The Functional Nurse Academy Podcast

The Connection Between Trauma and Physical Illness: Sarah’s Story

• Episode 26

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This episode is brought to you by Functional Nurse Academy

In this episode, Functional Medicine Nurse Sarah Waycaster shares her powerful journey from being unable to walk for nine months to restoring her health through a functional medicine approach. After being dismissed by conventional medicine, she uncovered underlying vascular and immune dysfunction rooted in trauma. Sarah explains how this experience led her to transition from conventional nursing into functional nursing after training with Functional Nurse Academy. Now, she helps women heal by addressing foundational health pillars, nervous system regulation, and purpose-driven living. The conversation also weaves in biblical wisdom, emphasizing the importance of guarding our thoughts. 

Sarah's Links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarah.waycaster/

Website (coming soon) sarahwaycaster.com

Schedule a Free Discovery Call: https://app.malla.co/join/sarah-waycaster-247197/discovery-call

Link to newsletter and Free Guide: 31 Days Out of Survival with Proverbs 31 

https://sarahwaycaster.myflodesk.com/31days

Functional medicine training for all other healthcare specialties and health and wellness coaches:

This show is also syndicated every Tuesday at 10am EST on The Nurses Report on America Out Loud Talk Radio 


SPEAKER_00

Hello, and welcome to the Functional Nurse Academy podcast. This is Melissa Schreibfetter, founder of both the Functional Nurse Academy and Christian Functional Medicine Academy. Welcome everyone. It's always so great to be here with you all. And you know, on this show, there really is just so much to talk about. And I have, I'm joined today by another wonderful guest and graduate from the Functional Nurse Academy. Joining me is Sarah Waycaster, who is a mother of four registered nurse, certified functional nutrition, nutrition counselor, board certified functional medicine practitioner who integrates clinical insight with lived experience to guide women out of survival mode and into true healing. Her journey into functional medicine began as a patient, as her body began to shut down under the weight of chronic stress and unresolved trauma, leaving her unable to even walk. She found herself frustrated, passed from one specialist to the next with no answers, no one looking at the root, no one connecting her story to her symptoms. And today, recognizing the gaps in conventional medicine, Sarah helps women move beyond living in survival to restoring their body, reclaiming their identity to find whole person healing physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Welcome, Sarah. So great to have you.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you, Melissa. I appreciate that. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, it is always so great to be able to actually meet with you all one-on-one like this and be able to have these types of conversations because, you know, there's just so much that we can do to help people. And I was really excited to learn that you are specifically helping women with this trauma response because, oh my goodness, I mean, we see so much, we see we are exposed to so much suffering in healthcare. And we see so many of these individuals just get underserved. So I would love to hear about your story. You know, what led you to functional medicine and to doing what you're doing now?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So I had worked in the hospital for about 17 years, primarily emergency room, critical care, and stepped away, really felt led home, called home to homeschool my children. So I was kind of PRN, still working. Um and then, you know, kind of, I feel like a lot of us kind of have that instance where something shifts or something happens, and I got really sick. And I wasn't, had no idea, you know, we say all of a sudden I got sick, you know, in hindsight, of course, that there were signs that had been happening that I just didn't really recognize at the time. Um, but couldn't walk and didn't walk for nine months. And that is really what led me to functional medicine. Um, you know, so I I was healthy. I was working out, going to the gym, thought I was doing the things. And I was met with a lot of resistance and a lot of just kind of pushback, like pushing me to the next provider. No one really looking at the whole picture or taking time to see what was really underneath the my symptoms and the story behind it. And so it was really life-changing for me. And ultimately, you know, God led, I feel like had I not come to functional medicine, I don't think I would have found the healing that I have found. I think I would be in a much different situation. So very thankful for that process. It's actually been a three-year healing process for me. But over the course of the last year, really dove into my own study of functional medicine and led to functional nutrition and the functional nurse academy, which has been amazing and transformative and completely changed how I see functional medicine and really an opportunity for me as someone who has been in healthcare and has also been a patient to now walk alongside women who have faced, you know, kind of this brokenness, or we we hear a lot of women like over 40 and things just are kind of happening and we don't know why, and we're so frustrated. So I feel like it's such a blessing that I can now walk alongside women who are in that same situation.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. And so I saw, you know, I was reading in your bio about how things were so bad for you that you were unable to walk. Nine months of being unable to walk, and you said that you had four children at the time.

