Brain Inflammation: In our increasingly toxic world, the symptoms of brain inflammation are on the rise. Living with these symptoms has become so normalized that many people don’t even realize that there is a way out of their suffering. Addressing brain inflammation requires a multi-therapeutic approach that addresses both lifestyles as well as safe and effective detox. Today we explore the tools that may help you get your life back by reducing brain inflammation and increasing your mental wellbeing.
This article has been medically reviewed by Dr. Charles Penick, MD
What is Inflammation?
Inflammation occurs in the body as a response to infection, injury, disease, or stress. [1]
Although inflammation gets a bad rep in the health and wellness industry, it serves a purpose in the short term. In fact, many ailments would not be able to heal without the presence of inflammation. [1]
The two types of inflammation include:
- Acute inflammation: short term inflammation (generally less than two weeks) can help the body heal from an injury or illness. It does so in a few different ways, including releasing inflammatory mediators like hormones bradykinin and histamine. These substances cause the small blood vessels in the tissue to dilate (become wider), which allows for more blood to reach the injured tissue. Increased blood flow means more immune cells to the injury site, which promotes the healing process. [1]
- Chronic inflammation: long term, persistent inflammation is generally problematic. It can be the cause of chronic exposure to things that cause an inflammatory response (like consuming too many refined sugars or chronic mental stress), or it can be the result of the immune system fighting against the body’s own cells by mistake, causing harmful inflammations (this is known as an autoimmune disease). [2]
Acute inflammation plays a role in supporting the body as a reaction that enables healing. Although chronic inflammation is also a response, it is not one that we should indulge in and signals a problem that needs to be addressed generally with a lifestyle change.
Signs of Brain Inflammation
General signs of inflammation include redness, heat, swelling, pain, and loss of function. [1] But not all inflammation causes symptoms. “Silent” inflammation can wreak havoc on your health without any typically presenting symptoms of inflammation itself. [1]
Inflammation in the brain, also known as brain swelling or cerebral edema, is a serious situation because the brain plays such a crucial role in controlling the body’s operating system. Swelling can occur in various locations throughout the brain, which causes pressure and ultimately a loss of blood flow to the brain. [3]
It can also lead to a blockage of other fluids from leaving the brain, which can lead to brain damage and even death. Although death is a less common occurrence, brain inflammation symptoms are so common that many people just assume it’s a natural part of aging or a part of their personality.
Symptoms wise, brain inflammation, can show up as: [4]
- Exhaustion
- Generally feeling ill
- Fever
- Brain fog
- Forgetfulness
- Memory loss
- Headache
- Neck pain or stiffness
- Dizziness
- Vision loss or changes
- Inability to walk
Many of these symptoms are things that people live with for their entire lifetime, just assuming it is a part of “how they are.” Many people have been silently suffering their whole life, not knowing that there is a way out of their pain.
How to Lower Brain Inflammation
Addressing brain inflammation requires a multifaceted approach and a little patience. The toxins that accumulate in the body over the years end up nestling in the brain as a way to protect the rest of the body so that toxins are not free-flowing in the blood. [5]
Understanding that lowering brain inflammation will require lifestyle changes and some time (often years) can be daunting. Still, people often experience a dramatic shift into higher states of health and mental wellbeing reasonably quickly.
Although benefits of these lifestyle changes are generally experienced soon after embarking on them, it is essential to stick with these changes and cycle in and out of proper detox protocols for a long time. Making these changes for life will help ensure that you continue to support your brain and body so that true, deep cellular healing can occur.
To embark on the journey towards greater brain health and increased mental wellness, the essential foundations include: stopping further exposure to toxins, managing stress, exercising, getting quality sleep, diet variation, fasting, and proper brain detox.
Brain Inflammation: Stop Further Exposure to Toxins
Before focusing on getting the current toxins out, it’s essential to make sure you are no longer introducing new toxins into your body and brain. Stopping exposure to new toxins requires being aware of toxins’ sources that you are currently exposing yourself to; this can be difficult in the ‘modern world’ because they are everywhere. Some sources to consider include:
- Amalgam fillings
- Mold exposure
- Cosmetics and body care products
- Home cleaning products
- Paints, glues, and other craft/ building/ repair materials
- New car, furniture, appliances, and carpets (that off-gas fumes known as volatile organic compounds or VOCs, often for years after being built or installed)
- Tap water
- Pesticides and herbicides found in conventionally grown food
- Hormones and antibiotics found in conventionally raised animal products
- Herbicides and pesticides found in public parks and lawns
- Electromagnetic frequencies and ‘dirty electricity’ are found predominantly in big cities and around ‘smart’ devices (like phones, tablets, and TVs) or in the presence of WIFI.
Brain Inflammation: Manage Stress
Stress management is a crucial aspect of inflammation management and health in general because stress, perceived or real, can cause an inflammatory response in the body. Chronic inflammation resulting from mental stress has been linked to a wide range of illnesses, including atherosclerosis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and depression. [6]
Stress management looks different for every person, and some people handle stress better than others. Some tools to reduce stress include mindfulness practices like yoga and meditation, stretching, time in nature, and gentle walks. [7]
Sleep, Exercise, and the Glymphatic System
Built into the brain is a system called the glymphatic system. This glymphatic system relies on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and interstitial fluid, which essentially detox’s the brain by collecting waste while you sleep. [8] “Waste” includes a protein called beta-amyloid plaque, which may be associated with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s as well as toxicity in the brain.
