Brainstorm Health Clinic

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.

Today is World Autism Awareness Day.But aware of what exactly?The word "autism" is applied to the child who thinks in sy...
02/04/2026

Today is World Autism Awareness Day.

But aware of what exactly?

The word "autism" is applied to the child who thinks in systems, builds entire worlds in their head, and will one day change yours.

It's also applied to the child who can't eat, can't sleep, is in pain, and is losing skills because something metabolic or immune or mitochondrial is going unaddressed.

These are not the same conversation.
One needs acceptance. The other needs answers.

And the parents looking for those answers are not in denial. That’s love.

We can celebrate autistic brilliance AND fight for the children who are medically unwell.

Both things are true. Today and every day.

27/03/2026

Many of our children are dairy free.

Dairy is one of the richest sources of vitamin B2.

Here is the part nobody connects.

B2 has to be activated before the body can use it. That activation is driven by thyroid hormone. The active form. The one most panels never measure.

So the child is not getting enough B2 from food. And the body cannot activate what it does get.

Two gaps. One making the other worse.

If your child is dairy free, B2 is worth checking. An organic acids test will pick it up.

Best dairy-free sources: eggs, salmon, liver, mushrooms, almonds, avocado.

25/03/2026

Your child's thyroid blood test came back normal. Case closed.

Not even close.

Most panels only measure TSH and T4. But T4 is not the hormone that does the work. It has to convert to T3 first.

In PANS and PANDAS children, inflammation blocks that conversion. Instead of T3, the body produces reverse T3. The cells cannot use it.

The blood test says "normal". The hormone is not getting through.

Low energy. Flat mood. Cold. Stuck.

We check the full picture. Not just the basics. Without it you are reading half the story.

Don't close the book on thyroid just because the basic numbers looked fine. We’ve seen children transform when this one piece falls into place.

19/03/2026

Does your child take hours to get to sleep?

Not won't. Can't.

Their brain is still running at 10, 11, midnight.

This is not a bedtime routine problem.

Cortisol that should be falling is still elevated. Histamine that should be dropping is still high. The brain is still wide awake.

What happens at bedtime is rarely where the problem starts.

What does your child's bedtime look like? Tell me in the comments.

17/03/2026

If your child won’t settle at night, histamine might be why.

Histamine should drop at night. In children with mast activation it doesn’t.

Adrenaline kicks in. Adrenaline triggers more histamine. Loop on loop.

Melatonin won’t touch this.

🛟 Save this if this sounds like your child’s nights.

17/03/2026

If your child wakes between 2 and 4am, this is not a sleep problem.

It is a fuel problem.

The brain runs low on fuel overnight.
Cortisol kicks in to compensate.
Your child wakes wired, sweating, inconsolable.

Melatonin will not touch this. It is not addressing the mechanism.

Start with a slow-release starch before bed. Simple. And for many families, it works.

Full article in comments👇

No one prepared you for this.The appointmentsThe researchThe sleepless nights.The doctors who doubted you. The moments y...
15/03/2026

No one prepared you for this.

The appointments
The research
The sleepless nights.
The doctors who doubted you.
The moments you doubted yourself.
The grief you carry quietly so everyone else can keep going.

You didn't choose this path.
But you walk it anyway, every single week.

That is the most extraordinary kind of love I have ever witnessed.

Happy Mother's Day.

Stella x

13/03/2026

Everyone is talking about the same thing when it comes to PANDAS and PANS.

This week I'm looking at it differently.

Tonight at 7:30 (UK time) I'm sending out this week's newsletter. A real case history and research that adds a completely different dimension to why these children react the way they do after infection.

Comment NEWS and I'll DM you the sign up link. Or find it in the comments below.

12/03/2026

Most parents don’t know that regular ibuprofen use affects histamine clearance.

Ibuprofen damages the gut lining where histamine is cleared. The more you use it, the less histamine your child can clear.

It does not stop there. In some children, ibuprofen can also push inflammatory pathways in a more mast cell-reactive direction.

Over 50% of chronic NSAID users have visible gut damage on capsule endoscopy. Most have no symptoms. Nobody connects it to the histamine.

Zinc carnosine has published evidence for protecting and repairing that lining. Always with food. Never on an empty stomach.

If your child is on regular ibuprofen and histamine is a problem, the two are connected.

10/03/2026

Nobody told you histamine could do this.

Histamine is a daytime chemical. It rises with the sun and drops at night. In children with PANS and PANDAS, mast cells keep firing and it stays high.

The body fights back with adrenaline. Adrenaline triggers more histamine.

Histamine. Adrenaline. More histamine. Loop on loop.

At night this looks like hyperactivity, anxious chatter, sudden irritability, sweating, flushed skin, restless legs, an OCD flare.

Melatonin won’t touch it. This is chemistry stuck in fight-or-flight.

If your child’s nights look like this, histamine is where I would start looking.

Some people have one or two heroes.I have thousands.Every single day I work with mums who are fighting for their childre...
08/03/2026

Some people have one or two heroes.
I have thousands.

Every single day I work with mums who are fighting for their children with PANDAS and PANS and complex needs.
Mums who have been dismissed, doubted and told to accept the unacceptable - and who got up the next day and fought anyway.

They became the inconvenient parent.
They asked the questions nobody wanted to answer.
They cried in the car park and walked back in.

These mums are my heroes. Every. Single. One. 💙

Happy International Women's Day.

07/03/2026

Chlorinated swimming pools are a mast cell trigger that almost nobody talks about.

Chlorine and its byproducts - chloramines and trihalomethanes - directly activate mast cells in the airways and skin.

We have seen children whose entire symptom picture resolved when swimming was replaced with other movement.

If your child is worse after swimming and nobody can explain why, this might be your answer.

If stopping swimming is not an option right now:

- shower straight away, every time.
- Mix a teaspoon of vitamin C powder in a spray bottle of water and spray it on the skin after you rinse - it neutralises chlorine on contact.
- Take vitamin C orally too, before and after.
- Taurine helps the body clear it.
- Antihistamine before the session can help.



NB: Always check with your child’s practitioner before making changes.

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

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