Kate's Sisterly Story: Eczema, Vomiting, Allergies, Bedwetting & Strep - All Gone!

In this episode, we take listeners on an emotional journey through the challenges of addressing chronic health issues in our client Kate's daughters. We dive deep into the complex interplay of strep, mold, PANDAS, and Lyme disease, which had been wreaking havoc on the girls' immune systems. Kate shares how her daughters struggled with recurrent strep infections, severe eczema, and food intolerances that seemed unexplainable—until extensive testing uncovered Lyme disease and co-infections.

Through a holistic approach that included immune therapy, dietary changes, and targeted supplements, Kate saw remarkable improvements in her daughters' health. Symptoms that once dominated their lives started to fade, and their immune resilience strengthened. Kate reflects on the importance of digging deep to uncover root causes and the invaluable support and validation she received from our care, which helped guide her through the complexities of these chronic conditions.

This episode offers hope and insight for anyone facing similar health battles, emphasizing the power of persistence and comprehensive care.

Please note that transcripts may contain minor errors or inaccuracies. We hope you enjoy reading them and find them helpful.

Hey, you're gonna be okay. I'm your host, Elizabeth Mae, and my functional health practice helps people heal when they've exhausted traditional options. When no one can figure your health challenges out, my team helps you resolve symptoms and restores your health. You're listening to my podcast where we'll hear stories of healing chronic illness from a root cause approach.

Today we're gonna talk through where strep and mold and pandas and lime kind of all collide. Kate and I are gonna walk through kind of their family's experience working in to addressing their children's issues from the chronic infections lens. But first, I kind of just want to talk about um how she ended up in this space. I think their family is a really great example of a lot of clients we see who are doing all the right things and health issues don't quite make sense or add up. And coming into care was kind of like a some things here, not really sure why, we're doing all the right things, kind of perspective. And then the results kind of unfolded from there. But what was kind of your foray, Kate, into maybe even living in that way, feeding your family really well? I think a lot of things when we went through your girls' history, food journals and things were very tidy. And I was like, everything's here, kind of foundationally how it should be. But how did you guys even come to that knowledge or decision making? How'd how'd you get there?

Yeah, so I feel like it was a culmination of a lot of things, but the the crux of it all was like we strep, we had a big recurrent strep in our home in that winter. And I noticed one daughter in particular uh handled it really oddly. She she never had a classic symptom. Um, we actually didn't even know that it was strep until I got strep, and I had like the very classic symptoms. And um, my doctor was like, You got this? Like, do you mean your kids have been acting funny? Um, and it made I started thinking, I was like, you know what? I have one daughter that like literally overnight, like behaviorally has just been really difficult. I mean, yeah, we can get into all those things later if you want, but just random symptoms. We found out it was strep, um, and then started treating it. It kept coming back, and then ended up having to treat all the girls. And after that, it just seemed like things weren't really the same. And we would have it kind of ebbed and flowed. And then another girl had just terrible, my littlest one's terrible eczema. And so it kind of kind of sent me in a place where I was trying to find a practitioner, somebody who would like run pretty extensive panels or just really be able to get down to the root of what is causing this. Because I was really confused. I felt like we were really throwing everything at it that I felt like was good and nothing seemed to be taking.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I remember too, there were a lot of questions around like what is going on. You guys were pretty aware of lots of factors that can contribute. And I think one of your early in our early conversations, the strep was presenting, the eczema was there. You were really specific with me in our clarity call. You were like, Do you do another, do you do the testing? Which I think is great because that gives me a great place to start. Like we're already on the same page, but you definitely had some suspicions of possible contributing factors. Like, could mold be a part of it? Like, what were what were your and we're talking about three girls too? It's not just one person.

So this maybe get get a little wide, but what were kind of your suspicions and what were you thinking maybe was was going on in addition to the strep, or it it seemed I it felt like what was happening with the one girl that responded behaviorally, that it was like a neurological thing because she never had any of the like from like the neck down, didn't have any of the like strep symptoms that I was thinking. And I I even learned in that season that like stomach aches could or like throw I had one daughter that was throwing up, and I didn't even know that that was like a strep thing. Um, but it just seemed like she was like very neurological, whatever was going on. And so that's what led me. I was like, I need to find somebody that could do the oat test on her. Um yeah, because I I just felt like whether it was mold or some kind of or lime or something in that vein, it just seemed like there is a bigger underlying issue that was causing her body to react in those extreme ways to like acute illnesses.