SPEAKER_01

I do. So my my children now are ages 11 to 18. So, you know, this started three years ago. Um, so you know, if you've ever heard when mama goes down, the whole ship goes down. That's kind of what it felt like. And it was really a struggle for me because after leaving the hospital, you know, I took on motherhood and staying at home was my job. And really, you know, it ultimately comes back to where my identity was placed. And, you know, sometimes as nurses, once we step away from the hospital, if we place our identity in something like motherhood, and then it was like that was taken. And so, you know, you have this whole struggle of physically, but then also feeling like you're failing because I can't, I wasn't not even able to cook, couldn't put stand at the stove to put supper on the table. So it's really been, you know, a growing opportunity. And really for me to, you know, in in that place of not being able to walk, it really brought up a lot of things that I had refused to deal with, like kept going over, you know, the past decade previously. And, you know, when you are forced to kind of be on the couch and all these things we kind of use to distract ourselves and stay busy, they kind of get taken away. It was really an opportunity for me to kind of see, okay, you know, God, what are you showing me here? And really brought back a lot of things. Like we mentioned, kind of the trauma that uh we had faced, that my family had been through, and really learning through that.

SPEAKER_00

And so you mentioned as well that your body basically shut down so bad that you were, I it seemed like you were just really struggling. And I cannot imagine how frustrated that is that you have this mystery going on. You're unable to walk and just feeling like you were just getting passed around in the conventional system without any answers. I'm so sorry that you went through that. But did they, and I'm I'm so happy to hear that you're well today, but were they able to give you any type of explanation why this was going on? Was anybody in the conventional medical model able to help you? Or did you find all of your healing within functional medicine? That's a great question.

SPEAKER_01

Uh so I saw several specialists, you know, it kind of starts with your foot. And I remember saying at um a vascular surgeon's office, I remember saying the the issue is not in my foot. You know, there was no injury, I didn't fall. Like there, this is a symptom of something bigger. I have no idea what it is. Like I really didn't know, but I knew there was something else going on. And the only response I got, you know, I was kind of passed around, like, oh, it's blood cancer, let's go to hematology, oncology, no, wait, it must be your lungs, let's go to pulmonology. No, this isn't quite right, but not quite bad enough to worry about. It must be your heart, let's go to cardiology. And so I reached a point, you know, they just wanted to cut my foot open and explore, and I was honestly done because no one could tell me why this was happening. Like I was 39 years old, like, you know, almost 40. This is not normal. I was, you know, healthy, lived a healthy lifestyle. And no one really took the time to ask why or do any research, any digging, anything to see, you know, what could be at the root of what I was experiencing. And it was very much, you know, God's timing. I had a friend who's a functional medicine doctor, and we crossed paths like at the right time. And I was at a crossroads really of do I have surgery and let, you know, the surgeon cut my foot open. He has no idea what's going on. He doesn't even know what he's looking for. Or do I choose to go into functional medicine, you know, and look for the calls to see if we can determine where this is coming from. And thankfully that's the route we went.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. I hear from women frequently that they just they don't want to go down the pharmaceutical and the surgery path. And I also think that God does give us our intuition and our inner knowing. And I think that a lot of individuals know that, first of all, when we have a surgeon cut on us, when any type of surgery is going to have a risk. Same thing with medications. And I think that people are always wondering: is this really the only route that I have? And I have had, and I will say, I hear about it all the time from our graduates that they're working with clients, that they are literally being told, okay, surgery or men's, and they go to functional medicine and they work with our students, and then people end up getting better. There's so many things that functional medicine can help with, but I'm so glad that you went that route and explored other options. And how were you able to resolve this through functional medicine?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so it's been a long journey. Like I said, it's been three years and you know, still working towards healing. Um, but we started, you know, just kind of with like some broad kind of lab work to see, you know, is there an underlying infection? Is there something brewing in my immune system to create, you know, this kind of vascular attack that was going on that kind of showed up primarily in my foot? Um, and we we found three underlying infections. And he he was very knowledgeable, like he's, you know, very intuitive on the lab work. And he said that from the amount of damage, inflammation, the things that I had kind of brewing, it looked like those, you know, infections had been there for about a decade. And I remember a distinct moment. He was like, Did anything happen to you around 10 years ago? Do you remember anything? And in that moment, I said, No. No. Because I did even still, even not being able to walk, it was hard for me to verbalize and face what I had actually been through previously, um, through my marriage, through my husband and his job. He was involved in an on-duty shooting, uh, you know, through his law enforcement job. In the aftermath of that, it was very traumatic, you know, and that that was looking back, the beginning of, okay, it's it's game on. It's like survival of the fittest. I have these four children. We've been through this traumatic event, and you know, the things that follow. But who has time to deal with that? Right. And I was, I feel so looking back, just very naive and unaware of how I pushed my body, I pushed my nervous system until, you know, I kind of got stuck in this loop, this immune inflammatory cycle of where my body was actually attacking itself. And that's when I began to just kind of break down.

