From Patient to Pioneer 1/10 - The Patient Behind the Practitioner

Before I was the doctor trying to solve your health puzzles, I was a patient desperately trying to solve my own. 🧩

For years, I battled chronic health issues, daily migraines, and the frustration of feeling like conventional medicine just didn't have the answers. That journey changed everything for me, and it’s the exact reason I practice medicine differently today.

I am so excited to announce a special 10-part podcast series on The Learning Corner! Over the next few weeks, I’m pulling back the curtain on my personal story, the real reasons we get sick, and how we are completely changing the healthcare model in Bonita Springs. 🌴

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Transcript

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Well, hello, and welcome to the Learning Corner with me, Dr. Nicole. Today we are kicking off a special 10-part series. Before I became the doctor trying to solve your health puzzles, I was a patient desperately trying to solve my own. Let's back up and talk about where my passion for healing truly began. Okay, the spark. Basically, when I was young, um, we all have childhoods, we all have things that make us who we are and how we see ourselves in the world. Um, but my father had been laid up at home, his back had been bothering him, it probably wasn't the first time. Um, hi dad, if you're out there listening to me, miss you. Anyways, um, I was fairly young, probably somewhere between, I don't know, six and ten, something like that. And he's like, Well, I gotta go, and he could barely walk. And he gets off the floor, and I'm like, Well, where are you going? And he goes, I'm going to the chiropractor. I'm like, Oh, okay. Well, are you gonna be okay? Or whatever I said, you know, I'm young. And he came back and he was walking normally, and he was totally fine. And that for me was kind of like the first, well, I want to help my dad. I want to be a doctor. Um, so I went to, I don't know, my GP, I guess it would be our general practitioner, MD, when I was little, and my mom would tell me stories about hey Nicole, you always would ask the most interesting questions to the doctor, and we would spend a lot of time having conversations with him. And so thank you. I forget my doctor's name, I'll have to ask my mom, but that doctor spent the time with me and he answered, I think, every single one of my questions. And it was so intriguing to me that um I didn't realize that chiropractors weren't MDs, and I didn't realize that chiropractors were even doctors um when I was young, because while I was young and a traditional doctor, he went to the GP and it was an MD, and that's just what a doctor was. So I guess I didn't put two and two together about my father going to a chiropractor um because I didn't really know what a chiropractor was being a doctor, and then asking the questions to my GP, it just it really spun me in the direction of I want to help people, I want to help them not be in pain, I want to help them to find answers and to really um be healthy and not struggling. Um but kind of fast forward a little bit, you look at your you know, your life as a woman. I will go into the woman stuff. Um, men probably have different issues, maybe similar, but I played hard as a kid. I was really rough. I had an older brother, younger sister, and we were just very active and very rough. Um I fell off a lot of things as a child, got multiple concussions, probably more than I even remember. We'll talk about that maybe at some point um in the future. But when when I go into my teens and 20s and I start looking at kind of what my personal struggle was and what led me to finding holistic care or alternative care, um, because what I was dealing with was severe like pain, right? So you have endometriosis, PCOS, fertility fears, like those all really um were a part of my journey. So in my teens, when I first had my menstruation, I had a really heavy flow. And the first thing my GP said was, here, just you know, just go on these uh birth control pills. And so I did, and uh mistake. I stopped those after two or three months. I got the worst acne, I got horrible cramps, more so than I had. Um, it it just was not good. Uh there was a lot going on there, but anyways, I'm like, is there anything else I can do? And she's like, no, that's about it. Um, so I then went to my OB and I was like, hey, you know, I'm having this stuff, and she's like, well, uh, did you try birth control? I'm like, yeah, I'm like, I don't want to do that. And she's like, well, you can try diet and stuff, but I don't ever see that working for what you have, so I don't know what to tell you. Maybe we could try something stronger. And I'm like, okay, well, I'll think about it. And in the back of my head, I'm like, I am not doing any of that. Um, and I left. So going through all that, fast forward years and years and years of pain, heavy bleeding, um, two days out of work, school, whatever, with numb