Neuroveda Podcast for Complex Health

Dr Arnold Eiser, MD, MACP trained as a nephrologist over 40 years ago but has come to see that the kidneys, liver and other 'extracranial factors' (influences from outside the cranium, the skull holding the brain) hold some of the most impactful sway over the health of our brains. He's termed this relationship between organ dysfunction in the body to assumed compromise in central nervous system brain neuroinflammation Eiser's Corollary of Related Toxicity. His  book, Preserving Brain Health in a Toxic Age: New insights from neuroscience, integrative medicine and public health  (Rowman & Littlefield, Oct 2021) explores this topic in depth. He examines the ways in which environmental policy, corporate pollutive behavior, metals, microbes, common medications like acetaminophen (Tylenol), and experiences with digital violence seem to hasten neuroinflammatory changes that can present as our current epidemics of autism and Alzheimer's Disease. It's a multi-tiered attack on the nervous system that our society doesn't loop back to true root causes. The book explores the interface between the chemical environment and industrial and agricultural practices.. He notes almost all neurotoxins are also carcinogenics and recognizes the key role of the liver as a front-line organ for protection or vulnerability for brain inflammation- and then notes the epidemic of non-alcoholic fatty acid disease in the modern world. He notes that CFS/ dysautonomia was originally described in the 1800's as a 'disease of modernity' associated with newspaper printing and rail travel. We then talk about the integrative medicine, high fructose corn syrup, nutrients, spices, and in the process really listing out many of the ways we can make our whole world medicine better at preserving brain health. Find the book: https://www.amazon.com/Preserving-Brain-Health-Toxic-Age/dp/1538158078 or https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538158074/Preserving-Brain-Health-in-a-Toxic-Age-New-Insights-from-Neuroscience-Integrative-Medicine-and-Public-Health

Microglial cells are responsible for sensing and driving the immune response in the central nervous system. Their activity, be it supportive or destructive, can be at the root of many different neuroinflammatory conditions including diseases like MS, ALS, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury), but may also play a large role in the vague hallmark symptoms of complex and chronic disease like brain fog, fatigue, pain, alertness and mood changes including OCD, ADD, and depression. Dr Singhal systematically walks us through an easily understood description of the types of cells in the brain (neurons, macroglia (astrocytes & oligodendrocytes), microglia) and their functions. The microglia are a fascinating type of neuroimmune cell that sense and act protectively in good times and then can change shape and release various cytokines, chemokine and neurotransmitters in response to the development of disease, which then impacts microglia function further. We used to only be able to see this on autopsy- there are no blood tests available to measure microglial activation (although neurofilament light chains (NfL) from neurons and glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP) from astrocytes can reflect central nervous system cellular injury). But PET imaging can visualize microglial activation! Dr Singhal explains in elucidating detail the nature, function, and power of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging, like starting with the Big Bang, anti-matter particles, medical cyclotrons and gamma rays. “PET brings physics, chemistry and biology together in real time to provide novel insights at a cellular and molecular level”, including microglial activation. “If you know yourself and know your enemy, you’ll win 1000 battles” is the way he describes what PET can do for neuroinflammatory conditions. We end the show with a discussion of treatment theories and options targeting microglial activation. It’s a combination of re-evaluating known therapies (even the old antibiotic minocycline!) for their impact on microglia as well as mention of some novel therapies, including a nasal spray ‘vaccine’ for MS. Of course, we bring up non-pharmacologic therapy potentials including exercise, the Ayurvedic perspective including panchakarma detoxification, the power of breathing to impact cerebrospinal fluid flow, ketogenic diet, and consideration of various adaptogenic herbs with the goal of supporting the immune system’s intelligence.

