The gut and the brain are connected by the longest nerve in your body.

Women in menopause who also have environmental toxicity are gonna have five times as much brain inflammation.

Lyme disease is everywhere.

It's an epidemic.

Women are having more babies after 40 now than before.

We're doing it the way that we wanna do it.

Finally, we are having woman longevity because we're learning how to take better care of our bodies.

Perimenopause is real.

Just embrace it.

Be proactive before it happens, and know it's natural.

It's not all that bad.

We can handle it.

We got this.

We got this.

We're stronger than we think.

So much stronger.

There's a very specific kind of frustration that so many women hit in midlife.

You feel off not yourself.

Your energy is different, your brain feels foggy, your mood shifts, and you know something isn't right.

So you go to the doctor, you run the labs, and everything comes back normal.

And yet you don't feel normal at all.

Today's conversation is about that gap, because what if what you're experiencing isn't just hormones or stress or getting older?

What if it's something we're not testing for, not recognizing, or not taking seriously enough, especially in women?

Today I'm joined by Dr. Ebony Cornish, a physician who specializes in neuroinflammation and what are often called invisible illnesses, from Lyme disease to complex autoimmune conditions.

She's built her work around the patients who fall through the cracks, the ones who are told they're fine when clearly they aren't.

And in this episode, we're getting into what is actually going on beneath the symptoms, like brain fog, chronic fatigue, anxiety, and that unshakable feeling that something is off.

We talk about why Lyme disease is far more widespread than most people realize, why it's often missed, and how inflammation in the brain and body can show up in ways that don't always look the same the way you expect.

This is a conversation about being dismissed, about advocating for yourself, and about finally starting to connect the dots.

So if you've ever been told everything looks normal but you know your body is trying to tell you something, this episode is for you.

Here's my conversation with Dr. Ebony Cornish.

Welcome to the iconic midlife Ebony.

How are you today?

Oh, I'm doing great.

Living a dream.

Thanks for inviting me.

Of course, of course.

Well, I knew when we met at the National Conference for Women's Health that we would be fast friends, and I knew I had to have you on the show.

Because I was so impressed after we spoke and, like, seeing you on the panel.

And I learned so much from our, like, two days together, so I wanted to definitely have you on.

So thank you.

Oh, thank you for the invitation.

You became one of my besties out of the thousand women that were there.

Wasn't that beautiful?

That was beautiful.

That was beautiful.

And I loved how it just shows, like, women, when we come together, we are a force, and, you know, nothing can stop us.

And I think, like, really just the information, too, that was shared there was so powerful.

I learned so much, you know, just from speaking to amazing people like you.

And, you know, I thought it was really, really interesting because your panel, you know, you spoke about invisible diseases, you know, things that maybe aren't at the forefront just yet and that, you know, patients don't even realize that is what is going on with them.

So definitely want to dive into that.

But I wanted to kind of talk to you because on the iconic midlife, you know, we talk a lot about women's health, obviously, but when they're going into their doctors, you know, and symptoms they're having and the way that they speak to their doct.

So, you know, I feel like, especially in perimenopause, which, you know, you and I have both discussed, that we are in the throes of, you know, there's women walking around now that, you know, are told by their doctors that they're fine, you know, everything's good, and they're actually maybe even dealing with some underlying inflammation, infection, things that.

That could be going on that they have zero idea about.

So what are we missing, you know, collectively as women that we might not even know that's going on?

Everything.

I mean, I think what happens so often is that because we, you know, kind of are the pillars of our family, we have so much that we do all the time that when we present, it's so easy.

And that's why I don't like allopathic medicine, and I'm functional medicine, because I get you out of my office, you know, we're dismissed.

And we're gaslit.

Oh, it's anxiety.

Oh.

Oh, it's sleep problems.

I'll never forget Roxy, my grandmother, she was a nurse, and I looked through one of her old textbooks, and it said, women who have headaches, talk to your husband.

That was an official 1940s medical book.

So we've been gaslit since then and probably before.

And so I think it's important that as a woman, you advocate.

You know, we talk all the time.

About advocating because you go through these lifestyle changes.

However, what we need to also understand is how menopause and perimenopause impact not only your body, but your brain, and how estrogen, which suppresses inflammation, when it goes down, our inflammatory burning goes up.

So that gives us a higher risk of so many things.

So already, right, we have that risk of inflammation because our hormones are changing.

And then the question is, why?

So I've developed strategies that look at, like, woman's brain health and woman's brain longevity that I call neurologevity.

Because what I find is that when you're looking at the root causes, when you're understanding that the woman's brain, we have different types of patterns that we might see as we go through menopause, decrease in blood flow in our brain as we transition, when I'm looking on brain imaging.

And that's so important because it impacts how we respond to other things we may encounter, like some of those invisible illnesses we discuss at the round table.

One of the things that really blew my mind first off, which I appreciated that you addressed, was getting to the root cause of things.

And one of the root causes that you spoke about was lyme disease.

And, you know, for somebody like me, who I feel like, you know, because I'm interviewing amazing people such as yourself, you know, really great experts, I always thought that I had some sort of a handle on what that meant, what Lyme disease meant and root causes.

Turns out I did not know because, you know, I always had this notion of lyme disease, especially, oh, it's something that you get in the northeast in a wooded area, if you're around deer ticks, you know, taking hikes and being out in nature.

And so I thought it was a very isolated disease, you know, specific to especially that area of the country.

But when you and I were talking, you told me, no, no, no, that is not true.

Lyme disease is everywhere, and it's not just in these heavily wooded areas.

So what are we getting wrong about how widespread and how overlooked Lyme disease is?

First of all, I want to tell you, you know, more than most of my colleagues, most of our board certified doctors who think that Lyme is just an anomaly.

Right.

You something.

It's an epidemic.

It affects millions of people worldwide.

So I'm president of international lyme and associated disease society.

So it's over 600 multidisciplinary physicians around the world.

