Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is showing consistent promise in the research in altering mental abilities (improving insight and improving concentration) as well as therapeutic effectiveness (anxiety, depression, and stroke). Investigational studies will look at one parameter, say working memory, and test numerous people with some receiving tDCS and some receiving a placebo treatment and test working memory in both groups before and after. I am interested in experimenting with tDCS in another way.
Partly because of my work experience as an electrical engineer, an acupuncturist, and a person that has done biomedical research combining the two, the drastic hesitation of putting electrodes on my head, from an electrical apparatus that I built, didn't really exist. Actually, I am very excited about experimenting with various montages and the physiological effect that it will produce from my breadboard prototype devices (I have been doing it for about two months now).
There are already some good blogs that are describing a person's experiments with tDCS, or are set up for general discussions and updates on tDCS. This will be different. Insight, a growth project driven by tDCS, will be my experiments, my opinions, and my announcements about using tDCS on myself to grow a project, the DC Stim, a medical device designed for tDCS particularly, but also used in other DC current therapy. Hence I will be using the DC Stim on myself, to alter (and hope improve) mental capacities and personal behavior, to better be the impetus to grow the business that is developing and hopefully selling the DC Stim. I hope the blog to outline my insight and particularly technical views, but also as a means of discussion with the growing fascination of tDCS. Points I plan to discuss:
- Unlike research, which concentrates on one parameter and tests tDCS's ability to alter that parameter, this project will be altering a collage of mental abilities. Less science, more fun.
- The idea is to use tDCS as a tool, to alter my abilities and better grow a business that is the development, manufacture and sales of the DC Stim, a medical device designed for functionality and safety of tDCS.
- I hope to include what type of treatments I am doing (montage, etc.), what I am hoping to achieve, and what are the effects.
- I hope to be part of the discussion that is the exciting trickle of tDCS from a research dominated application, to clinical, and into the early adopters in the mainstream.
- Also I hope to use the blog to make announcements about the progress of the project, the DC Stim.
Below is a picture of me with the breadboard prototype of the DC Stim. A manufactured prototype that will be validating all the technology and safety functions will be ready in about two months. See the website at www.dcstimulator.com. And see general discussion on the DC Stim on the you tube video at: http://youtu.be/_cCuiwAKpao.
