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My Health Update
Jonathan’s Health, Moving, Careers, and Adoption
In my last update, I shared a huge breakthrough I had with my health starting in fall 2024:
Discovering I had been dealing with low blood sugar (both fasting and reactive hypoglycemia) for several years, probably since my first COVID infection in 2021.
It was the answer I had been fervently praying for, for so many years. All the conditions and symptoms I hit a wall with and couldn’t make further progress on and didn’t understand why, suddenly made sense.
In simple terms, my body makes too much insulin and is too sensitive to it.
When I eat a meal or snack with an amount of carbohydrates a healthy person can tolerate, my pancreas releases a lot of insulin. Much more than is needed to drive that amount of sugar into my cells. This causes my blood sugar to drop too low within a couple of hours of eating.
Before I was tested or diagnosed, I would get symptoms of low blood sugar frequently between meals and experience ravenous hunger, which would compel me to eat again to feel better. After which my blood sugar would go up for a little while, and then crash back down from too much insulin again. And the cycle would repeat continuously. At night, since I wasn’t eating, I didn’t have a way to temporarily bring my blood sugar back up. This meant constant hypoglycemia all night long, and I would experience an onslaught of symptoms and poor sleep.
When your blood sugar drops, if the body is unable to raise blood sugar quickly by releasing stored glycogen from the liver, the adrenal glands will release a surge of adrenaline – the “fight or flight” hormone. Having hyperadrenergic POTS and Autoimmune Encephalitis/PANS, I am already susceptible to sympathetic nervous system dominance and adrenaline surges. So the release of adrenaline from low blood sugar was making this even worse, and creating a perfect storm.
When your body is flooded with excitatory neurotransmitters like this, you cannot get into a restful state and sleeping is very difficult. Sometimes impossible without the help of medication to suppress the nervous system. Without proper sleep, your body breaks down and stops functioning quickly.
Constantly having low blood sugar leaves your immune system in a weakened, vulnerable state, too.
When I was first tested and diagnosed, I wore a Continous Glucose Monitor and saw how severe the problem was.
Neither my medical doctor nor any other health practitioners knew how to help me fix this, so I had to start doing deep research and find whatever information I could.
My primary care doctor said she had only ever seen this once in her clinical rotations, and they didn’t know how to solve it. She said in my case, it could have possibly been caused by pancreatic damage due to COVID.
What helped me get my blood sugar under control were several major dietary changes.
- Sticking to a narrow carbohydrate range at meals and snacks. Usually around 30-40 grams at meals and 10-15 grams at snacks. I have to eat below a certain amount to reduce the amount of insulin my pancreas releases, so I don’t go hypoglycemic afterward. However, I can’t go too low-carbohydrate either, or that will also cause low blood sugar for me.
- Only eating low glycemic carbohydrates and cutting out higher glycemic carbohydrates completely, including all forms of added sugar – even the natural ones. This has meant no grains or grain-based pasta or baked goods, no refined starches, no potatoes, and avoiding a lot of types of fruit. If I want a sweet treat, I have to make it with a substitute like monkfruit or allulose.
- Eating small amounts at a time, to reduce the amount of insulin my pancreas releases, and more frequently, to keep my blood sugar up between meals. About every 3 hours.
- Adding back in animal products, so I would have enough calories even with having to restrict my carbohydrate intake so much.
- Making sure I don’t consume too much protein with too few carbohydrates, as this also causes low blood sugar for me.
The above strategies worked to get my blood sugar under control and reverse my hypoglycemia.
As a result, my health did a nearly 180-degree turnaround.
- Instead of getting sick 8-10 times a year and having complications afterward, I went back to only getting sick my usual 3-4 times a year and recovering normally afterward.
- I started sleeping moderately to really well most of the time, with only a few exceptions on occasion. This was completely life-changing for me.
- My Autoimmune Encephalitis/PANS symptoms went from extremely disabling to mild.
- Even my POTS symptoms improved further, and I got more stable.
Last time I wrote an update, I was several weeks into these improvements, and feeling tentatively hopeful. Yet at the same time, I was afraid to trust that the stability would last.