What we know is that Lyme disease is a clinical diagnosis.

Now, let me tell you, Roxy, when I first started I was worse than you because I, I'm from, I'm from Detroit, right?

I'm from an urban environment.

I went and did my training at Brown University in Rhode Island.

I hadn't really heard of Lyme disease.

I didn't count, you know, I didn't hike.

I didn't think, oh yeah, I'm in the woody area.

I live in the city, you know.

And what I found out is that Lyme is everywhere.

And I'll never forget my first female patient with Lyme disease.

She had been on five different antidepressants because no one ever tested her.

And when we talk about Lyme disease disease, we're talking about Lyme and other infections as well.

And we also have to understand that the testing isn't great.

That's why this year at hhs they had the round Lyme disease roundtable, right?

Because they brought together doctors and researchers and advocates that understand that this is such a misdiagnoses people are going under treated.

It mimics so many other conditions.

So my patients are diagnosed autoimmune disease, anxiety, depression, psychosis, you know, even multiple sclerosis, right?

Als.

I've seen patients who've had the root cause of this underlying infection contributing to it.

So by the time patients get to my office, they've been kicked out of multiple doctors office because they've told them that the tests are negative.

But we know that the standard tests from LabCorp and Quest are not sensitive.

So I always invite, when I'm training doctors say, look, if you have a patient, even when it comes to neuropsychiatric manifestations of disease, right?

Someone whose anxiety isn't going away, or if they have brain fog because how many of us are tired and with brain fall or if they have just overall fatigue, right?

It's such a nebulous clinical presentation that you have to put it on the differential diagnosis because if you don't, then patients will suffer.

And then that's when it becomes neurologic and more chronic because you kind of miss that mark.

So if a woman suspects that she might have Lyme disease, what does she do?

What does she go about like, how does she get tested?

Or what is the right approach for that?

So I always tell people it's in steps, right?

So if, let's say you're listening today and you might have, oh yeah, that sounds familiar.

I have some brain fog.

I don't know why.

I'm really tired.

My mood shifted out of nowhere.

You know, I might have some benign aches and pains and no one can answer these questions.

Less than 50% of people even recall having a tick bite or rash.

Right?

So what you do is you go to your standard provider if they are doing tests and kick you out, and you know that there's still something wrong.

You can find doctors because there's hope that there are doctors that are part of things like ilads, you know, my organization, and other integrative doctors who specialize in just doing the digging.

It doesn't mean that you're going to go to a Lyme specialist and have Lyme, but guess what?

You're going to have a good thorough analysis, which might require.

In my case, I look a lot at Spect Scan Brain Imaging.

So I'm looking at a 3D image of the brain and I can tell if a patient has inflammation or not.

So you're coming to me, you're having all these nebulous symptoms, then I see an inflammation.

You may not know what you've been exposed to.

And then I start doing more sensitive diagnostic testing because the testing for Lyme, it's so, so, so messed up.

That's what I like to say in doctor words.

I mean, we miss so many patients.

That's why we keep advocating for better tests.

But more importantly, doctors need to use clinical judgment and patients need to not give up hope and keep advocating until they find the right provider for them.

Advocating for themselves is so important.

And, you know, I feel like, especially at this age, in midlife, you know, the symptoms like the brain fog, the anxiety, the mood swings, you know, a lot of people say, oh, it's just hormones.

It's, you know, midlife, it's menopause, it's perimenopause.

But how do we differentiate, like, the difference between that?

So, like, if it's something more, you know, chronic or it's, you know, based on inflammation.

Like, how do we differentiate when it's just hormones or menopause, you know, from that?

Well, you have to understand that it is hormone related, okay?

Because as we age, our immune system and our inflammation goes up.

You know, our immune system goes down and our inflammation goes up.

That happens naturally.

That's why women, we have three times the risk of Alzheimer's than our male counterparts and our spouses because of that shift in hormones and that higher inflammatory burden.

So what I do for my patients, all right, I have them, when they come to the office and they're going through this midlife change, I never say, oh, let me just keep changing the dose of whatever replacement I'm giving you, because this Woman, you know, my first patient, she had all the right creams, all the right dose, but I kept chasing it.

I'm like, okay, your thyroid, I've checked that.

You know, I'm checking this.

I keep having to adjust your dose.

I'm giving you bioidentical natural hormones, but you won't stay steady.

And then I looked at her brain, because that's something that I do, and I saw that, oh, no, she had a pattern that might have been sleep apnea.

Didn't think of asking her for a sleep study or.

I have a lab panel that I draw for patients now.

So I.

After that patient, I shifted.

I said, you know what?

I'm going to start looking outside of just progesterone, estradiol, testosterone, DHEA and the like, because those sex hormones only tell one part of the story.

We got to change this narrative of just everything is menopause, perimenopause, because that's a component.

But you got to look at the brain.

So what I've developed is like a, you know, a brain longevity lab panel, right, that I created, where I'm looking at thyroid, I'm looking at hemoglobin A1C, so insulin levels.

I'm looking for inflammatory markers that you can determine if they're in the body or not, how level, how high that person's level of inflammation is.

I'm looking at their immune system because, like I said, our immune system goes down as we age.

What makes us more susceptible to.

To other infections and toxins.

And then if I have a woman who's really struggling, that's when I might even add the infections.

You know, looking for Epstein Barr, looking for herpes viruses, looking for Lyme disease and co infections, if the picture matches that presentation, because women suffer from them and because of our changes in immunity, we're going to be more likely to have those neurological changes than others.

And so then we're sitting around with brain fog and fatigue hormones that keep needing to be adjusted and replaced, not getting that benefit.

You know, I don't know how many of my patients come in.

They're like, okay, where's the weight loss?

Where's the energy, doc?

Where's my mood?

And I'm like, oh, guess what?

You also have chronic Epstein Barr that we need to address, you know, and so it's like the detective work that I love doing in Brain longevity, because people miss that important part of the conversation is how inflammation can impact hormone support and hormone production.