Yeah, I remember with your oldest, she well, the oldest that we've seen, you have another daughter that is older, but of these three, she was also having protein digestion kind of you had some suspicions there. Like there were some food things going on across all the girls, but in different ways with each girl. Yeah, yes.

I totally forgot about that. Um, that was a big thing. Yeah, she couldn't digest like any meat for probably seven or eight months from when it started to when we started care.

Um, yeah. And then some of the other girls, we had some like nut issues. You guys had done even NAET, so like kind of alternative um acupuncture-based food allergy, when we were kind of going through intakes, there were things that just kind of kept like coming out, like you guys had had success there. What were those issues kind of like across the board, other things that the girls had experienced?

Yeah, so all of my kids, varying in different degree, um, had had like food intolerances from when they were born on. And some of it was just me knowing, like after my firstborn and learning so much, I like was like, oh, I don't think my kids can handle like this. And so I was like cutting out so much food while I was nursing. I was really like conscious of it. And we did a lot of things that were helpful that I felt like um would kind of lessen some symptoms. But even still, like in some girls more than others, just felt really fragile. Like if we didn't do everything just so, like we would be, you know, they would be suffering as a result. Um so yeah, we noticed some really good things, NAT, we did Cairo, a lot of diet stuff, um, some supplement stuff, really focused on their gut. That was helpful, but we were still finding ourselves in a place that um sometimes they just weren't doing well.

Yeah, you had really identified kind of across the board, like one girl didn't have any allergy issues, another girl really reacts to nuts, dairy gluten, corn. We don't do those for her. Like you had refined, like you'd done some of that foundational work already and hadn't really seen a big shift. And there were little things too, I think, that were like cropping up for my intake notes. Like there had been a little empatigo for one of the girls, the picky eating would kind of ebb and flow. Um, you guys had gone through some ear tubes as well, maybe kind of expanding on that experience and what you learned there or didn't, or how did that go? Because that's a very common thing for folks when I start going through health history. No, the kid doesn't have anything like outright that's an issue. And then, oh, we have done ear tubes multiple times, or they've been there at all. Yeah.

I well, the food, yeah, the food stuff. And then the one daughter that had multiple ear tubes, uh, she actually didn't have any food allergies. Um, both from what I kind of just took note of, and then we actually got her tested because her ENT was like something would look in her ears, be like, she is very inflamed. Like something is going on. You need to get to the bottom of this inflammation. Um, and it was, and that was the child that had the neurological reaction, the more pandas' reaction to strep. Um, and so that was kind of yeah, she was due for another set of ear tubes. And uh this ENT was like encouraging me. She's like, if you, she's like, I would just encourage you, like, we know it's not food. Just if you can put, you know, put any energy into finding out the source of this inflammation. Cause I mentioned the strep. She was like, it might be worth looking into. Um, so I was really thankful for her, and that's kind of what pushed me again in the oat test. I was like, I wonder, I just need more answers for her inflammation because we just couldn't find any.

I think that's kind of unique for sure because you were in a traditional ENT setting, and that was kind of the message like you gotta figure out the why behind this instead of just kind of cyclically continuing to do the ear tube sweeps because the inflammation piece is there. And I would say that crosses for a lot of clients into tontal issues, adenoid issues as well. Those things are usually all existing together or in some part and parcel when there's also an ear tube issue. So kind of piecing those things together. And once we got into things for the girls, I mean, they each had very different but very similar presentations. Um, your middle girl had some urinary history and maybe what we would call more of a clinical picture, if you will. And those are kind of clues for me too, when I'm able to look across a family and see little threads that maybe wouldn't add up to other people, but I can see like, okay, there's a detox issue kind of across the board. And with her, what were some of the issues that she kind of came in with that you guys had already walked through in the traditional world, if you will?