SPEAKER_00

I hear this a lot. It's very common in women, autoimmune issues. And there are so many autoimmune conditions. There's at least eight, at least over 80 known autoimmune conditions. And this does make so much sense having such a traumatic event like that. And we know that severe trauma, severe stress, I say this a lot. Stress can literally kill you. Okay. Severe stress can absolutely disrupt our immune system. And then when we have the immune system gone wild, that's when we end up with these infections that can get out of control. And we know that infections, some infections we know for sure, are known triggers for autoimmune conditions. So you're saying that there was like an auto, there was autoimmune activity within your vascular system that was impacting your foot. And then one of the factors there were multiple infections.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. And, you know, once you're kind of in that survival mode, now, you know, coming through Functional Nurse Academy and all that that you teach, you know, in regards to the the nervous system and like limbic system retraining, I had no idea how much my nervous system and my emotional health, spiritual health would was impacting my physical health because I was just trying to keep going, just keep pushing through. And it, I think we're, like you mentioned, a lot of women over 40, it seems like that's when it kind of hits. Like we've pushed through for so long. Maybe we're starting to hit those hormonal changes and the body just puts the brakes on.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, yes. And then also I feel like with women, after the age of 40, um, you know, we have so much going on because so many of us, the majority of women uh over the age of 40 have kids. Okay. And then as as how women are, you know, uh many of us have our careers, or we have aging parents, or we have children. There's always so much stuff going on. And then we tend to take care of everyone else. And then it's the women that end up neglecting themselves and and their health. And also we're just, and that's something else I think of is we're not living, living in the environment that God designed for us to live in. We're exposed to so many things, so many stressors, whether whether that is physiological stress, psychological stress, and but uh with through through functional medicine and finally getting answers, and I think that's another major stressor when you're getting bounced around in the system and you're going to all these specialists and like no one can give you any answers, especially when you were told that you might have cancer. Oh my goodness, like talk about just like increasing someone's load of stress. But yes, there is so much that we can do when someone again, like um, this is one of the things I like to teach about too, is when people have these onset conditions or these symptoms, it didn't just pop up out of nowhere. And that's why it's really important to do a thorough assessment that seems like you found a wonderful functional provider that did that wonderful assessment and was like, okay, you having this trauma event could be related. And it's really like putting the puzzle pieces together to figure out um what are those major contributing factors? And then you can go from there. And there's so many ways we can resolve things. But so you had recognized that, like, oh wow, there was this traumatic event that that needs to be processed, that needs to be addressed. And then we you also were able to identify the infections. What all were you able to do to like what were the actions that you took or the interventions or treatment that you did to be able to heal?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I mean, yeah, we we could talk all day on this because you know, we when you can't walk, you you're at a threshold. Like you could tell me, I need to stand on my head three times a day. Okay, I'll do it. You know, you you you get to the point where, and I I see women coming to me at this point, they're like, I just feel so bad. I can't get answers, I don't know what to do. So, you know, I would say first, you know, the lab work was huge. And that's one thing I love about the Functional Nurse Academy is, you know, the education you provide around functional labs, looking at, you know, even serum labs, blood tests through a functional lens is completely different than how we were taught to look at labs in the hospital. Um, so really understanding that and just starting to take care of my body. Like I, you know, I had my my four kids in seven years, and we know the demand that puts on a woman to go through pregnancy, to go through breastfeeding, all of these things. I never really nourished my body following, you know, those 10 years of having children. So I look back and I think, you know, it's no wonder that my body was so run down. Um, but just like you mentioned, even environmental factors. Like I went through my home, we started in the kitchen. Any nonstick pants, gotta go, plastics, gotta go, fragrance in the home, body products, like all of these things that I was never really educated on, on how they impact the body. And I'll add here too, I also have my second son is a type one diabetic. So when you get into like endocrine disrupting products, chemicals in the home, made a huge difference. Like so for my whole family, it's really been life-changing and and life-giving. And when, you know, I do, I do have like the the functional nutrition background as well. I had started in like fitness coaching, health coaching, and I would see a lot of women who couldn't step into like a fitness program and have results. They're like, well, I'm trying to eat protein, but I'm bloated. It my stomach can't handle this. And you know, it's a very small percentage of women that I was finding could actually step into a set protocol, a set program, and be able to just take off and have results. And so you you start thinking, well, what's going on? What's upstream? What's the gut terrain? Like, why can some women tolerate this and some can't? And again, leading me to the nutrition and food is medicine, you know, when you ask what changes we made, food is definitely medicine. And when you're looking at like my my health issues, immune, inflammatory response, and then you have a diabetic child and you really learn that food is medicine and not, you know, hey, just keep Skittles with you and he'll be fine because that's what we were told, makes a huge difference.

