Welcome to How Humans Heal. In this episode, I’m really looking forward to introducing you to Lauren Lee Stone. She is a pediatric chronic illness specialist and co-author of the bestselling book “Brain Under Attack”, a resource for parents and caregivers of children with PANS, PANDAS, and autoimmune encephalitis.

I’m so glad to be covering the topic of neuroinflammation – whether due to PANS (Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome), PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections), Lyme, or other form of autism or neurodivergence. There are thousands of children living with these conditions and parents seeking answers outside of the standard medical approach. 

What is behind these conditions? And what can be done to help them using a holistic, natural approach? We answer those questions, and more, in this episode.

Lauren’s Personal Journey

Lauren’s path into this field was not planned. She was originally on her way to becoming a literature professor when her son was born. He arrived healthy, but shortly after birth, he began showing early signs that something was wrong. 

He had severe colic, burning loose stools, chronic ear infections, and started hand-flapping at around three months old. By eighteen months, he was having seizures. Specialists at the Yale Child Study Center told Lauren there was nothing she could do and that her son would eventually need to be institutionalized.

Lauren simply did not accept that. She left her career, went back to school, and studied biochemistry, nutrition, and homotoxicology. Her son lost his autism diagnosis at age eight. Today he is a married adult with a PhD in environmental engineering. Lauren’s message to other families is clear: a diagnosis is not the end. It is a point of departure. If she could do it, other families can too.

Why So Many Children Are Chronically Ill

Lauren points out that 54% of American children are currently living with a chronic illness. Conditions ranging from asthma, eczema, anxiety, and depression to autism, OCD, ADHD, and PANS/PANDAS. The root cause, in her view, is an unbearable toxic load combined with unrelenting inflammation and immune dysregulation. We were simply never meant to carry this burden.

The toxins children are exposed to are wide-ranging. Lauren’s own son was born with high mercury levels, partly from airborne pollution from a coal-fired power plant downwind from their home in Connecticut, and partly because Lauren had mercury amalgam dental fillings during pregnancy. Mercury is lipophilic, meaning it seeks out fatty tissue, and it crosses the placenta. 

Her son also carried significant lead exposure from the old home she grew up in, high levels of glyphosate from food, and severe food sensitivities to soy, gluten, and dairy. 

Today, she finds the children she works with are carrying even heavier burdens: mold, mycotoxins, plastics, heavy metals including mercury, arsenic, cadmium, and even uranium.

Testing with urine panels can identify many of these toxins, but a thorough health history often tells the story on its own. If a child has lived in an older home, near farms, or in a household using Teflon pans, plastic water bottles, or conventional cleaning products, that already paints a picture of toxicity.

What These Toxins Do to the Brain and Nervous System

Anxiety, depression, OCD, ADHD, brain fog, and behavioral regression are not simply mental health conditions requiring medication, they are signs of a toxic, inflamed brain. 

Lauren specializes in neuroinflammation, and she explains that conditions like PANDAS involve inflammation in the basal ganglia, the part of the brain that houses dopamine receptors. 

When that area is under attack, often triggered by strep, dopamine fluctuates, leading to motor tics, focus problems, OCD behaviors, and emotional dysregulation. 

The diagnosis is a starting point, not the destination. What matters is identifying what is driving the inflammation and reversing that process.

The Healing Approach: Layers and Total Load

Autoimmune and neurological conditions are almost always “total load” phenomena, never caused by just one thing. The healing process involves gently peeling back layers: toxic layers, environmental exposures, infectious triggers, emotional components, and dietary factors. 

Medications can be useful and are sometimes necessary, but they silence the symptoms without addressing the cause. The goal is to ask “why” the symptom is there and to reverse engineer it.

Before working one-on-one with families, Lauren requires them to complete a foundational phase: testing to understand what is going on in the child’s body, a deep dive into the home and school environment, and a thorough look at food. Once that toxic load is lightened, more specialized protocols using homeopathics, botanicals, and nutritionals can open the body’s pathways of elimination and support natural detoxification.