I'm so glad you're bringing that up, because I Feel like too so many women, we go and we get our labs, right?

And they come back, quote, unquote, normal, okay?

Like, so, like, for years, I was getting, you know, my labs done, came back normal, but there was something off.

Like, I felt.

Felt it.

I felt like something was off.

Like the symptoms were there, right?

The brain fog, like, the anxiety, the irritability, like, all these things.

So, like, what do you think the medical establishment is missing?

Like, with these quote unquote cases where it all looks normal and it all looks great, but the woman is saying, I don't feel right.

I think we're missing curiosity, and I think we're missing detective work, and I think we're missing listening, okay?

Because there is something going on, and there is a way to determine it.

My grandmother always told me, oh, my God, you're so nosy.

And that means I want to know your business.

I want to know what's going on with you.

I want to know all the juicy details that I can find.

Because I know you didn't wake up that day wanting to feel bad.

You know, I always have faith that something's really going on.

You didn't wake up this way and think, this is a great way to be.

So if I can't navigate through your health history, I'm going to use your brain, and I'm also going to use your labs to get to that root cause, and I'm going to get you the labs that are covered by your insurance.

So I'm not mentioning lab work that your primary care or your GYN can't draw.

They're simple tests.

And I think, you know, even for me, Roxy, when I got into doing more functional medicine, you know, some of my colleagues were like, what are you doing?

You know, that's voodoo.

No, that's all taking it from the books to the bedside and understanding how a person's body works and not just masking it with medications and, you know, supplementation.

You're really looking at that deep root.

Cause with the neuroinflammation.

Can that actually change the way that people show up in life?

Change behaviors, change the way they think, think change the way they feel.

Like, how impactful is that?

So when we talk about neuroinflammation, we're just basically saying neuro, your brain is kind of on fire, and it can happen at any age.

Like, for me, my mother and my grandmother both had dementia at very young age, and they passed away.

And I was like, oh, my God, am I going to get that?

So that's Why I determined that I was going to learn how to specialize in understanding how to look at and read the brain, you know, and save my own brain.

Because you, when you have brain imaging, SPECT scan imaging, you can see brain changes of blood flow and inflammation way before the symptoms present.

Okay?

So that's the beauty of it.

And not only that, when you get those lab markers, you may be asymptomatic, but it's being more proactive and preventative because, you know, you have that family history, you have that lifestyle.

Because neuroinflammation can be from everywhere.

I don't want anyone listening, say, oh, yeah, neuroinflammation is dementia and hormones.

No, neuroinflammation is your gut.

Neuroinflammation can be toxins, like we're talking about your environment, infection, you know, your water source, neuro.

Inflammation can be poor sleep, hygiene.

All of those things can cause our body and our brain to be inflammatory.

But the good thing for everyone to know is that the brain can heal.

But we want to catch you, and we can put methods in place and we can show you how much better we can make your brain by doing the right things.

Okay, how do we fix it?

Let's say our brain is on fire.

How do we fix this inflammation and make it go away?

So the one thing I always see on brain scans, right, I look at something, it's called the ring of fire.

It's beautiful.

It's like areas, because the SPECT scan tells you areas in your brain that are not working well.

So decrease in activity and blood flow, areas of the brain that are working too hard, and then those areas that might have trauma or traumatic brain injury, or this finding that your brain is stuck, like you're in this fight or flight.

And sometimes that can also be found when you have all diffuse inflammation.

And it's beautiful.

It's like it looks like a Christmas tree.

Everything's red and lit up and overactive.

And so one thing you do, you have to find out why, right?

You got to get nosy.

You got to do the details and find out why that's happening.

And so a lot of times it can be something as easy as you're living in a toxic environment.

I have so many patients who have neuroinflammation from mold disease, you know, and mold exposure, which is invisible.

And some people hold on to those mold toxins and don't know it, and it causes inflammation.

Or if you have an underlying infection, Lyme disease, CO infection, strep, then that's going to cause inflammation.

So you got to treat that.

If you're sitting around here and you're not eating foods that love your brain, right?

And you're eating things that are toxic.

And we know the toxic foods, right?

You know, you know, the fast foods and the sugars and things that can damage that gut lining.

But more importantly, you're not putting that good food, those prebiotic rich foods, those good proteins, those antioxidants, you're damaging your gut, causing inflammation, which is also going to cause inflammation, inflammation to the brain.

So you have to treat that.

So it's all about different levels.

But my favorite part is when I find these patients who try to do everything right.

They're eating right, exercising, losing the weight, sleeping well.

And then I look at their brain and I find that they might be in what we call a limbic lock roxy, where they're in fight or flight.

And that brain doesn't feel safe to heal.

So in patients like that, I gotta calm the brain down.

So that might require using supplements like GABA or L theanine and even berries, things that can calm you yoga, just because you want to get out of that lock phase.

And then I have to send them to things that are called neuromodulation, which just ways that calm it's techniques you can use, you know, limbic retraining.

People can look up biofeedback.

Those are ways where you work and you just calm that area that stuck and then your brain feels safe and then those treatments work and that inflammation goes down.

That is the key.

I mean, I feel like especially in midlife, we're chasing this notion of like anti inflammation, right?

Reduce the inflammation.

And so much of it is connected to the gut, right?

I mean, the brain, gut connection, right?

Yes.

And I always tell my patients, and especially women who are in this midlife, your estrogen impacts your gut, okay?

So sometimes that irritable bowel could be due to hormone issues.

But not only that, the gut and the brain are connected by the longest nerve in your body.

And if you don't treat that nerve, called the vagus nerve, well, by eating the right foods and taking care of it, then you're going to be in that locked phase.

You're going to feel on edge, you're going to have that angst, you're not going to be able to focus.

Right.

And not only that, a lot of women who take these meds, they might take meds for their mood.

