Hey there Friend!
How's it going?
Last week, I shared with you about some struggles I still sometimes experience around my respiratory health. I feel that it’s important to share that even though I support those with respiratory issues, as well as digestive, that I am open and authentic with you about my own journey to healing.
When I finished my masters in nutrition and integrative health, I almost never had issues with asthma - as in I only had four attacks in nearly two decades and even went 10 years without having one at all! I wasn’t even carrying a rescue inhaler around because I didn’t feel like I needed it anymore. I still had the my usual twice a year bouts with bronchitis, and for me that was “normal” because I’d experienced it my entire life. So, when I tell you that respiratory health was not even on my radar, it was actually the furthest specialty from my mind when I graduated. I mainly wanted to focus on digestive health, balancing the gut microbiota, and metabolic syndrome (a combination of high blood sugar, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, low HDL, and a waistline over 35 inches (89 cm) for women and 40 inches (101.5 cm) for men).
Fast forward to late 2016 after I’d moved to Italy and began suffering terribly everyday with asthma. I knew some things to do that would support me and at the same time, I knew I needed to get to the root of the issue. After 3 years, yes, 3 years, the doctors finally came to the conclusion that I had an allergy to something here that is not found in the US, or at least not any of the six states I’d lived in. This was indicated by two blood markers - eosinophils and IgE, and a breath test called a FeNO. All were extremely elevated (IgE being 13x higher than where doctors like to see it). The issue though - every allergy test I did came back that I was allergic to nothing they tested for. How bizarre, right? So how was I supposed to figure out what it was if doctors couldn’t even figure it out.
As I saw practitioner after practitioner, was given medication after medication, prescribed inhaled steroids at twice the studied limit, and attempted dietary change after dietary change, not much truly supported. I also shared with each physician that I felt I had a mould infection; all of them denied that this could be the case and shared with me that this was my life, taking five to seven medications DAILY for the rest of my life! That was until I saw a functional medical doctor who found that I had a pretty serious mold infection. Did I mention she was the 13th physician I saw?!?! Lucky number 13 she was! She supported me with eradicating the infection, healing my gut and my mitochondria. I was so much better than I had been in the previous three years…and yet, my journey still continued because I was not yet 100%.
What did I do next? Stay tuned to next week’s newsletter to hear more.
DID YOU ENJOY THIS NEWSLETTER? WANT TO SHARE IT? WANT MORE LIKE IT?
If you enjoyed today’s newsletter, feel free to share with your friends and family!!! If you have other topics in mind that you want to learn more about, please feel free to share with me by responding to this email.
If you received this email from a friend and would like to sign up for my weekly newsletter that includes wellness information especially related to respiratory and digestive health, recipes, upcoming events and specials, feel free to sign up HERE!
Also, check me out on IG or join the Breathe Easy Breathe Well Community to get a daily dose of tips and inspiration by clicking the icons below!
Yours in wellness,
Dawn Encian
MSNIH, LDN, CNS, CMT
Knead Total Wellness
Eating for and Living in Total Wellness
Host of Breathe Easy, Breathe Well Virtual Summit
