Func Med Nation - A podcast for Functional and Integrative Medicine practitioners. · Dr. Steven Noseworthy

027 | Immunoception (Part 2): How the Brain Monitors and Modulates the Immune System - with special guest Dr. Peter Scire

June 25, 2024·59 min·2 clips

High-functioning right brain hemispheres create empathic, intuitive people who feel others' pain literally.

Dr. Steve Noswery hosts this episode of Func Med Nation, continuing his conversation on immunoception with a specialist in functional neurology. They explore how the brain's memory and modulation of immune activity can become dysregulated in chronic illness. The discussion centers on the mesolimbic system's role in processing pain and emotion, which is highly sensitive to inflammatory cytokines like IL-6. Inflammation can excite the mesencephalon while dampening frontal lobe inhibition, leading to a heightened, perseverative state. The guest explains that chronic pain or illness patients often develop fixed, looping thought patterns focused on their symptoms. This mesolimbic plasticity means emotional responses to memories can trigger systemic inflammation without a peripheral trigger. The conversation details the brain's asymmetry, where an overactive left hemisphere may drive pro-inflammatory responses via pathways like the direct basal ganglia pathway. A hyperactive left brain can be compounded by a weaker right hemisphere, which houses the hyperdirect pathway for modulation and has greater vagal influence. The guest notes that patients with poor interoception often have underactive right hemispheres and insular cortices, leading to bizarre, disconnected symptom reports. Conversely, highly empathic, creative individuals often have overactive right hemispheres, which can predispose them to social anxiety or mood disorders. Therapeutic interventions discussed include transcranial direct current stimulation to excite or inhibit specific neural networks. Photobiomodulation using specific light wavelengths can alter brain rhythms, like calming high-beta waves associated with anxiety. Vagal stimulation methods, such as cervical or auricular devices, are used to harness the inflammatory reflex and calm peripheral inflammation. The guest emphasizes that many adult patients with chronic issues have retained primitive reflexes, like the Moro reflex, indicating brainstem immaturity. He advocates for checking about seven primary reflexes, which can often be taught for virtual assessment. The tone is highly educational and clinically focused, blending complex neuroscience with practical application. This episode is ideal for functional medicine practitioners seeking to integrate neurology into treating complex, chronic inflammatory conditions. Listeners looking for basic supplement protocols or disinterested in neuroanatomy may find the detail overwhelming.

As heard by us

A technical, case-minded look at brain-immune interaction, vagal modulation, and modality choice.

This episode moves through clinical ground, from the brain-immune relationship into mesolimbic plasticity and several ways to drive the vagus, including transcranial, cervical, auricular, and low-level laser approaches.

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Why you'd press play

A clinical tour of how to calm an overworked brain-immune loop.

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