Do you know that a majority of those neurotransmitters that Stabilize our mood, are found in our gut.

A lot of our immune cells are found in our gut.

And then when we start abusing our gut by doing the things that we know can harm it, we're abusing our brain.

So whenever I meet a patient, you know, there are two things I start with.

I start with a gratitude journal to think about the good things that are going on.

And then I ask them to name the three things that have you have eaten that has loved your gut.

Because if they can tell me that I tell them they're loving their brain, then later I'll say, okay, what three things do you know have harmed your gut?

Because if you harm your gut, that means you're not that interested in helping your brain either.

So it's a way to look at it.

And it's so simple.

But another thing, Roxy, that happens is that doctors, especially functional doctors, we get so consumed in restrictions that we don't talk about how to help your gut, how women should have minimally 50 grams protein, 40 grams fiber, prebiotic, fermented foods to help heal that gut lining.

Because women are at higher risk of something called leaky gut.

All right?

Women at our higher risk of irritable bowel with hormonal changes.

So it's all about sometimes what to eat to love your gut that you need to focus on.

Could you dive a little bit more into leaky gut?

Because I'm not sure that everybody is familiar with that.

Typically, your gut should be this really tight fortress where you have all these guards that are locking up to protect you.

Because guess What?

We have 300 trillion and more organisms in our gut.

All right?

We have more organisms, good and bad bacteria, parasites, yeast, in our gut than the cells in the human body.

So when you give good things to your gut, you're going to feed the good bacteria good things, right?

And they're going to do good things for your brain and your body.

Keep the inflammation low, keep your brain functioning, give you that energy.

However, when you're doing the things that harm your gut, like the sugar, like the processed foods, you know, like the processed drinks and things of that nature, the alcohol, that's going to send signals to the bad organisms, which are going to take over in the gut.

That's called dysbiota.

So it's kind of a war between the good and the bad.

And the more bad bacteria you have, because you fed them and you've treated your gut poorly, it's going to overtake.

It's going to be the boss.

And those bad bacteria are Going to send bad signals.

They're going to make you more depressed, more anxious.

They're going to interrupt your sleep, because what then happens is that beautiful fortress that we should normally have becomes impaired.

It becomes weakened.

So now the gut is weaker.

But not only that, these bad bacteria that were once trapped in the gut have room to escape.

So when they escape, we use this fancy word in functional medicine called endotoxins.

That just means those bad bacteria are releasing toxins because those toxins leave from the intestine and go to places that they don't belong, like the brain.

All right, so that's when we say a leaky gut, that means that sometimes your nutrients.

So I have patients, women all the time, who come to me.

They're on bags of supplements that they've been taking for years to be by omega.

Everything they've heard that they need to do, and I do testing, and they're deficient in the things they're taking every day.

It doesn't mean they need to increase their dosage.

It just means their gut is impaired and they're not having maximum absorption.

Or the kids who come to my office, they might be on the spectrum, or they might have, you know, autoimmune psych issues and the like.

The gut is inflamed and the brain is inflamed.

Or my thyroid woman who comes in there, she's been chasing her thyroid with all the meds and supplements, and it still won't normalize.

Well, we know that autoimmunity, it's triggered partly by the gut.

And a lot of times, gluten looks just like your thyroid molecule to your immune system.

System.

So if you have this border that's leaky, you have this dysregulated immune system, it's gonna start targeting your cells.

So then you have to worry about hormone imbalances.

So leaky gut means that you've damaged your gut.

Bad things are leaking out, bad bacteria are sending bad signals, and your brain is being impacted.

All right?

So that's how you have to think about it.

It.

You know, I'm so glad, you know, you have taken it upon yourself to really go out there and get the knowledge that you didn't just learn in med school.

I mean, you really put yourself out there to, like, find answers.

And so much of that is critical thinking.

Some people are adverse to critical thinking because it forces them to question their own, you know, knowledge, what they've always thought, you know, and it.

It requires more work, frankly, because you have to go in, do the Research, ask the questions.

So what do you say to people like that who are thinking, oh, this is woo woo, or this is, you know, this is a real medicine.

What would you say to people like that?

I want them to understand I sounded just like them when I first started.

I was there.

But when you start gaslighting patients, when you start dismissing them and lowering their faith because they're believing you're going to be the one to help them, when you start using words like idiopathic, which we throw out so often, oh, that means we're idiot and we don't know where it comes from, or, oh, yeah, that's just fibromyalgia.

Where did it come from?

Oh, yeah, that's just an autoimmune.

But why did that happen?

When you stop having that curiosity, you're doing a disservice to your patients and sometimes even malpractice in some states because people are struggling.

And it might seem challenging, especially with our current healthcare environment, to take the time to ask those questions, but it's a blessing when you can, and it restores hope in a person who may not get that help otherwise, and it can save lives.

So I just tell people to keep trying.

I have so many doctors who listen to me, and they may sign up for, you know, the Institute of Functional Medicine and get training on functional medicine, or they may say, hey, I'm seeing patients who have these chronic, invisible illnesses, and they get trained with, you know, my organization, like ilads.

It's all about having faith that people can help you.

But more importantly, as a doctor, to understand you can get the training to do this.

It just takes effort.

And we took an oath to first do no harm.

And you're doing harm when you're ignoring your patient and not taking the time to figure it out.

Absolutely.

And I think, you know, to your point, there's a place for all of this.

Like, we can have functional medicine.

We can have traditional medicine.

We can.

Like, why wouldn't we want to try every.

Every single tool that we have to try to get better health?

Exactly.

Because it is the human body.

So, you know, it's not one functional doctor that I know.

You know, we're all MDs.

We all went through medical school training that doesn't understand how important it is to also use specialists.

I'm not a cardiologist.

You know, I'm not a surgeon.

I'm not a neurosurgeon.

I look at the root cause.

But it's also important that we work together and collaborate as a team.