Food is foundational. Every child Lauren sees has a leaky gut, and a leaky gut means a leaky blood-brain barrier. You cannot heal the brain without first healing the gut. Removing reactive foods, choosing organic options, and reducing sugar are important early steps. 

Schools are often problematic environments, mold, new carpet fumes, and chemical cleaning products can trigger flares, and she recommends portable air purifiers as a practical tool for sensitive children.

A Case Study

One child Lauren began working with at age three had almost no language, was severely hyperactive, unable to sit or attend, was not interacting with peers, only breathed through his mouth, had dark circles under his eyes, and was ending up in the emergency room every time he got sick. Testing revealed sensitivity to nearly every food he was eating. 

Lauren removed his reactive foods, had his family do a mold assessment at home, they removed carpeting and remediated the mold, and added GABA and theanine for calming support. Three months later, he began speaking, his hyperactivity resolved, he could sit at circle time, he started seeking out friendships, and he was breathing through his nose. 

Children can heal remarkably quickly when the root causes are addressed.

Resources and Final Thoughts

Lauren’s book “Brain Under Attack” covers PANS, PANDAS, food, and practical steps families can take. She also created an online program for families who want to learn the process step by step before working with a practitioner directly. 

You can find more about it here. She partners with local practitioners around the world to support her clients comprehensively. If you would like to learn more about Lauren you can also find her on Instagram @altheahealthandwellness and Facebook @Althea Health and Wellness.

Her final message to parents: trust your intuition. When something feels right, go with it. You have the power. The body knows how to heal when you give it the right support and that gentle, informed unwinding is the true path forward.

A Note from Dr. Doni

I, too, help children in my practice with various forms of neuroinflammation, and completely agree with Lauren about the importance of addressing the gut-brain axis, gut microbiome, and toxins in order to restore healthy immune and nervous system functioning. 

I’ve had the privilege to observe children and teens completely transform their health through this approach. I also find it essential to address the stress response system – cortisol, adrenaline and neurotransmitters – using targeted amino acid therapy and herbs corresponding to the individual case. In my office, we also assess for nutrient deficiencies, MTHFR and other genetic variations, as well as for mitochondrial function, and address what is discovered. 

In recent years I have been researching the use of psychedelic assisted therapy for neuroinflammation, particularly in adults, and especially to address OCD, anxiety, depression, and PTSD. 

If you would like to learn more about how I help with pediatric cases, please reach out to my office at 855.316.2114, or office@doctordoni.com. 

More than anything, I want for parents to know that healing is possible, and support exists. You don’t have to travel this path on your own. I know it can be confusing and overwhelming. And while most of my pediatric patients were referred by other patients or by professionals who know my approach, you can reach out directly to my office if this episode resonates with you. 

Lauren and I can also work side-by-side with cases, to make for an even more comprehensive process and efficient healing. 

Working with a practitioner, like me and/or Lauren, who can help you look deeper to uncover the root causes of your or your child’s health issue, can make it possible to finally break the pattern, and allow healing to happen. 

And that’s exactly what I do in my one-on-one practice, and group programs, including my 14-day Detox Program, where I teach you how to detoxify your body in a safe and effective way. You can read about it and join in here. 

Common health issues that arise when our bodies have a toxic overload include: fatigue, hormone imbalances, digestive issues, autoimmunity, anxiety, depression, infections, including vaginal infections (HPV, BV, and yeast), and so many more.

In my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health, I explain how stress, trauma, toxins, and a lack of recovery, can keep us stuck in “stress mode” and turn on our genetic susceptibilities — and how an individualized approach to recovery makes all the difference. 

Start by taking my Stress Type® Quiz to understand how stress is impacting you today, and then follow my Stress Recovery Protocol and C.A.R.E. Method to support your body and nervous system to heal using diet changes, and natural approaches including time in nature. 

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to my office. My team and I would be happy to connect with you and help you. Click here to set up a call with my team.

Thank you, everyone, for listening in to How Humans Heal and learning all about how it is possible for children to heal from autism, PANS, PANDAS, and/or other neuroinflammatory conditions. If you are new here, I welcome you to subscribe so you don’t miss the next episode. 

We’re here to help you!

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