There are two days in Dennis Riordon’s memory that changed his world forever. The first occurred in 2008 when the man he had been evaporated on an operating table during a routine procedure. The second was in January of 2017 when he made his way to the Center for Brain Training and regained his dignity and his life.
“What happened at the Center for Brain Training was a miracle, a gift from God,” said Dennis, a snowbird from New Jersey who winters in Hobe Sound, Florida.
Dennis recalls that almost immediately after awakening from a colon resection procedure on January 16, 2008 in New York, he found himself plagued by baffling and agonizing tics. “It felt like there was a 6-inch-square box in the middle of my abdomen causing excruciating pain,” recalls Dennis, who had to leave his job in the insurance industry following his surgery and go on disability. “The pain caused my face to contort and my neck to tighten and cock.”
Tormenting, humiliating tics
The tormenting and humiliating tics occurred about 10 times per day and almost exclusively when Dennis was out in public or with another person. They prevented him from having a social life and made normal activities nearly unbearable.
On occasions when he had to take a commercial flight, TSA agents pulled him aside and submitted him to prolonged screenings. If he had to eat in a restaurant, his tics would prompt uneasy stares from wary patrons.
Doctors didn’t help
Doctors could find no physical cause. He sought help from numerous doctors at pain clinics and a hypnotist to no avail.
The last straw came in early 2017 when Dennis was shopping at Walmart. While powering through a tic, a woman asked him if she should call an ambulance.
“That day I decided I had to find a way to get better,” he said.
He looked up several psychiatrists in the area, but no one could see him for six weeks. Someone in one of those offices suggested he try the Center for Brain Training.
“I called immediately, and they gave me an appointment that same day,” he said.
Instant relief in his first neurofeedback session
He met with director Mike Cohen who administered Dennis one neurofeedback session. Dennis felt instant relief. He walked out of the office feeling free of his tics and hasn’t experienced one since.
“Mike Cohen was able to do more for me than any of the doctors I had seen over 9 years had been able to do,” he said. “Going to Center for Brain gave me my life back.”
Dennis Riordon
Hobe Sound, FL