PANS, PANDAS, Chronic Lyme & Neuroinflammation: What Doctors Miss | Dr. Eboni Cornish

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In this episode of The Art of Being Well, I sit down with my friend and brilliant integrative physician, Dr. Eboni Cornish, for a fascinating - and much-needed - deep dive into neuroinflammation and its impact on mental and physical health.

We unpack why your brain is not immune-privileged like we once thought—and how chronic inflammation, driven by things like gut dysfunction, chronic infections, mold exposure, toxins, autoimmunity, and even poor sleep, can radically affect your mood, cognition, and overall brain function.

Dr. Cornish shares her clinical experience treating complex neurological and psychiatric symptoms that often get dismissed or misdiagnosed. We dig into the science of molecular mimicry, PANS/PANDAS, and why standard Lyme disease testing misses so many people. She also explains why psychiatric medications can fall short for many - and what to do instead.

If you’ve ever felt hypersensitive to supplements, treatments, or just can’t seem to get better, we explore how nervous system dysregulation plays a key role—and why healing often starts with calming the brain and stabilizing the gut.

Dr. Cornish’s approach is powerful: a thoughtful mix of individualized antimicrobials, immune modulators, hormone support, detoxification, and brain retraining to help the body feel safe enough to heal.

This conversation is a complete reframe of what we think of as "mental health." It’s brain health, and it’s deeply connected to your immune system, your environment, and your gut. If you’re navigating brain fog, chronic fatigue, anxiety, depression, or just feel “off,” this episode is for you.

A few of my favorite things we cover in this episode: 

• The truth about neuroinflammation: why “your brain is on fire” is far more common than people realize.
• Why mental health is physical health - and why psychiatry fails without looking at the brain and immune system.
• The most overlooked causes of neuroinflammation: chronic infections, leaky gut, mold, hormones, toxins, and sleep apnea.
• The rise of chronic Lyme and co-infections - and why standard testing misses up to 50% of cases.
• How genetics and epigenetics determine who gets chronically sick vs. who recovers quickly after exposure.
• PANS/PANDAS explained: sudden OCD, anxiety, aggression, handwriting changes, and mood shifts after infection.
• Why many psychiatric medications fail - and why root-cause investigation is essential.
• The Cornish “toolbox”: stabilizing hormones, healing the gut, calming the nervous system, and then treating infections.
• How limbic impairment and fight-or-flight responses block healing - and the tools she uses to retrain the brain.
• Peptides, SPMs, curcumin, neurofeedback, breathwork, vagal stimulation - the therapies moving modern medicine forward.

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Happy listening and we hope you learned a little bit more on the art of being well!

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In Health,

Dr. Will Cole