Why a Doctor Came to Work with Me

I spent a good portion of my career fearing doctors. I was always very intimidated by their level of expertise and thoroughness with client cases. I went through my formal dietitian training in a hospital and then worked in one as a dietitian for 4 years. The doctors were confident, respected, smart and decisive, all the things I wanted to be more than anything as a dietitian. 

Even though I revered the doctors, I never felt quite at ease or empowered in the work I was doing alongside them in the hospital. I always had a passion for the concept of food as medicine and I saw very little integration of these core concepts in a hospital. As I moved out of health care and continued to tune in and follow my passion, I was led right to functional medicine. I had never felt more alive than when I started learning how much my work and insights could expand with additional testing. 

I was now in a position where I was collaborating with doctors, but I was still nervous. I was often shot-down or told my theories and requests were not necessary. When I would discuss the impact food has on inflammatory processes and upregulating immune function, they would look at me like I was an alien. The answer was always medication – how dare I suggest food could be as powerful as a pharmaceutical? I was even at the Harvard Microbiome Symposium asking the top GI docs in the country about soil based probiotics and I got pretty aggressively dismissed. I became accustomed to this idea that I was working outside of the conventional model and my work would not be recognized as valuable.

So I decided to tune-out the noise, go with my gut instinct and focus on what I knew to be true. This took patience and a lot of practice in self-compassion to bring my vision to life. I knew I was building something that was going to change people's lives and in the process would face criticism and doubt, but I became strong enough and clear enough to overcome all of that. I  created my own methodology, a process that utilizes specific testing, decision making profiling and body system hierarchy of healing to create long-lasting health changes. My clients finish their programs feeling empowered in their bodies and reconnected to their health, knowing they are in charge of their healing. 

And then something surprising happened. 

A family doctor booked a call with me to inquire about my services. She was very curious about the idea of another way to explore her health. She had done ALL the conventional methods to address her concerns, and nothing was working. She never had a period naturally in her entire life, her energy levels were low and her gut was inconsistent alternating between diarrhea and constipation. What was really disturbing was that she exercised, ate well and noticed her cholesterol and glucose levels steadily increasing. After bouts of diarrhea and an official pre-diabetic diagnosis, she was ready to step into an alternative healing path. 

Our first session was electric. We are both passionate women focused on taking care of others' health. We got really nerdy, and I was able to expose her to so many things beyond what she had learned in medical school. 

Here were our key lab findings that were uncovered through testing and symptom analysis. 

1. Dysregulated blood sugar levels 

   1. Possibly be due to intense workout routine, liver showing some signs of inflammation or repair due to strenuous activity, eating foods that cause inflammation in MRT results 

   2. Low salivary cortisol levels but optimal adrenal function 

2. Altered thyroid function 

   1. Most likely correlated to adrenal dysregulation and gut dysbiosis 

3. Dysbiosis

   1. Elevated opportunistic bacteria

   2. High need for b-vitamins 

   3. Constipation 

4. Possible low stomach acid

5. Need mitochondrial support 

   1. Organix show altered energy production

   2. Carbs are not being utilized efficiently 

I am sharing this to provide context into what you can find outside of your standard conventional medical treatments and doctor sessions. In this functional world, we can get really deep into the foundational elements of healing, something that is not ever looked at in conventional medicine. 

This experience has helped me heal my relationship with doctors and know that we are all just doing our best to support our clients in their health journey. Conventional and functional medicine work really well together – when we pick one or the other we can often miss the bigger picture.

If you need more support on your wellness journey, connect with me here.