legs, numb low back. I mean, the pain was worse than any delivery. I have two children, and it was 10 times worse than both of my deliveries. Um, so that's another story. But going through all of this in my teens and 20s uh made me realize that there is no help for people out there who want something different. And this was, I don't know, I'm 40 some now. So this was a good 20, 30 years ago when this was happening. And so I'm like, okay, well, I guess I'm just gonna have to muster through this. You know, I would have um a lot of issues with like fibroids, and I would have a lot of issues with my um follicles popping and bursting and getting huge, and you know, that pain. Anybody out there that knows that, that's horrible in itself. But then I'd have blood clots, you know, the size of my hand, and I would have my periods for 40 days straight, and probably the most severe blood loss that you could think of, and everything that comes with it, like anemias and stuff like that. So of course I didn't feel good, but there was no help, right? I I felt like literally there's no answers. I have to wait it out. I took some pain meds um because I was like, man, if I could just knock out some of this pain, like I did not like to take any kind of over-the-counter or drugs because nothing helped, and then I just felt bad afterwards. So there's a lot of that going on in my life. So past that, um, I'm like, well, I probably won't be able to ever have kids because I'm not having regular cycles and I have all these issues going on with my ovaries, yada yada, right? So all these things stacking up. I I don't know who is all listening today and who has struggles in their teens and 20s, and they just kind of pass it off and they're like, well, it's fine, I'm over it now. Well, there's things that we can touch on and that I am touching on now that I know these um for myself and going backwards, going, oh, that makes sense. I have this deficiency. Oh, that's why that happened. So don't lose hope. There's a lot of stuff going on in healthcare, and there's a lot of things that maybe don't make sense in the past, but are starting to make sense now here in the future, your future self. But the biggest thing for me, so my dad, he's the one that sparked me to wanting to be a doctor. My struggles that I went through with women's issues, I mean, they're greater than that. That was just a blimp. But now, like my turning point. So what happened was all of these women's issues, you know, I kept getting um, you know, you kept you kept you keep going to the OB and you know, every six months to a year, and they're like, Oh, you should come back again and you need to get this biopsy and you know your cervix is looking um not so healthy, and here's what's going on, and I'm like, oh, okay. So in my 20s, um, early 20s, I actually went in and they're like, Oh, by the way, you have cancer in situ and you need to come and get a leap done. And I'm like, okay. Well, at that point, I had already been two years into owning my own massage business. I had been in the B and I groups, and I met some great practitioners. So I'm like, hey, you chiropractors out there or holistic doctors, what do you do with cancer? And so I actually found a chiropractor who did adjust me three times a week. Um, they also put me on an anti-cancer diet. Um, and so I did all of those things. You know, going on an anti-cancer diet was a struggle in itself. Basically, cancer likes to feed on sugar. Um, so you can imagine taking sugar out of the diet and eating very specifically. And I did that for four to six months, and it was actually eye-opening. You know, I felt good, I slept good, um, my body did really well. I went in and got the leap done, probably um three months into eating that way, and I had my family. Um, I have I have a lot of aunts and a lot of uncles. We have a large family, and we're pretty close, and I love you guys. So hi, if you're listening. Um, but I called my mom and I said, Okay, can you have all my aunts, all your sisters, and my grandma pray at this time? And I went in and got the leap procedure done, and I'm like, Okay, are you gonna start? And the lady looks up at me that's doing this procedure, and now they go in there and they have this is how it went. Okay, um, so I'm sitting there, I'm derobed, right? I have the gown on and I'm sitting in a surgical room, I guess you could call it, and and I'm laying there and she's like, Okay, I'm gonna have you sit up and I'm gonna put these pads on your back so I don't electrocute you. And I'm like, oh yay, this is fantastic. Okay. And she's like, Okay, well, lay back. And I'm like, okay. And then I'm like, well, I'm gonna put my earbuds in and listen to music. And I was listening to praise and worship music, and I had my mom and her sisters and my grandma praying, and I'm like, do-do-do-do, you know, and I had my boyfriend at the time, who's now my husband, out in the waiting room, and they're like, You're gonna need somebody to drive you, and you're gonna