Welcome

Dealing with Dysautonomia/Autoimmune 

You can do hard things, my friend. If I can do it, so can you! 

If you’ve been wondering why we moved back to California, it’s for one big reason. I was diagnosed with Dysautonomia and my doctor said the cold Bend, Oregon weather was causing a large chunk of my symptoms. So we moved to warmer weather. 

Here’s my story… 

It all started when my husband broke his back in the middle of wedding season 3 years ago. Wait what?! Oh yes, that happened on a, what should have been quick, mountain biking ride. We were about to leave for four days to fly across the county to New York for a weekend of Broadway shows. We had tickets to the Harry Potter play that, at the time, we had to be in a lottery for. We had reservations at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant. It would have been the best anniversary trip ever for our 10 year anniversary.

Instead…our lives stopped. Our kids lived at my mom’s house for 2 months while I nursed my husband back to health… and shot 3 weddings. It was a crazy stressful time. And then I got sick. It felt like the flu, only the worst flu I’ve ever had. My body just gave up. 

Two months later, I started noticing that my legs and hands were going numb and I wasn’t able to use them. Then I had two times when I was talking and then suddenly couldn’t make sentences and my mouth would stop forming words – my doc is pretty sure I had two minor strokes. 

So I went in for my yearly check up and told the doctor what was going on. She wasn’t super concerned and said it was probably due to stress but wanted me to get an MRI done just in case. 

The afternoon I got the MRI done, I also got a call from my doctor telling me to come back in immediately. When I arrived, she had scary doctor face on. I could tell she thought something was wrong. She told me she couldn’t diagnose it, but they did find something in the MRI and I needed to make an appointment with the Neurologist immediately. She said she had already called them to make sure I get in right away. She said it could be a brain tumor or MS or maybe nothing.

Not good. 

I made the first appointment I could with the neurologist which wasn’t until the weekend was over, two days later. I spent the rest of the weekend remembering her scared doctor face thinking it really was a brain tumor. It made sense with all my symptoms.

I go into the doctors office and he told me I was crazy. I was completely making up the symptoms and it was in my head. My husband and I knew this wasn’t true, but since it wasn’t a brain tumor and not MS yet, there wasn’t much more I could do. 

But I still couldn’t walk or feel my legs and hands. I was dizzy to the point of passing out on occasion and I often I had trouble breathing. I was also in extreme pain every time I ate. So something was clearly wrong. 

That’s when I found a functional neurologist and functional medical doctor who diagnosed me with dysautonomia and celiac. Apparently for me the celiac can turn into MS too. 

So now I’m on a path of healing to get everything straightened out and back on track. It’s not easy and it caused us to give up a great deal of things in Bend. But we are doing it. 

Through all of this, I have continued to run my business and coach amazing students. It’s been incredible to see how many people in my community also suffer from autoimmune disorders. I am so grateful we caught mine some what early. I am also grateful I can be a cheerleader for others, because I truly understand what they are dealing with. 

I’m not letting this get in my way of running my business. I did change my business to make my life easier though, which really benefits my clients and me! It will take to heal. It will take time to start over. But I will get this through this.

Because we can do hard things.

Comment if you are struggling too! We are here to lift each other up, my friend!