Yeah, so she from a pretty young age, two-ish, maybe earlier, started getting um UTIs. And it was enough that kind of led us to urologists, and we had to do all sorts of scans and it her ureter was dilated. So it was like a plumbing thing. But even the nephrologist, the kidney doctor that we ended up getting having to go to, he was so perplexed as to how um none of our other girls, we're a family full of girls, have had this issue. Um, which was kind of uh which was kind of funny to me because he just typically sees this as like just a kind of biological, like some people, function, yeah, their orders are more dilated or something's shortened and this is they're more likely to have that, but it just wasn't the case for us. Um, and that was something, you know, that I was so I was so glad to find that because that's been something we've kind of been running around trying to get answers for. Yeah, not able to make sense of like how did this just crop up? And like, yeah, I don't yeah, I don't know. Yeah, not knowing what to do.

That was one of those big threats for me because with Lyme, oftentimes, I mean, you're draining primarily through urine. With lime, we're clearing it in that direction. So kidneys, ureters, the whole system where urine is going to go through and be filtered can have struggles essentially. That was one thing. There were there were some nut, I wouldn't call them all the way allergies. I think they really were like, they were like ebbing to intensity sensitivities, if you will. And a lot of times we see um certain proteins kind of can cross-react with certain pathogens. And so that was another clue in a in a different daughter that hey, maybe something's there. And then the first daughter, definitely the neurological oddities did match a good bit with pandas, but there were little deviant things there. I think she had a lot of auditory sensitivity. Noise was really a big thing for her. There were some, there was teeth grinding. So you could easily look at that and say, oh, well, she probably just has parasite stuff. Kind of our popular functional world would say that. But there was more stuff all the way across the board. The protein inversion again kind of points me back to, hmm, yes, that could be GI related, but she didn't really present in that way. She had most of that neurological stuff, and we can have again cross-reactivity with pathogens and various proteins, whether that's protein that we think of as meat or protein in something like nuts or EBV, cross-reacts with eggs, things like that were little threads for me that kind of ran through your girls that led me to ask, could we move into looking at tick porns? And what was kind of your thought when I when I brought that up and said, hey, let's let's try this test on the first one and see see what we can see.

Yeah, honest, I like I honestly felt so relieved. And I remember when we ended up getting like the results and it was Lyme. I I I had like such a sense of relief in a weird way because I just felt like we've been doing all the things like for so long and just wondering like, what is going on? Um, am I missing something? Am I crazy? Like, am I just like reading too far into this? Is this supposed to be normal? Um, and so to see that there was like a reason, like something that was that they had probably had since they were born, given that it's all of them, um, or most of them, what we know. Um, it just gave me a sense of relief and like feeling like, okay, like this is like a fact, and there's things we can do about it. So I don't have to feel totally helpless. I'm in the right spot at the right time. Um, so yeah, it was like a really encouraging moment. And then especially, I think that's when we folded the daughter with all of the urinary stuff into care because we were like, this could explain that. Like again, like I was so that that had just been such a burden. Um, because she just has been through so much because of that, all the urinary stuff. And so to realize that it just was all connected and there was something we could do about it um was just a great relief uh to me.

Yeah, I remember talking through it and kind of making the case for okay, now we see one has Borelia present, has Bartonella, so that can be a lot of that mood. And she wasn't necessarily like overtly aggressive. We definitely have kids who are more aggressive, but just not maybe herself and a little more impatient. And there was also anaplasma in her liquid. She was a classic um multi-pathogen lime case, which we see all the time. And you also were, I mean, even when I brought up doing tick-borne and looking at full pathogens, you were like, Yeah, they play outside all the time. We've pulled multiple ticks, they're around, we see them. Sure, that could be a thing. But when the testing came back, I think it clarified too some suspicions or questions about water damage, mold issues, because lime and mold system or symptom-wise look very, very similar. So a lot of times clients come to us and say, Okay, we know we've had a little water damage, we probably have mold, we haven't gone that direction, but the kids like got mold, but there's some extra on top of what we would think of as mold. Usually we got to have respiratory coughing, um, a lot of times skin issues. So we had an eczema daughter here too that could have held up that idea, but the Lyme results kind of cleared us a little bit of that. Some of the girls definitely had cantita issues, some fungal issues internally, more of like the consequence of the immune imbalance that that um Lyme created, not so much from mold. But I think the important thing that I want to like highlight here, because all the girls did end up having Lyme and varying co-infections, very similar, but each girl kind of took her own path, if you will, testing-wise. Um there's strange, odd, particular, peculiar multi-system stuff going on. That's when I think about Lyme. And there were lots of those kind of things and oddities. And when things, symptoms ebb and flow over time. So pandas, we think of that coming from strep, can absolutely ebb and flow over time. We talk about well, kids sometimes great and then other times more into that neurological side and then back to great. But Lyme and co-infections can do the same thing. Um, and I think that piece of the relief piece, because it is like such a puzzle and it can look like other things. And it does, it almost gaslights you because symptoms like ebb and flow over time, and they can even ebb and flow. We have some kids who are great in the summer and they are a mess come February because they're not outside, they're not doing a lot of those normal immune supportive things, and their body's kind of protective mechanisms are more down. But um definitely that makes sense to kind of have answers a relief. I mean, I've I feel like that's that's the vibe when we go through it. It's always like a little risk. But I'm like, hey, we're gonna do this costly test. I think it's a thing. I need you to trust me. And then it comes back and has a lot. It feels like all of the puzzle pieces kind of settled together. So moving into addressing three girls' issues mostly at one time, because they were a bit staggered, but only by a few months. So we were definitely working on all three at one time, and you have another child, and um, that's a lot. What was it like to go through the process of addressing the things? You guys had good diet, but there were still pivots that we made. And what was that kind of experience like doing it? And how did the girls go through it?

