As a child growing up in the 80s and 90s, everything was low fat, processed and part of a marketing strategy. In college I found myself with severe stomach pains, my Dr told me to eat more vegetables. This was after being on and off antibiotics for 3 months which eventually led to having my tonsils removed. Turning to her expert advice, I did.  Looking back, she was right. Consuming vegetables is the first step in helping the microbiome.

I started exercising more and enjoyed trying new foods. Got married and ate a variety of processed and natural foods. In my early 30s, after giving birth to my 3rd child, my stomach problems returned. This time, my bowel movements were painful and contained blood. I went to the Dr. and had my first colonoscopy. She diagnosed me with ulcerative colitis and told me I’d have to be on medication for the rest of my life. After looking up online what that meant, I didn’t believe it. Everything sounded much worse than what I was experiencing. Symptoms being diarrhea, rectal bleeding, pain, urgency to defecate, inability to defecate, weight loss, fatigue and fever. They gave me a handout that told me to eat low-no fiber, white bread, bananas, white crackers, plain chicken, etc. In my “gut” I knew that didn’t sound right. I saw their in-house nutritionist, who confused me even more. It didn’t help. I paid out of pocket to see another nutritionist, and she gave me an elimination diet. This was to remove foods that may be irritating to my gut, and gave time to heal. I was put on high probiotics and continued to decrease my ultra processed foods and replace with more whole and natural foods. I never went back to the Dr to get the prescription for that “forever” medication. I never had pain and rectal bleeding again. I healed myself through food. Something the Dr never told me I could do. I realized: I am the expert on me.

After my fourth child, and multiple miscarriages, I thought had everything balanced out. Exercise, plant focused omnivore diet, sleep, hydration…you get the picture. Then the pandemic hit, which was stressful. But we made it through. Things were just about getting back to normal, when all of a sudden, my body was acting strangely. There were moments where I noticed I wasn’t breathing and gasped for air. My heartrate started elevating out of nowhere, like I was having a panic attack, but my mind wasn’t panicked. I remember driving and thinking “what triggered this? Grocery shopping? That doesn’t make sense.” I’m not one to have panic attacks, but I could recognize the signs of one. Another symptom I was having is I would feel incredibly tired, like I couldn’t lift my limbs, and eventually, I found myself in the hospital the day before my 40th birthday. I was in and out of the hospital and they couldn’t find anything wrong with me. My body would be shaking uncontrollably, and eventually the shaking turned into burning pain through my limbs. I had terrible brain fog; I couldn’t read a book. I found myself re-reading sentences and paragraphs. Much of this would disappear once I was in the brand-new local hospital. We went to the Mayo Clinic, and they diagnosed me with Fibromyalgia, and put me on medication. The medication worked for the pain, but I still felt very lethargic. They convinced me, it was all in my head. Post pandemic stress. They treated the symptom and told me the source was in my head.

After a few months of meditation (every day), little to no exercise, eating a low inflammatory diet and supporting my gut health, not much had changed. In the past, I saw a functional medicine Dr a few times to have my vitamin and minerals checked. When she saw me and heard my story, she couldn’t believe what had happened to me. She ran a bunch of tests, and found I had high mold toxins and very low mitochondrial function. The doctor said she never saw mitochondrial results like mine, because it showed they could function, they just weren’t. She called the lab, and they said it’s the result of the patient was dealing with toxic overload in the body. To this day, she says she’s never seen a patient with results as low as mine. The mold test showed my antibodies were reacting to current mold exposure.

Mold? Where was the mold? Our house is less then 15 yrs old, and in pristine condition. As it turns out, mold is everywhere, it just needs a moisture source. Once it dries out, it’s spreading spores (called mycotoxins) to continue its migration through the world. We had our house tested, and it was in the red zone for “water damaged buildings”. There was hidden mold in two kitchen leaks, inside our toilet tanks, a minor roof leak, and growing and blowing in our HVAC system. We did mold remediation, and within a few months, I was feeling like myself again.

I spend time detoxing my body through diet and supplements. Supporting my immune system, lymphatic drainage, and continued meditation. I had to retrain my brain with DNRS which completely stopped the pain in my legs, and I discontinued my medication the Mayo Clinic prescribed. I slowly improved my exercise and my overall well-being. What I realized in all of this, is how much food is medicine, but also, how little doctors will help with solving the root cause and go straight for the diagnosis.

The mind-body-food-gut connection is very real, and ancient medicines never separated the two. Only in the last 150 years, has medicine segmented illness. I look forward to helping others in finding the right nutrition their body needs in this time of their life. Regardless of the diagnosis, everyone can learn to support lifestyle habits that continue to nurture their well-being. I’m here to help.

Most importantly, I’m here to listen and remain curious.