09/11/2020
I am excited to finally share with everyone the scans of my brain from the Amen Clinic in Atlanta. In 2019 I became an Amen Certified Brain Health Coach. I completed Dr. Amen's University which is an accredited 50 credit hour course. Over the past 18 months, I have discovered through questionnaires Dr. Amen designed that I am probable for ADD/ADHD and anxiety, etc. The etc. was not too surprising however the ADD/ADHD and anxiety surprised me. Going over things I tend to do and things that have happened in my life I decided I wanted to confirm or deny these two probable diagnoses. In addition, I have had several TBI's and they are responsible for a large number of Brain (mental) health issues.
This is a SPECT scan that shows the blood flow to the brain. Dr. Amen discovered that people with ADD/ADHD have less blood flow when they are asked to concentrate meaning their brain literally will not let them do what they are asked to do, their brain goes blank/freezes. Due to this finding, he does two scans, a baseline which is when you just relax before and let your mind wander, and a concentration scan where you perform a task before the scan. If you have ADD/ADHD, your concentration scan will look worse in the prefrontal cortex than the baseline scan.
I realize this is all a lot to take in, but it is so exciting to see scans that explain why you are having trouble in certain areas of life. In addition to looking for blood flow, he processes the scan in a different way to show the activity of your brain.