#14 Grab Your Labs and Learn the Hijacked Signals

Your brain runs the show—energy, mood, gut motility, immune tone—yet many of us chase supplements and diets while missing the real bottleneck: scrambled brain-body communication driven by hidden infections. We pull back the curtain on how a simple CBC with differential can reveal bacterial, viral, and parasitic pressure that inflames the command center and drains your energy budget. Using clear, memorable thresholds—neutrophils near or above 60%, lymphocytes above 30%, monocytes above 7%—we translate “normal labs” into a practical map for anxiety, depression, brain fog, chronic fatigue, and autoimmune tendencies.

We share how these immune patterns hijack neurotransmitters and mitochondria, why a compressed neutrophil-to-lymphocyte 1:1 ratio can hint at autoimmune reactivity, and how leaky gut primes a leaky brain, opening the door for neuroinflammation. Along the way, we walk through a real-world case of a high-performing teen who suddenly couldn’t get out of bed—and how reframing labs through a brain-first lens explained the crash. No scare tactics, no jargon—just actionable interpretation you can apply the moment you pull up your results.

You’ll learn how to spot low-grade infections that rarely trigger positive pathogen panels, when to suspect bacterial-fungal pairings, and how to think about restoring nervous system signaling before chasing yet another protocol. We also highlight where standard blood work stops and how brain-focused genetic insights can fill the gap to personalize support for energy, mood, and resilience.

Ready to read your labs like a brain map and stop playing whack-a-mole with symptoms? Listen now, grab your CBC, and follow along. If this helped, subscribe, share with a friend who’s stuck in “normal labs” limbo, and leave a review so more people can find a brain-first path to feeling their best.

Note: This podcast episode is sponsored by Dr. Rewire's Brain DNA test. Learn more at Unshakeablebrain.ai. If you're a practitioner and you're interested in adding this at-home lab test to your toolkit, go to Unshakeablebrain.ai/expert.

I, Dr. Kylie, no longer work with clients in any endeavor. If you'd like more support for your health, I recommend working with the physicians at the EllieMD telemedicine platform. To get started, go to https://elliemd.com/?bp=drkylie. For health and wellness experts looking to provide this resource to your clients, get started at https://elliemd.com/join-us/?bp=drkylie.

Thank you for joining the Unshakeable Brain community. Dr. Kylie

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:02):
Your brain isn't just responsible for thinking
and memory.
It's the master control centerthat runs every single system in
your body.
Grab your labs.
We've got a new twist.
Hey there, and welcome toUnshakable Brain.
I'm your guide, or this podcastis your guide to an unshakable

(00:23):
brain.
I'm Dr.
Kylie, your host, and every weekwe bring you stories, science,
and strategies to help you helpyour brain grow stronger, more
resilient, and ready foranything.
This episode is brought to youby Dr.
Rewire's brain DNA test.
Check it out atunshakablebrain.ai.
If you are a practitioner andyou want to incorporate this

(00:46):
brain test into your toolkit, goto unshakablebrain.ai slash
expert.
All right, on today's podcast,we're going to dive into some
labs because on last week'spodcast, LaCrista dropped some.
It could be parasites, it couldbe infections, it could be leaky

(01:06):
gut.
How do you know and can you findthese answers inside your
regular labs?
Yes, you can.
First, let's talk about aparadigm shift.
Stop asking yourself, whatsupplement will fix my anxiety?
Start asking, what does my brainneed to make calming brain

(01:29):
chemicals effectively?
Stop asking what medication willhelp my energy.
Start asking, what's preventingmy brain from telling my cells
to make energy efficiently?
Stop asking what diet will fixmy gut issues, and start asking,
how can I restore properbrain-gut communication?

(01:53):
When you understand that yourbrain is the master control
center, you realize that one,symptoms are messages.
Two, multiple symptoms oftenshare a single root cause, and
there are many root causes.
Three, true healing happens whenyou restore optimal brain
function and communicationpathways because your brain

(02:15):
controls everything else.
Four, your labs can reveal whatis disrupting that brain-body
communication.
However, there is a missingpiece when it comes to your
blood work.
Your blood work can reveal allsorts of information about
organs and systems of the body,but it does not reveal specific

(02:38):
markers or does not havespecific markers for your brain
or your nervous system.
That is where the missing piececomes into play, the brain DNA
test.
If you haven't checked it out,please go to unshakablebrain.ai.
That is the perfect combinationwith your regular blood work, in
which we're going to startgetting into today.

(03:02):
LaCrista last week opened up theconcept of infections and how
bacteria and parasites andviruses can get between our
fence cracks, our blood-brainbarrier, and enter our brain.
She was talking about somepost-mortem studies.