Now, it’s been a little over 1 1/2 years. This time of waiting and watching has given me the ability to observe patterns and learn more about the healing my body is doing, and the areas where it is still struggling.
Here’s what I have learned:
1. The health improvements I experienced from getting my blood sugar under control and reversing my hypoglycemia were real, and they lasted.
From November 2024-March 2025, I made it through an insanely stressful period of listing our house on the market, trying to find a new one, and moving – intact! I couldn’t believe how much stronger and more resilient I felt throughout that process, compared to before. Something I wouldn’t have even been able to get through a small portion of before, didn’t cause a long-term relapse of any health progress.
2. It’s not as easy or straightforward to keep my blood sugar under control and prevent hypoglycemia as I thought.
Although my dietary changes made a HUGE difference, and they are generally effective, sometimes I have an unexpected reaction to something I ate that I usually tolerate without a problem. Sometimes a food I think will be fine turns out to cause a low blood sugar episode and symptoms.
Sometimes I so badly miss being able to eat “fun” foods that I eat a 1/4 serving of a sweet treat, pair it with a protein, and hope for the best. It’s a shot in the dark as to whether I’ll be okay afterward, or whether it will cause a symptom flare-up.
It’s also easy to think I am following the parameters I have set for myself, and be wrong, unless I am meticulously measuring my portions and tracking my food intake in an app. Which gets exhausting and draining. I do try to keep up with it though, so I know I am taking care of myself to the best of my ability.
Other factors I wouldn’t expect can affect my blood sugar stability, too. Last fall, my vitamin D stores finally got saturated after years of supplementing, but I didn’t know. So the dose I was taking that had previously kept me in a healthy range caused my vitamin D level to get too high temporarily, until I had lab work done and realized. High vitamin D levels can cause increased insulin sensitivity, so this made my blood sugar a lot less stable last fall and winter, and it caused a symptom relapse until I was able to get my vitamin D level back down to normal.
3. Low blood sugar episodes are not the only thing that can cause an adrenaline surge or sympathetic nervous system storm that I can’t turn off.
I have found that my nervous system still seems to be very fragile and reactive, after all the intense physical, emotional, and mental stress of the last 5-10 years. While I believe my undiagnosed and untreated low blood sugar was the worst contributing factor for many years, it was not (and is not) the only stressor on my nervous system.
Sometimes stressors like staying up too late at night, having an abnormally busy week without enough downtime or rest, increased emotional stress, etc. will cause me to have a sympathetic nervous system storm that won’t stop until I take medication to suppress my central nervous system to get back to baseline.
I’m praying for guidance on how I might be able to desensitize and strengthen my nervous system, so I can withstand normal life stressors without such severe health consequences. I am considering a limbic system retraining program like DNRS or Gupta, but not sure yet.
The cortisol connection – my most recent health answer.
Normally, I do a ZRT saliva hormone test once a year to keep track of my hormone and adrenal/HPA axis health. I missed last year due to everything we had going on with selling our house and moving, so it had been a couple of years since my last one.
Since around 2019-2021, I have been taking several herbs and supplements to lower my evening and nighttime cortisol. At that time, being so sick with chronic neurological Lyme Disease and coinfections and then COVID, my evening and night cortisol levels were extremely high. Too high cortisol disrupts the circadian rhythm and prevents the body from utilizing melatonin, creating very disrupted and poor sleep.
This year, my results were completely different. My DHEA is quite low, my morning and noon cortisol are also low, my evening and night cortisol are on the lower side, and my cortisol curve is flattened.
- Low DHEA and cortisol are associated with long-term chronic physical and/or emotional stress, as well as deep exhaustion.
- Cortisol is a natural immunosuppressant. So when it is too low, this can disrupt the body’s ability to turn off immune responses, leading the body to remain in a pro-inflammatory state indefinitely.
- A low cortisol awakening response can impair the body’s initial defense against new viruses and bacteria.
- People with suboptimal cortisol may also experience poor stress tolerance and exaggerated responses to minor stressors.
