A Holistic Approach

I’m so grateful to have found a holistic alternative to traditional medicine.

Have you ever had something come into your life at just the right time?

When my son was young, he was always a bit hyper. He struggled to pay attention in school. I’m sure he would have been diagnosed with ADHD had we pursued looking into it. To be honest I was not going to put him on medications for behavior, and if he was interested in something he could stay on task. He was bright and had a very sweet side. All in all, it was manageable, that is until middle school. It was getting harder and harder for him to stay on task and his relationships with teachers, coaches, and friends were struggling.

In high school things began to really spiral. Maybe you too have a child that is struggling, and you just don’t know what to do for them.

He started having anxiety, depression, and panic attacks. He was combative and angry. He was also experiencing stomach aches, nausea and weight loss. He was barely eating, never hungry and getting super skinny. He was barely getting through the school day.

High school was unbearable, he wanted nothing to do with friends or family, he became very depressed.

We went to doctors and therapist. We had tests run with no answers. I was being told that they couldn’t find anything physically wrong with him, his bloodwork and tests were “normal”

We were given stomach medications and offered SSRI’s but that was just a Band-Aid approach and not addressing what was causing it. He was insistent that many of his friends that were on SSRI’s and other medications for anxiety, depression or attention disorders were miserable on them. Ultimately, he refused to take the medications.

Thats when I started asking myself what else I could do? It seemed to me that with all of the physical symptoms going on that maybe if he felt better physically, he could feel better emotionally. That’s when I started looking into a holistic approach that could help him feel better. A holistic Practitioner was mentioned by a friend, and I made an appointment. She explained that there was definitely something physical going on in his body. She explained that the body needs certain nutrients in order to make neurotransmitters connected to our emotional health (ex. Serotonin and Dopamine) and beyond that, the gut had to be in good health in order to make that conversion.

It was like a lightbulb going off

We took a deep dive into his nutrition and gut health. It was not overnight, this had been brewing for many years and would take time and attention for it to get back on the right track. We worked hard cleaning up his diet and getting to a better place so he could start to see the light on the other side of the tunnel. Slowly he began to get his appetite back and the nausea stopped. But what was even more amazing was that his mental health started to improve. He started wanting to engage in life again.

Thats when I knew I wanted to learn more and share it with others.

I went on to get certified through the Functional Nutrition Alliance as well as The National Association of Drugless Practitioners.