My journey to disease actually started as far back as I can remember, I just didn’t know it at the time. I was an active child all thru high school playing basketball and soccer year-round, but I had come from a large family with many health issues including stroke, asthma, heart attack, ALS, and Alzheimer’s just to name a few. I believed that I was destined to be heavy and sick along with the possibility of dying at a young age. 

I had my first of four daughters at 21. When I got pregnant with my second daughter two years later, I weighed what I did the day I gave birth to my first one. This is when I really started to become symptomatic. A few years and two more daughters later, my hair was falling out in clumps, I could not stay awake during the day, I could not remember anything, my legs felt heavy walking and doing stairs, brittle nails, skin hurt to touch, acid reflux, the persistent gut issues, you name it.

I would go to the doctor for different issues and each and every time they would simply prescribe a new medication or pawn me off to another specialist. I was told that “my numbers looked good” and was even told to try an antidepressant. I knew this was not the answer and I needed to find out what was really wrong with me. I started to feel like a hypochondriac and eventually just started dealing with everything myself so not to annoy others with complaining. 

I tried every diet out there and I even trained for a marathon. I dabbled with different health fads on and off for 10 years, falling off the wagon and getting back on more times than I can count. I felt what I was eating was super healthy, yet I still could not get rid of the symptoms plaguing me. If I felt like that now, what was I going to feel like in 20 years? Through an over abundance of research and YouTube video rabbit holes, I was spinning in circles and getting more and more confused on who to believe and what was actually true. Eventually, this led me in the direction of Functional Medicine and I really felt I was getting closer to a solution. I eventually found Dr. Duquette and ‘Take Your Health Back Now’. I cannot explain how it happened, but I just knew without a doubt that I had found the missing piece to my puzzle.

Within a month of doing this program, I felt like a new person. I learned that all my weight I was carrying was a symptom of something else that was wrong. It turns out everything I was eating that was in my mind healthy was actually keeping me sick because I was intolerant to it. I could move freely again and didn’t have the urge to stay in bed all day. I wanted to take walks and run up and down the stairs! (Because I could) It was truly life changing for me! I knew right then, that I wanted to help others that were struggling and unable to figure it out themselves. I strive to make someone else’s journey a smoother one because I can help them walk the path and know they are not alone! I want to pay it forward!