SPEAKER_00

Oh can you believe it? You know, and and I just sometimes I get um feedback that, like, Melissa, you're being critical of conventional medicine. And I'm like, how can I not be critical of them when they they're saying things like that? You know, I just, I, I just, I just can't bring stillness with you. And, you know, also with the immune system, and and I I love how you're talking about how you went through your environment. And guys, the home environment, it is so, it is so important, you know. I mean, for years, I I had a raging autoimmune condition that I got out of that I got out of control as well. And eating real food, eating the food that God designed for us to eat, and then not lathering toxins all over your skin and what you cook your food in is so important. And, you know, I like to tell people, I'm kind of like, if you're feeling overwhelmed, baby steps. You don't have to go and do everything the same day, but these things make a remarkable difference. And even my husband, you know, my skeptical husband, when I was first convincing him that we need to buy organic food, we need yes, no, we need to go buy that organic bell pepper that's like three times as expensive. He is a believer now of these things because we've both seen so many mystery, random things resolved when we got the chemicals out, got the synthetic chemicals out of our um out of our body, and then I'm sorry, out of our food and our environment. Because and especially when you talk about endocrine disrupting chemicals and then having a child with diabetes type one, you would think that providers would be aware to educate about this, but again, they just don't have the training. But I also wonder when a provider tells a mom, just bring a pack of, you know, Skittles for your type one diabetic, why there would not be an alert that went off on their brain that that is a ridiculous recommendation?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's what we were told. He was seven when he was diagnosed.

SPEAKER_00

And I'm also curious. Okay, so you went from not being able to walk, and then so you're working with a good provider, you are cleaning up your nutrition, you're cleaning up the chemical exposure in your home, reducing toxic burden, doing all these great things, and then working with a provider that is work that is also working to treat these infections and things like that. Once you started this functional approach, how long did it take until you were able to start walking again?

SPEAKER_01

Oh, I mean, like I said, it was probably it was nine months of not being able to really walk at all. Like even I had to use like a scooter in my home, like just to get to the bathroom. Couldn't stand in the shower, like, you know, washing my hair over the tub, like it those type things. Um so probably nine months of not walking, but then it's been, you know, a gradual time of kind of rebuilding the body. You know, we determined, uh he he told me at the time when we first did our initial round of testing, after I had thankfully refused surgery, he said I had the immune system of a 90-year-old woman. He said it's basically non-functioning. So thankfully, praise God, we didn't cut my foot open. But, you know, when the body has lived in that state for so long, it does take a while to reverse that damage. And, you know, really just a learning process, a rebuilding process. And, you know, like I said, really kind of shifting my nervous system out of that fight or flight, that survival mode, releasing that control, releasing kind of the burden, the pain that I had carried, you know, from what we had been through. To me, that is just as important as cleaning up your food, cleaning up your environment. Because I I fully believe the body cannot heal when it is stuck in survival mode. So for me, that big shift really didn't happen probably until about a year, year and a half into the process. And, you know, again, I think that's the work of the Holy Spirit showing you, you know, where the pain you have been through becomes your refinement and your testimony.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, I'm a big believer of that because he does, he we see it all the time that he can turn suffering into something beautiful. And I see so many other nurses I work with that have a similar story where they go through something that is terrible, but then on the other side of it, they are using that testimony to help other people. And how are you able to walk today? Are you able to walk around with ease or are you still having difficulty?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so you know, like I said, it's it's been a learning process. I call it, you know, my little granny walks. I'll take like a 10-minute walk three times a day. That's my goal. Sometimes I can do better than others. It has been such a learning process because I have learned, you know, my symptoms correlate with my cycle. You know, certain hormones peak at certain times of the cycle. Immune responses, inflammatory responses happen at different times of the cycle. So I'm very much aware of, okay, this is where I am. I need to tone it back. I need to rest more on these days. But walking is good. I have learned standing is difficult just because that vascular return is impaired. So my circulation isn't great in my feet and legs when I stand for like a prolonged period of time. Um, but you know, ultimately really thankful that I can get out and walk three times a day. You know, I think had I cut my foot open, where would I be today? You know, if I'd have gone that route. So it is a process. And and again, you know, learning to be patient and accepting where I am in the process has been huge for me because, you know, I feel like a lot of us nurses, we're like go-getters. Like we we have a list and we're gonna get it done. And, you know, just kind of being patient with the process, but learning so much along the way, and even, like I said, walking alongside other women and learning about their responses, like how their body is functioning and what we can do to like alter the terrain in their body, because I do fully believe that God created us to heal. And I know I've heard you say that, Melissa, God did design the body to heal. We just have to kind of get out of the way and let the body do its thing. And once I finally realize that I can't push my way through it, I think that was kind of the key to really unlock healing.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, and thank you so much for sharing your testimony. I think it really does help so many people that are suffering with chronic health issues and they're being told that, well, this is your new baseline or it's gonna get worse. So I'm so happy to hear that you're able to get up and walk around and uh have so much improvement. Well, we are about halfway through the show, so we are gonna pause just for a minute for break. If you are a fed up nurse, I can absolutely train you at the Functional Nurse Academy. We are the most comprehensive functional training on the market for nurses. And our students receive 90 nursing CEs, multiple eligibilities for board certifications in functional medicine, and they also receive business mentorship. So be sure to check that out at functional nurseacademy.com. This show is also syndicated on the Nurses Report on America Out Loud Talk Radio. So you can also find me there, and you can follow on any major podcast app. Hello and welcome back to the Functional Nurse Academy podcast. This is Melissa Schreibfatter, and I am joined today by Sarah Waycaster, who is a functional medicine nurse and an active practitioner who is helping women with chronic health issues, especially working to help them to heal things like chronic stress and unresolved trauma. Welcome back, Sarah.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you, Melissa.