Recorded on Friday, June 24, 2022, the day Roe v Wade was overturned by the United States Supreme Court, when safe full-scale reproductive health care responsibility was returned back to the states resulting in millions of women losing access to accurate information about safe reproductive care, this episode lays out the realities of abortion. We know this decision will inflict a range of dangers, even well beyond the simple forcing of women to continue undesired pregnancies with all of the physical, emotional and financial realities (the Turn Away Study shows mental health may recover but physical and financial outcomes are worse for women who wanted but had no access to abortion care). We know there is already an increasing frequency of delayed or denied miscarriage management, refusal to treat life-threatening pregnancy conditions like ectopic pregnancy, and fetal abnormalities not compatible with life that are forced to persist until their extensively painful and grueling end for both mom and fetus. Dr Anuj Khattar is a Family Practice MD who has traveled the country providing reproductive care to women. After witnessing child abuse in the emergency room during his training, he chose this specialty to prevent that by supporting women to be in charge of their bodies, including their reproductive choices. He found he loves doing this work because of the deep listening it requires. Dr Khattar has learned from his patients that abortion is never a decision taken lightly. Behind every decision is a carefully weighed thought process to go this route. He notes 90% of abortions occur in the first trimester (12-14 weeks) when the abortion pill (mifepristone and misoprostol) is safe and effective, and that the majority of abortions are women who are already mothers; these are women who are making an informed decision. In this episode, we discuss: The reason for an abortion is irrelevant; our judgment is irrelevant. Abortion care is health care. With the advent of medical abortion pills, which are available through the mail and are FDA approved through 11 weeks (with evidence & global experience showing likely safety up to 20 weeks), the post-Roe world is different than the pre-Roe world; see the documentary “The Janes” to understand more about that. The physical realities of abortion are demanding on a woman’s body; beyond weight gain, fatigue, nausea/vomiting and connective tissue softening, there is a 20-30% chance of a Cesarean section (C-Section) delivering which is major abdominal surgery incurring any surgical risk and requiring recovery time that is not protected by any Federal paid parental leave program. Dr Khattar also discusses the medically unsound text he has been required to read to women in certain states during abortion counseling and busts many of the other myths out there. A conversation on contraception, which is NOT abortion, even Plan B which is available over the counter without a doctor’s prescription. If the desire is truly to reduce or prevent abortions, our focus should be accurate, widely disseminated sex education, more social and financial opportunities for women, physical autonomy for women and access to contraception. It’s a big show. It’s a big deal. Let's stand up for ourselves & each other.  Resources: Funding Abortions: https://abortionfunds.org/ Shout Your Abortion: https://shoutyourabortion.com/resources/ Abortion finder: https://www.abortionfinder.org/ Repro Legal Hotline: https://www.reprolegalhelpline.org/ Plan C Safe Home Abortion: https://www.plancpills.org/

Coming July 8th from Partyfish Media! Oops, All Franchises is a new movie podcast ranking film franchises and sequels to find the best IP there ever was! What makes a good sequel? Does it have to be a good movie? Does it improve on the original? Does a good follow-up have to reward the fans for waiting on the edge of their seat, decade after decade? We'll match each movie against each other based on entertainment, cultural impact, artistry, and more. Come with us on this journey through every film franchise we can find! Oops, All Franchises premieres on Friday, July 8th wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe now or follow us on Instagram at @oopsallfranchisespod. For full info on the show, head to partyfish.media/oopsallfranchises. See you in the multiverse! Oops, All Franchises Theme composed by Kurtis Skinner.

