Who Is Annie Hopper?

 

Annie Hopper is a Brain Retraining Specialist who has been in the health and wellness field for twenty years. She is an expert in the field of acquired limbic system brain injuries and rehabilitation.

As a keynote speaker at the Comox Valley Brain Injury Conference in June 2009, Annie delivered ground breaking research on “Acquired Toxic Brain Injuries and Neuroplasticity.”

Annie had her own first hand experience of impaired limbic system function and how devastating it can be. It was in 2005, at the peak of her overflowing counselling practice when she developed severe and disabling Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS). In fact in 2007 she even experienced a period of homelessness when she developed Electrical Sensitivities on top of MCS and as a result could no longer live in her home.

Annie is now completely recovered from MCS, Electrical Sensitivities and Fibromyalgia through manually directing neuroplastic changes in her brain that corrected limbic system function.

In addition to being a Brain Retraining Specialist and Environmental Advocate, Annie also has years of experience as a Core Belief Counselor, Life Coach, Workshop Facilitator, Keynote Speaker, Newspaper Columnist and featured guest as an Emotional Wellness Expert on talk radio.

With a deep Spiritual foundation and understanding of stress, illness and brain function, today Annie provides a wide range of programs and services to facilitate healing for others.   Through brain retraining workshops, counselling services, writing and keynote speeches, Annie provides vital, ground-breaking information and tools for those on their own healing journey.  To contact Annie personally please go to the Contact Link on this website.

 

Annie’s Story

Imagine that you have an illness that prevents you from even being able to hug your own mother.  It also prevents you from working, hanging out with your friends, going to church, shopping, talking on a phone or using a computer.  Merely walking by someone who is wearing perfume or cologne might cause you to have seizures.  Now imagine what it would be like to become homeless.  Neither the medical community nor government has any idea how to help you, nor is a hospital a safe place or refuge for you. 

That is what life was like for me when I had debilitating severe Multiple Chemical Sensitivities and Electrical Sensitivities.  At its worst, the chemicals found in common, everyday household cleaners, personal hygiene products and perfumes would cause me to have seizure-like reactions. 

I started to become chemically sensitive back in early 2006 due in part to exposure to toxins in a “sick building” where I had rented office space for my busy counselling practice as a Core Belief Counsellor.  I also write a weekly newspaper column and was a regular featured guest on local talk radio.  My life was in full bloom until everything came crashing to an abrupt halt.

In effect when I became sick I not only became homeless, but I had to let go of everything that gave me any sort of comfort and security in life.  I left my home, my job, my partner, my friends, and in the process also lost my faith. 

My family doctor did not know what to suggest beyond referring me to an allergist and suggesting that I avoid the things that made me react.  Anyone who lives with severe Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS) knows that avoidance translates to barricading yourself like a prisoner within your own home – if you’re lucky enough to have a home. 

I intuitively knew that MCS was not an allergy, but rather some kind of brain injury. 

Stress in all of its various forms - whether it is physical like a car accident, trauma or emotional or mental stress – has an accumulative damaging effect on the brain and alters brain function.  Under chronic stress the brain becomes vulnerable to injury which can lead to actual brain lesions.   As a result, brain synapses do not fire properly.  The brain goes into a high alert status or a chronic fight or flight response and sends alert messages to cells in other systems of the body.  This results in a host of various physical, emotional and mental ailments or conditions. 

When your brain does not work properly, your body and mind do not work properly. 

In my search for answers I exhausted alternative therapies that focused on MCS as a toxic overload syndrome.  Toxic overload is indeed associated with MCS; however I believe it is merely another symptom of a much bigger problem.

It was not until I rewired my brain that I was able to successfully eliminate symptoms of MCS, Electro Magnetic Sensitivities and Fibromyalgia.  In fact, the change was so profound that after the second day I noticed a radical and almost unbelievable reduction in my symptoms.  My sense of smell returned to normal.  I could no longer detect the noxious quality of chemicals through my sense of smell nor could I taste them.  And remarkably, my body no longer went into “reaction mode” with chemical exposures.   I am not suggesting here that everyone will have such a expedient recovery.  However what I am suggesting is that through retraining your brain you can heal from this illness. 

These results were nothing short of miraculous – well, until you think of this experience in neuroplastic terms.

The brain has an innate ability to rapidly change and heal itself, otherwise known as neuroplasticity.  In fact every second there are one million synapses firing in your brain. This extraordinary, internal healing mechanism is discussed in the book “The Brain That Changes Itself” by Dr. Norman Doidge.  Neuroplasticity was also a featured topic recently in David Suzuki’s program The Nature of Things.  The discovery that the brain is adaptable and regenerative is the biggest breakthrough in neuroscience in four hundred years.

Creating positive neuroplastic changes has also been successfully involved in treatment and recovery from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Anxiety Disorders, Chronic Pain Syndromes and Depression.

The brain is far more capable of adapting and regenerating then we thought.  It is also involved in all aspects of health, not just brain function.  We are truly on the leading edge of a new science in discovering not only how the brain functions, but also its role in optimal health and understanding its wondrous capacity to heal.

With my newfound health and restored faith, my desire is to assist others in healing. The Dynamic Neural Retraining System™ focuses on how to manually rewire the brain and restore optimal brain function, health and vitality. 

My vision is to facilitate healing while also promoting environmental awareness that precipitates big changes in how we live on this planet.  My intent is to empower you with the knowledge and tools that you need to retrain your brain, transform your health and reclaim your life!  Together we can create a unified and strong voice for much needed change in the world!

Keep the Faith!