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| Rebecca Dutton Home After a Stroke |
I read about a device called PoNS that delivers mild electric stimulation to the tongue (1). Thousands of sensory receptors on the tongue send information to the brainstem. This got my attention because I had a brainstem stroke. Brain scans and EEG studies found that milliseconds after using PoNS all parts of the brain start to fire. Brain damaged subjects who used PoNS during therapy got better (e.g. while walking on a treadmill).
Before I take my morning pills I do tongue stimulation and then sing or read out loud to warm up my tongue and throat muscles. The 1st time I did tongue stroking I felt a weird sensation on the affected side of my tongue for several hours. For several days I have safely swallowed numerous pills in the morning. However, this positive outcome fades by lunch time. I will continue brushing and pressing down on my tongue to see where this leads. Gently using an extra soft toothbrush is cheaper than driving 900 miles to Wisconsin where Dr. Yuri Danolov has a PoNS clinic. My past recovery has confirmed the research on neuroplasticity, so it is worth a try.
1. Doidge N. The Brain's Way of Healing Itself. New York, NY: Penguin Books; 2015.
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