SPEAKER_00

So the first half of the show, we went over your tremendous testimony of healing from this mystery illness, which ended up being a vascularslash autoimmune disorder that was significantly healed through resolving trauma and then also implementing nutrition lifestyle interventions, which I just think is so wonderful. And now on the other side of it, you are helping people as a functional medicine nurse, which I just think is so great. So can you tell me about what you're doing now professionally?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so I'm primarily working with women. I have a few male clients who will come to me and say, Hey, will you work with a man? So absolutely. Um, but primarily women, and kind of like we've already discussed, you know, we hear a lot women over 40, they'll come to me. My doctor says my labs are normal, but I still feel terrible. I feel like something is off. So we'll do, you know, my favorite kind of package to offer right now is offering like Dutch testing with a GI map and some blood work. I feel like a lot of women over 40 again, we're gonna have hormonal issues and we're gonna have some gut issues, like the majority of the time. And I see the biggest transformation from, you know, those women who are like, yes, I'm in, let's do it, let's do the functional testing, which has been amazing. You know, again, as a nurse in the hospital, we don't have that experience of the functional test, the Dutch test, the GI map, and to what it shows and how we can really pinpoint, step in and say, okay, here's a deficiency. This is where we can work. Here is something that's not optimal, this is what we can do. And, you know, even you know, beyond it's so much more than like supplements. I feel like a lot of people are like, well, what supplement do I need to take? Well, let's look at the foundations, you know, our how's your sleep? How's your digestion? How's you know, inflammation, all of these things that we look at? The foundations, I feel like we are just not taught. And there is so much that we can do to have a huge impact, even through changes that seem small. You know, like women, the majority of women are drinking coffee on an empty stomach as soon as they get up. And, you know, you can see the impact reflected often in a Dutch test, you know, when we see their cortisol and things like that. So it can be minor changes, but they have a huge impact. And that is where I love to step in. And one thing I love to do with clients is a functional timeline. And we will map out from birth to present and really start connecting the dots of when, okay, this symptom showed up. This is what was going on in my life. Much similar to like what happened in my own case. You know, did something happen to you 10 years ago? Yes, you know, and that is the the body kind of holds that mark. And when you can create this timeline, every single time I have done that, it is a light bulb moment for the client because they're like, oh, yeah, when my digestive issues started, that's when I went through a divorce. Or, you know, this symptom, I had my gallbladder out. Well, that was right after the death of my parent. And it is amazing when you start making those connections.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. And I noticed that too, that, you know, especially when we're used to the pharmaceutical model. And it's kind of like, here's your symptom or your disease, and here's your pill. And then sometimes people are like, okay, tell me what supplements to take. But then again, like, are supplements gonna help if you're not sleeping, if your digestion is wrecked, if you're so incredibly stressed, you're in that upregulated stress response all day when God designed us to heal when we are in parasympathetic nervous system response mode. So if we're never, if we're basically in fight or flight all day, that is a major roadblock to healing. So I really love that you're you're really acknowledging that, like, hey, we need to get these foundations straight and it and how important that is. And um, I also would like to hear about the stress response. And again, um, I I did um that was one of our upgrades in the program about a year or two ago. I I put in information about neuroplasticity and limbic system retraining and spiritual health and things like that. And it really, guys, it is so, so important that we are taking care of the nervous system. And um, can you tell me some ways that you like to help women with the chronic stress response?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, for sure. And one thing that I really love in your program that you offer is like the biblical limbic system training worksheets that you provide for us to give to clients. That's a huge asset to have, you know, just as a starting off point, you know, because sometimes, like I said, they'll come to me and they're like, I don't, I don't feel right, I'm anxious all the time. We may dig a little deeper, start connecting the dots, maybe uncover some trauma that happened. And when we start putting those puzzle pieces together, one thing I love to do and has been transformative in my own health is really, you know, and I go back to scripture. I think it's all rooted in scripture, is to be still. When we can be still and be in the presence of God and take notice. You know, there's so much scripture on taking every thought captive. Think on these things. We're told how to direct our thoughts. So that is a huge, huge component, you know, is first recognizing what thoughts are you having about yourself or what story, you know, if you've been through a traumatic event, what story are you telling yourself over and over? Because the body is the smartest pharmacy. You know, our body will create a matching chemical cocktail to every thought we think. So when you think about that, like what are you creating in your internal environment? Are we creating life? Are we speaking life over ourselves? Or are we stuck in an old identity? Are we replaying this old habit that we have, this old um story, the trauma that we carry? Are we stuck in that? So I think acknowledging that, being aware of that, and then turning those thoughts on God's word, weighing each truth, weighing each thought against God's truth. And if it is not anchored in God's truth, you know, you need to rebuke that thought. You need to let that thought go because that is not of God. That is of the enemy. And I think this is the one of the enemy's biggest tactics tactics to keep, especially, you know, women of God stuck in our past or in our pain, is we're we're stuck in this old identity. And as long as we are stuck in this old pain, we cannot step forward into the purpose that he has for us. So, really, you know, I I could talk a long time on this because it really is life-changing. Like once you think about what are you thinking about? Like we should really spend some time on that. Like, what story are we telling? What thoughts are we creating? Because those those thoughts, you know, we'll create our beh our habits and our beliefs. So if we are carrying old identities, old thoughts, old trauma, how can we let those go, you know, and ultimately surrendering those so that we can begin to walk forward with purpose? Because that's ultimately the goal, you know, as we restore our health is so that we can fulfill that purpose.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, that's so beautiful. And I'm so glad that you are having success using those limbic, those Christian limbic system worksheets. Cause I also and I really do believe that individuals that are willing to incorporate their faith into their plan, I see it over and over. I can't just unsee it. That I I'm seeing that they're getting very good results and it brings so much joy. And I was already familiar with neuroplasticity and limbic system, but I am seeing that there is just this push in healthcare to make everything secular. So I I did put those resources in there for people who do not have a faith base, but then we also have the Christian resources because there is so much that we are learning about how the body works, about how neuroscience and all of these things that are actually starting to coincide with what we've known in the Bible for a long time. And when you were talking about what people are thinking, and a lot of times, you know, um, when we are having these like ruminating thoughts of maybe unforgiveness or guilt or shame, that does affect the physical body. We know, and this is confirmed in the scientific literature, that extreme stress and even things like unforgiveness can have downstream negative health effects. And one of my favorite Bible verses is Philippians 4.8. And it says, Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. And that was written by the apostle Paul, who and he mentioned before, I don't know which verse this was, that he, even when he was being falsely imprisoned, or when he was shipwrecked, or when he was beaten, all of these things that were happening to him for spreading the gospel, he said that he was able to find peace in all situations because he had Christ. And there's so much. I mean, Christ strengthens us. And we have the Bible, I mean, oh my goodness, the wisdom. There's so much wisdom in the Bible. And if we have individuals we're working with that are believers and want to incorporate it, I mean, there is just so much we can do to help them. And do you have any success stories that you would like to share of clients that you've helped?

