BetterHealthGuy Podcast

🎧 Episode Summary
Christian Navarro-Torres, PhD shares his journey from cognitive neuroscientist and academic researcher to becoming a patient with severe CIRS, biotoxin illness, and extreme environmental hypersensitivity. Drawing from both scientific training and lived experience, he discusses how mold exposure, immune dysregulation, chronic infections, and microbial colonization shaped his understanding of complex chronic illness and led to the creation of CIRS Lab.
The conversation explores the evolving science of CIRS, including HLA genetics, innate immune activation, mycotoxins, transcriptomics testing through GENIE, and the potential roles of mold, endotoxins, beta-glucans, Actinobacteria, and chronic infections in driving persistent symptoms. Dr. Navarro-Torres also examines how nervous system dysregulation, trauma, neuroinflammation, and metabolic dysfunction may contribute to illness severity and recovery challenges.
Dr. Navarro-Torres suggests that recovery often requires looking beyond environmental exposures alone to address microbial burden, immune resilience, metabolic health, sinus health, and physiological repair. He emphasizes the importance of restoring interconnected systems that support long-term healing and improved adaptability.
🧭 In This Episode
- Dr. Navarro-Torres' journey from neuroscientist to CIRS patient
- Extreme hypersensitivity and reacting to everyday exposures
- Microdosing binders and treatments in sensitive patients
- Trauma, nervous system regulation, and chronic illness severity
- HLA genetics, mold exposure, and immune recognition
- GENIE testing and patterns of CIRS causation
- NeuroQuant findings in CIRS, inflammation, and brain recovery
- VIP, ProdromeGLIA, plasmalogens, and lipid support
- Environmental testing and remediation strategies
- Immune dysregulation, autoimmunity, and microbial burden
- MARCoNS, MSH, and sinus-related immune signaling
- SinusKEY, Actinobacteria, fungal DNA, and the sinubiome
- Actinobacteria, endotoxins, and illness persistence
- Lyme, Bartonella, Babesia, viruses, and parasites
- Gut health, SIBO, fungal colonization, and Long COVID
- Reintegration, resilience, and long-term recovery
👤 About the Guest
Christian Navarro-Torres, PhD is a cognitive neuroscientist with formal training in cognitive psychology, neuroscience, language science, and applied data analysis. He earned his PhD in Language Science from the University of California, Irvine, after completing an MS in Cognitive Psychology at Penn State and a BA in Philosophy from the University of Puerto Rico. His research career has included postdoctoral fellowships at Princeton University and at Georgetown University, where his work focused on the intersection between experience-dependent neuroplasticity and clinical assessment in patients with brain damage affecting language and cognition.
He is the Co-Founder of CIRS Lab, the Scientific Director of The CIRS Research Foundation, and a Research Consultant for the Einstein Mission, which investigates erythromelalgia and CIRS.
Christian's recent scientific work extends into environmental health and immune dysregulation, including publications and presentations on biotoxin illness, its multi-system and multi-symptom pathology, and treatment outcomes with a particular interest in how CIRS-related brain changes may contribute to processes of neurodegeneration.
Equally important, his mission is grounded in lived experience. He is a complex, hypersensitive patient who has endured serious microbial colonizations; an underappreciated and often overlooked issue in the mainstream mold illness community; alongside tick-borne and protozoal co-infections. These overlapping comorbidities created a perplexing clinical profile that demanded self-advocacy, where his scientific background became essential to navigating conflicting medical advice and fragmented care.
Drawing from both his expertise and his personal recovery journey, he now provides training for physicians and clinicians on how to identify, understand, and treat those with complex, multi-layered presentations.
Connect With the Guest
Website - https://cirslab.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@CIRSLab
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cirslab
Interview Date: May 27, 2026
🔗 Related Resources
MARCoNS Research Paper - https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/endocrinology/articles/10.3389/fendo.2026.1728408/full
Clearance of multiple antibiotic-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci is selectively associated with higher circulating α-melanocyte stimulating hormone in patients evaluated for chronic inflammatory response syndrome

CIRS Research Foundation - https://cirs-research-foundation.org
Improving health outcomes globally through innovative research, education, and outreach

The Coherent Health Podcast - https://www.coherencedx.com
The Coherent Health Podcast with Lacey Venanzi, DC and Christian Navarro-Torres, PhD
📄 Transcript
Review a transcript of this episode:
https://betterhealthguy.com/ep235
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ℹ️ Disclaimer
The content of this show is for informational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any illness or medical condition. Nothing in today's discussion is meant to serve as medical advice or as information to facilitate self-treatment. As always, please discuss any potential health-related decisions with your own personal medical authority.