So I always have a great team of open minded specialists that I work with because my patients deal with complex neurological conditions and I have to wear several hats every appointment because they have psych issues, hormone issues, infectious issues, you know, pain issues.

So it's important that even if you're practicing, you know, integrative medicine, that you still include allopathic medicine, because that's how we're trained, you know, that's how we get our boards.

But you still have to have more curiosity to look deeper because it's not always as simple as just dismissing someone out your office because you get impatient.

As far as the neuroinflammation goes, especially if you're seeing these like rings of fire and, you know, all of this brain inflammation, do we need to be worried later on down the line about dementia and Alzheimer's, like all of these diseases of the brain?

If this neuroinflammation goes untreated, we should.

Be worried about dementia and more.

Okay.

As I said earlier, we are two thirds more likely women to develop Alzheimer's.

And I think a lot of it has to do with the hormone depletion that takes place as we age.

That's why I always check hormones and I try to make sure they're optimized.

No matter when you went through menopause.

When we talk about neuroinflammation, you know, I always check my female hormones, you know, because we need optimal estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, dhea, not only just for our overall well being, but to support inflammation, all right, and decrease that inflammatory burden, especially with our brain.

So I have a lot of women who might be in their 70s, 80s, I don't need hormones, you know, and then when I give them that support for whatever deficiency, then they start having better cognition and we start seeing brain inflammation go down.

The only thing that's really unfortunate, especially as it raises our risk of dementia, is that as our estrogen decreases, we have slower progress perfusion, blood flow.

Okay?

So when we have decreased blood flow, especially neurologically, that's when we're going to start impacting those areas of the brain, the sides of the brain called temporal lobe, the front of the brain called frontal lobe, you're going to have decreased activity and perfusion, even the top of the brain.

And that is what's going to lead down that dementia road.

So I always tell my patients we're at a disadvantage because of our hormones that change naturally.

And not only that, because the blood flow changes naturally, because it's associated with your hormones.

So that makes you at a higher risk.

You know, like I said, coming from a family of two women with dementia.

And you got to start treating, you know, one thing, one thing that I really wish I understood back when I was growing up as it relates to brain inflammation is mold illness.

Because women in menopause who also have environmental toxicity are going to have five times as much brain inflammation as someone who's living in a very clean and toxic free environment.

And that's going to perpetuate those neurological changes that can lead to dementia and Alzheimer's as well.

But you gotta look at the root causes.

And the beautiful thing with dementia in Alzheimer's risk is that you can get labs at LabCorp that can tell you your risk.

You can get APO E3, E4, which will tell you your genetic risk.

You can get a test called P tau which will tell you your risk.

Risk.

And they even have an Alzheimer's panel only at LabCorp, which is through most insurances, that can work up your Alzheimer's risk.

So I get that for all of my female patients who are going through perimenopause, menopause, even when they might feel as if they have optimal brain function.

Because guess what?

We want to stay proactive.

That woman brain longevity is staying proactive and knowing what our risk factors are.

That's amazing that you can get these tests like ahead of time.

So you already know your risk, especially for these brain diseases which are so scary.

So let's say a woman wants to go into her doctor, she wants like a baseline of everything to check for, you know, toxicity, inflammation, Alzheimer's risk.

What should she ask her doctor, like what test should she be asking for?

I don't mind even providing you because I did, you know, you're right on time.

Look how God works.

I did recently develop a woman's neuro longevity guide, like a quick handout on what labs to take.

And I will provide that to you.

So, you know, the viewers will know if they want to, they can have this guide, you know, for them.

But you start with the, the standard things because your doctor won't kick you out the room for that.

So we start with thyroid and it's a whole thyroid panel.

And I want you guys, not if you're driving, but write these things down, like T3, T4, TSH, reverse T3.

You want to get that, you want to ask your doctor for a vitamin D. So you want to get your vitamin D checked.

You want to get your fasting lipids checked.

All right, you want to get your Pre diabetes labs like your hemoglobin A1C and insulin, you want to get that checked.

You definitely want to get your sex hormones checked.

The estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, dhea.

Put that on the panel.

And then when you want to get down to all the exotic things, we can Test for hemoglobin A1C, but also C reactive protein.

That's a basic marker for inflammation.

Ana basic marker for inflammation.

And then you can start if you think you have environmental toxins, there are other markers that you can work up for that, that I'll be providing in that guide.

And then if you are interested in getting worked up for chronic infections from Lyme disease, Epstein Barr, you know, getting that initial screen, co infection, there are tests for that.

But if you just want a baseline inflammatory pattern, those dementia panels I told you about, LabCorp, all your thyroid, even all your hormones and even your cortisol thyroid, female, male sex hormones, and for diabetes, your cholesterol.

Because women who go through menopause and perimenopause, we have slower metabolisms, so we might have higher cholesterol even though we're eating optimally.

We might have low vitamin D, and we might have higher prediabetes risk just because of our changes in menopause.

So you want to get all of that basic screening and those inflammatory markers that won't be kicked out.

So if you go there with a list, they can't say, oh, why do you want to test this?

Because my insurance will pay for it.

And then you have that basic panel that can then lead you down the road to some of the more invisible illnesses that we suffer from.

You know, I think a lot of women too, when they go into their doctors to ask for certain things, they're dismissed.

Like, for example, I went in wanting to know more about my hormones, you know, like possibly getting on HRTs.

And one of my doctors literally told me, she said, come back to me when you haven't had a period in a year, and then we'll talk about something.

But just take these.

Like, you know, she was offering natural, quote, unquote, natural supplements.

And I'm like, no, I want to know what my options are.

And I think a lot of women face that.

So for a woman that feels like she's getting gaslit from her doctor, what are some of the next steps that you recommend she take to get further answers?

So the first thing is you're gonna have to go somewhere else.

You're gonna have to find a doctor who's similar, who does the similar Things that I do, we're called functional doctors or integrative doctors or even.

I'm not one.

