• Celiac Disease – I experienced dramatic unexplained weight loss in 2016 alongside symptoms of malabsorption and chronic fatigue. I couldn’t afford to test for Celiac Disease at the time, but going gluten-free stopped the weight loss immediately. My digestion and energy improved, too. When I saw a Gastroenterologist several years later, he confirmed I likely have Celiac Disease, but said it’s not worth testing because the gluten challenge would make me so sick.

   

• Late Stage (Chronic) Lyme Disease – I unknowingly contracted Lyme Disease and a coinfection, Bartonella, in 2015, which unfortunately didn’t get diagnosed or treated until over 4 years later. Immediately after the bites, I experienced a flulike illness, and I gradually started experiencing strange and debilitating symptoms over the next few years, including severe fatigue, nervous system dysfunction, swollen glands, chills, low temperature, chronic head pressure, recurring inflammatory headaches, brain fog, memory loss, flushing rashes, and muscle aches.

  Around the 4 year mark, I was bitten again and contracted Tick Borne Relapsing Fever on top of everything else, and we also experienced toxic mold in our home at the same time. At that time, I went from functionally sick to almost completely bedbound. I was severely ill and the disease had done extensive damage to my nervous system. Ultimately, it caused chronic meningitis, which lasted for 5+ months until I was finally tested, diagnosed, and treated. After antibiotic treatment and beginning herbal treatment using the Buhner protocols, it took 8 months for me to stabilize enough that I could go back to work even part-time.

  I believe I would have made it to remission, but after contracting COVID for the first time in January 2021, my health situation got much more complicated, so I have had to stay on a maintenance treatment for Lyme Disease so I don’t relapse. 

• POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) –  I developed POTS after my first COVID infection in 2021. About three weeks into being sick, I worsened dramatically and started having an onslaught of debilitating and bizarre symptoms out of nowhere – heart palpitations, tachycardia, shortness of breath, chest pain, nerve pain, lightheadedness/dizziness, fatigue so bad I couldn’t be up for more than a few minutes before having to lie down for hours to recover, adrenaline surges, sleep disturbance, trouble swallowing, and GERD/esophageal ulcers, to name a few. I tested positive for POTS in the hospital, and later in 2021 pursued neurological rehabilitation and physical therapy treatment with a functional neurologist, which has helped quite a bit.

   

• A compromised immune system – Growing up, I was always one who got sick more than the average person, but it was still only a few times a year, and I would get over the viruses without complications. My immune system dramatically weakened after my first COVID infection in 2021. This made me extremely susceptible to all of the viral illnesses I’m exposed to (like the flu, colds, RSV, strep, parainfluenza, human metapneumovirus, stomach viruses, and COVID), so I’ve been getting sick way more often than I should be. Approximately 7-10 times per year since 2021. I’m treating this with the help of an immune specialist.

   

• Autoimmune Encephalitis/PANS – I developed this neurological autoimmune disease after my first COVID infection in 2021, too. The symptoms began a few weeks after I got COVID, alongside the POTS symptoms, but I wasn’t tested and diagnosed until November of 2022. With AE/PANS, my immune system creates antibodies that in addition to causing inflammation in my brain, activate dopamine, adrenaline, and norepinephrine receptors in my brain. This causes an over-activation of my sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) and suppresses GABA and serotonin, the calming and “happy” neurotransmitters in my brain. Flare ups cause symptoms like nerve pain, a shallow, weak, and rapid pulse; stabbing pins and needles, chills back and forth with hot flashes, sweats, an intense fight or flight sensation, waves of nausea, burning headache and neck pain, neck stiffness, inability to get into a restful state, disrupted sleep, sometimes severe insomnia, emotional dysregulation, and OCD. My functional immune specialist is helping me treat this autoimmune disease with a custom protocol, and I’m also targeting it by strengthening my parasympathetic nervous system with neurofeedback, craniosacral massage, somatic exercises, and vagal techniques.

   

• Reactive Hypoglycemia – I have had hypoglycemia symptoms for two years – extreme, frequent hunger that causes an intense headache, muscle pain, flulike symptoms, nausea, lightheadness, weakness, wooziness, and keeps me awake (at night) if I don’t eat immediately, as well as weight gain and the inability to lose weight in spite of a lot of effort. After searching for answers the entire time, I only recently found out what was wrong with my insulin and blood sugar via a continous glucose monitor, A1c, and postprandial insulin lab results. I am in the beginning stages of developing a nutrition strategy to help restore my body’s blood sugar stability. 

With migraines, Lyme Disease, POTS, a compromised immune system, and a neurological autoimmune disease, my health is not the health of someone who has never experienced chronic illness.

Through naturopathic medicine, however, I am no longer bedridden. Instead, I can work, go to college, spend time with family and friends, and some days enjoy a quality of life I thought I would never experience again when I was so sick.

If it weren’t for having to deal with so many mental and physical health issues at such a young age, I doubt I would have ever learned as much about health and wellness as I have.