The Longevity Formula
Is there a secret formula to living a longer, healthier life?
The Longevity Formula offers a comprehensive approach to well-being, providing actionable insights and strategies to transform your life and achieve holistic health and longevity.
This formula encompassing faith, light, movement, mindset, nutrition, and science, serves as your roadmap towards your best self. This podcast is designed for those who are driven to optimize their lives through the dynamic fusion of science, technology, and lifestyle choices.
As a leading functional neurologist, Dr. Brandon Crawford shares his expertise in brain healing and optimization. With a proven track record of restoring functions lost to brain injuries and tackling complex neurological disorders, Dr. Crawford reveals the profound potential within us all.
Unlock your brain's potential and discover the secrets to a long and healthy life. Tune in every Friday for a new episode.
The Longevity Formula
How One Teen’s Brain Injury Led Her to Her Life’s Purpose: Ellie Altman's Healing Journey
College student Ellie Altman shares her incredible story of transformation after suffering two severe concussions that triggered daily, uncontrollable seizures. She details the shock of being misdiagnosed with generalized epilepsy and finding no relief from maximum medication dosages. Ellie reveals how functional neurology, coupled with unwavering faith, was the only path to healing. She describes the "new hope" she found when traditional medical approaches failed, achieving complete seizure freedom and recovering her cognitive life through neuroplasticity.
Ellie’s story is a testament to the power of never accepting "never." Her recovery culminated in achieving complete seizure freedom and successfully making the cut for her university's competitive a cappella group. Inspired by her own journey, Ellie is now pursuing her calling to become a functional neurologist, embodying the principle that sometimes your greatest trial becomes your greatest purpose.
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Voice Over: Welcome to the Longevity Formula with Dr. Brandon Crawford. Let's explore the new era of wellness.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Hey everyone. Welcome to the Longevity Formula. I'm your host, Dr. Brandon Crawford, and today. We're doing something a little bit different. Sometimes the most powerful stories are not told by the experts or researchers.
They're told by the people who lived the transformation. Today I'm joined by Ellie Altman, a young woman whose journey from devastating brain injury to thriving college student embodies everything we talk about on this show. What makes Ellie's story unique isn't just the dramatic recovery, it's how faith science and the power of neuroplasticity came together at exactly the right moment.
Ellie's gonna take us through a journey that will challenge how you think about healing, hope, and what's possible when we approach the brain with both cutting edge science and unwavering faith. This is the kind of conversation that reminds us why we do this work. Because behind every protocol, every therapy, every scientific breakthrough, there's a real person whose life is transformed.
Ellie, thanks so much for joining us today.
Ellie Altman: Thank you for allowing me to, I'm really excited to be here.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Absolutely. So we have a few things we want to take everyone through, right? There's there's a really cool story attached to this whole transformation process, but let's just kind of set it up for everyone.
Can you take us back to that senior year in high school? What were you excited about? What did life look like? What was going on?
Ellie Altman: So, going into senior year, it was already very different than how I would've like expected it to go freshman year. So junior year I actually ended up suffering two concussions back to back, which then 20 days later, after that second concussion in November, I had a grand mal seizure and began having seizures.
Um, so going into senior year, I wasn't able to play volleyball like I had been junior year, so that was already. Super hard for me just because my brain was lacking and I was gonna be doing so much that I wasn't used to and I had lost so much. But I was just really excited for hopefully a new start, a new year since junior year had gone so poor for me.
And I remember riding to myself and our senior sunrise just praying that I would be a healthy, normal senior student who was able to just be me and finish out strong and with no seizures. And that was not how God had intended my senior year to go.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Yeah. So what did the first head injury look like? Well, what happened?
Ellie Altman: So I was at a volleyball game I was playing and I ended up diving into a cinder block wall, and I passed out for like a split second. And I woke up and I continued to play because nobody knew that I had been unconscious. And so it just slowly progressed, getting worse and worse and worse. And finally I got taken outta the game and they checked me for concussion and realized that I was not okay in any way, shape or form.
I mean, my eyes were huge.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Yeah. And I
Ellie Altman: wasn't able to track anything.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: What did return to play look like to you? Like how was that handled? One of the goals I want to kinda talk people through is especially in high school athletes, there's a lot of misconceptions. And I don't actually agree with a lot of the return to play guidelines.
I think they need to be I think we need to beef from up a little bit, but, so what did that look like for you?
Ellie Altman: So my return to play, I went through my doctor and my chiropractor, and then I went through my school. And so I did all of the necessary tests and everything, but I really think that like, I went two and a half weeks, I wanna say.
Like it took me that long to go through, which I, looking back now, I feel like it should have been a longer process. And I feel like the way that they treated it should have been more just harder and more looking at like the brain and the eyes and the eye movements rather than seeing if you can go without throwing up.
Yeah. Because at school, school protocol is you're running, it's just a sort of run practice to see if you throw up, because throwing up means that you have a concussion. And so they would make you do burpees and stuff to see if, like your brain just hitting like just jiggling was gonna make you throw up, pass out, like whatever.
But they never, they never looked at my eyes and how I was tracking to make sure. My chiropractor did, but school and like sports, they don't look at it the correct way, I don't believe.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Yeah. So it was really just physical rest, cognitive rest. Hey, when we shake you up a little bit, do you puke? Oh, you pass that test, get back in the game?
Ellie Altman: Yes.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Okay. So not knowing really anything about neuroplasticity or the brain or any of this stuff that you know now, did you feel like that was comprehensive at that point in time? Or did you kind of have a gut feeling like, I don't know, this doesn't feel right.
Ellie Altman: I guess I had always, just because I had grown up playing sports, I just looked at a concussion as, oh, it's just a little bump on the head.
