I had a general knowledge of functional medicine, but I became curious and dipped my toe in a bit deeper when my mother was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). RA is an autoimmune disease in which your immune system is essentially attacking your joints, largely caused by inflammation. Her doctors couldn't help her with her extreme pain in the 10-15 minute visits that were allowed. Before she was diagnosed, I had to request the tests she desperately needed from her PCP in order to prove her diagnosis as well as insist on a rheumatology consult. Sadly, I was not able to get my mother to a functional medicine provider before she passed away suddenly.    

Then I had COVID early on in the pandemic and was left with some lingering symptoms like severe headaches, fatigue, palpitations, shortness of breath and limited activity tolerance. When my mom died, it hit me hard! I was experiencing all the stages of grief, I think all at once.To be honest, I really didn't care all that much about my health at that point. It truly was the lowest part of my life.

It was a few months later that I decided I needed to take control of my life and health or I would end up with chronic illnesses just like my mom had. Initially I went to my conventional medicine provider as I wanted to rule out any serious lung or heart problems that some people were getting post COVID. After many doctor visits and expensive tests, that I knew likely wouldn't show anything, a couple of my autoimmune markers were abnormal. It was not enough to be diagnosed with anything. My doctor wanted to start me on multiple medications for headaches, insomnia, palpitations and referred me to a rheumatologist. That really scared me! I realized I couldn't continue down this path. It was time to make some serious changes. It was then that I knew it was time to dig deep into functional medicine for myself.