My Health Journey

You’re likely here if you feel like you know a little bit about me but you want to know my full story. And I don’t blame you, for the most part i keep it pretty cryptic, so this is my first time really putting my full health journey out there on the internet.

Let’s get it started- at the age of 6 I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, Autoimmune Hepatitis- never heard of it? Neither had I or anyone I knew until I was diagnosed. Autoimmune Hepatitis is an autoimmune disease (not contagious) that attacks your liver. My diagnosis turned my whole family’s world upside down. First, we tried the traditional western medicine approach- I went to the best specialist in the tri-state area for autoimmune hepatitis- did the typical protocol of prednisone and immuran and had all of the side effects that came along with it. Picture it now, I was a 7 year old trying to navigate already awkward 7 year old things but with the plot twist that I had gained 15 pounds, had wild mood swings, had immense brain fog, and had grown lots and lots of hair. Oh the wonderful world of steroids. The western approach worked, and within a year I was being weaned off of my medication and was no longer seeing my specialist. All of my side effects were subsiding and I was finally going back to life as I knew it.

Fast forward 4 years, I am 11 and going back for a routine checkup, but surprise my autoimmune hepatitis had relapsed. Once again, my whole family was crushed, we really had no idea what to do and didn’t know how to continue to follow the western medical advice blindly if it had lead me back to where I was in the first place. My mother being the rebel she is, decided that we weren’t going to follow their advice, she wanted to see what other answers were out there and continue a more holistic approach while still continuing to get my liver levels tested by my specialist incase any issues were to arise. Now keep in mind, the year was 2006, there was not such a plethora of information on the internet as there is today. But fortunately for me, my mom’s digging skills availed and we found a holistic way to boost my immune system so my body could properly fight this disease while supplementing with vitamins that helped to detox and strengthen my liver. Within a year my liver levels were back to normal and my liver was beginning to heal normally as any 11 year old liver should. This time in my life was so crucial in laying the foundation for my belief in alternative medicine at a young age. I was living proof that holistic health worked, so I continued to believe that from here on out.

There is a bit of gap in my health journey, I was living a normal life from 12-20, which consisted of eating and drinking whatever I wanted. I was very skeptical about drinking alcohol at first, not really doing it because of the impending doom as someone with a liver disease, but eventually I caved to societal norms and college happened. In college I did traditional college things and binge drinking on the weekends became a habit. I prided myself as someone who could keep up with the boys when it came to drinking and I pretty much thought I was invincible. Yes I knew the liver disease could relapse at any point, but I was having fun and nothing bad had happened to me yet, so why would it start now? Then we get to my senior year of college, all of the eating and drinking whatever I wanted started to catch up with me and I started having major digestive issues. Initially I thought it was only in the days after I drank but as time went on I would have to run to the bathroom on days when I hadn’t had a drink in a week. This was one of the most frustrating things in the world to come to terms with, I constantly thought, “why me? why can everyone else drink, eat, do what they want and I can’t even walk to class without the fear of having to find a bathroom nearby?”  But similar to my story at a young age, I had to grasp that I was not and never would be normal, but knowing others could sympathize with my story, and that it could someday help someone the way my liver disease had made all the difference. 

Upon graduating college I decided I had enough with being afraid of everything because of my digestive issues, I had stopped drinking, running, and eating certain things out of fear but I had not seen any real progress. That was when I started down a research rabbit hole, and came to the conclusion that I had Candida. I had all the symptoms, low libido, digestive distress, brain fog, and oral thrush. So I started on a strict Candida diet along with taking antimicrobials, and boy was it hard. I went from normal American diet(yes I ate vegetables with every meal but nothing was off limits for me) to a gluten/dairy/sugar/grain/starch free diet. Boy was I in for a wakeup call, I had to try new foods and look up recipes for my meals not to get boring, I would eat salmon and broccoli for dinner every night. I was in a bit of a brain fog still so my creative juices were not flowing and the internet was my savior in terms of recipes and empathy from strangers so I knew I was not alone. Almost immediately upon beginning this diet I started having the worst die off symptoms, I didn’t know it was possible to feel worse than I had prior but it was. I had lost about 15 pounds and I felt like whatever was in my stomach was trying to kill me constantly. I had never felt more weak but had people tell me I looked so good. I loved being strong, so feeling like a waif was not something I enjoyed at all, yes I looked skinny but I could not keep any food in and I was just dying to get better. Not to mention my fatigue and digestive issues were worse, but everyone on the internet said die off was the worst so I knew I could push through a little longer with hopes of getting better soon.  It took a month or two until I finally started to feel better and add some starches back into my diet. However, after going through some emotional turmoil a few months later, I noticed my digestive issues reappear. I tried another Candida diet to no avail so I started working with a health practitioner.

At this point, the practitioner muscle tested me for issues like parasites, SIBO, and Candida. All appeared to be present but parasites seemed to be the most concerning at the time. Thus introducing my parasite cleanse, and let me tell you nothing is quite as odd but also gratifying as seeing little parasites that look like worms in your stool. The gratifying part is that you can physically see that the cleanse is working, I had never had results like that, always just had to have faith.  A few weeks after my first cleanse I had the same parasite symptoms, insatiable hunger, fatigue, and brain fog so I went on another parasite cleanse, once again I saw parasites coming out so I knew something was working. But when I got my third parasite in 6 months, I knew something was wrong. There was no way I should be able to contract parasites this easily eating as cleanly as I was. I knew my gut had to be healed in order for me to take control of my health once and for all.

Once 2019 started I decided I had had enough with my digestive issues, it was finally time to find a practitioner that understood me and would give me a stool sample and a full blood panel like I wanted so we could formulate a plan from there. Little did I know, it would take me about 4 months to find someone that I liked and would do everything I wanted. After many discovery calls with practitioners, functional MDs, NDs, and NTPs, I finally found my current NTP and she said everything I wanted to hear, how she would test me to figure out exactly what was going on in my gut and how she was very confident we could get to the bottom of and solve my gut issues once and for all. I was so excited that the end was finally in sight, these digestive issues had been going on for about 2 years and I couldn’t wait to finally not be on an elimination diet. Flash forward to current day, I am four months into working with my practitioner and I feel better than I have in years. My energy is normal, I have no brain fog, and my digestion is back on track. It may have been a long rollercoaster ride but I wouldn’t change anything about it, yes the journey was not easy but it lead me to grow into the person I am today. Without these health issues I wouldn’t have found my passion for health and wellness and a future career in health coaching so that I can help others not feel as alone or lost as I once was.