Taking the first step is often the hardest. I don’t know about you, but I get so overwhelmed looking at the big picture. This is especially true when it comes to health: there are so many components and they can involve some big changes (and sometimes a little bit of money). That’s why Stefani of NaturalPaleoFamily suggests starting one small step at a time. Over the next couple months, I’m going on a journey with her to come up with a natural whole body approach to healing my (many!) symptoms. From consults to supplements and blood work, I’m taking you along for the ride. I hope it gives you an idea of what you can expect if you’re facing some health problems that medical doctors don’t seem able to address.
First, my story starts about six years ago when I was pregnant with my fourth baby. My body seemed to be revolting. From acid reflux to breathing issues, everything seemed to make me react. At that time, I cut out gluten and adjusted my lifestyle to slow down a lot and concentrate on my little family. After I gave birth, symptoms became so much worse. I got an endoscopy that showed damage from my reflux but no other answers. At that time, we found out I have major anxiety with severe anxiety attacks (read more about that here). Treating my anxiety helped a lot of my symptoms and using antihistamines improved some of the others. At that time, I tried going to several whole body medicine practitioners but did not find sufficient support to justify the expense. Since then, I have created myself a healthier diet, lifestyle, and supplement plan.
It’s worked…a little. But here I am, one miscarriage and two ankle injuries later, starting over again. And, even though I’ve only had one consult, I feel a steady support system with Stefani (who is always only a message away and answers my millions of questions patiently- even when my anxiety makes me ask the same one seven different ways- Stef- you are a saint!). She encourages me to make little changes instead of trying to tackle it all at once and it’s made all the difference.
Here’s the process: first, fill out all the forms to give Stefani a background on your overall health and symptoms (these were extensive but worth the time it took to complete since they give a very comprehensive look at your health). Next, time for a consult- Stefani went over all my concerns and what she found from reviewing my forms. She came up with a game plan including bloodwork, a handful of supplements to get my body to a healthy baseline, and a plan for moving forward. One of my concerns is that drastic diet changes tend to trigger my OCD and anxiety, so my plan involves small steps that work for my current lifestyle without causing me stress.
Here are some of my symptoms: joint pain (inflammation in both ankles as well as consistent pain in my hips and knees), acid reflux, air hunger, histamine reactions (headaches and rashes/hives), sleep disturbance, hair loss, and inflamed lymph nodes. I’m not sure if that sounds like a long list or a short one. But, for me some of these things (especially the pain and reflux) interfere with my ability to do daily life.
My plan (under Stefani’s guidance): start slowly with a toxin binder and mineral supplement (from Cellcore; contact Stefani for her practitioner code to get started on your own or get a little more help), up my food intake (I’m malnourished from stress and/or absorption issues), and work on brain retraining (I’ll talk about this more later- once I figure out exactly what I’m doing). I’m also taking a supplement called Histamine Scavenger as needed (I tried to stop Zyrtec for this but found my allergies are still a bit too out of control for that). I’ve also been trying to document my food to track possible sensitivities, reactions, and my mental and physical health. I found a free app that has made this much easier (I never have been good at physical journaling) called Grid Diary (on the Apple App Store). I love that it’s 1) Free and 2) Customizable so I can track my mental and physical symptoms as well as food and sleep all in a four square grid.
You can get started now too. It’s best to work with a functional care provider like Stefani (I really can’t say how much I love her! She’s the 3rd functional practitioner I’ve seen and who knows how many specialists I’ve been to and she’s the first one who helped me with a plan and the support I need). Filling out the questionnaires and doing preliminary blood panel will give bother her and you a place to start healing your body. A natural approach can help with everything from mental health to autoimmune and a whole lot in between. I’m sure as heck happy to finally have a route to go to heal my body from the inside out. And, I’ll be sure to bring you along for every (small) step of the journey!
PS Don’t want to wait? Contact Stefani today:
Instagram: NaturalPaleoFamily
Website: www.naturalpaleofamily.com
Email: [email protected]
For access to practitioner supplements: Full Script