Um, I mean, organization is key. I feel like I had like my little tubs. Um yeah, it wasn't honestly, we just kind of got into a rhythm with it. And I remember it felt like a lot at first, but once you just really quickly kind of settle into knowing what each kid needs uh each day, and then we had our calendars up and um they did fine taking all the stuff. Like it, that wasn't that big of a deal. Uh, and so honestly, that was only the pretty much the biggest change for us because we were already doing a lot of the dietary stuff. Um, and so that really wasn't a shock to them or my family, who often is with my children. So we yeah, it wasn't that that big of a shift, just yeah, adding in the yeah, the supplements and protocol, but it yeah, it went pretty smoothly.

What was the general kind of vibe? I know we could go girl by girl, or we could just kind of like from beginning to end, like, did things get harder? Did you see more symptoms? Did stuff drop off? Were all of your concerns addressed? Like, what did that process look like? You know, symptom day-to-day experiencing your girls.

Yeah, I there were some, like while doing immune therapy, there were some days that I knew were gonna be harder for the other girls. Cause I like, I mean, one in particular, like after she would, you know, get it, like she would almost always like aches, pains, headache. Um, and so I I kind of learned quickly of when would be like a good and appropriate time to give it to her, um, just so it didn't interfere with school or you know, family, I don't know, family gatherings, anything that could be potentially really hard. Um, so we kind of figured that out, or just kind of how to support their bodies. I mean, there just was so much that was so helpful, um, kind of running that by you of like seeing things that maybe felt really hard, or someone's having a really hard time at bedtime. What can I do? Um, there definitely was like a correlation, like you you literally are seeing it work its way out, um, which was wild, but you know, it was hard at times, but it was also like really comforting knowing that like wow, this is like this is really it's really happening like in front of me. Like they are sighting this off. Um so yeah, yeah.

I think the the functional health space or just approaching your health in a different way. One, it feels like a risk to do something different. Two, sometimes you're walking away. And with kids, you can't feel like me as an adult, I can feel what's happening in my body if I change course on how I'm treating something and then I can go back. But with kids, it's like you're making a little bit different leap out into the unknown. And then in the holistic world, sometimes, how often do we hear people say, like, I started that supplement and it did nothing? Well, that can totally be true. You can also feel nothing and there be um progress building over time. But the key thing with the immune therapy process is by modulating that immune system, you really do see the body work through it. You see the expression of symptoms, you see the body pushing that infection out and becoming strong in the immune system against whatever it may be. You mentioned the bedtime thing, and we talk about the bedtime stuff a lot because it's kind of classic pandas, and it is one of those key things that is rough. Um, expand for me a little bit on like maybe what that looked like at various points when bedtime was an issue for folks kind of delving into like, is this something that we're experiencing in our home?

Yeah. So I think like for one kid, it was not wanting to be like I couldn't leave the room. Um, just very intense, like intensely like scared. Like you could tell it just was coming from a place that was just very, very fearful. Um, I think another thing we saw was just transitions being very, very difficult, like moving from like brushing teeth to going into the room and just having these full out, just tantrum like rage, like on another level of just happening and just it taking so long to get out of it. Like, just really like I'm thinking about my youngest. Just having a really hard time being redirected, um, and it being a larger reaction than a typical two-year-old reaction. Um, it just everything, it just felt like really intensified. Um, yeah, those are the two bedtime things that stick out most memorable.