SPEAKER_01

Um, I would say one of my biggest successes was my very first client. She um she came to me. She said she had, she was sick all the time. You know, anytime she was around anyone who was sick, she caught it. She couldn't lose weight, she was actually gaining weight and just didn't feel good, you know, no energy. And, you know, such a great person and really such a great opportunity for me to work with her as my very first client. And again, we kind of walked through a lot of what we're talking about. Like there was some past issues, you know, what are we thinking? What what environment um are we carrying? You know, she's a very successful lady. And, you know, some of us have that idea, like, I'm always in a hurry. I got to get it done. And really just kind of walking through, like, you know, we're creating a stressful environment internally just by thinking I'm behind, I'm in a hurry. So really interesting to walk through that. And we we dug a little deeper, you know, we did some testing. Um, one thing that, like I mentioned, I had done fitness coaching previously. And not everyone can lose weight, but through Functional Nurse Academy, learning, you know, there's things we need to look at, like, is there insulin resistance going on? Is there leptin resistance going on? And, you know, some of her symptoms she described to me about recurrent illnesses, a lot of respiratory issues. I was like, you know, there may be an underlying virus here. So we added on some EBB testing. Found so much. And it was like, here's here's a key that can unlock the door. Here's a key, here's a key. And really just to walk through and begin to implement some changes. And I would say it was within like maybe a month. She checked back in, you know, because we do have like follow-up sessions after we kind of implement some changes. And she was like, you know, I've lost four pounds and I didn't get sick. And I was like, that is the biggest four pounds you will ever lose because the body is starting to make a shift, you know, even out of survival mode, out of even physiologically, we're looking at like insulin resistance, leptin resistance, things like that. So working with her on like meal timing, meal pairing, the limbic system, it was it was such a great experience for my first client. And, you know, we we have a friendship now. But just to see like these things when we implement them can have huge impacts and really a transformative process. You know, I feel like when I work with people, it's often like the threshold, like there's going to be a before and after. Like when you walk through this process, it is life-changing.