Where low cortisol may be having the biggest effect on my health, though, is my blood sugar. Cortisol is responsible for a few MAJOR blood sugar regulation processes in the body:
- Cortisol is essential for gluconeogenesis, where the liver creates glucose from proteins and fats. Low cortisol means the liver cannot reliably initiate this process during times of fasting or stress, so the body has no way to replenish its glucose supply without eating again, once immediate reserves are used up.
- Cortisol normally makes your cells slightly more resistant to insulin so that glucose stays in the blood longer to fuel the brain. When your cortisol is too low, your cells can become hypersensitive to insulin – which is exactly my problem. Even small amounts of insulin can drive too much sugar out of the bloodstream and into the cells, causing dangerous drops in blood sugar levels.
- Cortisol helps maintain glycogen (stored sugar) in the liver that the body can draw from when it’s running low on fuel. Suboptimal cortisol levels can lead to glycogen depletion, meaning your stores are often empty when you need an energy boost.
My next steps are to:
- Gradually stop taking the cortisol-lowering herbs/supplements I’ve been on for so long
- Phase in one or two cortisol-increasing herbs/supplements in the mornings
- Support my adrenals and HPA axis with optimal vitamin, mineral, and electrolyte intake
- Use other calming options like l-theanine and GABA at night that support relaxation and the parasympathetic nervous system without lowering cortisol
It’s possible if I can restore my cortisol levels, adrenal health, and HPA axis to their optimal states, my insulin hypersensitivity may return to normal and my blood sugar may be MUCH easier to keep stable without such strict dietary measures. I can’t say for sure, but it is at least a possibility.
On an extremely positive note, I found a medication (Ubrelvy) that helps my migraines! This is the first time in 12-13 years that anything natural, pharmaceutical, or otherwise has been able to relieve the pain. I’m so excited!
Jonathan’s Health Update:
Jonathan has experienced a few major breakthroughs in his health since last year.
After six months of evaluations and tests, we finally discovered the cause of the swollen, painful glands in his neck that were causing severe pain to radiate to his neck, face, and (especially) head. A sinus swab came back positive for large amounts of two pathogenic bacteria that had overgrowth and caused chronic sinus infections.
Over the course of the next six months, his doctor was able to get a compounding pharmacy to make antibiotic nasal drops that the bacteria were susceptible to, and by last fall, Jonathan was feeling much better and a retest showed the bacteria had been successfully eliminated.
Through a recommendation from a friend, he was also finally able to get effective mental health treatment, which has made a big difference for his brain, nervous system, and overall physical health.
We also recently found an EDS-specializing Physical Therapist through the Ehlers Danlos Society website. The physical therapist has been able to do dry needling for Jonathan’s head and neck pain that are related to chronic muscle tension caused by EDS.
They are also working on an exercise routine that will help Jonathan begin to stabilize his body so he doesn’t subluxate and dislocate so easily, and his muscles can relax.
Jonathan’s doctor also found a prescription medication he can take that actually helps when the muscle-related pain (especially the headaches) get out of control. This is a first for him, and such a relief!
We did have to list our house for sale and move, after all.
From when we first heard about the toxic plant moving less than a mile from our house in spring 2024 to that fall, we waited and watched to see what could happen. We had high hopes that the resistance group would get the plant shut down before we had to do anything.
The situation was not moving in a good direction, so we prayed for God’s direction, and in November 2024 decided to put our house on the market.
We couldn’t risk getting stuck in an area where there could be chemical spills and/or explosions that could harm our health and prevent us from moving later on.
The move was a grueling process – it took our home 3.5 months to go under contract, we had to drop the price by 25k during that time, and there were not many viable options we could afford to make an offer on. It seemed we would have to sacrifice multiple of the following criteria – stable condition of the home, safe area, distance from work, or size.
At the last possible minute, God provided the perfect home for us, and even though the sellers got multiple offers, they chose ours. It’s a two-bedroom, one-story townhome with no HOA. Not too far from Jonathan’s work, just under 30 minutes without traffic. It’s in a friendly, safe neighborhood that feels like the country without being too far from town. There’s just enough room for a future child. And it fits right into our budget without straining us.
God is so faithful, even though it can feel stretching when you are waiting for His provision in uncertain circumstances.
