About Me

My husband and I live on a small ranch and have 5 children aged 4 to 10. We homeschool our children and raise cattle as a family. I have a Bachelor's of Science from the University of Missouri and a Masters of Science degree in Reproductive Physiology from South Dakota State University. I also did 5 years of post graduate research work at the University of Florida and am a literature review away from a PhD in Animal Molecular and Cellular Biology. I completed my courses, and all of my research is published and being used in the field. However, I chose to be with my family, and the time commitment for finishing my PhD while I had a baby was just not feasible. I made the tough, yet rewarding decision to be a full-time, stay-at-home mom. Thankfully, I am able to put my education to good use in helping people with their health.

My family and I believe in glorifying God in all that we do. This is why I named this service SDG Health. The SDG stands for Soli Deo Gloria, which means glory to God alone in Latin. My passion is to help people lead healthy lives and be themselves again. I have seen too many people affected by chronic illness and doctors not able to help them recover. Our medical system is set up to treat symptoms, but It's not focused on healing root causes. I am here to help you solve your health puzzles and aim to glorify God in both my family time as well as my time as a health consultant. Since my husband was able to retire from corporate work and we are both at home, I am able to spend a bit more time learning, reading, understanding, and helping people. I only open up a select number of consultations a week so that it doesn't cut into our family time. If my openings don't fit into your schedule, please reach out. I may be able to open a different time-slot. I look forward to being a part of your journey to health.

My Health Journey

A big part of why I became a functional health consultant has to do with my own health journey. I have struggled with chronic illness since 2011. When my symptoms first started showing up, the doctors blamed it on the stress of PhD work. One even said I should go see a therapist. I figured out some of what was triggering my symptoms and removed those items from my life as well as moved. Those changes made me feel mostly normal again; however, in 2018, I developed even more symptoms. I ended up needing a thyroidectomy and developed hypoparathyroidism. I had muscle tremors, muscle weakness, muscle cramps, and chronic hives every night. All of my doctors just shrugged their shoulders at me and never ran any tests. They just said my symptoms were "idiopathic", which means they have no clue why. They would offer up medications to mask symptoms and that was their only solution.

Our family moved again in 2021, and my symptoms intensified. Along with my previous symptoms which got worse, I also had severe fatigue, memory loss, brain fog, trouble knowing what words to say, anxiety, heart palpitations, ice pick headaches, migraines, joint pain and stiffness, blurred vision, a cough at night, night sweats, difficulty regulating my temperature, increased urination, difficulty concentrating, iron deficient anemia, and extreme fatigue. Another doctor again said I needed a therapist and to go onto antidepressants because my "symptoms must be due to stress". As much as I tried to convince my doctor that I am not a stressed person, he just wouldn't believe me. He even begged me to try the medication. I actually obliged for a short time to try to prove the point that it wasn't my issue, but then I realized, it wasn't going to stop. He wasn't about to tell me it must not be stress. He would have just tried more medications. So instead, I took matters into my own hands.

I found a lab that allowed me to order my own blood tests. I went there so often they know me by name and have my birthdate and email memorized. I was determined to figure out what was wrong with me, but I didn't know where to start. Sometimes I told my doctor which tests I ran, and he just looked at me funny and asked "Why would you test for that?" It was quite frustrating because he wasn't trying to help, he already marked me down as stressed, and wasn't going to proceed farther. At one point I decided to test for iron deficiency by testing ferratin levels (at the time I didn't know you could test for iron levels themselves). My ferritin levels were extremely low, and according to research articles that I had been reading, that was indicative of iron deficient anemia. I took those tests to my doctor, and he said I wasn't anemic because my hemoglobin levels were normal. I explained that you could be iron deficient without lowered hemoglobin levels and discussed the scientific research. Reluctantly, and with much persuasion, he allowed me to go to a hematologist. They ran further tests to confirm I was, in fact, severely iron deficient. So much so, that I had to have two iron infusions.

Although some of my symptoms improved with increased iron, I still had most of my symptoms. The hematologist also shrugged his shoulders and didn't know what any of them were from. My iron started to drop again, even though I was taking two iron supplements a day, drinking beet juice, and eating spinach. The hematologist sent me to 3 other doctors to try to figure out why I was losing iron. They all shrugged their shoulders and couldn't find anything wrong with me.

After 12 doctors shrugged their shoulders over the time of 12 years, I finally found a functional health practitioner who took the time to search for root causes. He discovered the root cause of EVERY SINGLE one of my symptoms. I almost cried the day we figured it out. It was overwhelming. I had a long road to recovery ahead of me, BUT I had answers. I am still on that road to recovery, but I am getting better. His time dedication to helping me understand something that he himself wasn't even well-versed in was inspiring. I realized that you don't need to be an expert to understand, learn, and help others. The biggest part is listening, knowing what tests are available, and being able to decipher the literature to come up with a plan.

Through all this, I spent countless hours researching and learning. I have been able to help so many others with their chronic illnesses and realized we have such a need for health consultants to bridge the gap between doctors and patients. I have also continued learning about chronic illnesses, their root causes, and ways to heal from them. It has been a long journey to get to this point, but I believe it was part of God's plan. God had me go through all this so that I could help others in their health journey.