(03:23):
Interested in hearing more aboutthat?
And you haven't listened to lastweek's episode, go jump in.
Right now, let's jump into howinfections hijack your brain's
command center.
You need to understand what'shappening inside your brain when
these infections take hold.
Your brain has its own immunesystem, completely separate from

(03:45):
the rest of your body'sdefenses.
What I know.
When infections cross into braintissue or create chronic
inflammation, it's like havingintruders in your command
center.
Let me give you an example of apatient I once helped conquer
some health struggles.
We're gonna call her Sarah.

(04:07):
Sarah was 16 when her worldturned upside down.
An honor student, athlete, andsocial butterfly, she could not
get out of her bed on most days.
Her parents took her to doctorafter the doctor.
Depression was suggested andmaybe even prescribed something
for.

(05:05):
That's what it's like.
The exhaustion was unlike she'dever experienced.
Sarah used to run five milesafter school and cross-country
and still have energy forhomework and friends.
Now she was rationing energyjust to shower.
This occurs because your brainuses 20% of your body's total

(05:26):
energy, and when it's fightinginfections, there's less
available for anything else.
Her brain is literally choosingsurvival over living.

(05:56):
If they are over 7%, there's aflag to that.
So that's what was happeninginside her labs.

(06:21):
Now, when it comes to the restof the labs inside the CBC,
let's take a look becausemonocytes are just one marker of
five that are very, veryimportant when it comes to these
infections and your blood brainbarrier.

(06:41):
Inside your CBC withdifferential, the top marker
you'll see is the white bloodcell count.
This is like looking at theoverall activity level on your
brain's defense system.
When it's elevated, your brainis calling for backup to fight
infections.
When it's depressed, yourbrain's army might be
overwhelmed or depleted.

(07:02):
Or it could be the autoimmunecomponent, which we will get to.
All right, that's the whiteblood cell count.
You want it to be between fiveand eight.
If it's less than five orgreater than eight, we've got
infections on our hand, lowgrade chronic infections, not
something that's going to comeup positive on a lab test.

(07:25):
Unless your monocyte count is14, it might come up positive on
a monotest.
These are things that gounnoticed, but they wreak havoc
and therefore create symptoms,which can lead to diagnoses.
The first one you need to knoware the neutrophils.
These are your brain's bacterialinfection specialists.

(07:48):
When neutrophils climb over 60%,this may indicate bacterial
activity that could contributeto inflammation.
That inflammation disrupts ourmood, our energy, and our
cognitive function.
Neutrophil count greater than60%.
Think bacteria.
Think fungal too.

(08:08):
There's just not a directcorrelation with neutrophils and
fungi, but typically, if thereare bacteria, there are fungi as
well.
Our viral fighters are ourlymphocytes.
That magic number is 30%.
If your lymphocyte marker isgreater than 30%, your cells are

(08:31):
special who specialize infighting viral infections are
very, very busy.
This can lead to the mostpopular three components of
lymphocyte markers elevated,lead to anxiety and depression,
lead to chronic fatigue, lead toautoimmune conditions.

(08:52):
Those are the top three biggestpieces.
Why?
Because they're viruses.
Do I care what virus?
No.
When it comes to naturaltherapy, I don't typically care
what type of virus it is becausetackling infections typically
involve similar things.
Monocytes are also infectionmarkers.

(09:13):
The magic number for monocytesare 7%.
These cells specialize infighting the viruses.
Viruses are then attacking yourbrain's energy production and
chemical messaging systems.
The most common complaints Ihear, again, are anxiety and
depression, fatigue, andautoimmune diseases.

(09:34):
That's across the board forviruses.
So you can have lymphocytemarkers elevated above 30%.
You could have monocyte markerselevated above 7%.
And these not only attack yourbody, but they attack your
brain.

(10:10):
Parasitic toxins are likelycrossing into your brain tissue
and creating the kind ofneuroinflammation that triggers
autoimmune attacks.
The key insight here is thatyou're not looking just for
infections in your body.
You're identifying what'sattacking your brain's command
center and disrupting itscommunication to control

(10:32):
everything else downstream.
There is one pattern in theseinfection markers that's
particularly important tounderstand.
If you've been around me, youprobably know what I'm talking

about (10:45):
the one-to-one ratio.
Remember how neutrophils are themagic number is 60%.
And lymphocytes, the magicnumber is 30%.
Well, 60-30, that is a two toone ratio.
When the ratio becomes one toone, we need to pay attention.