But naturopaths, which are other kind of holistic doctors.

And there are engines you can search for that, okay, like Institute of Functional Medicine or ilas, where you can find that doctor.

And then they're gonna get for you those more comprehensive testing that you might need.

Because you're going to need to know, especially if you're in perimenopause, you can't just go out there and check your hormones.

You got to check it during the second half of your menstrual cycle, you know, day 19, 23.

So you get some accuracy.

If you're menopausal, it's not as accurate as to just take one hormone reading.

You might want to do something like a urine neurozoomer or Dutch test, like any of these ert, these more diagnostic tests that functional medicine doctors use, where they're looking at 24 hour reading of your female and male sex hormones and your stress hormone.

So.

And I always think, you know, since they took that black box warning and even before then, we've always realized that there is a need for bioidentical hormones, hormone replacement, even if it's been less than a year.

One of my favorite hormones that I have patients on, even if they're menstruating, I might have them on the second half of their cycle, is progesterone.

I feel like that's God's best hormone that you can tolerate that replacement.

It'll help you with your well being, it'll help you with your sleep, it'll just help you with your brain function.

And anyone, no matter how old you are, can take it.

If you just ask for or find that gyn, if you find that you want that stabilization, but you have to make sure you're testing it properly, that you get a functional doctor who's going to do a deeper dive.

Because that One Stop shop is not going to help.

You need a deeper dive.

And then you want to start that treatment accordingly so that we can decrease that brain inflammation risk.

Especially even if you're menstruating or you in perimenopause, you're going to have to take your hormones at a certain time, the last two weeks of your menstrual cycle, you know, of this whole cycle we go through.

So that's considered day 19 through 28, you know, second half.

All right, now you also can have a functional doctor like myself who can do more diagnostic testing like urine testing, like I use Urine Zoomer by Vibrant or Dutch testing or ZRT testing.

These are more comprehensive tests because they're going to look at your hormones for the entire day, because that's way more accurate than just one stop shop.

Okay, but you need to be advocating for that no matter what.

If you're menstruating, you need to advocate for it.

Day one is your period.

Day 14 or so down the road, you take your test, you know, second half of that female cycle.

If you're perimenopause and you're skipping month, you might want to get a doctor who can do those more diagnostic tests I told you about.

And if you've been gone for six months, don't get gas lit.

Ladies, you need to get the right type of comprehensive test so that you decrease your risk of chronic brain inflammation.

It's imperative that you do it.

You know, I'm glad you're bringing up the Dutch test because there's been, like, mixed reviews about the Dutch test.

Some people, you know, love it, some people don't.

So what do you think?

Like, medically speaking, like, is it a good test for us to do?

Should we make the investment to get the Dutch test?

Yes.

And I think that's only one of three.

You know, I like the Dutch test.

I like, you know, Vibrant Lab has a urine hormone zoomer test.

And I like ZRT tests.

I think that tests are more accurate if they are 24 hours.

And also if you can determine, like my, my one favorite, the Hormone Zoomer.

It actually shows me not only your hormones, but environmental toxins that can impact your hormones.

Because we know things like plastics or like heavy metals that can also have a negative impact on your hormone production, but not only that, the ability for you to metabolize hormones.

So I find those tests extremely helpful.

And it also looks at your stress hormone, hormone cortisol.

Right.

So you're looking at all that throughout the day.

I think it's worth the investment because of your body, stress hormone is high.

I don't care how many things I give you to replace your sex hormones, that we're going to be struggling.

We're going to have a hard time, you know, because we got to find that right balance and we gotta, we gotta put it in, you know, in a balanced state, all of your hormones.

So I definitely recommend more comprehensive testing.

And that's what I do for my patients every day.

For the woman that's listening right now or watching, she wants to optimize her health in the next six months, what are three important Steps that you think she should take to do that, A midlife woman that's listening right now.

So the first thing you know, because I believe in my faith, you know, it guides me every day.

I feel like women, we need to start our day with vitamin D and with gratitude.

That to me is so important because it gets you away from that worry of, oh my God, what should I do?

Oh my God, I'm not wrong, Something's wrong with me, right?

You start that mental process.

And then because we have to deal with so much, the husbands, the kids, the this, the that, take that minute to calm that limbic system, take that time for that vitamin D and that gratitude, Then you want to optimize, of course, the basics, your sleep.

Make sure you're getting a good night's sleep, ladies, because that is always missed, especially with scrolling.

And you know, the stresses we go through making sure we're having at least seven to eight hours of sleep because that can be impaired with your hormones as well.

Lack of sleep leads to brain inflammation.

So making sure that is optimized, that WI fi is off.

I mean, no one needs to call you ladies while you're sleeping.

That scrolling's done that.

We have that OASIS environment for rest and if we're not feeling refreshed, that we do our due diligence to make sure we don't have hormone problems or sleep apnea causing us to have problems because we need the brain to heal.

If you're not getting that refreshed sleep in the morning that you figure out why that is, is it your hormones?

Is it one of these invisible illnesses?

Because chronic infections can cause insomnia, Parasites can cause insomnia and make you have those problems.

You know, low thyroid or high thyroid even can cause those problems with insomnia.

So you gotta do that.

That's imperative.

Women that you're optimizing your sleep.

I like to look at things like Oura rings to see if I'm getting into a deep REM sleep.

But I mentioned that to my doctor because I cannot tell you how many women I see who are complaining about not losing weight, having hormone issues in perimenopause and have not had a sleep study.

And they have sleep apnea.

Don't snore, don't even have any signs.

The only sign is non restorative sleep.

And that leads to brain inflammation.

And the third step is try your best to remove those foods that you know, your brain doesn't love.

Try your best and make a list because I give you realistic expectations.

Okay?

And goals.

Think about right now, the top three things that, you know you ate this week that did not love your brain.

The last three things this week that did not love your brain.

And try to remove them and then try more because I've already told you ladies, we have higher levels of inflammation.