To Roar Like a Goddess is no joke and a responsibility not to be taken lightly.  In this episode, Acharya Shunya rejoins us (see Podcast for Healing Neurology episode #42: Finding the Sovereign Self) for our first show together) to review some of the juicy bits of her new book, Roar Like a Goddess.  We start with a definition of ‘goddess’ and how the various goddesses have the purpose of revealing the various aspects of our authentic goddess nature. “Just as the moonlight is no different than the moon, the self is no different from the Goddess. We are one.”  Telling the goddess stories about the power of Durga, the prosperity & ethics of Lakshmi, and the knowledge and peacefulness of Sarasvati remind us of our own inherent, indivisible raw power, intelligent discernment, and capacity for pleasure.  This was written in the ten thousand plus year old Vedas- the songs of recognizing divinity everywhere- as well as the Upanishads, which instruct us on finding divinity within our own consciousness.  And this is the first five minutes of the show. Seriously. This is a show to listen to over and over again.  These are the teachings we need to find our footing in an unstable world, to wake up our sleeping inner goddess, and to make order in our lives by rooting deeper beyond self, gender, politics, individual or community.  Honoring your goodness can be just as important as asserting boundaries, roaring with rage, questioning your generosity and even engaging in violence, with discernment, to not tolerate atrocities against vulnerable people, animals or planet.  Acharya Shunya reviews concepts of dharma (right living and connecting to our humanity), artha (prosperity, wealth), kama (pleasure, including the right pleasure of sex) and moksha (liberation). These concepts are told through mythology, story with clarity, wisdom and humor.  Tune in to remember the brilliance of your nature and find encouragement to hold the boundary only as thick as a blade of grass.  Be like the Goddess- both sweet & salty. Resources: · https://www.acharyashunya.com/ · https://www.awakenedself.com/

Autism, ADHD, OCD, and PANDAS/PANS are some of the challenging neuroinflammatory conditions in growing numbers of children these days. While the conventional treatment has typically been pharmaceuticals and behavioral therapies, we are truly in the midst of a paradigm shift aiming at root causes and asking 'why' and 'how' for both cause and treatment. Innovations in medicine are bringing us new evaluation tools, nuanced diagnosis capabilities, and treatment options.  Dr Emily Gutierrez, a seasoned pediatric psychiatric doctorally-prepared nurse practitioner in Austin, Texas, prioritizes these kids who need new approaches. We begin the show by walking through the names, diagnostic criteria, and developmental progressions of some of these disorders like PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections),  PANS (Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome), and autism spectrum disorder, including their associated symptoms of anxiety, depression, and OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). She delineates autism as kids with global delay who have never met milestones (consider genetic testing with chromosomal microarray and Fragile X testing) versus those with regression or later development of symptoms (consider environmental triggers).  We review Dr Richard Frye's formula for regressive autism or PANS/PANDAS etiologies being 20% genetics + 80% environmental triggers, including oxidative stress (aka total toxic burden of metals, infections, mycotoxins, poor elimination), methylation deficiencies, and mitochondrial dysfunction. She notes, "Psychiatric symptoms can have an immunological basis that needs to be ruled out before sticking a kid on a medication. Maybe the med is amoxicillin instead of prozac." We get far into the details with these physiological processes.  This is an exciting conversation about understanding root causes, choosing treatment approaches and celebrating the inherent resilience of children. The earlier the intervention, the better the outcome. She emphasizes that these conditions are not the fault of the child or the parents and that it is somewhat a war of attrition, meaning, staying with it is the best way to support kids long term to become their best selves. For the benefit of our kids and society as a whole, we all need to heed the call to approach children with neuroinflammatory conditions with fresh, science-based, evidence-backed eyes- listen in to learn what this means and how it can be done.  Resources:  Dr Emily Gutierrez's clinic: https://www.neuronutritionassociates.com/ Dr Emily Gutierrez's nutritional supplement line: NeuroNutrients (coming July 2022!) Dr Emily Gutierrez's book link: The Parent's Roadmap to Autism (2018) MAPS: Medical Academy of Pediatric Special Needs for clinicians TACA for parent support: The Autism Community in Action

Season 3 of Save The D8 drops this June 16th! All new characters with all new adventurers and... a brand new player, Shane Regan! People are getting abducted from their homelands and trapped in a prison with no name. Prisoners are kept under substandard conditions and either executed or forced to work for the prison when their time comes. Four of these prisoners plan to escape this terrible place and find their way home! Find your way this June 16th on Save The D8: Epoch. Subscribe and listen to Save The D8 wherever you get your podcasts, and get full info on the show at https://partyfish.media/savethed8pod

