I keep thinking I'd really like to get the Dr Amen brain scan treatment & see with my own eyes what the heck is going on in my brain & what makes me how I am. So I finally looked at it today.

$3,000 flat fee includes 4 visits & 2 brain scans. Each scan is $1,000 if you want more to see how med treatments are working or something. You can choose no scans and get a 2 hour consultation for $1,000 (including their review of a 24 page intake questionaire) and if you are unsure you can pay $150 for a half hour chat on the phone about what the treatment plan entails but no psychiatric advice, just clarification about the nature of their services.

So I thought I'd shop around for a better price & called the local medical research university. Amen does a PET scan which uses a radioactive injection into your blood to track blood flow in the brain which is considered invasive and not entirely healthy or safe. The other new technology is fMRI which is non-invasive and higher resolution, better quality. Amen's book claims PET is the only method to track blood flow but I think this is a newer technology. fMRI (functional MRI) is a new kind of MRI that uses a monster magnet to scan you in slices and it does show blood flow in the brain.

$465 initial consultation to see if they think they can help me & review my medical history. $140 follow-up visits after that.

$3728 no-contrast scan
$4692 scan with contrast
$5835 with & without contrast (2 scans)

Yowser!

I signed up to volunteer for any research projects they are doing. At least I'm more reassured that Amen's pricing is actually relatively reasonable. I don't know if I will do anything, I'm trying a new combo of meds now & see if that works for a month or so before I consider this again. Then I would want to clear all that out of my system for a month & probably for that kind of money I ought to quit drinking & smoking & get my self real clean to get a good baseline scan, I drink a lot but I don't suffer withdrawls or anything if I quit, same for cigarettes (2 packs a day) & quitting coffee just gives me a headache for a few days. When I try to go clean though I always feel crappy so I continue to self medicate. Maybe I never waited long enough though. I've been off weed for about a month so I could continue that.

Realistically my mental health is the most valuable thing I have so it ought to be worth that three grand price or more. If it motivated me to get sober for a couple months that would be a seriously good side effect on it's own & who knows maybe I would feel OK if I kept clean that long, maybe I just never waited long enough. I guess I could continue using stimulants because they clear out of your system right away. Who knows what permanent brain damage I've done smoking two packs of cigarettes a day & a bottle of wine every night. Maybe I am just a lazy drunk & a bundle of bad habits & maybe I'd be OK if I cleaned up, exercised regularly, ate healthy, meditated, got out & did more socializing, etc.

You know the story though "if you just tried harder" sigh...

All I can say is WOW..................

it seems extreamly ridiculous to me , to pay that much to see a picture of something that wont make much sence to me anyway

I could go into a long babbeling post about this the way we are , the way we were born and the way we will die

But I wont

I've studied it and it really does seem to make sense. I could see if I actually have ADD or not or if my brain is fried from smoking & drinking all these years or if I do have 'repressed anxiety' as my last diagnosis said or overfocused tendencies, bipolar-like hyperactive sparking all over or an overactive emotional center or whatever it is that's going on in my head.

What could be more valuable than my mental health? The cost of regular visits to a psychiatrist over months/years trying various combinations of meds is potentially as much. If I could figure out my problems & get back to working productively I could make that money back many times over. If I continue as I am I could lose more than that.

We had our son scanned last month. I've thought about doing it for a long time and finally went through with it after facing yet another drug trial. They did an exhaustive history that was very helpful initially. After the 2 scans we went back to meet with Dr. Holttum, up in Tacoma. It was quite illuminating to see what was normal and what looked abnormal in our sons brain. Based on the scans, the Dr. suggested that there was no sign of injuries, no patterns consistent with bipolar, and that ADD was not a big problem. As a result of this we took him off Strattera, upgraded from Neurontin to Trileptal, and are scaling back the Seroquel. He was diagnosed with generalized anxiety, which was somewhat of a letdown. I was expecting something more exotic based on all the time, trouble, and money to get to this point. He's doing quite well and is much easier to be around. We have a second drug to add for his anger problems, something that affects adrenalin, starts with a T. If you've been through a lot of treatment options and seen a number of doctors without succes, having a scan done could be helpful. The curiousity factor is very high. I would do it myself if it wasn't so expensive.

How much do they charge to scan you with a copy machine???? Haha, just kidding...

Thanks Roger!

Um, a correction, Amen does SPECT scans not PET scans, I'm not clear what the difference is. fMRI is supposed to be better than PET, I'm pretty sure PET uses radioactive tracers like SPECT, sorry for the confusion.

What a great thread .. thanks !