I want to tell you why this site exists, because I think the reason matters.
I am a board-certified neurologist. I see patients with migraine, epilepsy, and other neurological conditions every day. And almost every day, a patient asks me some version of the same question: "What supplements should I be taking?"
It is a completely reasonable question. These are people dealing with chronic neurological conditions who want to do everything they can to feel better. They have heard about magnesium for migraine, or CoQ10 for seizures, or lion's mane for brain health, and they want to know — from their neurologist — whether any of it actually works.
Here is the problem: I have nowhere to send them.
The Information Gap
When a patient asks me about supplements, I can spend a few minutes in the office explaining what the evidence supports. But the moment they go home and search the internet, they are overwhelmed by a wall of noise. Affiliate-driven listicles ranking products the author has never tested. Influencer brands built on testimonials instead of trials. Supplement companies citing "research" without linking to a single study, because the studies either do not exist or do not say what the marketing claims they say.
The information that does exist in peer-reviewed literature is locked behind paywalls, written in a language designed for other physicians, and scattered across dozens of journals. A patient with migraine who wants to know if magnesium actually works would need to find the Chiu et al. 2016 meta-analysis, understand what a meta-analysis of 21 randomized trials means, cross-reference it against the AAN/AHS practice guidelines, and then figure out which form of magnesium to take and at what dose. That is not a reasonable expectation.
So patients do what anyone would do. They search "best magnesium for migraine," land on a blog post written by someone with no medical training, and buy whatever product has the highest affiliate commission. The system is broken.
What SynapseWell Is
SynapseWell is my attempt to fix the part of that system I can actually influence.
Every recommendation on this site links to the actual studies — not "research shows" as a hand-wave, but the specific trial, the specific meta-analysis, with context about what the evidence actually means and what its limitations are. When the evidence is strong, I will tell you. When it is weak or mixed, I will tell you that too. When there is genuine uncertainty, I will not pretend otherwise.
This is not an anti-supplement site. I want to be clear about that. Some supplements have genuinely strong evidence for specific neurological conditions. Magnesium for migraine prevention has Level A evidence from multiple meta-analyses and is recommended by the American Academy of Neurology. That is real. L-carnitine supplementation in patients on valproate is supported by well-documented depletion mechanisms and clinical data. That is also real.
But most of what is marketed as "brain health" supplements are generic formulations not designed for any specific condition. They are broad-spectrum products with impressive-sounding ingredient lists and no clinical rationale for any particular neurological diagnosis. They are not formulated by neurologists. They are not tested in patients with the conditions they implicitly claim to help. And they often cost three to five times what targeted, evidence-based supplementation would cost.
What I Will and Won't Cover
Every formulation and recommendation on this site maps directly to my board certifications. I am certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology with subspecialty certifications in headache medicine and epilepsy. I will cover supplements relevant to migraine, epilepsy and seizure disorders, and the neurological conditions within my scope of training.
I will not cover conditions outside my expertise. You will not find me writing about supplements for anxiety, depression, ADHD, or Alzheimer's disease — not because those are unimportant, but because I am not the right physician to make those recommendations. The supplement industry's credibility problem starts when people make claims outside their competence. I refuse to contribute to that.
How This Site Works
I will publish evidence-based articles that explain — in plain language — what the clinical literature actually says about specific supplements for specific neurological conditions. Each article will cover the mechanism, the evidence, the dosing, the risks, and the context.
I am also committing to an Annual Evidence Review. Supplement science does not move as fast as pharmaceutical research, but it does move. I will revisit every recommendation on this site at least once a year and update it to reflect new evidence. If a recommendation I have made is contradicted by new data, I will change it and explain why.
The goal is not to replace your neurologist. The goal is to give you the evidence so you can have a more informed conversation with your doctor. When you bring up magnesium at your next neurology appointment, you should understand the evidence well enough to have a real discussion — not just repeat something you read on a wellness blog.
A Note About Transparency
I will be transparent about conflicts of interest, limitations of evidence, and my own uncertainty. Medicine is not a field of absolutes, and anyone who presents it that way is selling you something.
I am currently pursuing the Diplomate of the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine (DipABLM) certification to formalize my training in evidence-based nutritional and lifestyle interventions. That process has only deepened my conviction that there is a gap between what the evidence supports and what the market sells.
SynapseWell is here to close that gap. One condition, one supplement, one study at a time.