An introduction to holistic health started for our family in 2012. This personal introduction to holistic health truly cemented my belief that there are real holistic health care alternatives that work.

In 2012, my husband Andrew started noticing some symptoms that were concerning him. He was experiencing extreme fatigue, panic attacks, food intolerances, 35-40 pound weight loss, insomnia, peripheral neuropathy and more.

We went to see our physician and her response to Andrew was “your symptoms are just caused by anxiety”. We knew there was something more they were missing. We ended up seeing 16 different physicians in Columbia, Kansas City, St. Louis and Minneapolis. They couldn’t tell us what was wrong, but they gave a medication for every symptom he was experiencing which then caused serious side effects such as suicidal ideation and disassociation. One neurologist at a large hospital in St. Louis that had diagnosed him with the small fiber polyneuropathy stated “we know you have something; we just don’t know what it is so come back in 2-3 years and we will test your DNA. Hopefully modern medicine will catch up to your body by then.”

I looked at this physician in disbelief. My husband had lost his job, we had a 2.5-year-old and a newborn son and had just spent over $15,000 in a 6 month time period trying to figure out what was wrong with Andrew. He was on 18 different medications and nothing was working. We were feeling defeated and out of options. Then in 2014, a dear friend asked if we had tried essential oils.

I am not going to lie, I rolled my eyes thinking that essential oils were just something to make my house smell better or that this was some type of gimmick. As a nurse, I decided to do research to find out if there was science and validity to these essential oils. What I found were hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific research articles. I decided to purchase some essential oils to see if they could help with Andrew’s symptoms. I chose a brand that had a good reputation in the science community that also did third party testing to ensure quality and purity.

I chose dōTERRA in 2014 and I have never looked back. Within a few weeks, we saw symptoms that Andrew had been dealing with for almost a year start to disappear. We were able to safely taper off his medications and use the essential oils to support his body. A year later, we went to see the same neurologist and he commented that Andrew looked good, but noticed he wasn’t taking the medication he had prescribed. When he asked what he was doing, Andrew replied "just essential oils and some supplements". The doctor looked surprised and said keep doing what you are doing and come back if you need me. It has been over 7.5 years and we never went back. He is 95% better and never received a definitive diagnosis. What we did get was a new outlook on our health and the passion to empower others that there are other options out there.

So now I am on a mission to help empower and educate that there are other options to help support your whole body-not just the symptoms. I am not anti-medication-I am pro-options for your health. It doesn’t have to be either/or…it can be and!