Dr. Eboni Cornish on root causes of brain inflammation with Dr. Dempsey on Mast Cell Matters

This episode focuses on neuroinflammation (brain inflammation) as a key driver of symptoms like brain fog, fatigue, anxiety, insomnia, and neuropsychiatric issues in complex patients, including those with MCAS, vector-borne infections, mold/CIRS, PANS/PANDAS, and long COVID. Dr. Cornish explains how SPECT brain imaging is used to see functional brain changes—such as limbic system overactivity, toxic or hypoperfused patterns, and sleep apnea signatures—and then guides targeted questioning and testing (gut health, hormones, chronic infections, environmental toxins, mast cell markers) rather than guessing. She emphasizes starting treatment with foundational work: anti-inflammatory nutrition, fixing dysbiosis and leaky gut (“leaky gut = leaky brain”), optimizing sleep and oxygenation, stabilizing the immune system, and only then layering more advanced therapies like IVIg for autoimmune neuroinflammation. A major theme is limbic system overactivation, common in MCAS and trauma, which can be seen on SPECT and may be worsened by food additives such as red dye. Because many mast cell and infection patients are highly sensitive and feel unsafe in their bodies, she relies extensively on neuromodulation—neurofeedback/biofeedback, limbic retraining programs (e.g., DNRS, ReOrigin, Primal Trust), devices like Apollo Neuro, EMDR, and interactive metronome—in both adults and children to calm the brain, improve tolerance, and make other treatments possible. Throughout, she and Dr. Dempsey stress that there is no single magic bullet; treatment must be individualized, stepwise, and trauma‑informed, with particular attention to diet, environmental triggers, sleep, vector-borne infections, and mast cell–mediated limbic dysfunction. Patients are encouraged not to give up: persistent neuroimmune symptoms are real, not "all in your head," and tools exist to visualize and systematically address brain inflammation.