I'll kind of layer in there, your middle girl. I feel like definitely interesting when we talk about strep households because if we look on paper, one girl was popping with strep on paper, but it was very evident that it was weaving its way in and out as the immune systems of the household. We have to think about collective house, especially the bacterial stuff. We all know strep can transfer kid to kid, right? We all know Epstein Bar could transfer that's kissing disease, right? It's moved through saliva, but all bacterial challenges can move from one host to another in the same environment. And she was one who I'm gonna look real quick. She was she was our strep tester where the others weren't, but she developed some more of those maybe classic panda symptoms, OCD. There were bedtime rituals going on. Can you give us like a little peek into what that looked like? Because from the outside, I feel like a lot of our friends would be like, I'm sorry, your bedtime was like, what? Because it's on.

Oh, yeah. I can't believe I forgot this one. Yeah. So she was, I mean, so particular, like getting ready for bed. She would work, I mean, tirelessly to getting her sheets just so everything is laid out. She has little things lined up right next to her bed. And she would, I mean, it was, she would spend a very long amount of time doing this and then would want me to cuddle with her or to lay down before she would go to bed, but then would flip out, like if something got ruffled, like I then couldn't even lay down with her anymore because she was so stressed about her bed or something getting messed up. And I mean, it it just again, like the pivoting, redirecting, not really able to be flexible. If something happened or a sister messed with it, even the slightest, it was a really big deal. Um, yes, that was, and especially at bedtime, we saw that come out a lot.

Does that have did that remain throughout the whole process of addressing infections? And then now that we're done, is that still there? It's not still there. Glad to say that.

Um, I feel like it might have ebbed a little bit, like it would go, and maybe that was when we would change to another some like I don't know, like we would kind it would tamper down and things would be great. And then maybe we'd start upping dosage or something, and then things might get revved up a little bit, and then they'd go. Um, but I mean, I can't remember the last time it happened, but I remember it kind of like just the whole progress of going through immune therapy. There just was kind of like some waves to it as they were continuing to like shed and get that stuff out.

Yeah.

Yeah. It is interesting to watch groups of children go through because sometimes they get to address whole households at a time or a couple siblings, and you can literally watch like one kid starts with symptoms, then another one starts with similar symptoms, then another one starts with their own version of that pathogen symptoms, and then things kind of quiet down. But another thing I think we had pop up for the girls where there were other sicknesses. You have a house for girls, like you guys are busy, you're active, you're out and about, like there's plenty of exposure to other stuff while we're addressing, you know, Lyme, Epstein Bar, Toxoplasma, so the strep, Bartonell, all those things were there. What kind of stuff came along through the process and how did we work at that? Because that's always a concern of folks. Like, okay, we're gonna go into this process. You're asking me to not rely on things that interfere with an immune system, like antibiotics or steroids. Obviously, if they're needed, we absolutely do that. But it it can feel a little bit like you're taking away my tools, Miss Elizabeth. Um, and then things pop forward. How was that part of the experience?

Yeah, so we, I feel like there's a couple things, of course, as life goes. Um, I think we started care immune therapy in the winter. We had strep at one point, or we were exposed to strep. Girls had a lot of streppy symptoms, and so we just kind of doubled down on some things that would just support their body to rid of it. Um, and that that went away. And then we had hand foot and mouth, my littlest. And she had it was a pretty mild case. I mean, I think she had like a fever and then blisters, and I think it was like one or two pretty miserable nights. Um, but then it I but then it like was gone. Um and I had reached out to you asking, like, how can I support her body? Because especially those nights where she was really itchy and just in pain were especially miserable. And you had suggested uh this supplement to kind of help her body totally clear it. Um, and so we after she was already done with everything, we had started that and everything was cleared out, or like she had no visible, you know, symptoms of hand footing. Yeah, um, no sores. And we started it, and the next day she woke up and she had sores. And I um was so I was like, oh my goodness, like her this is still in her body, like she still needed to get this out. Um, and so we continued it and they eventually, you know, all went away, no more. Um, but it was really awesome to see that like firsthand. Like just because we have a virus, it doesn't necessarily like it can it can kind of hang out in your body for a lot longer than you think or want it to. Um so that was that was yeah, really encouraging um to get that through her. And the other thing, we had pneumonia this summer, mycoplasma. And that was, yeah, that was difficult. Um, but again, yeah, you helped support her body through that and kind of going through immune therapy so that hopefully she will never get it again, you know, just really strengthening her immune system um to fight the mica. Uh yeah, I'm sure there's other things too.

