Cognition tests for DBS

[bibsie]

Asking those of you who have had DBS or who are current candidates: what kind of cognition tests were you given and how well (or badly) did you do on them? Did any of you have a negative evaluation and then another more positive one?

[etterus]

I had two. The first was performed at the Mohamed Ali center at Barrow's in Phoenix in 2011. They concluded that I was a questionable candidate due to a nocebo tendency. It is the inverse of the placebo effect.

The second time was after we moved to Oregon in 2013. This was at OHSU, another world class facility with an identical conclusion; physically I was a perfect candidate but I had a tendency to dwell on the possibility of negative outcomes.

They recommended a psychological approach that was successful. I waited a year undergoing CBT.... cognitive behavioral therapy. I breezed through the surgery and subsequent programming. I feel that I could have succeeded at the first time in Arizona and would have been better off with an earlier intervention, but the second evaluation left me wondering.

The testing is exhausting and revealing at the same time. The first time set me up with anxiety that interfered with my subsequent tests. I always had a great memory and found testing fun. But I was stunned by my inability to recall words from a list of 20 that threw me into a panic that was devastating. Since then I have accepted that I don't have my previous abilities.

Good luck and simply relax....

[Ray_rich44]

I'll see in ten days how I do. And I'll keep u posted