While I have spent the majority of my life assisting others in their journey, I have simultaneously been navigating my own health journey. I grew up living a happy and carefree childhood, however I suffered from severe asthma and environmental allergies. I was in and out of doctors’ offices, hospital visits, and on antibiotics frequently. This affected my life greatly and it wasn’t until I got married and moved west to the high plains desert in Wyoming, where I still reside, that my asthma and allergies got better. However, I did not realize what the long term effects would be and what a toll they had taken on my immune system. I lived and enjoyed life for many years without really thinking about my health. Although I wasn’t intentional about ‘being healthy’ I didn’t want to be unhealthy either. I ate what I ate and was very active outdoors rock climbing, mountain biking, hiking, backpacking and cross-country skiing. Over the years I faced a significant number of health concerns which were never fully resolved, but I was able to function in a way that I perceived to be normal.

Then in August, 2020 while having a picnic at the park with my family, I suffered an incident of acute joint pain throughout my entire body. Soon after, I began to have frequent episodes of pain and fatigue that put me in bed for a week, every five weeks. The pain eventually settled in the joints of my fingers. I sought out several medical providers and was given the diagnosis of inflammatory arthritis even though everything checked out ‘normal.’ My rheumatologist told me it would eventually turn into rheumatoid arthritis. I was advised to check labs every six months until something changed and was given medication for the symptoms. I left the visit with no answers and began to lose hope. I now know that these symptoms didn’t come on for no reason. They had been brewing in my body as early as childhood and my bucket had finally run over.

In August, 2022 I stumbled across a functional health coach online who hosted a webinar about how to reverse autoimmune disease through nutrition and lifestyle changes. I decided it was worth a try since I hadn’t made any of those changes yet. I couldn’t get enough of this newfound information! I had wandered into the world of functional medicine and was intrigued. It felt so empowering as I watched people’s lives being changed. They, themselves, were the ones changing them! This inspired me to make major changes with my diet and within four weeks, my flare-ups and joint pain completely went away and now, two years later I haven’t had another flare-up. Though my flare-ups ceased, I continued to have lingering symptoms of brain fog, fatigue and bloating.

I started on the journey of self-discovery to find out why. Through this, I learned how everything in the body is connected and that symptoms are merely branches of a deeper imbalance within the body. My journey, which included my functional doctor and functional health coach, uncovered answers that addressed my symptoms: intestinal bacterial and fungal overgrowth, mycotoxin toxicity, adrenal insufficiency, estrogen dominance which lead to fibrocystic breast disease, a suppressed immune system, and Lyme disease, which I was diagnosed with in June, 2024. It has taken a lot of work to change the way I eat and live, but I can honestly say I feel better today than I have in years.

Seeing these positive results led me to go further still. I wanted to learn more so I could share this information with others and help them discover how to not only manage health challenges, but reverse them and prevent them from occurring. I went back to school and obtained my certification in functional nutrition counseling which brings me to today.

Life is meant to be lived joyfully and to its fullest and it can be hard to do when we are not functioning at our healthiest potential. We do not know where life will take us, but what we do know is that we can live it in a healthy and holistic way. I am here to come alongside you and partner with you so you can become the agent of your own change and regain your optimal health! May your hope be restored as mine has.