Yes. Like, I will be fine. It's not gonna be a big deal. So I kind of took their test like, nah, I guess this is an okay way to do it. Because I had never thought of anything else. My chiropractor was telling me like that he had some sort of gut feeling. He was like, I think you just need to take it easy. But since I was being recruited by colleges, I, I did take it easy, but did I want to?
No, because I just was so in love with the game and in love with being active. And so when my school told me that I was able to play, I immediately took that opportunity and I still sat out a game, um, just to make sure. And I went back to my chiropractor after I had sat out that game just to double check that I was completely good and I was but I never looked at the brain as much as I do now.
I never saw it as that much of an important detail in how the body functions and how we actually work.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Yeah. I, I like the fact that you're bringing up chiropractic in this, uh, obviously my primary licensure is chiropractic, but I don't know if you know, or I don't know if a lot of people know, there's always kind of a battle between, uh, the tech.
Well, I, I'm in Texas, so I, I'm more familiar with the Texas battles. Between the Texas Medical Board and the Cairo Board, and sometimes they'll take us off of the ability, they'll take it out of our scope to actually do physical exams for athletes or return to play or things like this. Currently we have it, it is in our scope, uh, to do those things.
But I like that you're pointing this out. Now, I'm not gonna say every chiropractor understands the functional neurology, neurology behind this or how to do a functional neur neurological exam that is separate from Cairo, that's a, a fellowship or a diplomat program. However, we do get a lot of neurology and we actually get very good exam skills going through chiro school.
And I think it's great that you're pointing out that, look, my chiro was saying, Hey, something's up. You need to, you know, dig a little further. I like that you're bringing that up. So, walk me through. Okay, so that was October of 2023.
Voice Over: Yes, sir. But
Dr. Brandon Crawford: there was a second injury in November. So what happened?
Yes.
Ellie Altman: So I had been cleared to play by my trainer and I had told him that I was going through my chiropractor as well, and he was not for it. He thought that he knew it all. And my chiro was te like was taking it very seriously because I mean, as you said, like they know the body and it's a whole different ballpark.
And so I had finally been cleared to play by both of them. And so November 2nd I believe I was playing at the state semi-final game and I ran into a teammate, or a teammate ran into me and I ended up hitting my head on the wall or in on the floor. You're right. And immediately I knew something was wrong.
I was like, I shouldn't have, I should not have been in like. This was a mistake I shouldn't have pushed so hard and tried because I realized that three and a half weeks wasn't enough time to truly heal. And I realized it in that moment, a little bit too late because I played, I kept playing and I was like, I'm not okay.
It's worse than the first time. Even though this time I didn't pass out, I could tell that something was worse and that I was just reinjuring if not injuring worse.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Mm-hmm. And that second hit can be so dramatically worse, even if it's mild. And we can go into more detail about that, but I'm, I'm still trying to kind of unpack your story for everyone to really understand really the severity of this, right.
Really how it's setting up. Because so far, you know, people are hearing, okay, she got a, she got a hit to the head, she was out, then she got back in, she got another hit. But what transpired after that? Huh.
Ellie Altman: So 20 days later I was really stressed. My friend actually had been sick, um, and I was gonna have lunch with her because we were discussing, since it was junior year, we were discussing all of the senior things, like senior rings, cap and gown, what senior year's gonna look like, our senior schedules.
And so it was just a lot of pressure and stress on me. And so since she was sick, I called my mom and I was like, Hey mom, do you think that you can come and we can talk and have lunch? Because I'm really stressed right now. I just need to get this all off my plate, tell you what I'm gonna need signatures for, blah, blah, blah.
And so I get in her car and I remember I was talking really fast, and all of a sudden I start stuttering. And it's, she, she, she and my mom was a paramedic. She did parama EMS training. And so she immediately knew something was wrong. And so she got out, and this is all, not from my recollection because I don't remember anything of my seizure, but she gets out, comes around to my side and sees me seizing in her car.
And it was a nine and a half minute long seizure, which is absolutely not any sort of, okay. I was turning blue, I was foaming at the mouth, I was choking, I was losing air really quick, and it was a grand mal seizure. And all I remember is I wake up and I'm on the asphalt and I look up and there's ambulances and paramedics all around me because my mom has finally gotten me out of the car.
Thank to the grace of God, she got me out. And so I remember I'm on the ground and I just look up and I ask Mama, what's wrong? What's going on? And she tells me that I've had a grand mal seizure.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Yeah, that's pretty scary. Yeah. So you had never had a seizure before. This was not something in your history?
No, sir. Just all of a sudden outta the blue, you start seizing. So what was the call to action? Did so you got rushed to the hospital? Uh, yes sir. And how did things unfold from there?
Ellie Altman: So when I got to the hospital, I was still really out of it because it was a nine and a half minute long seizure.
They were really worried about how I couldn't remember my name the day, the year, I couldn't remember anything. So clearly I had lost a lot in that seizure. And so I was there. I was talking with my mom, not really making sense, but they told me that they usually give people one seizure and then like if it happens more, then something's wrong.
But they referred me to a neurologist and told me that I needed to go get checked out.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Yeah. What was the solution for those seizures?
Ellie Altman: So I was diagnosed in December with generalized epilepsy since I went for an in-office EEG. And in the hour and a half that they did it, I had every single type of seizure that you can imagine from absence, focal, tonic, tonic-clonic, mono, like all the stuff.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Obviously if you're gonna do something, you're gonna do it well, right, Ellie? So you gotta present with every type of seizure you can possibly present with. Always.
Ellie Altman: I just have to make sure I max out. And so I, um, they told my mom to come back to the office and say, I told her like, oh, I bet we'll just see.
