Ep# 155: My Journey to Health + Healing, Pt.1

If you’ve been following along for a while, you likely have heard me talk about health a lot, and you’ve seen me share about my own health struggles.

For two years now, I’ve battled adrenal crashes, food sensitivities, debilitating exhaustion, anxiety, joint pain, insomnia, headaches, weight gain, memory loss and brain fog.

So I’ve done what I always do, which is research and stay the course.

I’ve worked with conventional and naturopathic doctors, in addition to chiropractors, acupuncturists, NRT specialists and nutritionists to continue to find answers.

Never once have I given up on this path, but many times I’ve wanted to.

And this past week, I’ve gotten what I’ve been praying for… answers.

I immediately knew I had to share this journey with you all because you need to know you’re not alone in your pursuit of health. I want to emphasize the vital nature of ferociously advocating for, investing in and fighting for your health.

So today is part 1 of a multiple-part series to share about a long health journey that will continue to be long - with many gifts and blessings, hardships and struggles and a whole lot of perspective and wisdom along the way.

This topic is very much in alignment with what we teach here - because without a willingness to do the hard work to get the results you desire, you will forever be out of alignment. And our bodies are the vessel to our purpose.

This is my personal journey and I’m sharing it as an ongoing story as it’s unfolding. I’m not a doctor and I’m not telling you what to do. On the contrary, actually: I’m telling you to figure out for yourself what you need to do. We are all a unique fingerprint in health.

I ask for kindness even if you wouldn’t approach things the way that I am. I’ve studied, researched, consulted and prayed, and I am confident in my path.

I’ve been told that without a degree in medicine, I should “leave it up to the experts.” In my opinion, that’s a recipe for a lifetime of illness. I know my body better than anyone, and although I do rely heavily on the experts I trust, don’t let anyone tell you that a degree stands between you and your ability to learn and advocate for yourself.

My Symptoms:

For the last two years, I’ve experienced adrenal crashes, food sensitivities, debilitating exhaustion, anxiety, joint pain, insomnia, headaches, weight gain, memory loss and brain fog.

And as someone who has honored health as a top priority for nearly a decade, it’s been frustrating.

What I’ve Tried:

We eat organic - even grow our own food, we’ve tested our water and have the proper filtration systems.
I hydrate like none other and don’t drink anything aside from high quality water.
We don’t have processed food in our home and we rarely eat out.
I went years without alcohol.
We installed a near infrared sauna to detox.
I take detoxing baths.
I prioritize sleep as much as a mother of 3 young kids can.
I exercise.
I meditate.
I do deep breathing and dry brushing.
We invest tens of thousands of dollars a year in our health with the right personalized supplementation, seeing a NRT specialist, chiropractor, acupuncturist, naturopath and functional medicine docs.
I do grounding daily.
I jump on a trampoline.
I’ve had every blood test, hair analysis test, saliva test, urine test, hormone and neurotransmitter test you can think of.
I work with hormone specialists.
We take plenty of vacations.
I’ve done salt tank floats.
I’ve tested for food sensitivities.
I’ve done fasting.
I’ve stopped working out and I’ve tried working out harder.
I’ve juiced.
I’ve cleansed.
I tried chinese medicine.
I did energy work.

In other words - I’ve done a lot of things.

And I don’t regret any of them. Because although my symptoms have been bad at times and worse at others, all of these things have improved my health. Imagine if I had been eating terribly and not doing things to support my body when it was already depleted and struggling? How much further down a hole would I be?

I’m grateful for the struggle

The reason I’m talking about this today is because even through all of this, I’ve never learned more about myself, about my calling and had more clarity in my life and my career as I do right now.

Hard things are not a reason for stopping. They are just a part of the process. They are just reality - things that come along with us as we go. Things that can teach us if we let them. Things that force us to blossom even under pressure.

So I’m grateful for all of it. Because without it, I wouldn’t be elevating to who I’m called to be.

This was made for me and I was made for this.

And I know that even if you’re not facing the same health battles I’ll share more about today and through the next few weeks, I know you have your own battles and they’re either tanking you or propelling you into who you need to become to walk forward with your struggles.

Things were scary for a while

Almost exactly two years ago, I gave birth to our 3rd baby. And since about then, I’ve been struggling. It’s easy to chalk it up to childbirth, three kids under 5, running two businesses… but I knew it was something more. I’ve spent the last decade learning to listen to and hear my body after two decades of completely ignoring it.

After I had her I started getting these hives on my face. And when those went away, I had two permanent hives right above my lymph nodes on my upper chest in front of each armpit. Swollen, red, sensitive and growing by the month. I knew my body was trying to detox something because that’s one of the jobs of the lymphatic system.

As time passed and I got out of the newborn stage, I wasn’t breastfeeding all night and was actually getting good rest, I couldn’t figure out my debilitating exhaustion. Not just tired, bone tired. Lifting my head off the pillow was a feat. So for nearly 7 months, I spent much of my time in bed between feeds, time with the kids and working from my laptop in bed, I was tanked.

And I tried to give the appearance that I was rallying and I was okay! For my family and my clients. I still made sure to give all I had to my work so that no one else would suffer from my suffering.