So trying to get rid of the sugars and the alcohol, you know, and the processed foods to the best of your ability is what you need to do.

And you know what?

Take one step at a time, because we're all human.

Make it baby steps.

Make it small victories.

Forgive yourself if you can't.

But know that this is brain longevity.

You're trying to save your brain by saving your gut and doing these baby easy steps to lower inflammation.

Are you a fan?

Because I've been seeing this all over social media.

Are you a fan of parasite cleanses?

You got to do it cautiously because I told you before, there are trillions of bugs in our gut.

We have.

You're looking at me and I'm looking at you.

We both have parasites right now, but it's about decreasing the load, but more importantly, improving your immune system.

So I think people get parasite cleanses all wrong.

They're trying to focus on just colonics and doing these things, you know, over the counter without guidance, and they could be harming their good bacteria at the same time.

I think if you're going to do a good parasite cleanse, you need to work with a doctor because not only do you want to filter out the parasites, right?

Which we are to have them, everyone's going to have a parasite.

We just don't want an overgrowth of toxic organisms.

So you want to make sure you're stabilizing the good ones.

One of my favorite bacteria that I need and you need for your brain is bifido bacterium.

So that's in probiotics.

You can find that.

So you make sure you have that.

Make sure you're not eating food that feeds the parasites and the yeast, because they usually are hand in hand, like the toxic sugars, because that's a food source.

So if you're living and you want to do a parasite cleanse but you're not removing the sugar, you're in a lot of trouble because it's replicating, and it's replicating very quickly.

And then making sure you're optimizing hydration, making sure during that parasite cleanse that you're limiting your beef and your pork during that time, because that's their major food.

They love it, especially pork.

That's where we get in sushi.

And then I use things like wormwood or crypto lepus or oregano oil, you know, garlic, olive leaf extract, something called artemisia.

But I usually do it with a packaged plan.

And I also make sure I'm supporting the liver, you know, with things like milk thistle, because that's really good at liver detox.

So it's not just, hey, let me do a parasite.

Let me starve myself.

Let me just get some tinctures.

Let me get a diuretic.

No, you want to make sure, because those parasites are going to be there.

You want to optimize your immune system to keep it suppressed.

You want to optimize the good bacteria that are going to boost your immune system.

You want to support the liver.

You don't want to give it the food it needs.

And then you want to worry about, you know, doing the killing agents.

But usually I walk through patients with it because I see so many complications of people who do them the wrong way.

Like, I have a patient of mine call her the crazy cat lady.

That was her nickname.

And I didn't make it up.

Her family did, because she had all these cats, and she was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and she had been on all these meds that she failed.

And when she got to my office, they were like, you're the last hope.

And I did her testing, and she had the parasite toxoplasmosis, which is a neurological parasite that can cause neuropsychiatric symptoms.

But I wouldn't have known that had I not done that lab and not looked at her brain scan and saw how it inflamed.

It was on spec scan imaging.

If I didn't do that, I would probably be that doctor who gave her more psych meds.

And when we got rid of the parasite because she had cats, but she also ate a lot of uncooked pork.

You know, she was telling me some of these recipes.

I'm like, whoa.

And that's how you transmit toxoplasmosis through pork, you know, and cat litter boxes.

Also.

You can get it in, you know, food, in water sources or people who have poor food handling.

Man, when I tell you, when we treated her for that parasite, her life turned around.

I mean, I was like, oh, my God, there is a God.

You know, like, I was blown away when her husband brought her back to my office after six months being on the treatment and said, wow, I saw my wife again today.

I mean, when I tell you she had been in and out of hospitals, in and out of hospitals, and it Was all because in that test was through LabCorp, that parasite test.

CDC talks about toxoplasmosis, this neurological parasite.

But has she just went out willy nilly and just did random cleanses?

We wouldn't have really, you know, probably gotten any gains.

So just really be careful because yes, we can do a parasite cleanse, but you can also do a brain cleanse by just doing a week of gluten free, sugar free, you know, low dairy, no process foods.

That's the best quiz you can do if you want to get fancy, if.

You want to have good health.

Right?

I mean, that's the thing.

And you know, as always, I always tell people who are listening or watching, consult with your doctor first before you try any, you know, anything new, any, you know, method or supplements or what have you.

So always check with your doctor first, everybody.

But I want to turn the tables on you a little bit because I want to know what you were like at 25.

So at 25, I was pretty boring.

So my siblings are 10 and 12 years older than me.

And so growing up, I was a little dork.

I would play school by myself because my siblings are out at college.

And I would just write and I would just research any and everything.

My mom say, oh, you can't do this, but why I can't wear my shoes in the house.

Let me see why.

You know, you have your encyclopedias back then and you're trying to research things.

We didn't have Google and all of that, so.

And so at 25, I was right out of school, right out of med school, actually starting to think about my career because I didn't know what I wanted to do.

And that's when my mom started having signs of dementia.

And it freaked me out because she asked me my name twice.

I'll never forget.

This was right a little bit after my 25th birthday, I was like, what?

And if I would have been at 25, starting fish oil and eating right and exercising, doing all the things I know now, you know, I probably would still be in this field, but I would feel a lot better every day, right?

Because, you know, that was, that was a good 21 years ago.

22 Now, when I was 25.

So, yeah, I was a curious girl thinking I was going to do family practice, watching a mom who started her memory living in a moldy dorm, you know, not eating the best and didn't know what to do.

So I was confused, basically, guys, I was confused 21 years ago.

Very common.

I think we were all confused at 25, trying to figure out what is going on, you know.

So what advice would you give your 25 year old self?

I would tell my 25 year old self to start loving your brain better.

I would tell my 25 year old self, look, I know you're broke because you're in school, but instead of doing that, you know fast food, because you grew up on fast food, let's try to find an alternative.

Let's try to learn how to finally cook.