SPEAKER_00

It is. And I still, oh gosh, I still get giddy when I'm able to help someone relieve these major issues that they've been struggling with. And I know that I I also have listeners, I have my medical listeners and my nurses, and I have other people that are just interested in wellness. EBV is Epstein Bar virus to our listeners. And it's essentially mono, which is of the herpes family of that's a nice word herpes, but that's it, it's in the herpes uh family of viruses, and we all get infected with it because it's essentially mono. However, when it becomes reactivated, reactivated EBV can wreak havoc on the body. It can cause chronic fatigue. It also is a trigger for autoimmune conditions such as Hashimoto's. And that is something that conventional providers typically are not checking. And it's not an expensive marker, and there's many ways that we can get it under control. And again, you know, I feel like we're we are kind of like health investigators. Let's figure out what kind of dysfunction we're dealing with and then help the body to resolve. Because if the body is struggling with all of these different things, like the chronic infections, nutrient deficiencies, stress, that of course, it's gonna impact things like our hormones, which then when our hormones are imbalanced, that's gonna make it difficult for us to lose weight. And yeah, so there's so there's just so much we could do to help them. But um, but yeah, what that's It's just great news that your first client that you ever worked with, you were able to get a success story like that. And also, um, I do want, I would love to hear about your experience going through the Functional Nurse Academy.

SPEAKER_01

So I cannot speak highly enough of the Functional Nurse Academy. Um again, I I feel like, you know, God leads us down certain paths, and I definitely feel like this was where I was meant to end up. I like I said, I started in fitness coaching. Um, my husband and I, we were like crossfitters, very healthy, you know, doing all the things and kind of led into fitness coaching. And like I said, from fitness coaching kind of moved into functional nutrition, seeing how some people could have success with fitness programs and some couldn't. So the nutritional aspect really intrigued me. And then, you know, after completing, you know, a year course of that, I came across the functional nutrition or the functional nurses academy just as I was finishing that. And I thought, you know, if I could bring in lab work, if I could facilitate functional labs, if I could be able to read labs through a functional lens and not just, you know, what is considered normal from traditional medicine, this would bring the whole package to clients because I could support them in a way, nutritionally, emotionally, nervous system, spiritually. And then you have the quantitative data of lab work. And so that immediately drew me in. And I'll be honest, like when I first saw your program, you were faith-based, you like you had a faith-based component, which really speaks to me. Again, I think that's an integral part of healing. And just the education you provide, you know, which I feel like a lot of my own journey as a patient, like I said, led me here because you you learn so much when you go through that system and when you are kind of through the conventional system into functional medicine. But really being able to put it all together and the way um your courses are laid out, they're very doable. I was able, like I said, I have four kids. We homeschool, I was able to complete it. Um can't speak highly enough. Like if you're a nurse and like if you I've always been very holistically minded. Um, you were speaking about not taking pharmaceuticals, things like that. Like even with having my children, like I wanted natural childbirth, I didn't want medicine. The instance, like when my foot started happening, didn't jump to interventions. Like I just felt like there has to be a way for us to really get to what's going on at the root. There has to be a way just to see what's happening in the body. And I feel like that's what the Functional Nurse Academy really teaches us as nurses, because we have that medical background, especially if you have experience in the hospital. You know, you can look at symptoms. We're really good at treating symptoms or figuring out what medicine you need, but to bring all that together and to say, no, we're gonna look at this from the bottom-up approach. We're gonna see what's at the roots, I think is life-changing, not only as nurses as a profession, you know, I can work from home, which is a gift to my family, but the gift of being able to walk with other people who are sitting there right now, frustrated with no answers, like there is another option. There are ways that we can help walk with them through illness, you know, the chronic stress response, a diagnosis they're not sure of. Like there's things that we can investigate and, like you said, kind of put the puzzle pieces and walk with them.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

