My Story
every journey begins with a Story
my story
I DID NOT KNOW UNTIL A LITTLE OVER 15 YEARS AGO that I had no idea what it actually felt like to feel well.
Although my story began way before then. As early on as I can remember I suffered from severe digestive issues. A “tummy ache”, was a daily ailment, which to a small child really meant chronic constipation.
Like many, I grew up in a high stress home but it was our normal, therefore, it felt just that…normal. I always felt things really deeply. Reading people’s emotions in the room, striving to be the best girl, wanting the approval of everyone, later turning into an unhealthy need for perfectionism.
At age 9, I hit puberty. I started my period before we even talked about it in school. I was a 4th grader, doubled over in pain from menstrual cramps. By 12 years old I was put on hormonal birth control and prescription NSAIDS. A year later, as I experienced loss for my first time, the death of my grandfather who was more like my father, I was handed antidepressants. The medical world at this point in time, found it easier to medicate rather than give someone the space to heal and learn how to feel and move through emotions.
Then I hit my teenage years. That’s when it all hit the fan. My stress levels rose, my desire to please moved from my family to my peers, and my symptoms soared.
WHAT DIDN’T I SUFFER FROM:
GERD
Constipation
Acid reflux
Depression
Anxiety
Panic attacks
Hormonal breakouts
PMS
Weight gain
Dry eyes
Dry skin
Exhaustion
Brain fog
Gallbladder attacks
Bloating
IBS
Kidney stones
…and more
I tried to talk to doctors. They checked my symptoms off a list, handed me the newest prescription for a pill to treat those symptoms and sent me on my way. Anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medications, antacids, antibiotics, NSAIDS, hormonal birth control, laxatives, you name it. I felt crazy! Like I was fighting an invisible illness. How could this be how my whole life was laid out to be? How could this be it?
At 17 I graduated high school early, started college, worked a full time job, got my first apartment, and also had my first panic attack! I knew no one who had experienced anything like this, so again I went back to my doctors. You can guess how this goes… yep, more antidepressants, more anti-anxiety meds. 3 months later, I ran out of a classroom, shaking, sobbing and unable to breathe from anxiety, and never returned. No one understood what I was going through. I would hear things like “it’s all in your head”, “you’re overreacting”, or my personal favorite “you just have to get over it”. Nothing magically went away, but I did stop talking. I held it in, bottled it up and kept pushing forward. That was a big mistake.
In my early 20’s as my symptoms continued to flair, I was no stranger to my local emergency room and urgent care, when the digestive pains got so intense I was sure my insides were just going to explode. My GI symptoms felt they were worsening by the day, my stress was through the roof, I was 35 pounds overweight, was stuck in such a negative mindset I barely wanted to be around myself, and always had an escape plan to appease my crippling anxiety in any social situtation.
At my final visit to a GI doctor, they signed me up for an elective surgery to remove my gallbladder to “see if that will fix the problem” since they didn’t know what else to do. I was appalled. As I sat there with tears in my eyes, I asked “why is this happening to my body?”. Why? What was causing all of this to happen? I had to know the why. The reason. No one ever asked me what I ate in a day. No one ever asked how much I exercised. No one ever asked about my stress levels. They only signed me up for surgery. A surgery I never scheduled because that was the day I woke up and took my health into my own hands.
MY AWAKENING
I left that office visit with a new hunger. A hunger to heal my own body! I began researching and reading everything! Books, articles, studies, magazines, anything I could get my hands on, and then I found Functional Medicine. “Treating the root cause of your symptoms, not only band-aiding the symptoms”…I felt like every word was speaking to me. Like my dreams had been answered!
Through Functional Medicine my life was dissected. We stopped looking at the symptoms and instead looked at my diet, stress, hydration, lifestyle choices, and so much more. It was like nothing I had ever experienced. For once I was being heard, truly and deeply listened to. I dove in headfirst, ready to try anything. It finally made sense.
It wasn’t about a life I was doomed to live;
it was about building a new lifestyle to create the life I always wanted!
Within 3 weeks the pain stopped.
After 4 months all the symptoms… gone!
Feeling better physically, changed so much for me mentally. It was like everything got so much clearer! I stopped living in the past, was truly present in the present, and for the first time could think about the future. With this new awareness, I realized it was time for a change. I deserved to follow my dreams and to be happy. I had found passion. I left a very secure job in law that was never truly making me happy and drained me by the end of every day. I took a huge leap of faith, stepped out of my comfort zone, and made my dreams my reality! Helping others never have to live feeling the way I did for so long, through my newfound path of health and wellness!
MY CURRENT JOURNEY
Although Functional Medicine changed my perspective,
Plants saved my LIFE!
My entire life I had been a “foodie”, but after healing my body with the right types of foods, I felt more like a “food goddess”. I enrolled in cooking school and received my Plant-Based Chef Certification because if you don’t know yet, you will: Food is Medicine. I spent years helping others learn how to be in tune with their bodies to reach for the right types of food that increase their vitality and energy, and how to remove foods from their diet that drag them down, causing them pain and discomfort. Through a whole foods diet I have watched my client’s soar; however, I always knew that we were just hitting the tip of the iceberg and there was so much more beneath the surface of the water.
It was time for yet another giant leap. That’s when I began my studies to become a Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach through one of the top schools, led by world renowned doctors and practitioners in the field of functional medicine. Through the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy, I received the tools, the experience and the knowledge to deepen my understanding of the body and its healing abilities. Learning has never stopped for me from that point and it never will.
That is how I found Sprout Into Wellness, combining my passion, my background, my education and my own journey to bring you the most transformative and healing coaching experience possible. So here I am doing things I thought could never happen, holding the control of my own life, controlling my anxiety, no longer it controlling me. Living happy and healthy.
ARE YOU READY TO TAKE THE CONTROL TOO?