Like nothing really. Just because I had never had a history of seizures. And they call her back and they tell her that I have generalized epilepsy and that they, I need to be put on meds for the rest of my life.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: So that's where, okay, so I understand the concepts where we don't want to have seizures, I get it.
But. The concept of, Hey, your seizures, a result of a deficiency of this medication just kind of elude me. Right? Like, I can understand absolutely. Hey, let's get the, maybe let's take the edge off and let's, you know, get this person out of a, a state of constant seizure or something like that. So I'm not saying medications should never be used, that's not what I'm saying, but to say, Nope, this is your solution forever and ever see you later.
Mm-hmm. How, how did that make you feel?
Ellie Altman: I, I was just so lost in my life. I mean, I had no idea what was going on because I had literally just come out of a seizure when they're pulling me into the room telling me, oh, well you have generalized epilepsy. And so my mom had to be my voice since I couldn't really speak.
'cause I didn't know again, what was going on. And she, I remember, I do remember her saying, and I don't have much memory from my junior year that there's no way that the epilepsy fairy just came and cut my brain open and just sprinkled epilepsy in there. Like, that is not a thing. Why can we not address post-concussion syndrome?
And the neurologists were like, no, she just has generalized epilepsy. Like, that's all that is. There's no such thing as post-concussion syndrome. Everybody has an epilepsy threshold. And I guess you met hers really fast.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: So there was no consideration for the two prior head injuries causing the seizures.
Ellie Altman: No, And still almost two years later, they still will not address it with me. And they believe that all of my good progress has been made through medicine. Even though I've had to be taken off medicine, put on different medicine, none of the medicine has worked. They just contribute it to whatever they're doing is going.
Good.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Yeah, that's, that's hard for me to swallow. I, I know that these physicians are doing what they feel is best, but that sounds a little negligent to me. For a medical provider who is trained in neurology, specializes in neurology, to not take into consideration that this patient with no history of seizures had two head injuries.
And now has developed seizures, yet that's not related. However, there is research, a plethora of literature that connects the two. That sounds negligent to me.
Ellie Altman: Absolutely. I would a hundred percent agree with that. I mean, looking back, I'm not sure why they didn't look deeper into just looking at the surface level, because that is what they did and, but that's all they know, unfortunately, because they don't want to look at the more functional side of it.
They just wanna shove medicine at your face.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Well, I, so that used to be the cop out for me. Well, that's all they know. That's what they learned in school. However, this information is available for those that want to better themselves. So it's not that difficult to read research. It's not that difficult to look at case studies, and it's not that difficult to look at this human in front of you and use your brain.
And connect some dots. So I don't let practitioners get away with that anymore. I no longer say, well, that's how you were trained. And especially someone that's been outta school for, you know, longer than a year. Like that first year is kind of hectic and you're just really relying upon, you know, you know, getting out, just getting started on it, whatever.
But beyond that, it's like, use your brain.
Ellie Altman: Mm-hmm.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Maybe that guy was having seizures, I don't know. So let's let's say this, did, did those seizure medications help? Did they clear up your symptoms? Which I want to know what else you were experiencing. Uh, and that they get rid of seizures.
Ellie Altman: No. With anything, they added more symptoms on top of what I was already feeling.
Um, I had already been suffering with some brain fog and just some memory loss and dizziness. And I mean, everything that has to do with the brain being not okay, I was suffering with, I mean, I couldn't read write anymore. My brain wasn't tracking light was hurting me even more. I was just so out of it. Even speaking was hard.
Typing was far, was hard for me. And it felt like with those medications that were not helping with seizures, they sure weren't helping with my symptoms either. I mean, it ma if anything, it multiplied them because it just made it 20 times worse.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Yes. And one concept that I liked, you know, to explain to my patients is when we're taking medication for seizures, one of the mechanisms of action is literally reducing the frequency of firing.
Of your neurons, right? So the, the cells in your brain that are supposed to be firing, you know, at a, a certain speed and a certain amplitude, we're just dialing that down, right? So we're dampening what we call the central integrated state of the brain. We're dampening that healthy idle state of the brain, and that means life becomes dull.
Your cognitive skills decline. Uh, people start to have abnormal sensations. I mean, there's a whole host of things that can come with that. And when the seizure medications are not touching the seizures yet, they continue to just say, Nope, just take your medication. Yet these other symptoms are worsening.
That's so sad to me because I literally just did a consult yesterday. Uh, it was a kiddo. I think they were four or five years old. On six different seizure medications. And it was just a progression of, okay, they're having seizure. Here's one medication. Oh, it didn't help. Here's another, oh, it didn't help.
Here's another, oh, it didn't help. Here's another. And that was just absurd. And I said, how are they functioning now? And the parent told me they have no affect. Their personality's gone. They can barely move anymore. They just wanna sleep all the time. And I'm like, was that the situation before the seizure medications?
No, they were cognitive. They were vocalizing, they were moving, they were, they had a personality. I said, okay, well, did that help the seizures? No. They still have the same seizures. And I'm like, oh my gosh, what are we doing? It's crazy. Okay, so let's, let's give everyone the idea or the concept. About the type of academic student you were.
'cause you weren't some, you know, low bottom of the class type of person. You're actually, you should have been valedictorian of your class. You were top of your class. Yes, sir. And so what transpired, because something that we both want to get out there is it's not just the coaches and it's not just the physicians, but the school administrators and teachers need to understand this message too.
So what happened to your valedictorian status? Walk me through that.
Ellie Altman: So, as you said, I was valedictorian. I had always been a. A straight A student. I mean, I love to read. I love to learn. I still love to learn. I mean, I told my mom senior year even that I was gonna make like a little business where I would go to class for people so that I could learn what they were learning.
