As far back as I can recall as a very young child, I suffered with chronic sinusitis, chronic nose bleeds that required cauterization, allergies, respiratory infections, and extremely poor immune function. Despite being frequently sick, I was a very active and athletic child (and still am).

As a kid, I played softball, tag football, ran track (and later ran long distance), competitive paddleball, and was captain of my grammar and high school cheerleading squads. I suffered numerous injuries that required stitches and at times was literally one big black-and-blue.

It’s miraculous that I never broke or fractured any bones, but I gave myself quite a beating!

Emotionally, I experienced frequent anxiety and panic attacks throughout the years, although I didn’t realize they were anxiety attacks until my early 20s. I remember telling my mom often “I don’t know what to think about—there’s so many thoughts that I don’t know which one to think about”.

A racing mind in a child as young as 6 years old; my poor mom couldn’t quite grasp what I was trying to communicate to her, so unfortunately she didn’t know how to help me. Little did we know that my numerous amalgam fillings were most definitely contributing to this frequent anxiety, as well as my absolutely frightening diet that consisted mainly of refined sugars and carbohydrates (candy, cookies, cake), pizza, pasta, dairy and processed foods.

To further exacerbate my anxiety, I was ostracized as a tween at school by a jealous classmate which resulted in a lot of emotional distress, and this began the “lie” —that I’m just never quite good enough, and this is why I was so driven and sought perfection constantly.

As I got older and started working, I experienced a successful marketing career, but I struggled internally. I’ve made great strides in understanding the root cause of my emotional issues and no longer have the desire for perfectionism in all I do; embracing this mindset has helped me emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

In my late teens, in addition to my existing chronic sinusitis, I developed chronic strep throat, bronchitis and ear infections. And the Epstein Barr virus was activated, and was so severe at one point that my doctor thought it triggered mononucleosis (it did not but I was pretty out of it for 3 weeks).

And despite undergoing 3 septoplasty surgeries (one being reconstructive to repair a whole in my septum wall) to correct my constant sinus infections, I remained with refractory chronic sinusitis.

I went from doctor to doctor and “ologist” to “ologist” desperately seeking answers to my health problems that up to this point just could not be resolved no matter what I did.

I had enough prescriptions, antibiotics and poisonous steroid and allergy injections to last a lifetime. I took every conceivable test and clinically, on paper, I was told that I was fine—the picture of health. Nothing was further from the truth.

Suffering for so long without resolution, I became fed up with prescription drugs and surgeries that provided only short-term relief of my symptoms. And even worse, I had no answers to WHY I was chronically sick.

Anxiety and panic attacks resurfaced in my early 20s, and at age 33, after being told that these symptoms “were all in my head” and that I needed antidepressants, I had my ah-ha moment!

At that very moment my mission began—I was determined to find the root causes of my symptoms and dis-ease.

That’s when I made the decision to take control of my own health and I never looked back. 

Motivated to find answers and get resolution, I researched day and night and found a naturopathic physician that recommended a holistic dentist, who diagnosed me with osteomyelitis and osteonecrosis of the jaw, and cavitations (due to amalgam fillings, root canals and removal of impacted wisdom teeth).

Thus, my healing journey had begun. I had 4 jaw surgeries to remove infected and “dead” jaw bone, as well some back molars, in all four quadrants of my mouth. After my last jaw surgery, I did 30 treatments of hyperbaric oxygen in my local hospital to break the “toxic treatment” cycle of drugs and heal from my jaw surgeries, but my main issue, chronic sinusitis, persisted. 

Along my healing journey, new challenges arose: thyroid issues, hormonal imbalances, and adrenal dysfunction. I knew I had to dig further—I needed to find approaches that were scientifically sound and would bring healing on a deeper level.  

Although I had done many excellent treatments and therapies with my integrative doctor (ionic foot baths, lymphatic drainage, numerous supplements, homeopathic and ayurvedic remedies, EWOT therapy, and IV protocols including ozone, hydrogen peroxide, Myers Cocktails, Alpha Lipoic Acid and Phosphatidylcholine/Glutathione), I still was not getting to the root causes nor getting the results I so desperately wanted. 

When I enrolled in the Functional Diagnostic Nutrition program, I finally began to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. I acquired a very robust understanding of diagnostic lab testing and functional nutrition, which has been invaluable and has helped me identify the real underlying issues of my health problems since they began.

I reduced my toxic load (which was confirmed by lab tests) and I began to resolve many of my symptoms, but even more important, I resolved the core imbalances causing my lifelong symptoms and dysfunction. I no longer suffer with anxiety attacks, chronic sinusitis, and respiratory infections, and my immune system has gotten incredibly stronger.

For the very first time in my life, I went through an entire year without getting sick or experiencing sinus congestion or a sore throat once! This was quite remarkable for me, as someone that was acutely sick every 6-8 weeks for so many years.

I’m still amazed at how much my immunity has been strengthened. I’m still working on healing my gut by restoring balance to my microbiome, and improving my thyroid function and I am determined to bring these issues under control too!

The road to good health nowadays is quite complex. It takes dedication, patience and perseverance. We are all unique, and people can be the same age, height, weight, sex and have the same symptoms and health challenges, but the underlying causes can be very different.

Working one-on-one with clients, reviewing their medical history and analyzing lab results enables me to create customized lifestyle programs that help facilitate healing by reducing the toxic load and bringing the body back into balance.

As a Certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Health Coach, my goal is to find the hidden stressors that are the underlying causes of imbalances that lead to distress and dis-ease, and to educate, motivate and guide you on your journey to revive and thrive.

Sincerely in grace and health,