🎧 Episode Summary
Joshua Leisk continues the discussion of his systems biology model for ME/CFS, Long COVID, and related chronic illnesses, focusing on how lymphatic dysfunction, sympathetic nervous system dominance, metabolic impairment, and chronic stress responses may contribute to the persistence of complex chronic conditions. He explores the relationships between cortisol regulation, trauma, autonomic imbalance, energy metabolism, and the body's ability to maintain resilience and recovery.
The conversation examines how biofilms, chronic infections, viral reactivation, hypoxia, oxidative stress, and immune system blind spots may interact to drive ongoing symptoms and disease progression. Joshua discusses the potential roles of microbial adaptation, mitochondrial dysfunction, connective tissue disorders, circulatory challenges, and inflammatory signaling in creating self-perpetuating cycles of illness.
Joshua shares his perspective that meaningful recovery requires addressing the interconnected factors underlying chronic illness, including metabolism, nutrient status, autonomic regulation, lymphatic flow, structural integrity, and immune function. He suggests that restoring these foundational systems may help the body regain adaptability, improve cellular energy production, and support long-term healing.
🧭 In This Episode
- Lymphatic system function in detoxification, immune activity, and fat transport
- Lymphatic drainage approaches for supporting recovery and reducing bottlenecks
- Localized lymph node congestion as a clue to underlying infection sites
- Cortisol regulation and its relationship to metabolic dysfunction
- Complex PTSD and childhood trauma as contributors to autonomic dysregulation
- Sympathetic dominance, hypervigilance, and progression of chronic illness
- Vagal tone interventions and their relationship to underlying metabolism
- Biofilm formation and microbial life cycle transitions
- Immune system blind spots and limitations in biofilm surveillance
- Microbiome adaptation to sympathetic nervous system signaling
- Viral reactivation mechanisms involving hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha
- Hypoxia, oxygen transport dysfunction, and chronic illness progression
- Nitric oxide metabolism and circulatory regulation
- Connective tissue disorders, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and mitochondrial dysfunction
👤 About the Guest
Joshua Leisk is a biological engineer and independent researcher focused on complex chronic illness. He is the creator of Born Free, a patient-led community research project that develops models and potential interventions for conditions such as ME/CFS and Long COVID.
His work takes a systems biology, reverse engineering approach, exploring how disruptions in metabolism, mitochondrial function, and cellular signaling may contribute to chronic disease. He is known for developing detailed, evolving models that aim to explain how illness begins, progresses, and may potentially be reversed.
Joshua collaborates with a global community of patients, practitioners, and researchers, sharing pathway diagrams, hypotheses, and research intended to advance the understanding of complex chronic conditions.
He is a founder of the Collaborative Sciences Institute, which provides systems biology education for clinicians treating complex chronic disease. He is also involved with Renegade Research, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit bringing together patients, caregivers, scientists, and clinicians to drive innovation in healthcare.
Connect With the Guest
Website - https://bornfree.life
X - https://x.com/joshual_tm
Interview Date: May 13, 2026
🔗 Related Resources
Collaborative Sciences Institute - https://collabsci.org
Systems biology education for clinicians treating complex chronic disease
JoshuaLeisk.com - https://joshualeisk.com
Rethinking tomorrow's medicine, using a systems-based biological reverse engineering approach
📄 Transcript
Review a transcript of this episode:
https://betterhealthguy.com/ep234
☕ Support the Show
Support the show and Buy Me a Coffee:
https://betterhealthguy.link/BuyMeACoffee
🧭 My 16-Step Framework
Learn more about my 16-Step Framework for better health:
https://betterhealthguy.link/Steps
💸 Community Discounts
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🌐 Additional Information
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ℹ️ Disclaimer
The content of this show is for informational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any illness or medical condition. Nothing in today's discussion is meant to serve as medical advice or as information to facilitate self-treatment. As always, please discuss any potential health-related decisions with your own personal medical authority.

🎧 Episode Summary
Joshua Leisk explores his systems biology model for ME/CFS and related chronic illnesses, explaining that many seemingly different conditions may stem from shared patterns of autonomic nervous system dysfunction, chronic infections, biofilms, oxidative stress, and impaired cellular energy production.