And then I just give them the notes. Just because I love to learn. I love anything that will help just kind of increase just the knowledge that I have. But with these seizures I was struggling a little bit to comprehend, to read, as I said, because my eyes weren't tracking. But also, I lost so much confidence in myself because I had faculty telling me that they didn't want me coming to school because they were afraid of me.
And I had friends telling me that they didn't wanna hang out with me because they were afraid of me, because nobody wants to see. Just some kid laying on the ground having a seizure, which is what multiple people told me. And so going to school, I lost a lot of confidence and was really insecure in myself just because I had been told that I was something to fear.
And so they took me out of school and I had to do a lot of it online just because the doctor had said that I don't need the extra stress from school. And I mean, I just, I kept my straight A's as I said, but it was just such a hard thing to go through because I wasn't able to be the student that I once was.
And I was looked at completely different. I was looked at as if I had F'S all my life and didn't know what was going on.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Yeah. And you had told me a bit of the story where your valedictorian status was actually stripped away from you because of some concept that it was unfair for you to be at home.
And that gave you an unfair advantage in academics. Yes. So with is a total load of crap because you're sitting here suffering, like everyone just heard what you're suffering from. If anything, this is more challenging for you, yet you're still performing better than others. So what, what happened there?
Ellie Altman: That was the hard thing. Nobody, I looked okay on the outside. Like if you were to look at me right now on this podcast, you would think, oh, that girl has nothing wrong with her. When in reality I'm having to think. Two times, like the speed of everything to try and figure out what I'm gonna say in the next sentence.
But people didn't understand that even just sitting here listening to teachers in this light was so hard for me because my brain was completely depleting of all of the energy. I wasn't able to focus because I had nothing to focus with. And so I went, I did school at home due to the doctors and they, the teachers and the faculty all told me that it was unfair that I was being able to do it at home because it was gonna be an easier course for me.
And so they stripped my right of being valedictorian just because I wasn't on campus. And so my senior year, they actually put me on campus for three periods and I was off too, when in reality I shouldn't have been on campus at all per the doctors and pur all
Dr. Brandon Crawford: man. That's wild. Um, that's wild. I'm just shocked.
You know, just to be honest. I think it's sad. And so I think what we want is coaches, teachers, doctors, administrators, everyone, like, please just stop and listen to this story. Don't fear this patient. Don't fear this student. Support them. Uh, work with the medical professionals, people that actually know what they're doing, not the ones that are just throwing meds.
Right? And that's a whole nother story of like, we're gonna get into like, what should you do? Like what did this look like? What did, how, how'd the transformation happen and everything. But coaches just understand that there's more to return the play than just rest. And then shaking someone up and seeing if they puke like that, that is not an accurate description or metric for brain function.
And there's a lot that needs to be uncovered there. But there's another side to this story and I really want to touch on it. Uh, because, you know, my foundational principle, my foundation for everything is faith. Um, and I believe that that's true for everyone to a certain degree. You know, even people that say they don't have a faith are then claiming a faith right in, in doing that.
But we share the same faith. And so, how did faith kind of walk you through this? What did that look like for you, uh, in your story?
Ellie Altman: So it was actually pretty crazy. Um, going into senior year, I had been told multiple times to buy a brand new bible because the Bible teacher that we were gonna have was a, like, he was a lecture type per like teacher.
And so we needed, he just spoke from the heart, not from a script or notes. And so everybody said, write your notes in your Bible. So I had brought, I had bought a brand new Bible and since I was artsy, I was like, I'm gonna paint on it. I mean, I put nothing in that Bible because I needed it to be blank. And so on the day of September 4th when I had my wreck that ultimately changed my life.
I was taking a Bible test and I got up to go turn that test in and out of my Bible fell this bookmark. And again, I never put any bookmarks in this bible. So I was like, what is this? And I pick it up and I read it and it's Jeremiah 29:11 And so I go to, I flip to that verse and I highlight it. And on the margins I write what is my purpose?
And I write this Mark Twain quote that we've been told in class, which is the two most important days in your life are one, the day you are born, and two the day you realize why you were born. And I look over maybe another chapter, a few more verses, and I see you will be found. Which I was like, oh, like that's what we're singing in choir.
That's really funny. So I highlight it and then I ended up having my seizure behind the wheel that day, uh, just hours later.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: So do you think God was knocking on your door and. Maybe not fully getting your attention and decided, okay, I've gotta get the attention of this girl. Let's just do this. Bam. I mean, I don't know.
I'm just throwing that out there. 'cause that's kind of how it happens with me, you know? Mm-hmm. I feel like, you know, I'm busy running and gunning and doing my things, not listening like I should. And then God's like, okay, now I'm really gonna get your attention, Brandon. Bam. You know? So it's, it's always good to understand that even in these trials, tribulations, there's still a God that is in control and is carrying out a plan.
And that plan is better than anything we can ever imagine. It's better for you, it's better for me. We may not think that in the moment, right? So in those moments where you're actively seizing or you were losing your valedictorian status or whatever it was, right? That seems like, man, this really sucks.
But that carried a purpose. For you. And so looking back on that, does that change even your trauma responses and everything that is in connection with your story?
Ellie Altman: I would say absolutely it does, because I had been looking at it all from the negative side. I mean, I had had literally everything that if I were to describe me in a few words, I had everything that I would use to describe me as stripped away from me.
Um, just because of these seizures, I had friends stripped away from me, grades a valedictorian spot, volleyball, theater, like every single thing that I had was completely gone. And I just kept seeing all of this darkness, all of this darkness, and I felt like I was so alone. And I mean, even in that wreck, I felt like I was just.