It turned out to be very wise that we moved when we did, because in the last few weeks, two chemical spills occurred at the plant by our old house. There are still court proceedings going on, but in the meantime, the plant has been able to obtain all of its permits to operate and has put the safety of all nearby residents at risk.
Additionally, God’s hand has been so evident in our careers and finances in the past year.
He allowed me to remain in an uncomfortable place with my work for most of last year, so I would be compelled to work through years of conflict and strain, instead of running away from the situation. In the process, I have been able to grow so much. I’ve seen how incredible it can be when relationships are restored, even though it’s sometimes so hard to initiate the tough conversations that bring transformation.
This year, I got a promotion and a raise at work, and I got my first nutrition/health coaching clients since graduating from college.
God opened the door for Jonathan to move from HR into the Communications department at Billy Graham in February, and with that came room for future career growth.
Last year, we were able to pay off our credit card, start tithing 10% for the first time since 2019, and an anonymous donor wanted to pay off our remaining medical debt! We entered 2026 debt-free (except for our mortgage) and are rapidly working towards building a fully-funded emergency fund.
Legitimately, we are in the most stable place financially and career-wise that we have ever been. We can only stand in awe and give thanks to God for everything He has given us that we do not deserve, and be the best stewards of His blessings that we can be.
Lastly, the adoption process.
Last year in the spring, Jonathan and I had no idea how we would ever know when to un-pause the adoption approval process and begin again. Or how we would know whether we should switch to domestic infant adoption or continue the foster care adoption process.
My health was improving, Jonathan had a stable job at Billy Graham, and we had successfully moved. At the same time, his physical and mental health were not good.
We wondered if all the moving parts of our lives would ever stabilize enough at the same time for us to become parents.
Then, God moved in a way we could never have expected.
Jonathan and I originally started the foster care adoption approval process after seeing a little girl on the SC Heart Gallery who tugged on our heart strings and compelled us to talk, pray, and get counseling about beginning the approval process. We thought maybe we were supposed to adopt her. But then only a few weeks after beginning the process, she was placed with a kinship family member (which is good!). So we were left wondering if God simply used her profile to get us to start the process in general.
In July of last year, it had been 2 years and 3 months since we’d seen her profile on the Heart Gallery, when suddenly she appeared there again. Her kinship family placement had fallen through and she needed an adoptive family. Our hearts broke for her.
Was this a sign we were supposed to restart the adoption approval process? Or was it just a random coincidence? We wondered.
Unsure, we went to a couple of close family members and mentors for counsel. They said, since we couldn’t know either way unless we got our home study approved and inquired about the little girl, that we should do that and ask God to open the doors He wanted open and close the doors He wanted shut.
We thought this was wise counsel, so after a year and three months of being frozen in the process, we moved forward with the foster care adoption approval process.
Our home study was finally approved on Christmas Eve, and then we got to inquire as to whether we were an adoptive match with the little girl.
God closed that door, and DSS let us know we were not an adoptive match for her. She was dealing with some developmental, mental, health, or behavioral conditions we said we could not handle on our child factor checklist. They couldn’t specify what due to confidentiality reasons, which we understood. But, this meant we couldn’t reconsider whether it was something we could handle after all, either.
This news brought a lot of emotions to the surface – heartbreak for the little girl and her lack of resources, all the what-ifs that would never be answered, the loss of years of wondering and hoping we could be her family, all came to a sudden close with that “no”.
To be honest, we have no idea what will happen next. We are praying that God will make it clear exactly which child we are supposed to adopt. Or close every door, if we are not supposed to adopt from foster care at all.
We could get a call saying we’ve been matched with a child tomorrow, or in a few months, or next year – or not at all. Somehow we have to be prepared for everything to change and nothing to happen at the same time.
Although this time of waiting is so very hard, all of these changes God has orchestrated in our lives in the meantime feel so intentional. In the last year, we have prioritized our relationships with God and growing closer to Him more than ever before, and it has been life-changing in the best way.
Being real, some days we feel the ache in our hearts to be parents so much that waiting any longer feels soul crushing.
Other days we feel a lot of anxiety about becoming parents and are really grateful for the extra time to keep working on our health, lives, and relationships with God while we wait.