And I'm so glad that you found so much value in the training. And I do remember and I talk about this frequently that when I first went into functional medicine, I just felt so taken advantage of and preyed on by practitioners because unfortunately, there were so many out there that don't really understand root causes. They don't know how to how to properly look at the lab work. And their primary revenue stream is from selling supplements. So I really wanted to fix that from the inside. And I think that with nurses, nurses are less likely to fall into that, to where they end up basically just pushing supplements and products because we have just seen so much suffering. You know, we have we know what happens on the other side of it when someone is starting to have early signs and symptoms of a disease process. We know what happens when that continues to progress to the point that they become medically complex and may require pharmaceuticals and surgeries and things like that. So I think that so many of us, you know, we go into nursing because we we want to help people. But then we see that the system is not really set up to properly address these root causes of diseases. And again, like, you know, we know 75% of chronic disease processes are lifestyle and nutrition related. So why would we not equip the nurses? Because we're so, I mean, you know, nurses can practice health promotion independently, you know. So I yeah, I'm so excited about all of the great things that functional nurses are doing throughout the country. I love that you have your business up. And uh, you also mentioned that you have a freebie or a resource guide for our listeners. Can you tell me about that?

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So I created a 31 days out of survival, like 31 days really to becoming the Proverbs 31 woman. Because when I was in that state of survival, you kind of you're overwhelmed. Like, I don't know what to do, I don't know what's wrong. You know, you're just trying to make it through the day. So I broke it down very simple. These are simple habits for 31 days, one thing a day with some scripture, like do this today. Like take this off your mind. You're you're going to get through this. And to me, the perfect example that we can look at biblically is the the Proverbs 31 woman. When we look at her characteristics, you know, some if we read it literally, she's there's a lot of ideals that I feel like we would never, you know, reach the ideal, the standard that she sets. But when we look at her characteristics, how can we embody those? And that's the characteristics that I try to walk you through. Like we can read that she's a planner in Proverbs. So how can we do, how can we embody that? We meal plan once a week, like day one, plan your meals for that week because we are stepping into the identity of becoming a woman who prepares, who nourishes her body, who nourishes her family. She's not overwhelmed by the day. She's not living in chaos. And so, you know, I I've heard it said that action precedes identity. So that's really, you know, the the course over these 31 days, just to offer this as a guide to someone who's like, I don't know where to start. This is where you start. You download it. I created it where you can download just the PDF and have the 31 days of scripture. Or if you'd like to walk through it over 31 days, you'll get an email every day with the scripture and a little bit of encouragement of how to step into those characteristics of the Proverbs 31 woman.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, look at you. I love that. And that you're even including support with it too. I think is huge. And so I will put that in the show notes. I'm so glad that you put that together. And then also, if we have someone that wants to work with you, where do they need to go to find you?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so my business is called Nourish Well. Like I said, I think it is uh our bodies are a gift that we can nourish. And you can find me on Instagram. My website will be up shortly. It's not live just yet. Um, I think I included my email. If not, we can get that up for you. And there's also a link for a discovery call. If you're just like, hey, I'm interested, but I don't know anything about functional medicine, we can set up a time to chat, 30 minutes. There's no cost, and we can see if it's a good fit for you and see if, you know, working together is like your next right step.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And I love that I'm seeing more and more nurses offer those free discovery calls because I just I think it's really important that if, you know, you're gonna invest in functional medicine, that you are able to access that person that you want to work with before first having to pay. I think that that is really helpful for a lot of individuals that really want to go this route. And also I know that you're in North Carolina. So are you able to work with clients multi-state or just in North Carolina? How does that work?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so as far as North Carolina is one of the compact states, if you know listeners are familiar with the nursing compact states. Um so as far as ordering like labs and such, I can order lab work for you within the compact states. I do have, since I have my functional nutrition counselor background, I can also work with anyone within that capacity. You know, like we were saying, 75% of chronic disease is lifestyle and habits. And that is functional nutrition counseling. That is where I can step in and be like, you know, this is the changes that we can make. Um yeah, so kind of serving in different capacities. I love being able to bring it all together for those that I can offer lab work to, but also having that nutritional counselor background, I think is very valuable, like to get those lifestyle and habits.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely. Because, and again, you know, so many people need help, you know. And let's say if you do go to a provider that is savvy with nutrition and they tell you to eat better, a lot of time patients go home and they're like, I don't know what to eat. I need help. So it's so good to have that support. And yeah, I will be posting all of Sarah's link and then also her guide in the show notes for you all. And thank you so much for coming on the show today. This has been great.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you, Melissa. Uh really appreciate the privilege and it's been great to speak with you.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, yes, absolutely. Thank you so much for tuning in to the Functional Nurse Academy podcast. And if you are enjoying this podcast, I would so appreciate it if you would subscribe and write a review. Writing reviews can really help other individuals find this podcast. If you want to learn more about the Functional Nurse Academy, please feel free to register for our next live webinar, and you will see that link in the show notes. You can also check out Functional Nurse Academy on our social media platforms or on our website at functional nurseacademy.com. Until next time, be safe, be well, and God bless.