I was a shell of the person that I used to be. And coming to Neuro Solutions was when I found that I would be found. Like that's when everything connected and it completely shaped the way that I thought about life and that how I could reflect past all of what had happened. And I mean, Jeremiah 29 11, that verse has been such a theme in my life.
Um, for I know the plans that I have for you that I will use to prosper you, um, and I will keep you safe. Like it's just absolutely it insane the way God works and how we can wish that some things would be easy, but then your testimony isn't gonna be as powerful. And so looking back, I am so blessed that all of these horrible, hard things have happened to me because it has shaped who I am today.
And I would not wanna be different than who I am today. I and the seizures don't define me.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Absolutely. And I resonate with that quite a bit actually. I had a, actually had a back injury in high school. Right. And it, and I was gonna play baseball in college, right? I was already talking to, uh, top tier colleges.
They were scouting me. I loved baseball. I was a pitcher. It was like I played year round. I loved it. I actually injured my back playing basketball. I actually got tackled playing basketball, and then they called traveling on me. You know, you gotta love the referees there. And so ended up having a failed back surgery and life was terrible.
I mean, no one wanted me to play baseball for him. I mean, it was, you know, I could barely walk. I had pain just constantly. I was on morphine and still had pain, right? This was, I, I knew nothing about chiropractic. I knew nothing about holistic healing at this point in my life. I was in high. And I was dragging my leg across the parking lot, you know, one day.
And, and the local chio came up to me and said, Hey, I think I can help you. And I'm like, dude, who are you? And I've already had surgery. I don't think you can help me. And he was like, yes, I can. I was like, well, you know, I don't really have the money to come see you. And he said I think I'm supposed to treat you for free.
Like, that moment in my life was so transformational. Two weeks later, I'm completely out of pain. And it was, you know, I was like, why was this never presented to me? Right? But, but that injury that completely changed my life, put me here. Right? And so, just a, you know, a same resonance about trauma. Bless you.
Thank then, you know, literally just God going, okay, you're not listening to me. Let me take you out, right? Mm-hmm. So. You know, we're supposed to, to celebrate and, and have joy and tribulation, and that's hard sometimes. And this is a similar conversation that you know, I had with Cody, right? Cody had a, a really severe brain injury and he was saying, you know, a similar message, right?
And, and it's hard because he still has times where he's like, man, you know, some days I'm just down and out, but I gotta remember there's a bigger plan here. And, you know, so faith is a big part of his walk as well. So, so you mentioned coming to neuro solution Austin, you, you mentioned like, Hey, this is different.
So walk me through that whole experience. How was it different? What did it do for you?
Ellie Altman: So when we were driving there, we, we had never been there before. It was our first time coming and I was so scared. I mean, I was terrified that I was gonna like. I could die. What if I was gonna live like this for the rest of my life?
What if they couldn't help me? I mean, every single negative thought that I could have thought was happening. Like, that's just what I was thinking. And I remember pulling up to the light and the GPS calling out and it says, turn right on E New Hope Street. And that was what my mom actually called me.
She calls me E and we both looked at each other and I mean, we all, we both got teary. And of course my boyfriend's just kind of like looking at us like, what's going on? Like, why are we crying? You haven't even got there yet. And so it was just something that just resonated with me because. I knew that this was going to be my new hope for a new start of life.
And so I get out of the car. I'm still, I'm shaking. I'm so scared. And the first room that I'm brought into I look up on the wall and I see that exact same verse that I had highlighted in my wreck that should have ended my life. I see Jeremiah 29 11 on the wall, and I immediately just start crying.
I'm like, oh my gosh, why did I have to go through all of this just to find what God's plan was? But I'm so blessed that it happened, and the way that it all unfolded was absolutely beautiful. And I knew within the first five minutes of getting treatment, I knew that I was going to be okay and that I was going.
To have a way out. And before that, I had had 10 seizures in seven days, which was absolutely out of the normal because like right before coming to Neuro Solutions, because I was so stressed. And I literally remember thinking, I wish I would've died in that wreck. And I was just so scared coming here because I had just had those 10 seizures.
I was like, I'm not okay. They can't fix me. Like it was just absolutely Satan talking. And then once I got into that room with Jeremiah 29 11 on the wall, I was home.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: That's awesome. So how was our evaluation and conversations and approach different than that traditional medical approach of you're deficient in seizure medication?
See you later. Yes,
Ellie Altman: you got to the bottom of what was actually happening. You addressed the fact that I had had two traumatic brain injuries or three actually at this point because of that wreck, and you didn't throw medicine at me. You took a different type of approach of, okay, it's not generalized, actually, it's coming from your frontal lobe, so this is why you can't read as fast like you were able to see in just a 10 minute little QEEG what was actually going on with me.
And you were like, let's help you heal instead of let's mask what's going on.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: How'd that make you feel whenever you had someone in front of you that said, Hey, I think I know what's going on and I think I know the, I think I know the path forward.
Ellie Altman: Yeah, it made me feel not crazy because I had been like, I, nothing is helping.
I am on every time that I would have a seizure, oh, let's just up your dosage of medicine and I mean, I would still have seizures at the highest dosage of medicine. I was like this, there's gotta be something deeper that's happening, and when y'all told me that y'all were going to help me get to the bottom of this and help my brain naturally heal, I just felt so hopeful because I had been told that I was just an unfortunate person and I felt actually seen here and it was so unique to me that it made me feel just.