The conversation examines how factors such as viral reactivation, microbiome imbalances, nutrient depletion, heavy metals, and sympathetic overdrive may contribute to illness progression.
Joshua shares that chronic illness reflects interconnected processes within the body that can be reversed when underlying metabolic and physiological dysfunctions are addressed.
🧭 In This Episode
- Joshua Leisk's personal recovery from severe ME/CFS and how it led to the development of Born Free
- The meaning behind the name Born Free and the concept of returning to a healthier baseline state
- Shared metabolic patterns across ME/CFS, Long COVID, dysautonomia, autism, Parkinson's disease, and related conditions
- Mitochondrial dysfunction as a central intersection in chronic illness progression
- The role of localized infections, pathogens, and tissue-specific dysfunction in symptom presentation
- How sympathetic overdrive contributes to gastroparesis, immune dysregulation, and microbiome alterations
- Nervous system signaling and microbiome adaptation in response to chronic stress states
- Viral reactivation and mitochondrial dysfunction following COVID and other chronic illnesses
- The relationship between hypoxia-inducible factors and herpes virus reactivation
- Autonomic nervous system dysregulation and hypervigilance in ME/CFS and autism spectrum conditions
- Extracellular ATP signaling, inosine depletion, and the Cell Danger Response
- Methylation impairments, glutathione depletion, and oxidative stress accumulation
- Heavy metal accumulation and its impact on mitochondrial function and detoxification capacity
- Endogenous oxalate production, microbiome dysbiosis, and mitochondrial dysfunction
- Nutrient depletion, mineral dysregulation, and progressive metabolic compensation in chronic illness
👤 About the Guest
Joshua Leisk is a biological engineer and independent researcher focused on complex chronic illness. He is the creator of Born Free, a patient-led community research project that develops models and potential interventions for conditions such as ME/CFS and Long COVID.
His work takes a systems biology, reverse engineering approach, exploring how disruptions in metabolism, mitochondrial function, and cellular signaling may contribute to chronic disease. He is known for developing detailed, evolving models that aim to explain how illness begins, progresses, and may potentially be reversed.
Joshua collaborates with a global community of patients, practitioners, and researchers, sharing pathway diagrams, hypotheses, and research intended to advance the understanding of complex chronic conditions.
He is a founder of the Collaborative Sciences Institute, which provides systems biology education for clinicians treating complex chronic disease. He is also involved with Renegade Research, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit bringing together patients, caregivers, scientists, and clinicians to drive innovation in healthcare.
Connect With the Guest
Website - https://bornfree.life
X - https://x.com/joshual_tm
Interview Date: May 5, 2026
🔗 Related Resources
Collaborative Sciences Institute - https://collabsci.org
Systems biology education for clinicians treating complex chronic disease
JoshuaLeisk.com - https://joshualeisk.com
Rethinking tomorrow's medicine, using a systems-based biological reverse engineering approach
📄 Transcript
Review a transcript of this episode:
https://betterhealthguy.com/ep233
☕ Support the Show
Support the show and Buy Me a Coffee:
https://betterhealthguy.link/BuyMeACoffee
🧭 My 16-Step Framework
Learn more about my 16-Step Framework for better health:
https://betterhealthguy.link/Steps
💸 Community Discounts
Explore BetterHealthGuy Community Discounts:
https://betterhealthguy.link/Discounts
🌐 Additional Information
Learn more:
https://BetterHealthGuy.com
📱 Connect With Me
Facebook - https://facebook.com/betterhealthguy
Instagram - https://instagram.com/betterhealthguy
X - https://twitter.com/betterhealthguy
TikTok - https://tiktok.com/@betterhealthguy
ℹ️ Disclaimer
The content of this show is for informational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any illness or medical condition. Nothing in today's discussion is meant to serve as medical advice or as information to facilitate self-treatment. As always, please discuss any potential health-related decisions with your own personal medical authority.

🎧 Episode Summary
This episode explores the growing impact of environmental toxicity on chronic illness and overall health with Dr. Haroldo Magarinos, an expert in biological dentistry, microbiome science, and detoxification medicine.
The conversation examines how toxic exposures, including heavy metals, pesticides, mold toxins, and modern environmental chemicals, disrupt detoxification pathways, immune balance, neurotransmitter function, and the microbiome, contributing to conditions ranging from anxiety and autoimmune illness to neurodegenerative and chronic inflammatory diseases.
