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Monday 9:30am - 5:30pm Tuesday 9:30am - 5:30pm Wednesday 9:30am - 5:30pm Thursday 9:30am - 5:30pm Friday 9:30am - 5:30pm

Brainstorm Health Clinic

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Brainstorm Health Clinic

Stella has a special interest in digestive disorders, autoimmune conditions, food intolerances and the relationship between genetics and nutrition.

Brainstorm Health is an award-winning Functional Medicine and Nutritional Therapy clinic, providing cutting-edge health solutions for children and young adults on the autism spectrum, as well as those with PANDAS, PANS, depression, anxiety, and long COVID Brainstorm Health was founded by Stella Chadwick, with a commitment to achieving optimum health for children and young adults on the autism spectrum, as well as those with behavioural and learning difficulties, and food and chemical sensitivities. Stella has a first class BSc Honours degree in Nutritional Therapy, with extensive training in the principles of Functional Medicine, which assesses and addresses the underlying causes of conditions.

12/02/2026

Six months ago, Benjamin couldn't stay home alone for 10 minutes.

Bedtime took over an hour.
Tics flared most days.
His stomach pain spiked every time his anxiety rose.
Mainstream school wasn't working.

His family had already tried therapy. They had trialled medication. They had seen specialists.

Some pieces helped. The overall pattern didn’t shift.

That was when they came to us.

This week he was standing behind a small honest shed he built himself chatting to neighbours and cycling round his village on his own.

I've written up the full case in this weeks newsletter.

If this sounds familiar, you may want to read it. You can sign up Free.

🗞️Newsletter going out on Friday 13th Feb at 7:45PM U.K. time

Link to sign up in comments.

05/02/2026

This is not a comfortable post.

It challenges some very established ways of thinking about autism, PANS and chronic fatigue.
But it reflects what we keep seeing in clinic.

Three diagnoses. One pattern.
The timing changes the label.
The biology underneath often looks very similar.

If you’re open to sitting with that discomfort, read this week’s blog.

Link in the comments 👇

29/01/2026

If you’ve lived with misophonia, you know how brutal it can be.

Ordinary sounds don’t just irritate you, they hijack your nervous system and trigger full fight or flight.

Families can’t eat together.
Breathing or chewing can trigger a visceral reaction, even when it is only seen, not heard.

Most research still treats misophonia as a brain based sound sensitivity, with little focus on what is driving the nervous system underneath.

In our clinic, the things that most often make a difference are:

✔️mast cell and histamine control
✔️calming inflammation
✔️stabilising stress chemistry
✔️supporting serotonin pathways
✔️zinc plus B6 in kryptopyrroluria patterns.

The trigger is not the real problem.
The overloaded system is. Change that, and the symptom changes with it.

27/01/2026

We keep seeing the same pattern on Organic Acids tests in children with anxiety, OCD and sensory overload and this paper explains why.

The research shows that when inflammation is active, histamine rises in the brain and blocks serotonin signalling, not because serotonin is missing but because histamine is getting in the way.

On an Organic Acids Test this often looks like

⚡️Raised quinolinic or kynurenic acid showing the pathway being diverted by inflammation,
⚡️High oxidative stress markers
⚡️Low functional B6 and low or borderline zinc and magnesium.

So the building blocks are there but inflammation has rerouted the pathway.

This is why “boosting serotonin” often doesn’t work.

The real issue is histamine and inflammation blocking the signal.

The focus has to be to:
✔️Calm the immune system
✔️Settle histamine and mast cells ✔️Support the stress response.

When that load comes down, serotonin usually starts working again.

Link to paper in comments 👇

26/01/2026

We talk about anaemia as if it’s just a nutrient problem.
Iron. B12. Folate.
Copper and vitamin A to help iron move and be used.

And yes, those matter.

Absorption matters too. Low stomach acid, coeliac disease, gut inflammation and bacterial or yeast overgrowth can all block iron getting in.

But blood isn’t made just because the ingredients are present.
It’s made when the system is switched on.

That switch is the thyroid.

If thyroid signalling is low, the body struggles to make healthy red blood cells even when nutrients are available.

Which is why some children don’t improve with nutrient support alone.

Sometimes the next step isn’t adding more. It’s checking the thyroid.