Okay. Like it made me know that there was going to be some sort of light because I had been told by so many doctors that I was going to be a test subject. I was just, oh, we can try and help y'all, but when you told me that y'all actively see seizure patients, I felt absolutely safe being there. And I had zero seizures the week that I was there, and that made me feel that there was going to be that new hope for me.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Yeah, it something that I keep on wanting to talk about or to, it's really cool because where. The practice ended up is at the corner of New Hope and Arrow Point Drive. Mm-hmm. And I, when I would teach functional neurology, you know, I used to teach a lot. I was, you know, constantly traveling, teaching students and doctors and whatnot.
I would talk about how the tip of the arrow is your dopamine, right? It's your focus. Mm-hmm. It's, you know, and the tail is norepinephrine. And so the, the whole arrow concept is something I'd always used in teaching, uh, about neuro transmission, and then the whole concept of New Hope, right? It's like, wow, really?
Like I'm on New Hope and Arrow Point. Mm-hmm. And the address is 1101, which that number has significant meaning to me, right. And so I was like, wow, I didn't even look at the site before I got it when I saw the address. I signed the lease, I was like, I don't even need to see it. I'm signing it. So it's, it's really interesting.
But something, you know, that came to mind is it's very common for us to have to unpack medical trauma when we're working through patient care. Um, and I don't think this is discussed often enough in with any profession. Um, so we have someone that had a traumatic event, whatever it may be, right?
And then they go through medical care. And again, they're, these medical people are just, they're just trying to help. So I'm not gonna say they're, they're trying to cause harm. They're not, they're trying to help. But oftentimes the things they say, the treatments they give they're traumatic. Um, and especially the things I say.
You know, the words carry so much meaning, and especially from a person in that type of authority, when you're told there's no hope, you can't heal, this is your normal, this, you know, whatever that is so traumatic. Um, and then when someone gets in front of us, we sometimes actually have to start with that medical trauma.
Mm-hmm. Uh, before we can actually get to the actual traumatic event that started this whole process. Actually we're working through that right now with an individual that have five years of medical trauma. Um, like we're literally still working through the medical trauma part of his story. We haven't even got to the, the brain injury part yet.
And you know, this is where I love working with Dr. Jerry. She's an integrative psychologist. She does a great job doing trauma release, emotional release, this kinda stuff. So just, you know, pointing that out, that, look, people have an event, it's traumatic, but then every event we go through has an imprint on our nervous system.
Um, abs, you know, our brain is a receiver and a transducer, right? Meaning we receive stimuli and we also transduce energy, right? So, so we take this in, we process it and change it, and then there's an output. So every experience we're having is leaving an imprint. And that then forms how we engage with reality.
What is reality for that person? How do we feel in our body? How do we feel social socializing? Like this is defining our life. And so all of these little things are adding up. So just to, to kind of point that out. So, I, I think you may have some questions for me. Is that right?
Ellie Altman: I do actually, if that's okay with you,
Dr. Brandon Crawford: go for it.
Ellie Altman: So I actually have 'em written down so that I know exactly what I wanted to ask you. Oh boy. I know. For someone like me just starting like on the path towards being a functional neurologist, what's one principle or mindset you think every future healer should hold onto?
Dr. Brandon Crawford: The overarching principle that I like to make sure all the people that I'm mentoring first understand, uh, is that the brain has the ability to mold and change.
Um, I also like for people to understand that there is something greater than us working through this situation. Um, I think I've made the best laser on the market. I think we have the best methods in the world. Like there, like I believe that however, healing does not come from that laser healing does not come from these methods.
Healing comes from God healing. True healing comes from something that I can't provide. Now that's important to understand because if that's true, which it is, then that means we cannot always know what this outcome is gonna be like. So when we're faced with something that looks to be impossible, that's only impossible for my earthly abilities.
That is not impossible for a God that is omnipotent and omniscient and all powerful. So I have to leave room for a miracle to occur. Otherwise, I feel negligent for that patient. And I think that that mindset in general can actually be healing for someone. Because Because we, I think that what I just said is completely and utterly true.
And there's people that would disagree with me, but there's evidence in the world where miracles happen every single day. So why would we take that off the table for someone? Why would we take Millie's story off the table for someone that has the same condition? I don't know if that's gonna happen for them, but I don't know that it's not gonna happen for them.
I don't know. I didn't know with 100% certainty that you are not gonna have seizures within a week of starting care. And I told you that upfront. Right?
Ellie Altman: Absolutely.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: But I did say we see these imbalances, we see room for improvement. We see where this head injury caused deficiencies and dysfunctions within the brain.
And I see the energy crisis, which leads to seizures, all of that defines a path forward to start to get you better. And that's all we can do. We, we can just start on the path and then God takes it from there. Right? So that's kind of, you know, the baseline, you know, message that I like for, uh, all the people that I'm, I'm mentoring to really start with leave room for that miracle.
The brain can mold and change.
Ellie Altman: Absolutely. Okay. So talk to me about the brain molding and changing. Talk to me about like long-term memory for seizure and concussion patients. Because I feel like after this I have lost certain memories of like, almost all of my junior year memories of when I was a kid.
Like, is there a way to get those back, or is are they just like, what's the cause of that?
Dr. Brandon Crawford: So there's multiple causes and what I'll say is first. They're not lost. They're not lost. They're in there. Uh, Dr. Eric Kde, uh, has done a lot of research, uh, into memory. And what you'll see is that there is a non brainin component to memory, right?
We, and when I say we collectively, neuroscience do not fully understand memory, right? You'll see areas like the hippocampus. You'll see areas in the prefrontal cortex that need to go and access the hippocampus, but you'll also see where areas like the cerebellum are implicated with memory and memory retrieval, et cetera, right?
