.
Assessment Results
After the assessment, I was placed in a separate room. My results were projected onto a screen with graphs and video footage, only decipherable by people hailing from Dr. Zielinski’s planet.
Here’s my translation of functional neurology in basic human terms:
1. Every eye movement is responsible for a part of the brain
2. If your eyes aren’t tracking things properly, then they send a message to the brain that something is off-kilter
3. The brain does it’s best to re-orient itself, but this freak-out leads to Voldemort-esque symptoms-dizziness, headaches, nausea, fatigue, anxiety, depression etc.
4.The way to heal the weakened neurological pathways (aka the malfunctioning part of the brian) is to perform specific eye movements that target that area of the brain
5. Performing the specific eye movements strengthens the weakened neurological pathways
6. The neurological pathways begin to function properly, thus the eyes begin to function properly, thus reducing Voldemort-eque symptoms
From the results, Zielinski deduced that a particular plane and region of my brain was not functioning properly, but that it was all fixable.
One of Zielinski’s most re-assuring insights was that my upward and downward saccades (the speed at which my eyes could jump up and down from one dot to another) were lightening fast. Slower upward and downward saccades are a potential sign of damage to the frontal lobe, and an increased likelihood of CTE. That was a big relief.
After briefing me on my brain’s fucked-up ness, Zielinski nonchalantly assured me that he could get me at least 70% better in a week.
Jiggaaa wha!?
For the past months, I was fighting like a mad woman to get better, and now this dude was telling me he could fix me in a week. Even more mind blowing, was the fact that earlier this day, I had seriously made the decision to give up playing soccer and focus entirely on just getting healthy (Read that post here: The day I decided to quit soccer and then the Universe told me to not quit soccer).
I affirmed to Zielinski that my health is way more important to me than playing soccer. I just wanted to be myself again, and returning to play wasn’t worth it if it could cause more damage.
Zielinski assured me that he truly believes I can come back safely if we strengthen my weakened neurological pathways.
He recommended I come in for an “intensive”-a week straight of all-day therapy. I didn’t think twice. I knew this was what I needed to do. I informed my coach and club, and the next morning I reported to the clinic at 9:00am.
An Average Day of Therapy
9am Sign in to clinic
9:15 Stand on a foam pad to check my balance.
9:16 Receive electrical stimulation. A metal mallet drenched in goop is placed onto specific points on my ankle, wrist, face, and tongue. Each point is stimulated until the vein begins to pulse. This stimulation awakens neurological pathways in my brain, making them more receptive to rehabilitation. During this process, I imagined myself as Wonder Woman, activating my superpowers to fight off the villains (aka my post-concussion symptoms)
9:25 Recheck balance on foam pad. I’m more stable with my activated superpowers.
9:30 Stare at a dot at a wall while my PT assistant, Allaina manually my head back and forth at .256 mph
9:31 My eye twitches. I have a headache and feel nauseous Allaina stretches my right calf while I perform a figure-eight movement with my left arm
9:32 I think, what the hell is happening?
9:32:15 I ask what the hell is happening?
9:32:30 Allaina explains, that these stretches and movements balances out certain areas of my brain. My neck tension reduces and headache dwindles. I’m weirded out
9:34 I sit in a chair. Allaina spins the chair to the right as I stare at an iPad with moving black and white vertical stripes. I count the stripes as they pass while Allaina holds a bottle of peppermint essential oil under my nose
9:35 I think, what the hell is happening?
9:35:15 I ask, what the hell is happening?
9:35:30 Allaina explains that peppermint stimulates the olfactory system and awakens my brains neurological pathways
9:37 I perform more circus-like exercises.
9:50 Let my brain cool down for 30-45minutes, and then repeat round of circus-like exercises again.
I performed 5-6 rounds of exercises each day, with rest between sets.
The goal of each round of therapy was similar to weight lifting:
perform each exercise until the onset of fatigue (indicated by head jerking, eyes twitching, neck tensing up, nausea etc.)
Rest to allow my body to adapt and reap the benefits of my work
Repeat exercises, increasing the stress load as my neurological pathways gets stronger
Since I’m an athlete, my signs of fatigue were more subtle, so we had to be extra cautious. If I pushed my system too hard, then my brain went a little bizurk and symptoms worsened.
Physically being in the clinic allowed them to monitor me and really work up my fatigue threshold.
By the end of the week, I graduated to balancing on a skateboard placed atop a cylinder, one foot away away from a massive screen. My task was to tap the blue dots as quickly as I could when they appeared on the screen. Of course, I turned this into a competition, determined to beat my score every time.
At first, when the dots appeared, I felt like my brain was always a step behind my eyes. When I attempted to tap a dot, I often missed the target.
Allaina explained that this is a good representation of what my brain was doing in the real world. Every time I try to track a target, my eyes misjudge it, and send a stress signal to my brain causing headache, neck tension, and nausea.
Throughout the week, we incorporated different sensory stimulation to help awaken my brain. One of my favorite additions was when they played Trevor Hall music (he’s the best, his song You Can’t Rush Your Healing is heaven for anyone frustrated with their healing progress) in the background of my exercises. Every single time his music was playing, I performed better. This is one of many reasons I have an affinity for Trevor Hall’s magic.
At the end of the week, they had me perform the baseline tests again. I improved significantly and my reduced symptoms were evidence of my growth. I was now able to tolerate reading, writing, socializing, walking, and being in cars for a greater period of time without symptoms.
I thoroughly attribute my first big leap of improvement to Dr. Zielinski. I continue to see him for tune-ups or any time I take a hit. He’s helped me with BPPV (when an inner ear crystal dislodges and floats into a canal where it’s not supposed to be, causing major disorientation) and with digestion issues (the brain and gut are very connected). One of the coolest things I noticed after seeing him, was the quality of my touch on the ball. Even if you don’t have significant issues, addressing the connection between your eyes and brain can help with hand/foot-eye coordination.
After my Intensive week, I still felt this overlying layer of fatigue. Every night I went to bed, my neck, shoulders, and head ached. It felt like my body was caving in on itself and I was restless every night. Something was still off, and I couldn’t figure out the culprit. Until one sleepless night, I stumbled upon a blog, and I instantly knew the next step I needed to take. ….
(Blog post to come on the doctor who helped me discover a huge missing piece in my concussion recovery)