This waste is shuttled out of your brain into your body, where it can then be excreted. This removal is effective when paired with proper brain detoxification. [9]
Quality sleep is one of the best ways to promote brain detoxification because there is a large increase of activity between these cerebrospinal and interstitial fluids during deep sleep. Exercise also promotes a boost in these two fluids, to a lesser degree. [10]
Detox Your Brain
Although the brain naturally detoxifies itself thanks to the glymphatic system, it can only go so far by itself. Impairment to ridding these toxins from the brain and body include the abnormally high exposure to toxins (more than the body can deal with), as well as blocked detox pathways. [11] Therefore, a proper brain detox will address the entire detox pathway, all the way back to the root of cellular toxicity, and include true binders that enable toxins to safely and effectively exit the body.
Often, detoxes sold on the shelves of pharmacies or online do not provide the full support needed to safely or effectively detox. The harm can be incredible if done improperly, and at best, can be a waste of money.
If the detox protocol fails to open up and support the detox pathways, it is likely that the toxins will not make their way out of the body, either staying lodged in their ‘hiding place’ (like the brain) or could dump into the body and free-flow in the blood, redistributing in other areas of the body and making you feel worse than before.
True binders are a key aspect of safe and effective detox because they cling to toxins until they exit the body, ushering them out. This helps the ‘street sweeper’ effect that most weak binders have (like chlorella or cilantro), simply redepositing the toxins elsewhere in your body.
True Cellular Detox works by improving cellular function so the body can detox and restore itself, as designed. The approach incorporates three components:
- The 5R’s of True Cellular Detox and Healing is a roadmap to fixing toxin damage cellular pathways
- Natural downstream detox pathways are kept open and supported.
- Using potent binders to assist in the removal of toxins
Proper detoxing does not, unfortunately, happen in a very short period. It can become dangerous if large amounts of toxins are released all at once. A True Cellular Detox should be cycled on and off intermittently for a period, based on how sick an individual is and how long they have been exposed to the toxins building up in their tissues and organs.
Cycling on and off detox protocol allows the body to rest and regain strength before embarking on another round of detox.
Diet and Diet Variation
In general, diet plays a crucial role in generating health because it is the building blocks of your body. Opting for a whole-foods based diet that incorporates as much organic produce as possible and pasture-raised organic meat and animal products come first. Quality matters, and avoiding refined foods like rancid vegetable oils, refined sugars, and processed wheat will immediately reduce inflammation in the body.
Diet variation refers to playing around with the macronutrient breakdown, or the ratio of fat, protein, and carbohydrates that you consume. Although ketosis has become extremely popular as of late, consuming a chronically low carbohydrate diet will, in time, lead to a down-regulation of metabolism.
Diet variation leads to forced adaptation. Including higher carb (or higher protein) days can help promote adaptation and prevent you from stalling in your progress or experiencing too much stress that can come from over-consuming or under-consuming carbohydrates. Including a day of fasting will increase the benefits of diet variation even more.
Diet variation can take many shapes, including:
- Weekly variation: depending on your state of health and fat-adaptation, you can include one higher carb day and one day of complete fasting to an otherwise low-carb diet. Include higher carb days (up to 3) depending on how damaged your hormones are or how sick you are.
- Monthly variation: this can work well for women, who tend to do better on a higher-carb diet the few days prior and during their menstrual cycle. Following an otherwise relatively low-carb diet throughout the month, with weekly 24-hour fasts.
- Seasonal variation: our northern hemisphere ancestors would have participated in this seasonal variation naturally, with more access to higher carb fruits during the summer months and relying more on meat and animal fat during the winters.
Brain Inflammation: Fasting
Fasting is another aspect of diet that can lead to a profound reduction in inflammation. [12] There are many ways to incorporate fasting into your life:
- A single-day (24-hour) fasts can be implemented as a part of diet variation principles.
- 5-day water fast can be used a few times a year to hit ‘reset’ on the immune system and dramatically improve insulin sensitivity and autophagy [13]
- Intermittent fasting can be used daily to improve insulin sensitivity and promote autophagy and cellular healing. Simply restrict the feeding window to less than 12-hours daily, ideally limiting food intake to about a 6-hour restricted window. [14]
The idea of lowering brain inflammation may seem daunting.
But you don’t need a team of experts or expensive therapies to start detoxing your brain and lowering inflammation TODAY. True Cellular Formulas BrainDTX offers a clinical dose of alpha lipoic acid (ALA), plus cofactors like biotin, and 400 mg of ginko biloba. ALA isn’t just essential for many metabolic, mitochondrial, and neurological pathways —it also helps synthesize glutathione and can detox heavy metals from the brain.
Start a safe and gentle brain detox ASAP with your daily does of BrainDTX and start to feel the difference in clarity and energy as inflammation plummets.
Medical Disclaimer: This article is based upon the opinions of Dr. Daniel Pompa. The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Pompa and his associates. This article has been medically reviewed by Dr. Charles Penick, MD for accuracy of the information provided, but Dr. Pompa encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional.
Summary
Brain detoxification can help people regain mental wellbeing and a greater sense of health and vitality. Since many people have become so used to brain inflammation symptoms, it is common for people to assume it is a part of their personality or a natural part of aging. Addressing symptoms like brain fog, headaches, forgetfulness, and exhaustion can be done using a multi-therapeutic approach and lifestyle change.
This process involved stopping further exposure to toxins, managing stress, getting adequate sleep and exercise, proper brain detox, and diet variation and fasting methods.
Top 10 Thyroid Symptoms That You Shouldn’t Ignore