Karyn Schwartz is a community herbalist what starts out with exactly what we need to know about herbalism, "If you are interacting with plants in any way, you are doing herbalism. If you are cooking with plants in your kitchen, you are doing herbalism. If you are making tea, you are doing herbalism. If you are sitting and listening to the grass, you are doing herbalism. There are so many ways to have relationships to plants and we are bound to them- we are always in relationship to plants. There's no oxygen without plants. We're not here unless we are in relationship to plants. Even before we talk about the consumption or utilization of plants, we have to recognize we are wholly dependent on the plant world for our existence." From there, we have a wide-ranging conversation about the ways in which relationships with plants can inform our experience in life. Karyn shares how she met different plants, like the high joy being around buckets of basil and the experimenting with making ink from choke-cherry juice. Although she didn't grow up encouraged to be close to plants, her persistence, curiosity and humility helped her learn bit by bit what this relationship is and how knowing plants makes us more human.  Find more about the Sugarpill Apothecary here.  And on Instagram here.

Welcome to the World of Pokémon! Beyond The Ball is the premiere Pokémon research podcast! Join Professors Braden and Will each episode as they read all of the entries for a single Pokémon (selected at random) and try to reach a broader understanding of it and the wider world it inhabits, striving to make sense of the natural world of Pokémon, one Pokédex entry at a time! You can find more info on Beyond The Ball on the Partyfish Media website at https://www.partyfish.media/beyondtheball, and listen now where you get your podcasts! New episodes every Monday!

Dr Howard Weiner has been evaluating neuroinflammatory diseases for over forty years now. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is his main target, but in the show today, you’ll hear how comparing the causes and courses of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), and glioblastoma can tremendously deepen our insight into all of these neuroinflammatory conditions together. Dr Weiner is a story-teller (and film maker! ‘What is Life? The Movie”) who starts with a description of the four types of cells that make the brain into the brain: neurons, oligodendrocytes, astrocytes, and microglia. Then it’s on to the details: MS is white blood cells entering the brain triggering inflammation, while abnormal protein accumulation is the hallmark for Alzheimer’s (amyloid & Tau proteins), Parkinson’s (alpha-synuclein in the dopaminergic areas), and ALS (TP protein and others). As we wind our way through the immune system, Dr Weiner shares their surprise at finding MS has a pathologic B-cell component. Antibody-oriented diseases can be addressed with what’s called monoclonal antibody drugs, many of which are used for MS therapy (and 1000’s of other ‘mab’ drugs for other autoimmune diseases). We then turn to the concept of using vaccines for autoimmune conditions. By priming the immune system, we can change the way it reacts to threat & inflammation- these are being considered for both Alzheimer’s (Protollin from bacteria) & MS (stimulates T cells to dampen microglial activity). This is followed with discussion about the links between the brain & the gut/ microbiome and the gut/brain axis impact on neurological disease. He notes even certain cancer therapies that work better or worse dependent on the microbiome. He lays out the challenges of large-scale trials which often don’t yield game-changing success stories but can still be of great value on the secondary analysis to tease apart the patients that did gain benefit to then work backwards judging if other similar sub-set patients could be served by said intervention. This serves for some of the upcoming potential treatments in current trials including aspects of xenon gas, 40Hz flickering light for Alzheimer’s (https://www.alz.life/), ibudilast, inhaled cromolyn to control microglial inflammation, and/or stem cell injections into the spinal cord. Dr Weiner ends by recognizing the frustration and fear that these neuroinflammatory conditions can inspire, but emphasizes the importance of having hope and the incredible gains we’ve made, which will continue, especially in treating MS, over the past 40+ years. Resources: · Dr Weiner’s Lab website: https://weinerlab.bwh.harvard.edu/?page_id=154 · Book: “The Brain Under Siege, solving the mystery of brain disease, and how scientists are following the clues to a cure” by Dr Howard Weiner, MD (2021) · Book: Curing MS: How Science is Solving the Mystery of Multiple sclerosis (2005) · Movie: What is Life- the Move: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxUFD1UsCpc