i spent years navigating my health, and i felt like i was doing it alone.
“It’s just part of being a girl.” Or so I thought. I struggled with acne, pelvic issues, chronic anxiety, hormonal imbalances, and generally feeling less than great starting when I was a teenager. I did what any person would do, go from doctor to doctor hoping to hear a different answer. I was told that everything I was dealing with was just part of being a girl, that it was normal, that things like this just happen to some women. I was handed pills and other band aid solutions that I didn’t think twice about. I just wanted to look and feel better.
While some issues subsided with the pills and potions, others got worse, and still more emerged. Rather than asking questions or advocating for myself, I accepted that this is what life would always be like for me.
My body became so out of balance, my hormones so mismanaged, and the side effects so bad that I had to go off of birth control, Spironolactone (the hormonal cocktail that was keeping my acne at bay) and Lexapro. Months later, I was handed a misdiagnosis of PCOS.
Luckily, PCOS was starting to gain a lot of interest online. All over the internet, people were talking about how to heal PCOS without birth control. This was my gateway into a different world of health, and I started to explore all aspects of my life and body through this new lens.
Although I had always practiced what I believed to be a “healthy” lifestyle (I had one of those moms), it became apparent that my knowledge of health was superficial. I ate “clean”, worked out, took supplements, and engaged in a million and one wellness trends. I did things that I (along with everyone else) deemed “good” or “bad” without knowing what they were actually doing to my body. I followed, and then gave up on, strict routines that were prescribed with little to no context. The truth is, I had no idea how deeply diet and lifestyle affected women’s health outcomes, and I had no idea how to interpret the signals my body was trying to send me.
I realized that I had been attempting to fix each part of my body rather than looking at it as a whole, and not once taking into account how my feelings about my health might be making my symptoms worse. The misdiagnosis of PCOS ended up being a blessing in disguise. I read books and scientific literature, researched and visited new practitioners, and eventually became a certified health and nutrition coach. Despite the new wealth of health information I had, I found myself profoundly aware of a much deeper issue: the loneliness and anxiety that surrounds women grappling with their wellbeing. Oftentimes, it can feel like there’s no one to talk to, not just about our symptoms, but also how we feel about them.
For me, it wasn’t just about alleviating symptoms, feeling better, and preventing chronic health issues later in life (although those are all important things). It was about using the knowledge to dissipate the loneliness, advocate for my well being, find doctors and practitioners that resonate with my beliefs, and trust myself with health decisions.
I went through this alone so that you don’t have to. Not everyone stumbles upon the tools and knowledge they will need to feel better now and in the future. I became a health coach to create the guidance system that I wished I had. It’s more than just helping people clear their acne, support their hormones, or boost their longevity; it’s about being the person someone can have unfiltered health conversations with and helping them understand how much of their health is in their hands.
My hope is that working with me helps not only you, but the women around you. Let’s create a world where women engage in open conversations about their health, share knowledge, and support each other in becoming our own health advocates one session at a time.