(11:09):
When you see something likeneutrophils at 46% and
lymphocytes at 42%, well,there's our one-to-one ratio.
And this pattern can suggest anoverwhelmed immune system that
could potentially beginattacking healthy tissue.
It can indicate that yourbrain's immune system is so

(11:30):
overwhelmed by fighting multipletypes of infections
simultaneously that's becomeattacking your own tissue.
There are, I think, over 80autoimmune diseases at this
point.
And this doesn't necessarilymean you're going to be
diagnosed with one.
It just means that you might behaving a reaction, an autoimmune

(11:51):
reaction type in your body.
So now you know.
Remember, when your brain ishealthy and free from chronic
infection-related inflammation,everything else in your body
works better.
Like we talked about on theprevious episode.
Some of these guys can crossover the blood-brain barrier

(12:12):
because when you have leaky gut,you've got leaky brain at the
same time.
Okay, we've discussed some labs.
And because we've discussed somelabs, and we will discuss some
labs, and we'll talk aboutpatients and their results here.
I gotta have, I gotta read toyou the medical disclaimer.

(12:34):
Okay.
And this goes for not just thispodcast episode, but any future
and past podcast episodes.
So here you are.
I'm a doctor, but I'm not yourdoctor.
I don't know your personalhealth history, current
medications, or individualcircumstances.
What I do know is that Ispecialize in reading normal
blood work to uncover realanswers about brain body

(12:58):
dysfunction and serves that leadto genuine healing and renewed
hope.
This podcast provideseducational content about
interpreting blood work resultsthrough the lens of brain
function and offers informationabout genetic testing for ideal
brain performance.
However, interaction with thisor any of my social media or

(13:22):
book does not establish adoctor-patient relationship.
You need to know that if yourlab results fall outside normal
ranges or if you have concerningsymptoms, seek appropriate
medical evaluation and treatmentfrom a qualified physician.
You also need to know that I donot recommend you discontinue
prescribed medications withoutmedical supervision.

(13:44):
When we talk about vitamin D,medical monitoring may be
appropriate.
Genetic testing provideseducational information but
should not replace propermedical diagnosis and treatment.
When we talk about case studies,these are individual

(14:04):
experiences.
These examples are shared foreducational purposes to
illustrate concepts.
Individual results may varysignificantly, and these cases
should not be interpreted astypical outcomes, guarantees, or
the like.
Every person's health situationis unique, and what works for
one individual may not beappropriate for another.

(14:27):
The lab ranges that I discussare optimal ranges, and
interpretive methods presentedhere differ significantly from
the standard normal referentranges used in functional
medicine.
Think about when it comes toterms of these labs.
Functional medicine training andadvanced laboratory

(14:47):
interpretation is typicallywhere I have gathered this
information up, as well as myclinical experience,
research-based experience, aswell as the methods from Dr.
Dati's Karazium.
Please note that the labinterpretation methods in this
podcast are educational toolsand understanding your and for

(15:11):
your understanding of yourhealth markers.
For implementing changes basedupon your results, especially if
you're on medications or havecomplex health conditions,
please work with qualifiedpractitioners.
I do not accept clients anymore.
I don't work with practitioners.
I don't work with patients.
If you want to work withsomebody who I recommend, please

(15:34):
look into the LEMD telemedicinegroup.
These clinicians can help youguide and implement safely.
Regarding the brain geneticstesting, while brain genetics
testing provides valuableinsights into your neurological
blueprint, genetic science israpidly evolving.
The recommendations based ongenetic testing should

(15:57):
complement, not replace,comprehensive medical evaluation
and should be implemented underprofessional guidance.
You have a responsibility.
You are responsible for your ownhealth decisions.
Using this information aseducational material to make
informed discussions, pleasediscuss with your health care

(16:18):
providers and your healthcareteam.
Always work with qualifiedpractitioners when addressing
health concerns, especially whendealing with chronic conditions
or complex systems.
This book, this podcast provideseducation, not medical advice.
If you are interested inlearning more about the L E M

(16:38):
Dlack Practitioners, and if youare a practitioner who wants to
implement this or add this toyour toolkit, I highly recommend
it, especially as you learn moreabout peptides and the power of
peptides.
Get started at https dash L E MD.
That's E L L I E M D.com slashquestion mark B as in boy, P as

(17:07):
in play, equal sign, Dr.
Kylie.
I know, but I have to read thatto you guys.
And just let you know that whatwe discuss on here has legal
implications.
Like I said, I don't acceptclients anymore, not patients,
not practitioners.

(17:27):
So if you are looking forsomeone to help you with your
health, especially on aone-to-one basis via
telemedicine, go to L E M D.
That's E-L-L-I-E-M-D.
Use my link in the show notes,and you are ready to rock and
roll.
As a practitioner, you canimplement this into your

(17:50):
patients as well.
Give them access to thisinformation.
It's a great way to monetizesocial media followings and all
the things.
So I will post those links inthe comments if you're
interested in getting into that.
All right.
There's a new episode onUnshakable Brain.
Until next time.