bleed for a few weeks, maybe longer, and it's gonna hurt, and blah, blah, blah. So I'm like, okay. So, anyways, all of a sudden I take the thing out and I'm like, Well, are you gonna start yet? And the doctor's like, We're done. You didn't feel that? And I'm like, Well, no. She goes, I took the majority of your cervix cervix out. I said, Oh, okay. Well, thanks. And she's like, Okay, well, I'll see you back here in whatever amount of time it was. And so the follow-up visit, it was pretty amazing. So the follow-up visit, I go and I meet with the MD, not the surgeon, um, or the one that did the procedure, and she looks at me and goes, She's doing the endoscope exam and you know, looking at my hoo-ha and and doing all that stuff, and she goes, Well, um, are you sure you came in and got that procedure done? Because uh it doesn't appear to be that way. And I said, Oh, okay, well, yes, I did go, and you need to check with your um people then, I guess, if you don't believe me. And she's like, I'm going to. So she leaves the room. She comes back and she goes, You're right. You did the procedure, and they took a significant almost all of your cervix, but I don't believe this. And I'm like, What? Is it bad? And she goes, I have never seen such a beautiful cervix in my life. And I looked at her like dumbfounded. Like, what are you talking about? So she's like, Well, do you want to see it? And I'm like, Well, of course, I'm gonna be a doctor. I want to see all the human body parts, right? And she's like, that is what a perfect cervix looks like, and it looks like you never even got the procedure done. And I am and I go, Well, God is good, he does work miracles, you know, he's a miracle-working God. And she just goes, 'He must be.' And I go, Okay, are we done? She's like, Yes. And her jaw is still open, I think, to this day. But it was so amazing to have that experience, even though it was kind of weird, you know, all that stuff. But let's back up a minute. I forgot to tell you. So I got off the table after having the procedure done, and I actually didn't have any pain. I never bled. And right after that, I put on my hockey skates and I went skating and played hockey with my brother. So hi, Jim. I think you might remember that time, but maybe not. But my experience was so different than what it was talked about. And I'm like, you know what? We need to bring hope to people like this. This can happen to all of us. We need other options, we need to learn about how the body works. I need to teach people, right? So these are the things where I was like, oh. So when I was in my 20s, that happened, early 20s. I got my massage certificate, and we're gonna talk in a different different episode about that. But I got my massage certificate a little bit before that and started my clinic. But this part of my life physically is kind of when I was like, ding, ding, ding. Anti-cancer diet changes how the body works. Taking this out, prayer heals the body. There were so many different like aha moments that I finally was starting to feel like, wow, I can do this, I can be healthy, I can take my health back. There's options out there. And I think there's a lot of patients who get these aha moments in my clinic. I hope so, and I I really pray that that happens because when you finally get to know what your body's capable of and the things that can happen and hear about other people's experiences and that it's happened for them, it brings hope. And then you start believing it, and then you start seeing it happening. So after that turning point, then my first step basically was okay, um uh I'm already a massage therapist, I already have my business open. Now that my patients are or my clients for massage are wanting me to um take on their health as their doctor, it's time, right? So I went to Aveda in 2020. Um, it was an intensive program, 40 hours a week, about four to six months. Um, I got certified, and then I opened my own business and I worked in a chiropractic office, which was um very valuable to me. So thank you, doctors who took the time out to teach me, you know, just a young girl out of college who loves to learn. So thank you. Um, but that's where it was like, okay, doing massage, owning my own business, um, learning all these things. My patients are like, wow, you told me to go to the neurologist and you gave me what to talk to them about, and they said that was it spot on. And so I just wanted to let you know this is what they did, this is how they did it. And so I worked with my massage patients, my clients at the time, and they're like, You have a gift. Do you need to go and become a doctor? And that was my first step into where I am now. So as my clients drove and inspired me to go back to school, I realized I had a knack for it. I love to figure out puzzles, and the body is the most miraculous puzzle of all. So join me next time as we talk about how I took the leap into chiropractic school and how a personal health crisis led me to the brain. Until next time, bye bye.