So all of these, and there's more to it, you know, more networks than that. Long story short, n new networks are being found to be connected to memory. And now even areas in the body, different cell types, uh, we're learning, have memory. And it's really, really interesting to understand. So yes, whenever you look at the literature, when someone has a head injury or certain seizure conditions it can be concluded that you're going to be more at risk for, uh, memory challenges, cognitive function, balance, coordination issues, all this kind of stuff.
But that's in someone that's not applying the principles of neuroplasticity and actually working on building all these networks back up. And I truly do not believe, especially in an individual like yourself, that those memories are gone. Okay? Now, what I do believe is that whenever the trauma happened you did go through a fear paralysis response.
And when you go through a fear paralysis response your body is flooded with opiates, uh, your body is flooded with neurochemicals. And some of those actually do knock off memory networks because your brain does not want you to constantly be remembering some of these traumas, right? And that can have far reaching implications because then sometimes other memories get knocked off too.
And so I think that there's still some lingering effects from that. And I think it goes a little deeper, right? Because your limbic system is subconscious, right? So it's not your conscious mind scanning your environment going. Hmm. Does that light remind me of my traumatic event? Does that sound remind me?
But that's what your limbic system is doing, subconsciously, constantly looking for things that could be perceived as a threat, right? And as long as that limbic system is still upregulated a bit, still constantly being hypervigilant, scanning the environment for all these little cues, you can still be getting some fear paralysis responses, even though you've come this far, right?
So you can still be getting you know, little floods of these neurochemicals and this fear paralysis response throughout the day, right? So there's still room for improvement there. And I haven't physically seen you in a while, but, you know, there's probably still some networks that we could continue to improve to regain that memory.
But no, I fully believe that those memories are still there and you can still access them. In fact. I can reference some, uh, dementia cases that we've had over the years. Um, I've actually had people that had forgotten their spouse's name no way could drive again. Like they were pretty far in the depths of dementia.
And those people, they, they don't, you know, it's not medically noted that those people are coming back. Like at that point it's like, okay, let's help them decline, right? Mm-hmm. Um, we've actually helped those individuals regain memory, right? Regain knowing who their spouses, their kids is, uh, their kids are their being able to drive again, like those, those cases have played out in our office, right?
So I, I fully believe that it's possible with you. Yeah.
Ellie Altman: Okay. So can you walk me through what's going on in a seizure patient's brain when they are actively having a seizure? Okay.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Yeah, well, I think we need to let's make it a little more specific to your situation first. Okay. Because I really enjoy working with seizure cases.
And over the years what I've learned is that there's so many different reasons that someone can have a seizure. Um, but in this regard, um, whenever you have even a mild head injury there's what's called an energy crisis. And this energy crisis is something that is overlooked in, you know, all forms of medicine, in my opinion.
So think about in, so I'm in, you know, Texas, and so when it freezes over here, uh, everyone runs inside, turns on the heat and taxes the energy grid, right? So we have a higher demand on the energy grid in our area. We start getting rolling blackouts and brownouts and stuff like that. Like we start feeling the effects of that energy grid being taxed.
That's. Similar to what's going on in the brain, right? So you get this hit to the head and you get into this energy crisis state because your neurons are very energy hungry, right? And so when they're healing, they need even more energy. They need, um, a better supply of blood flow. They need more nutrients, they need more mitochondrial function.
They all this kinda stuff. So they're really taxing the grid. Just rest does not always suffice to get someone recovered from an energy crisis, especially in today's society where we're living in poor light environments. Our diet's a train wreck, et cetera, right? Mm-hmm. Um, I would argue how the light environment period, you know, alone is going to not only not allow someone to heal from an energy crisis, but would continue to propagate it and make it worse.
Um. And so that energy crisis, what's going to happen is it's going to start to alter the thresholds of the neurons, right? So you have, uh, calcium, sodium, potassium ion channels within your neurons, and you have a influx and influx of these ions. So as they move in and out of the neuron, this is going to dictate the threshold or how and when a neuron fires.
So if that threshold lowers right, then it's going to fire easier. And the question is, why would it lower? Well, I don't think that the brain does anything on accident, okay? So we're going to lower the threshold firing rate of the neurons so life can be sustained, right? So the neuronal life can be sustained.
Neurons need two things, fuel and activation. If you lose one, that neuron can die. And so a neuron has to be, be sure it can continue to fire, so it may need to lower its threshold. A neuron also needs proper blood flow and mitochondrial function and all of these things, right? So if we get this lowering of threshold, then these neurons are firing with minimal stimuli, right?
So they're firing and they can turn into spike waves. And then we lose what's called integration within these networks. And the term I like to use in regards to that is, and I already referenced it once, the central integrated state, um, the central integrated state is something that Dr. Adrian and Dr.
Sherington won a Nobel Prize for back in 1932. Um, they discovered the central integrated state, and that is a foundational concept which really, you know, is the, the the base of functional neurology. So imagine if you turn your car. And you just let it idle, right? That idle state is the central integrated state of the brain.
So if we alter that, now we start to change functional capacity of those networks, right? And so now you start to see all the other symptoms that you were describing, right? So it's interesting as we identify these networks with this abnormal cent central integrated state, that also helps us identify oftentimes where the key, uh, seizure is coming from, uh, because of the correlation with the change in the central integrated state and the altered thresholds, right?
And so that is just one way, right? That you can, uh, develop some seizures, uh, but also, you know, a path forward to to helping them. There's also things like neuro autoimmunity. This is where your immune system actually starts to attack your own tissue or your own receptors within the brain. And when you get that attack, that can inflame receptors, that can alter thresholds on neurons leading to seizures.
And this is actually likely to happen after a head injury or even after, uh, seizures develop. You can then develop, uh, a neuro autoimmunity. Um, so it's always important to test for that, address it, et cetera. Um, there's other cases where a mold or mycotoxin, uh, can actually initiate seizures. Environmental chemicals and heavy metals can initiate seizures, right?
