Berard Retraining

My physical therapist has been telling me for a year that she thought it would be helpful for me to do an audio brain retraining program called Berard. There’s a therapy group right here in the FM Area that offers it. A few months ago, I decided the time was right, called them, and signed up.

Berard is an intensive two week program developed by a French doctor in the 80s. It’s been used successfully for decades with brain injured people to help rewrite their brain’s perceptions of audio input. Doing the Berard Ear program was one of the strangest experiences of my life. On one hand, it turned out to be about what I was told: two half hour sessions each day for ten days, listening to music through headphones. On the other hand, I’ve never heard so many strange, bizarre, manipulated, robotic, weird sounds in all my life.

I sat in a room, facing a blank wall, lights dimmed, and listened to music through headphones. Some of the songs were recognizable: Puff the Magic Dragon, The Itsy Bitsy Spider. Most of the music was from the 80s, a combination of electronic dance, modern rock, and hair metal genres which I’m not familiar with and do not like. Intermixed with these were some lovely, soothing reggae and soul.

The words muffled, then cleared. The sounds grew louder, then softer. It was a barrage of noise: tin and robotic for two seconds, then a blast of a horn or drums, then screeches or thuds. I really can’t explain it. It was unpleasant and something I just had to endure.

The first four days of therapy, I sailed through. Hardly noticed a thing. On day five, I fell apart. Something in my brain said, “No! Stop This Nonsense!” I was so dizzy after a session, that I had to hold onto the arm of my therapist to walk out to the waiting room. All I could do was go home and sleep for three hours, then return for another session.

My therapist was great reminding me not to worry. “Go home and rest. This happens to everyone. It’s part of the process.”

By the last two days, my emotional control was shot. I’d walk out to the waiting room crying. My therapist would come out and tell my husband, “It’s okay. I’ve seen this before. Don’t worry. Her brain is just working very hard to build new pathways.”

I slept twelve straight hours each night, took two hour naps each afternoon, was dizzy as a coot, and not a very happy camper. It was hard on me and on my husband. I wasn’t the nicest person to be around! But I did it. We did it.

Berard works with the tiny muscles attached to the small bones in your inner ear. It works those muscles as they send signals to the brain. Then in some way that I completely do not understand the brain begins to rewire or reroute or rebuild its perceptions of audio signals. Some expected progress can be immediate. But it takes up to three months to capture the full benefits of the program.

For the entire week after I finished Berard, I slept a lot and just plain recovered.

I’ve begun to notice some really exciting improvements!

• My husband and I went to a restaurant for lunch, and I survived the hubbub and the music and all of it. It was even enjoyable!

• Don’t tell my husband about this one, but I vacuumed! I hadn’t vacuumed in two years. The noise level of that beast of a machine just about killed me before Berard. Here’s the thing. My husband became a great vacuum-er while I was out of commission. So now, there’s this moral dilemma that I am facing. To tell him, or not?

• I attended a big shebang holiday event with my husband for his work! I could hear what people next to me were saying but could filter out the conversations from the neighboring tables. I could filter out the music. It’s such an amazing relief to only hear what is essential! When I got home, I said to my husband, “I could filter out the music! I didn’t have to hear it!” He responded, “What music?” Our brains just filter out what we don’t need, and we don’t even notice it. Thank God for ears that are beginning to differentiate essential from nonessential noise once again!

• My balance has improved. This one is such a win/win! I walked a straight line last week for the first time! No wavering. No drifting. Straight! What a beautiful thing! Then, I got brave, and shut my eyes, and took a few steps. I didn’t fall over. I took six steps, then eight, then twelve with my eyes shut. I not only didn’t fall over, but I was still walking straight. Remarkable!! Crazy!! Fantastic!!

• I can walk heel-toe, heel-toe for the first time in two years. I can even walk that way backwards! Maybe I should make an Olympic debut, try out for the balance beam!  Ha! The world is my oyster!

All in All

Berard was excruciating, long and exhausting. I’m dizzier and more tired after having finished it than I was before, but It’s also proven to be extremely helpful and I’m excited to look for more new improvements in the months ahead.

I’m running a holiday sale on The Clean Daughter.

If you have a friend, relative, or book lover aunt who’d enjoy a new book for Christmas, here’s the sales information and codes to use.

Dates: November 21 to December 10th.

I accept checks (email me for details) or PayPal on my website.

BUY ONE

10% off and free shipping.

Use the code BOOKCLUB at checkout. (one word, all caps)

BUY TWO OR MORE

20% off and free shipping.

Use the code BOOKCLUB2 at checkout. (one word, all caps)

To all of you who prayed and loved and texted and emailed and pulled me through these past weeks of my Berard therapy, thank you, thank you, thank you!

The very happiest of holidays to you and yours!

Love always,

Jill