Could Your Anxiety Be Lyme in the Brain?

Dr. Eboni Cornish, MD, of Amen Clinics and ILADS, returns for a third conversation, live in Nashville. She and Dr. Chris Motley talk about Lyme and other tick-borne infections in the brain: anxiety and depression, kids labeled ADHD, puberty flares, mold and memory, and why she calms the brain before treating anything. Plus her best question: when did your symptoms start, and where were you? Sources in the show notes. Educational only, not medical advice.

00:00 Depression, anxiety, and a Lyme test

00:39 Welcome: Dr. Eboni Cornish, live in Nashville

02:20 From bored family doctor to Lyme practice

04:13 How Lyme gets into the brain

06:12 What a Lyme brain looks like on a SPECT scan

08:02 The limbic loop: calm the brain

10:21 Is neurology catching up?

12:30 Floaters, light sensitivity, and trouble reading

14:05 Tinnitus and sound sensitivity

15:08 Can kids have Lyme? Pregnancy and newborns

17:48 Why puberty can trigger a flare

20:12 ADHD, PANS, and a gentler approach for kids

23:32 Food, kids, and the one-food trade

25:56 Sudden anger in children

27:23 Joint pain and injuries that won't heal

28:57 Teeth, gums, and cavitations

31:09 Babesia and your red blood cells

32:34 MTHFR, explained

35:11 Swollen lymph nodes and lymphatic drainage

36:47 Memory loss, mold, and dementia risk

39:42 Where were you when your symptoms started?

41:31 Gratitude and the brain

43:59 How your gut shapes your mood

46:09 Her morning routine

48:19 Saunas, baths, and cold water

50:38 Belly breathing for kids

51:11 Her fall speaking tour

54:14 Where to find Dr. Cornish

55:34 Wrap-up

57:01 Disclaimer

Key Takeaways:

Tick-borne illness can show up in the brain. Lyme can reach the nervous system. If you have neurological symptoms and you are not getting better, Dr. Cornish says to put tick-borne disease on the list (5:16).

Calm the brain before you push treatment. Her patients who react to everything are often stuck in fight or flight, a "limbic loop" (9:37). She starts by calming the nervous system.

Kids get labeled. Many of her pediatric patients arrive diagnosed with ADHD or "being bad" (20:50). A sudden change in a child, over days rather than months, is worth asking your pediatrician about by name: PANS.

Trade one food, not the whole diet. She asks a reluctant kid for one food that "doesn't love your brain," and trades a supplement off the list in return (25:04). Then she asks AI for realistic swaps a family will actually eat.

Babesia lives in red blood cells. If you have tested positive, don't donate blood. Federal blood-safety rules agree.

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instagram.com/dr.ebonicornish

drebonicornish.com

For more on her work:

amenclinics.com

ilads.org

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