So there's a whole host of things that can, can cause this. Does that answer your question?
Ellie Altman: It does, yes, sir.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Awesome. Um, well, do you have anything else, any other questions for me? You have good questions. I like it.
Ellie Altman: Thank you. Um, I did just wanna kind of, just a little statement out there. So senior year after I came to y'all, I ended up having my Allstate choir that I had talked to y'all about, which, you know, that I sing because I sang at your office.
Yep. With Harrison and all of them.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Little plastic. Jesus.
Ellie Altman: Yes. Little plastic Jesus. And so, um, during that audition, I actually had a seizure while singing behind, since it was a blind audition, we did it behind a wall. Um, and I had a seizure while singing and slumped over. And I woke up. The recovery was faster than it had been, so it wasn't a nine and a half minute long seizure.
Luckily it was maybe two minutes, but I woke up. After that I was actually, um, I had finished singing. I had somehow by muscle memory continued to singing. And so I walked out and I was on a college campus since that was where it was hosted. I walked out and my mom found me wandering around the college campus lost.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Oh, wow. Um,
Ellie Altman: last week or week before last actually. Um, there's a acapella group at my school and so at Texas Tech. And so I tried out for that and I ended up making the cut for callbacks. And that audition was actually four and a half hours long with singing, dancing, singing, while dancing, like all of that and sight reading, which is hard for me and it's hard for my brain to track.
And because of y'all's efforts I was able to do all of that without taking a break or anything. And I was able to do it well enough to where I found out on Sunday make the team.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: That's amazing. So thank
Ellie Altman: you.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: That's amazing. Um, and I'll just kinda redirect there. I mean, thank you for that. But I mean, this is because of you and your mom's willingness to never accept, never and to push and push and push and find the answer.
Because so many people never make it to us. And, and that is so key. And then not only that, but then to continue, right? Because there's more to be done after, you know, seeing this for a week or whatever, right? There's home care, there's continuation of things. Um, so that's, I mean, that's quite amazing. So you go from, you know, being completely upended in life.
Having the seizure thing, losing valedictorian status, finding your purpose, ending up at Texas Tech, which I guess I'm okay with that. I mean, I'm an Aggie, so whatever. I guess there's a, God has a purpose for that, I don't know, but, and um, and now here you are, like just completely on fire ready to change the world.
So what, what are your plans? How are you gonna change the world? So.
Ellie Altman: Before I even came to neuro solutions, I wanted to be a dermatological surgeon. I had told my counselor, I was like, this is what I'm gonna do. This is my path. And I left y'all's place. And actually my mom had gotten a phone call while we were at Neuro Solutions from her friend Jenna, who was a chiropractor.
And she told my mom, she said, Jenny, you know that Ellie's gonna wanna be a functional neurologist and a chiropractor after this, right? And my mom laughed. She was like, no, she won't. I remember I walked out of the office and we were getting on the plane and I was like, mom, I hope you know that I'm going to school and I'm gonna become a functional neurologist now.
And so she was like, okay, well now I owe identify books because you had better. And so thanks to you, I am going to be a functional neurologist because you guys were a light for me and y'all have completely changed my life. And that's what I wanna be. I wanna be the light at the end of the tunnel. I wanna be the person who can bring that new hope that I got to turn right onto.
Um, I wanna be. Everything that y'all are, because y'all have ultimately changed my life for the better. And shown me that a seizure does not define me. It changes me, but it changes me into a better person. And it makes my testimony and my story better and it points me to God, and that's who I wanna be. So thank y'all for being who y'all are and for praising God and keeping God at the focus of y'all's everything.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Well, thank you. And we need more providers like you. Your story is something that you can't learn that in school, right? You can be the best functional neurologist in the world, but a purpose like that, like what you have, is going to do so much more for your patients. And so I'm excited to see how you're going to impact the world.
Oh, thank you. And I've told many people that and so I'm, I am honored to be a part of your journey, and I thank you for that opportunity. If there is someone listening out there and they're like, man, we're kind of in the depths of despair right now, whether it's seizure or whether it's something else, what do you want to tell that person?
Ellie Altman: Never. Except never. Absolutely 10000%. I would say that. And I would also say that there is a reason for the season of your life that is happening and that it does not define who you are. It does not make you less of a person. You are not less in God's eyes. You are absolutely where you need to be, even if that is hard.
But you will come out stronger because we can't not go to the gym and expect to get stronger doing nothing. Like we have to go to the gym and work our body and go through absolutely terrible times to come out stronger in the end. And it absolutely will make you a better person and find somebody that will get to the base of the problem.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Very wise words spoken by Ellie Altman. I really appreciate that. Ellie, do you have any final thoughts or anything else to say before we sign off here?
Ellie Altman: Just thank you to everybody at Neuro Solutions for completely changing my life and for becoming a second family to me.
Dr. Brandon Crawford: Absolutely. Well, Ellie's story is more than a testimony of healing.
It's a window into how divine timing and evidence-based care can work hand in hand. If you've been walking through something dark, let this episode remind you that there is always hope, there's always healing, and sometimes your greatest trial becomes your greatest calling. Ellie, we're so proud of the person you are and the healer you are becoming, and to every listener, may this story be fuel for your faith and for your health journey.
Ellie, thank you so much for joining us today.
Ellie Altman: Thank you.
Voice Over: We hope today's episode has inspired you to take that next step towards your best self. Remember, the path to longevity is paved with small daily decisions. Your journey is unique and every step, every choice brings you closer to your ultimate vision of a healthier, happier life. For more insights, tips, and resources, visit drrandoncrawford.com.