24/01/2026

Reading an old book on hypothyroidism by Dr Broda Barnes (1976) and this stopped me in my tracks:

“I have seen many children who suffered from repeated colds followed by complications such as tonsillitis, sinusitis ear and mastoid infections who needed repeated antibiotic treatment and went right on getting new infections until their hypothyroidism was treated”

Sound familiar?

Nearly 50 years old. Still bang on.

This is the kind of medicine that makes sense to me.

Step back. Look at the whole picture. Then decide what actually needs attention.

21/01/2026

There’s a thyroid pattern I keep seeing in PANS and PANDAS.

Low-end T3 (the active thyroid hormone) is common in PANS and PANDAS.

Stress and inflammation get in the way of how it’s used.

Thyroid hormone and adrenals work as a pair.

When cortisol swings, sleep is poor, or the immune system is activated, less effective T3 reaches the brain.

This can look like a child who is always anxious, stuck in rigid OCD, tired but wired, with cold hands and feet, and no buffer for stress.

That’s when thyroid is worth keeping on the table, even if the report says “in range”.

14/01/2026

Your child empties the salt shaker onto their plate. Licks salt off their hands. Begs for crisps, olives, anything salty.

You think it's just a quirk.
It's not.

It's their adrenal glands struggling. Chronic inflammation has burned through their cortisol. Their body can't hold onto sodium anymore - it's pouring out faster than they can replace it.

That salt craving? It's a biological SOS.

This is why throwing random supplements at symptoms doesn't work.

You have to fix the stress response and calm the inflammation first. Then the cravings stop.

I've seen this pattern in hundreds of children with PANS, PANDAS and autism.
Once you understand what their body is actually telling you, the path forward becomes clear.

08/01/2026

If your PANDAS/PANS child is stuck in repeated flares, look beyond crisis management.

It’s not one missing piece. It’s the whole system:

✔️Daily infection control, not just during flares
✔️Adrenal support
✔️Inflammation regulation
✔️Mast cell stability
✔️Mineral balance

When these foundations are in place, everything else holds.

07/01/2026

Many families try leucovorin (folinic acid) expecting a clear improvement.

Sometimes it helps.
Sometimes nothing changes.
And sometimes things get harder - more agitation, poorer sleep, increased stimming.

There’s a blind spot in how this is being approached.

Folate doesn’t work on its own. It relies on the system behind it, and in many children that system is already running on empty.

In those cases, folate can stall or destabilise rather than help.

I’ve seen this play out in clinic for well over a decade, and the issue sits upstream.

Before the full blog goes live, where I explain why Leucovorin often doesn’t work as expected and what to do about it, I’d like to ask:

👉 What has your experience been with methylfolate or leucovorin?

06/01/2026

January flares are common in PANS, PANDAS and autism.

Christmas loads the body with sugar, stimulation, late nights and stress. The adrenals get drained, minerals and B vitamins are burned through, and cortisol keeps firing but no longer calms the body.

Regulation drops. Sleep breaks. Meltdowns increase.

This is what you do. Simple but powerful.

⚡️Start with magnesium. Epsom salt baths - a couple of cups in warm water, soak around twenty minutes if tolerated. PLUS transdermal magnesium - one of the fastest ways to get it into cells, and parents often notice calmer evenings and better sleep quite quickly.

⚡️Cut back sugar - hard. Sugar depletes magnesium and B vitamins and keeps the stress response switched on. Replace it with proper meals, more protein and healthy fats, and bring bedtime earlier.

⚡️Add bee pollen if tolerated (check for allergies). Around one teaspoon is enough. It provides minerals and B vitamins that are heavily drawn on during prolonged stress. Soak it first – a few minutes will do – to break down polysaccharides and improve absorption. Add to smoothies, porridge or yoghurt.

Put these in place and watch what happens. When the biochemical load drops, children start to settle.

Have you noticed January flares in your child? What has helped most?

Address

London

Opening Hours

Monday	9:30am - 5:30pm
Tuesday	9:30am - 5:30pm
Wednesday	9:30am - 5:30pm
Thursday	9:30am - 5:30pm
Friday	9:30am - 5:30pm

Website

http://www.brainstormhealth.co.uk/?utm_source=facebook

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