But that meant I had nothing left for myself.

And one day it hit me how bad things were. I mustered up the strength for a shower, which zapped me of my energy. And it was cold out, so I wanted to dry my hair. But I couldn’t hold the blow dryer. I didn’t have the strength to hold it up! I tried both hands, but nothing. I couldn’t do it.

And a few weeks later, I stopped at a gas station in town and went to put my credit card in and it asked for my zipcode. My mind was blank. I had no idea. And after getting in the car to leave, without filling up my tank, I couldn’t remember how to get home. I was two miles from our house, on the main road we consistently drive.

Things were getting bad.

That’s when I got hormone testing done, which was the start of very positive changes for me… finally.

I worked with and cannot recommend any more the Zesty Ginger girls and their healthy hormones program. If you’re a woman, you need to do this. I had studied so much but had no idea the effects of hormones and neurotransmitters on the body.

The results were telling.

My brain was no longer firing. My numbers were terrible.

I started taking new supplements and finally felt human again.

It gave me hope and carried me for months. Still had bad days, but nothing like before. Before I’d maybe have one day of 7 where I could work a little bit. Now I was getting 3-4 days a week of moderate function and I was singing over it!

But then I started to plateau.

What was going on with me?

I’d go back and forth between - put all your energy into healing and optimization, and accept that this is your cross to bear and use it for good.

And then one day while praying for clarity and guidance, I asked God for specific answers. Clear. Tell me what to do.

And although I don’t always hear such clear direction - it usually comes in gentle nudges - I heard clear as day: “It’s the root canal.”

The most confusing and strange response ever.

So here’s the back story, and if you’ve been following for a while, you may remember this.

At 37 weeks pregnant, I started feeling pain in one of my molars.

Each day, the pain would come and go, and it seemed to linger more and more each time.

Until a few days in, the pain started to come, and not go. And it was intensifying until I was in excruciating pain.

And that excruciating pain would come like contractions that would start in my jaw, spread through my head, make my vision go blurry and tears stream down my face.

And soon, the pain was so bad, my body couldn’t seem to handle it. I started having contractions even though my body wasn’t ready for labor. I wasn’t sleeping, and unfortunately this fiasco started between Christmas and New Year’s… which meant no one was open and even if they were, no one wanted to see me at 38 weeks pregnant. I was ready to pull the damn thing out with pliers after 5 days of agony. I looked horrible.

And finally, after begging a local dentist to open his doors on New Year’s Eve and offering to pay in cash, he graciously accepted and performed a successful root canal. I had never been so grateful to hear a dentist’s drill! Immediately afterwards, I could breathe again! The pain was gone and he saved me from completely losing it.

That root canal was a gift as far as I was concerned. And they did scans afterwards to confirm that by any dentist’s standards, it was a perfect root canal.

So why on earth was I getting this feeling that it was the cause NOW?

I went back to my journal and wanted to cry seeing how defeated I was during that time with pain. Some entries were as short as “God, please, make it stop.” But I noticed something as I kept reading… and reading… and reading… in the months that followed, after having my baby, something changed.

Things I was chalking up to postpartum, but they lingered far beyond those 1st few months and seemed to intensify.

I was having those hives, the weakness, exhaustion, brain fog, memory issues…

It all started at the same time as that root canal.

The root canal was my trigger.

Fast forwards to this past week, when I finally got some answers.

My functional medicine doc called with my blood test results - Hashimoto’s disease (autoimmune), insulin resistance, and Epstein-Barr. And the last and most important piece of the puzzle… my tooth. She referred me to a biological dentist who would assess the problem.

There’s always more to learn!

I started studying dental health, root canals and the hundreds of thousands, even millions of people who have had illnesses directly caused by - not just correlated with but caused by - root canals. I was blown away! How did I not know this!

Each tooth is connected through meridians in the body to specific parts of the body, and the tooth where I had work done was directly connected to the thyroid (Hashimoto’s) and my gut. It was all starting to make sense.

And then I watched Root Cause and I felt like I had the key to health that most people never have. According to the documentary:

97% of all women with breast cancer have a root canal tooth on the same side of the body.
Root canals are the #1 cause of heart attacks in men.
100% of all root-canaled teeth carry dangerous toxins and bacteria that lead to illness in the body.

Next Steps

I went to a biological dentist, did 2.5 hours of tests, and I’m scheduled for an extraction this week. A seemingly “normal” tooth is causing me so much harm, and I’m willing to pay thousands to get it out of my body.

I’ve been sending toothless memes and GIFs to my friends and family and finding joy and gratitude in this new leg of my healing process. It’s not linear, quick, cheap, or conventional, nor is it happening because someone else is fixing me and I’m just blindly following the protocols.

It’s happening because I’m studying, listening, testing, trying, sacrificing, seeking and taking guidance, advocating and making the tough choices that are not mainstream. But if you know me by now, you know that’s my MO.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this story soon!

Resources from this episode:

The most important thing I’ve done in my health journey is learn about my baseline of hormones and neurotransmitters with proper testing and support. Healthy Hormones program was my Godsend! Check them out this week here!
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