I feel like we've had some GI other things. Yeah, they're definitely ebb and flow of those kind of symptoms loads. But I think those two are good examples because hand foot mouth is cocksactivirus, that's what causes that. So in an adult, we're gonna call it BIS disease, and a child, they're gonna get the sores and be in pain. And a lot of times, all the time, if you go to your pediatrician, we identify what it is, and then you go home and ride it out, and it will go away eventually. But there are things, there are pathogen-specific things that we can do to modulate and support the immune system to clear that faster. A lot of times when we're able to do that, we have more mild cases, we have quicker cases, we have full clearance of it, and we have less passing too. Um, and then with mycoplasma, I think it's really important and a discussion we need to be having in the pediatric space at large. Mycoplasma pneumonia is included in the Pfizer-COVID vaccine as part of it. So we've introduced this large amount into our population at least of mycoplasma, and we're seeing a lot of pediatric respiratory issues, a lot of pneumonia. And it's not just our ER here in Louisville, but we have several clients who go, and now doctors are just like, yeah, it's probably mycoplasma, not testing because they're seeing so much of it. But again, you know, we go to the ER for RSV. All of these things, mycoplasma, RSV, hand, foot, mouth, there are other solutions to support acutely a body clear those, and they're all immune-derived. We have to focus on the immune system properly and fully clearing that infection for it to go away. And the whole process, like your girls had lots of different things infection-wise, and they didn't pop up on testing for cockssacky at the beginning. Mycoplasma was not there in the beginning. Could it have been passed out and about? We picked up pneumonia from somebody else. Absolutely. Could hand foot mouth been the same? Sure, but we can still address the immune system to get those things dormant. Um, and they can just show up at any point. And when we're addressing infections, it's also common. I see it more in adults because we carry more for years, right? Like if you had mono in college, you still have immune cells against mono. So when you're exposed to it again, you hopefully have a good immune response and don't become sick with it. But we um can address those things by looking at getting them into dormancy, if you will. So, same kind of concept when you're pushing down some of those pathogen bullies, other ones can pop out as the immune system's like getting strength on on some, but not on others. So that is really helpful. I am kind of curious, like where is symptom load now for all the girls? What is that looking like? I know one thing you came in with too was there was a lot of just constant sickness coming in and out. Has that shifted at all for them? What are things like now?

Yeah, I feel like things have really leveled out. I feel like we're a much more peaceful home for one. Um just positions. Uh, but yeah, it's actually, I was talking to my husband about this earlier because we were we're in school, things are coming home, you know, different like illnesses. And it's it honestly just isn't a big deal. Like I feel like for so many years, we would always like I would always wonder, I'm like, why are my kids like out for the count if they like get a cold or it's just this very intense um reaction? It just seemed like they were their immune systems were so heightened. Um, they would just have these very exaggerated long um sicknesses. But now it's like, oh, a kid wakes up and maybe they have a little bit of a cough, but then but they're all but then they're totally fine and they don't skip a beat and they, you know, then it's like becomes nothing. It's like one or two days. Like it's it's totally changed like duration. Like I can tell their bodies are so much more, their immune systems just seem a lot stronger and like more resilient. And even seeing that in like um my youngest who had a very intense peanut allergy, uh accidentally got some at my parents' house the other week, and she had no reaction, like nothing. Um, I was I could not, I could not believe it. Um, and the same goes for like other foods that she she was the one that couldn't have corn, egg, you know, wheat, dairy, nuts. I mean, it was her list. I mean, there's very few things I could feed her whenever I started care. Um, and so it honestly was like a helpful reminder of like where we started. And then like, oh, this is she just got peanut butter. It was this was no big deal. Um, so I they're doing they're doing a lot better. Um, it just seems like their bodies are just so much stronger and well equipped.

