About JoAnne

My

Story

I passed out and woke up on the basement floor with paramedics staring me in the face and taking my vital signs…

I thought I was doing everything right!

I grew up in a family that had healthy habits, organic gardening (before it was popular), exercised regularly, ate whole foods from our garden and generally had a positive outlook on life.

So what was going on with me? How could this have happened?

I was healthy, so I thought, I appeared that way on the outside. Inside I dealt with hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) poor digestion, energy issues and bad headaches as well as migraines. I was an aerobics instructor, loved to exercise to the extreme. I ate a low fat diet (it was popular in the 80’s) The only weight I ever gained was with my two pregnancies.

I was a working mom of 2 children, a boy and girl. Just having children will keep you busy, but I also worked full time outside of the home. My children were very active, so I was always driving someone somewhere, whether it was sports or church activities. My husband worked a distance from home so he would just meet us at various athletic games and church events.

I moved through my life filling it with activities, going from church activities to sports activities and at the end of the day when my head hit the pillow, I was out and slept like a rock.

My days started out early, I would always have coffee in the morning to jump start my day. I didn’t like the taste of it so I would add cream and sugar, it was more tasty that way. I didn’t consume much water during the day and when I arrived home from work, midafternoon I always had a cup of caffeinated tea and a sweet snack. There were times that I would stay up late after everyone had gone to bed, I would have another cup of coffee to get me thru the late night hours.

I would average 5-6 hours of sleep per night. I experienced monthly migraines, energy issues, insomnia, poor digestion and bad monthly female cycles. Little did I know but my body was running on empty!

Both of my children were off to college and the stress of them being gone along with having lost both of my parents a few years previous, was more then I could handle emotionally.

Back to that night…the paramedics wanted to take me to the hospital. I told them I would have my husband take me in the morning.

What was about to occur during the course of the night I wouldn’t wish on anyone! Because I was so dehydrated my heart started beating out of my chest all night long and my mouth was so dry I could barely swallow. I couldn’t sleep and I should have gone to the hospital then. I hoped this would subside but it didn’t and it was the longest night of my life.

My husband took me to the hospital and I could barely walk let alone hold my head up. I felt like someone unplugged me. I was quickly admitted and many tests were done. I was told by my Gynecologist that I had Adrenal Fatigue, dehydration and some severe hormone imbalances. After spending the night in the hospital I was sent home to follow up with my doctor.

Once I was home it took every ounce of energy within me just to get out of bed and eat. That was so exhausting that I would always go back to bed. This went on for a few weeks. I was off work for 6 weeks.

I followed up with my Gynecologist and she wanted to put me on HRT (Hormone replacement therapy), insert an IUD and prescribe other medications. I immediately thought this was not how I wanted my life to go. I knew better, I had gotten way off track and I decided to explore holistic avenues of adrenal and hormone support.

I found a doctor who was a chiropractor, also performed acupuncture and did applied kinesiology (muscle testing). This all seemed to make sense to me instead of taking drugs to mask my symptoms. I wanted to get to the bottom of my health issues.

I set out on a journey to heal my body in a holistic way with natural therapies and without drugs. It took 10 months to get back to what seemed my endless amount of energy. But this time I wasn’t running on CAFFEINE and SUGAR! I was eating whole foods and drinking herbals teas as well as plenty of water. I was learning how to nourish my body and finding what exercise was best for my body. I developed a healthy routine of self-care, getting to bed at a reasonable time and taking supplements that supported my body and helped to fill in the gaps. I felt as though the missing pieces to the puzzle had been found.

It was then that I decided to go back to study more about health and function of the body. At that time I found a program called FDN-Functional Diagnostic Nutrition. It was a unique way of looking at the body by using different tests to discover the dysfunction within the Hormone, Immune, Digestion, Detoxification, Energy and Nervous System. Then it allows the practitioner to find healing opportunities within these systems. This was the way I would be able to help other women who were experiencing what I had been thru.

If this resonates with you, I would love to have a discovery session with you and share ways in which we could work together on your Health and Wellness journey.