Dr. Magarinos also discusses the critical role of drainage pathways, bile flow, genetics versus epigenetics, transgenerational toxic burden, and practical strategies to support detoxification and resilience in an increasingly toxic world.
🧭 In This Episode
- Detoxification and drainage pathways in toxin elimination
- Drainage pathway support before toxin mobilization
- Genetics and epigenetics in detoxification capacity
- Transgenerational toxicity and inherited epigenetic expression
- Environmental toxicity as a driver of chronic illness
- Heavy metals, glyphosate, pesticides, and chemical exposures
- Exogenous and endogenous contributors to toxic burden
- Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3 detoxification pathways
- Bile flow and enterohepatic recirculation in toxin clearance
- Leaky gut and intestinal permeability in detoxification
- Sulfation and glucuronidation in toxin processing
- Mold, mycotoxins, and fungal colonization in chronic illness
- Microbiome regulation of detoxification and immune function
- Toxic terrain and chronic infections in immune dysregulation
- Nervous system regulation, EMFs, and detoxification capacity
- Solutions for supporting detoxification in modern times
👤 About the Guest
Haroldo Magarinos, ND, DDS is a Chilean-born periodontist, oral surgery specialist, biological dentist, and naturopathic doctor. He is an internationally recognized expert in microbiome science, environmental toxicology, and detoxification medicine.
With advanced training in Periodontics, Oral Medicine, and Surgical Implantology, Dr. Magarinos has spent nearly a decade at the forefront of integrative health pioneering the clinical understanding of how the oral-gut axis, environmental toxin exposure, and immune dysregulation converge to drive chronic disease.
His journey into this field became deeply personal when he developed an autoimmune condition in his early thirties, traced to years of mercury exposure acquired through dental practice, an experience that fundamentally shaped his mission and his science.
An international educator in the fields of microbiome science, biological dentistry, and detoxification medicine, Dr. Magarinos serves on the Medical Advisory Board of Microbiome Labs and is the Co-Founder and Lead Scientist of DetoxU, a physician-formulated detoxification system built to make science-backed, effective detox accessible to everyone.
Connect With the Guest
Website - https://betterhealthguy.link/DetoxU
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@Detox.U
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/DetoxUCo
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/detox.u
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@detoxu
Interview Date: April 9, 2026
🔗 Related Resources
DetoxU - The Right Protocol for the Toxins You Face - https://betterhealthguy.link/DetoxU
Use code BETTERHEALTH for 10% off
Microbiome Labs - https://betterhealthguy.link/MicrobiomeLabs
Link automatically applies 15% discount
Episode #187: Microbiome and Beyond with Dr. Haroldo Magarinos, ND, DDS - https://www.betterhealthguy.com/ep187
Previous podcast interview on the microbiome
Affiliate Disclosure: Some links on this page (including guest and resource links) may provide a discount for you and a small commission for me at no additional cost to you.
📄 Transcript
Review a transcript of this episode:
https://betterhealthguy.com/ep232
☕ Support the Show
Support the show and Buy Me a Coffee:
https://betterhealthguy.link/BuyMeACoffee
🧭 My 16-Step Framework
Learn more about my 16-Step Framework for better health:
https://betterhealthguy.link/Steps
💸 Community Discounts
Explore BetterHealthGuy Community Discounts:
https://betterhealthguy.link/Discounts
🌐 Additional Information
Learn more:
https://BetterHealthGuy.com
📱 Connect With Me
Facebook - https://facebook.com/betterhealthguy
Instagram - https://instagram.com/betterhealthguy
X - https://twitter.com/betterhealthguy
TikTok - https://tiktok.com/@betterhealthguy
ℹ️ Disclaimer
The content of this show is for informational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any illness or medical condition. Nothing in today's discussion is meant to serve as medical advice or as information to facilitate self-treatment. As always, please discuss any potential health-related decisions with your own personal medical authority.

🎧 Episode Summary
This episode continues the conversation with Dayan Goodenowe, PhD, exploring the shared biochemical patterns underlying conditions such as autism, PANS/PANDAS, chronic Lyme, mold illness, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, MS, and ALS.
The discussion examines how environmental stressors, metabolic and lipid dysfunction, and oxidative stress contribute to loss of resilience and disease progression.
Dr. Goodenowe also highlights the role of biomarkers, advanced testing, and targeted support—including plasmalogens and methylation—in identifying prodromes and restoring function across complex chronic conditions.