Yeah, I love that, especially the food allergen sensitivity piece, which you go back to earlier episodes where I talked through immune balance. Really, what we're doing is addressing chronic symptoms by focusing on the immune system instead of saying, oh, this child has neurological issues, let's look at the nervous system and the brain, right? This child has throat, tonsil, adenoid issues, let's look there. We're looking at what's allowing those symptoms to kind of show up, what's allowing those things to continue and exacerbate? It's the immune system. And when we address that and we bring it into balance, and the immune system rightly kills pathogens that it was previously allowing to exist in the body, like Lyme and strep and these things. Then that other side, the inflammatory side of the immune system, calms down and we don't see the food sensitivities, allergies go away. That's the beauty of addressing the immune system as the true root cause of infectious issues, as opposed to, I mean, as opposed to, and in addition to, you know, I can get strep throat in the first 48 hours. I'm gonna be throwing herbs at it that are helpful and be throwing antibacterial stuff, you know, I'm gonna be boosting the immune system and that's good and well, but that doesn't resolve and get you that long-lasting immune resilience and the immune balance where we see the sensitivities, allergies, those things drop off and no longer be an issue. Which I, on my own health journey, really feel like if we are not working through an alternative root cause approach and getting the body back to how it was designed to function, we're kind of just symptom managing with different things. We're just using herbs and supplements, whereas traditional medicine uses pharmaceuticals and we're not changing the game on the body's function. But I love about each of your girls that they are kind of back to food freedom, back to functioning how a body should. We should get a little something, kick it, and move on. Um, and I think it's a good it's a good mix. All the girls had kind of different things and ended up with different different conclusions, but everyone shed symptoms kind of equally and as much. But I am curious about walking through the process, doing kind of a different thing, not running to the pediatrician for your strep conclusion because you'd already been there and done that. How has this approach been different, better, harder, weirder, not weird? Like, what is your kind of summation on would you do it again? The difference piece, I guess.

I for sure would do it again. I'm like, we would, yeah, I know myself, my husband, and my oldest. I'm like, all right, I'm ready. We're ready to do it. Um yeah, I think that what was so helpful was to actually get at the root. Like I just felt like for honestly, like my kids' whole life, I've been giving them the things that should that should be like so, and they do like they're good things that support their bodies, but it was falling short because their immune system just wasn't in the right place. Like, and so until we kind of fix that or the underlying cause, like I'm just throwing money down the drain, you know, all my effort, you know, I just felt like we were doing so many things. So to get at the root was just the most helpful, amazing thing. Um, and two, like when you just see it kind of in your kids and seeing it, like how they just seem like they're such like a lot more happier and peaceful, content. They're sleeping better. Like my the daughter that had the ear tubes, like at the last month, her ear tubes fell out, like her, like very like the inflammation in her ears is like gone. Um, there's just so many things that I feel like there's I'm probably forgetting so many, that it just seems like all around they just are just happier and like feel better. Like, and so I 100% would go this approach again. It's really changed my thinking of kind of equipping the body and equipping the immune system rather than just treating the symptoms um and just kind of getting at it so that the next time they come across this, because I know they're gonna come across these things again because they are everywhere. Children are in everything and doing all the things. Yeah. Um, but hopefully, like they're just gonna be so much more equipped to just beat it and move on.

You know, two symptoms, and you're saying, thinking about past stuff, we had a vomiter that vomited pretty regularly. Uh it's not peace gone, and then the eczema part too, and even how how a lot of people come into care for eczema, and it can be very severe and very uncomfortable. And we need an answer. Like, was how long do you feel like you we worked through things before you kind of got relief there?

Oh, that stuff was like immediate. I would say within like the month, okay, um, for sure. It was very quick. Uh yeah. The other thing that just might be worth mentioning that I forgot, um, one of the daughters, the one that had all the UTI stuff, she was having in like wild reactions to antibiotics. We thought she had like a penicillin allergy, and then we had we went to another antibiotic. We're like, oh wait, she's also reacting to this. And it was like full body hives. I mean, it was it was terrible. Um, and I remember feeling really discouraged because I'm like, I mean, we don't want to be using antibiotics much at all, but there is a time and place, and I'm like, I don't want, you know, whenever if they ever have something serious where they need it, I don't need them to be reacting in that way. And um, we had come across something where they needed one and she was totally fine. Like, I just couldn't believe her body just didn't seem to be as intense as it was before. Um, but wanted to mention that in case there's someone out there all at the same time.