Let's try to learn how to use steamables, you know, that are 99 cent so I can have some veggies.

Let's learn how to really use that George Foreman grill, you remember those, and make chicken, you know, remember those grills.

You can put the chicken in there, get the some steamables, you know, let's make sure you get your faith where you need to be because God's going to show you a lot the next 21 years.

So there's a lot of things, you know, that I would tell myself.

And not only that, you know, watch what's happening with mom because you don't want to let it happen to you.

You're not, you might not be able to save her if she doesn't listen, but, you know, at least learn about this now.

Learn about mold, learn about brain, learn about fish oil.

The things that I wish I knew now to give her.

That might have helped, but God makes everything happen for a reason.

But that's what I really would tell myself.

Take it seriously.

Because at 25, you think you're invincible.

You're renting a car for the first time, you're not thinking about this, you know, but that's probably some of.

I probably told myself a lot more, you know, but that's definitely.

They.

I would have, I would have said, get ready to have triplets, you know, pretty soon, because I do have those.

Triplets came later.

They would have said, you're very fertile.

Get ready to have triplets.

You got to prepare yourself.

You're gonna be, you're gonna, they're gonna be here, you know, down the road.

A few years, proud member of that geriatric, you know, motherhood club right here.

You know, I remember being told that by the doctor, like, welcome to the geriatric mother club.

I'm with like, all righty, here we go.

Exactly.

They make you feel so bad.

Like I was 35 when I had pregnant and the doctor said, you know what?

Only animals carry litters.

I was like, I didn't plan this.

I just have.

I'm Just hyper ovulatory.

I'm 35.

He made it seem like these kids would not make it.

Now they're the healthiest triplets I know, making videos about pediatric obesity and brain health because they're learning for mom.

And so, you know, don't listen to that geriatric pregnancy women.

Do what you need to do now.

There are so much.

One of my best friends just had a baby at 45.

She's a doctor.

Her baby is so cute.

Yeah.

She films videos like this.

And she has her little baby, she's six months now, sitting on her lap.

And they even.

I don't know if you even saw this.

They were insane.

In the literature that this year, this, this age, you know, women are having more babies after extra 40 now than before.

We're doing it the way that we want to do it.

Right.

Finally.

Yes.

And we are having woman longevity because we're learning how to take better care of our bodies, you know, so we can have these children later.

So what is the best and most important lesson that you have learned in midlife?

Perimenopause is real and you got to accept it.

You got to stop trying to multitask.

You have to understand that you're going to seem like you have adhd, but that's not true.

That's your hormone.

So don't freak out.

You know, ADHD can look just like perimenopause and menopause.

Right.

So don't let that attention deficit be your diagnoses.

And I'm gonna, you know, have to work harder to lose weight.

You know, it's that, that perimenopause belly.

I'm gonna have to, to work harder because before I can lose weight overnight, I take a minute, you know, boom, it's gone.

So those are the things that I've learned, but most importantly, I've learned that it's not that bad.

You know, we look at this change as so awful.

It's really what God has blessed us to get to this point in life.

Right.

So just embrace it, be proactive before it happens and know it's natural.

That's not all that bad.

We can handle it.

We got this.

We got this.

We're stronger than we think.

Stronger.

How are you living iconically right now?

I don't know if my triplets would say that, but I think the fact that I can balance this, and I feel like I do a good job of balancing three nine year olds working, hanging out with wonderful people like you, I think it's just trying to set that foundation for women who look like me, for women who want to think and work in this field and know that they can practice medicine, for doctors who kind of want to lead the way and just thinking differently about healing.

That's how I think I'm living iconically.

I'm speaking the word that God's giving me to share with others and seeing those changes.

So that's all I have.

Nothing fancy.

I'm just a teacher teaching people how to help get their brains better.

That's all I can do.

Well, I call that very iconic.

So you are definitely living it.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Well, my friend, you are amazing.

Thank you for joining us on the Iconic Midlife, everybody.

If this episode resonated, be sure you like, follow, subscribe and rate wherever you get your podcast so we can bring more amazing conversations like this with EBONY to you and ebony, I want you to tell everybody where they can find you.

My website is D R E B O N I Cornish.

So my whole name.com or I'm Associate medical director at the Amen Clinics where I treat all these complex chronic illnesses and autism.

I have a two week intensive program for patients who have these invisible illnesses we've been talking about today.

And that's at the Amen clinics and that's www.

Amenamenclinics.com and I am functional medicine provider there director and you can find me on social media, on Instagram, I do a lot of different videos, short talks that you still don't serve as medical advice to serve as education@@dr.ebony Cornish.

Those are the easiest ways.

I'm on TikTok.

I'm, you know, just look me up.

I'm here.

I'm here to help and keep the faith because there are other doctors that are here to help that do this work.

So in ilads.org is also my organization as well for those who need specialists who treat complex chronic illnesses.

So yes, keep the faith guys.

Keep listening to a podcast like this to learn.

I am just so grateful that we could have this conversation.

We had such a fun time at the National Conference on Women's health in Washington D.C. so I look forward to many more fun times with you.

Yes.

Next time it will be in person, guys.

I'm gonna hang out.

We're gonna be in person.

Yes.

If this episode resonated with you, if you've ever felt something in your body wasn't being fully seen or understood, send this to a friend who needs to hear it too.

These are the conversations that help us ask better questions, advocate for ourselves, and stop accepting you're fine as the final answer.

If you've enjoyed this episode, take a second to follow rate and review the show.

It genuinely helps more women find these conversations.

And if you want more unfiltered reality and thought provoking discussions like this, make sure you're also following along on social and watching full episodes on YouTube and listening wherever you get your podcasts.

Because midlife isn't about fading into the background, it's about getting sharper, smarter, and more in tune with what your body is actually telling you.

And remember, whether you're connecting the dots, questioning the narrative, or just starting to listen to yourself in a new way, you're not crazy.

You're evolving.

And that's iconic.