Amygdala.

[rossala]

18 April 2016

 

 

 

Dear Friends,

 

First of all, nice to talk with you.

 

Many of you probably know about 100.000+ scientific PUBMED articles talking about amygdala and its pivotal role in anxiety, panic, bipolar, PTSD, depression, and many other “stress” and “dissociative” disorders and/or symptoms.

 

I studied them because of my illness (very severe/resistant Agoraphobia + Bipolar, since 2008).

 

Last month I went in Asia to do a Gamma Knife surgery and remove my right amygdala (about 2 cubic centimetres 20% bigger then normal).

 

 

Despite 20+ years of literature I am one of the first making this innovative treatment.

 

Maybe this fact can interest the community.

 

 

My best greetings from Tuscany.

 

Ross

[Endy0816]

How did it go?

[Phi for All]

Last month I went in Asia to do a Gamma Knife surgery and remove my right amygdala (about 2 cubic centimetres 20% bigger then normal).

 

What was the effect of having a bigger-than-normal amygdala? Were there any other manifestations in your daily life, besides the agoraphobia and the bi-polar disorder?

[Xalatan]

This is interesting - so the assumption is size correlates to function and reducing the R amygdala should alleviate the agoraphobia to a degree.

 

Psychosugery has greatly fallen out of favour in modern medicine - I guess gamma knife radiotherapy is the lesser evil, maybe it will catch on, but I'm not sure if there is enough evidence yet to back up this kind of invasive intervention for panic disorder. You didn't think about deep brain stimulation?

 

Would you continue with antidepressants and would you think about further therapy?

[Function]

Since such behaviour is noticed in patients with bilateral amygalectomy: do other people have the idea that you are, or do you have the idea that you may feel, more sexually unrestraint? Do you eat more than before the treatment?

[rossala]

ITALY, 31 MAY 2017

 

Hi friends

 

Sorry for late update but you know GK take almost 9-12 months to give first results. So a little summary of past months:

 

quickly I remember my pathology is divided in two main parts:

- severe CHRONIC STRESS / PTSD (anger, anxiety, obsessive/compulsive thoughts, etc.., with time these symptoms brought also apathy/depression in my life)

- very severe AGRORAPHOBIA (panic attacks on wide open spaces)

 

(chronology) From 2001 occasional, from 2008 chronic & continuously followed from doctors. In 2015 I got my drug-resistance letter (many years of therapies/drugs) & started the Surgery research (I started also to study neuroscience and in 2016 I planned the surgery & GK isodose plan together with my doctors)(you can find part of research we collected on amygdala(dot)link site).

I made surgery in March 2016 at GK Shanghai Center the most important Elekta GK center around the world (I was GK patient 40.000! – near to 1/10 of all world GL patient since 90s!) and with wider experience on amygdala treatment.

 

So about results:

 

- FEBRUARY 2017 (at 11 months from surgery) I concretely started feeling better with all CHRONIC STRESS symptoms. Every months I’m feeling until today (May).

 

- MARCH 2017 I did PET and they found a correspondence in chemical healing with symptoms reduction. I attach PET PHOTO RESULTS in this message. The hypermetabolism is reduced of about 35%. Those results confirm 75.000+ articles saying that Amygdala is hub/site where dysfunctional Stress/Hyperactivity start from. Removing 1.8cc of brain tissue turned-off 50-100cc of hyperactivity! That’s great start. I hope next PET will show more reduction together with symptoms lightening.

 

As you can see from PET PHOTO right amygdala removal reduced also left amygdala and temporal lobe hypermetabolism due to the fact the amygdalae work together “in parallel” through a special direct nerve connection called anterior commissure. Some suspects remain on thalamus (still lot hyperactive) but we will check in next PET planned for February 2018.

 

FROM FEBRUARY UNTILL TODAY

My life started changing. I feel a bit more relaxed and consequently energized (chronic stress was killing me.. eheh). I also changed my diet a bit. I started gym every day and lost 7kg. I’m more clear minded, but especially I can be able to do more things than before, especially in family and with my children, go to supermarket everyday and many other things. I’m very happy about this change and many concrete works/things I can do in my family life.

 

IMPAIRMENT - COLLATERALS

About typical collaterals (memory impairments, taming effect) I don’t see great things. Of course sometimes I’ve some little memory faults (I spend more time to remember worlds linked to past-picture-memories but maybe it’s just that I’m relaxing.. ), also sometimes I feel a bit confused and I need to suspend my activities for a while (mm.. or maybe I’m starting learning to take a relax moment when I need..!), by the way it’s normal to feel strange sometimes because my mind is changing rapidly now so I need to adapt to it.

I made the QI international test and I got 126 (very high, 130 is genius, Italian medium is 102..) so I don’t think there are relevant collateral for now.

 

AGORAPHOBIA

This is the last thing I will try because it is the most difficult for me. I started since 1 month to drive car around my city and I see I can do a little more (500mt of wide-open street instead of 100mt) not a great results but I’m happy for now. The good thing is that I did not have Panic Attacks during these tests but only a strong pressure and suffering.. like the pathology is disempowered. It’s early to say.

 

FINAL NOTES

I am very prudent after 10 years of chronic dramatic illness.. but parents and friends say I’m really changing and especially watching my daily family/work “charge” and many tasks I do I can say I’m changing a lot thanks to more energy from 8am to 10pm.

In general I feel more clear minded and happy. I’m going back making some little plans in my life. Of course I feel less aphatic and less depressed due to these facts and due to the better control I have on my mind. It’s like I’m stopping “reacting” and starting “reasoning” mm.. like changing eyes on life and I think I want to live my rest of life in peace.

 

NEXT TESTS

Next 6-12 months to see if results continue, consolidate, and (especially for agoraphobia) if I will be able to solve the problem.

In February 2018 new PET. After that exams We will evaluate everything and decide if it’s enough (complete results) or I need to remove the other amygdala too.

 

Stay well my friends.

 

Ross

 

[DrP]

So they cut out a piece of your brain yea?

 

Glad you're feeling better anyway! Good luck - hope the positivity continues for you.