#272 Neuroinflammation: Why Your Brain Is "On Fire" & How to Put It Out | Dr. Jaquel Patterson

What if your brain fog, anxiety, and memory lapses all trace back to one thing: an inflamed brain?

Naturopathic physician Dr. Jaquel Patterson, ND, MBA joins Nick Urban to explain neuroinflammation in plain language and map the root causes behind it. With 16 years of clinical experience in Lyme disease, autoimmune conditions, and integrative psychiatry, she connects the gut, hormones, chronic infections, and environmental toxins to the same inflammatory loop, and lays out how to calm it naturally.

Meet our guest

Dr. Jaquel Patterson is an internationally recognized naturopathic physician, three-time Amazon bestselling author, and founder and CEO of Fairfield Family Health, a multidisciplinary practice in Connecticut with 9 doctors offering telemedicine nationwide. She has a TEDx talk on root-cause medicine coming soon.

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Key takeaways

• Neuroinflammation shows up as brain fog, poor focus, memory lapses, and mood swings, an inflamed brain "on fire"
• The blood-brain barrier keeps out about 98% of solutes until chronic inflammation breaks it down
• About 90% of your serotonin is made in the gut, linking gut health directly to mood and cognition
• Deep sleep runs the brain's lymphatic clean-out, and sauna lowers CRP and IL-6
• A standard CBC can miss iron deficiency for 3 to 6 months
• Curcumin downregulates IL-6, and phosphatidylserine lowers cortisol while sharpening focus
• Small, consistent micro-moments beat dramatic overhauls that never stick

Episode highlights

01:09 The "brain on fire" explanation

02:30 Microglia as your brain's garbage men

11:51 Leaky gut, leaky brain

17:13 Sleep and sauna to lower inflammation

27:58 The iron test most doctors skip

48:31 Curcumin for mood and IL-6

57:02 The cheapest thing you can do for your brain

Links

• Watch it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/yWFYfc80Q1U 
• Full episode show notes: https://outliyr.com/272 

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Nick