🧭 In This Episode
- Similarities and differences across autism, PANS/PANDAS, chronic Lyme, mold illness, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and ALS
- Prodromes as loss of resilience and early deviation from health
- Aging as entropy and biochemical insufficiency rather than a programmed disease process
- Metabolic sufficiency, mitochondrial function, and lipid membrane integrity as core systems in adaptation
- Oxidative stress, inflammatory markers, and reserve capacity in chronic illness
- ProdromeScan and BioMetrix Bioscan differences in scope, interpretation, and monitoring
- Standard biomarkers associated with compromised peroxisomal function and low plasmalogens
- NAD, niacin, spermidine, and urolithin A in relation to mitochondrial and cellular function
- Alzheimer's disease mechanisms involving DHA plasmalogen depletion, amyloid formation, acetylcholine dysfunction, and methyltransferase stress
- Phosphatidylcholine and dietary choline as support for acetylcholine production and membrane health
- Brain volumetrics, cortical thickness, white matter density, and advanced MRI measures of structural recovery
- Traumatic brain injury, concussion recovery, and plasmalogen support for gray matter, white matter, and blood flow
- Methyltransferase system support with methyl B12, methylfolate, trimethylglycine, N-acetylcysteine, phosphatidylcholine, and creatine
- Long COVID, mitochondrial dysfunction, chronic inflammation, brain fog, and myocarditis
- ME/CFS, chronic Lyme disease, and mold illness through the lens of mitochondrial load, restoration, and resilience
- Autism and PANS/PANDAS as neuroinflammatory and developmental conditions involving white matter integrity and plasmalogen support
👤 About the Guest
Dayan Goodenowe, PhD, is a neuroscientist, biochemist, inventor, and clinical research expert.
In 1999, he invented and patented ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry technology, enabling comprehensive monitoring of human biochemistry for the first time.
Using this technology, Dr. Goodenowe analyzed blood samples from tens of thousands of individuals of all ages and races, from multiple countries. The biochemistry of healthy individuals was compared with that of individuals experiencing a wide range of diseases. Over 20 conditions were studied, including autism, dementia, colon cancer, heart disease, and others. Differences between the biochemistry of younger and older populations, as well as associations with all-cause mortality, were also examined.
This body of research identified early biochemical patterns associated with disease and mortality risk, thereby contributing to the development of an extensive patent portfolio. These patents cover diagnostic tests for early detection and screening across numerous conditions, including specific cancers, neurological disorders, psychiatric conditions, and cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Goodenowe is also the author of Breaking Alzheimer's, which documents his research journey and examines the biochemical findings that informed his work in neurodegeneration and lipid biology.
Connect With the Guest
Website - https://drgoodenowe.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@Dr.Goodenowe
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/drdayangoodenowe
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/drdayangoodenowe
X - https://twitter.com/DrGoodenowe
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@drdayangoodenowe
Interview Date: April 13, 2026
🔗 Related Resources
Prodrome Science Plasmalogens - https://betterhealthguy.link/Prodrome
Use code BETTERHEALTH for 25% off
EP230: Lipid Biology, Plasmalogens, and Neurodegenerative Prodromes - Part 1 - Dayan Goodenowe, PhD - https://www.betterhealthguy.com/ep230
Part 1 of this conversation with Dayan Goodenowe, PhD
Affiliate Disclosure: Some links on this page (including guest and resource links) may provide a discount for you and a small commission for me at no additional cost to you.
📄 Transcript
Review a transcript of this episode:
https://betterhealthguy.com/ep231
☕ Support the Show
Support the show and Buy Me a Coffee:
https://betterhealthguy.link/BuyMeACoffee
🧭 My 16-Step Framework
Learn more about my 16-Step Framework for better health:
https://betterhealthguy.link/Steps
💸 Community Discounts
Explore BetterHealthGuy Community Discounts:
https://betterhealthguy.link/Discounts
🌐 Additional Information
Learn more:
https://BetterHealthGuy.com
📱 Connect With Me
Facebook - https://facebook.com/betterhealthguy
Instagram - https://instagram.com/betterhealthguy
X - https://twitter.com/betterhealthguy
TikTok - https://tiktok.com/@betterhealthguy
ℹ️ Disclaimer
The content of this show is for informational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any illness or medical condition. Nothing in today's discussion is meant to serve as medical advice or as information to facilitate self-treatment. As always, please discuss any potential health-related decisions with your own personal medical authority.