Yeah, a lot of times folks come and there's a especially with Lyme and co-infections, because it heightens that inflammatory side so much. You get to a place where you're like, this kid can't take anything because anything we give them makes them sick. I see it more in adults because there's multiple foods. I can't take that supplement, I can't do that, I can't do this medicine, I can't do amoxicillin, which in an adult especially brings around a lot of fear because, like, literally for years you may have had reactions and you really are down to not many options if you did need something. That all goes back to a root, whether it's you're taking amoxicillin or penicillin and it's derived from mold and you have a secondary mold issue and there's crossover, or we have Lyme and co infections, and the antibiotics can come in and very quickly kill that host of bacterial infections. And what you're seeing is not exactly an antibiotic reaction, it's more um a flooding of pathogens dying, and you're having more response from that. But there's more answers to that. That's one of those things that often on clarity calls people mention, and your doctor's gonna give you an unexplainable, or you just had a reaction, and they're problem solvers. That's great. We want them to find the right thing for your body then to solve the problem, but we're never gonna explore like why did it happen? Why couldn't you do ammoxicillin? But you can do suffix and you know, whatever it may be. So that's a good, good and helpful thing. But last question for you. Um, going down this path, doing all these things, all the organization, working through the stuff, doing the food. How is your family cared for well or served well in this season of healing kind of chronic illness? Um, maybe in a different way, or things sometimes people don't understand, especially with penis. So many of our families feel like no one understands what this is because it is bizarre. How are you guys loved or served well during that?

Um, well, I feel like the whole this whole process of like being under you and your team's care has been very validating. I feel like that that just goes such a long way, especially for parents or a person who feels like they've been trying to play detective for years and are coming up short. So I feel like just the affirmation and validation just, you know, kind of sets the tone. And then I mean, there's just things that pop up all the time. And I think it can be really hard to remember these things. So I think having the access to send a quick message, it is so helpful of like, so and I feel like it provides such a better care too, so that I don't forget, like, oh yeah, this kid had a really weird reaction, you know, to this food or bedtime. I've noticed bedtime on these days each week is really difficult. Um, and so I just feel like it helps kind of have that eye that's able to draw these conclusions and see what's going on and therefore like provide better care and like a more catered, like it's just I feel like we're just constantly like you guys were just very catering like the care to each kid in each season, given all the circumstances. Um, and so it was just a really wonderful experience. Um, yeah, felt very cared for, and the care that they got was really great.

I appreciate that. And I think building this was definitely driven from my own experience and not having enough of that kind of care and then having a little bit of that sort of care for a bit where I was taught and could um understand my body. I think too, with kids, like if you have kids with allergies, like that can be so scary and not understanding or being able to put words to what do we do next or how do we address this when it happens or why is it happening feels like being in like a life jail, like you can't help your kid, you don't know what's going on, you don't know who to help you. And so building care from a like we have to educate, and that truly is like we're here to educate and recommend and and guide you to next steps so you can learn. Like I always say, I want to turn you out to care for your kids without needing us. Um, and I would say you were already there before you got here, like you were already doing a lot of things to care for your girls. In ways that really affirm their health. But my hope is always that in working with clients that we're consistently supportive, that we're educating, and that we're turning you out feeling equipped, like you know what's going on, you know what just happened, that you understand your labs. That's a big thing. I'll walk through labs, and people are like, we've done stuff before, but no one's ever explained it hasn't made any sense. Like that ownership piece is really validating and empowering. And I know that's was my experience. And I'm glad to hear that we've been able to kind of carry that into care. But I do really appreciate you sharing openly across each of the girls' stories. I think the more people can hear bits of their own experiences in other places, the more we open up um freedom, a curiosity, and a willingness to solve same problems with new solutions and different ways that really last and work. So thanks for spending time with me and being open about all of your experiences.

Of course. I'm happy to be here. Thanks, Elizabeth.

I hope you're leaving encouraged, curious, and hopeful. If you learned something, I'd love for you to share this episode with a friend. Hey, we're all healing together. You can learn more about my practice, our team, and what it's like to work with us at heyhey mae.com. I teach lots on Instagram and answer questions each Monday. My Instagram handle is @HeyheyElizabethMae. And my cookbook, Hey Hey Everyday, is available on Heyheymae.com and Amazon. Happy healing.