MY BACKGROUND

I have 23 years of nursing experience ranging from orthopedic, oncology, and ICU.

I have had a desire to help others all my life and I found nursing the best way to do so. I attended University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, graduating in 2016 with a masters in nursing. As a nurse practitioner I have worked in primary care, urgent care, occupational health and cosmetics.

I have struggled with providing adequate care due to the time constraints that was allowed with each patient. I wasn’t comfortable always prescribing medications to treat minor diseases or increasing doses for patients to continue to achieve desired results. I never had time to educate my patients on how to truly care for themselves and make healthy lifestyle choices. I quickly fell in love with functional medicine because it allows me to establish a relationship with each patient and individualize the plan of care providing optimal health care to each patient.

MY STORY

I struggled with depression in my late teens to early adulthood, I was prescribed Prozac, Zoloft, Lexapro, Effexor over the years.

Changing the medication as soon as symptoms worsened. The entire time I was taking the medications I felt something just wasn’t right, I didn’t like how they made me feel. It wasn’t until I was in my late 30’s I found a naturopathic doctor that helped me determined I have a dairy sensitivity and should eliminate dairy from my diet. In 6 months I figured out how dairy was affecting my mental state and how it changed my overall energy level and outlook on life.

This was when I understood the effect foods have on our entire health not just gastrointestinal health. By the time I was in my late 30’s I was also having horrible anxiety attacks which were explained by recent life events. As time went on anxiety worsened, food sensitivities increased (gluten, dairy and sugar were all triggers), generalized fatigue increased and my weight would not budge even while training for half marathons.

I then heard about breast implant illness, I started researching this more and determined I had to have my implants removed they were making me sick. After explant I started improving slowly, I have since stopped all prescription medications, I can tolerate all foods in moderation, and I have since lost 20 lbs. My experience with BII made me realize we need more providers who will listen to patients and not just treat and diagnose based on abnormal lab tests. All my labs were normal all the time but I did not feel healthy.

I have since helped patients suffering from depression, thyroid issues, anxiety, insomnia, stomach issues, psoriasis, eczema, gout, and many more. I strive to be the provider who listens, the provider who understands and never stops trying to solve issues, even the challenging ones. It is dear to my heart to care for those who have been dismissed from the PCP, ignored or pushed off as “crazy” or all your symptoms are in your head. I believe all patient complaints are real and should be taken seriously. I will take the time that is needed to thoroughly understand your concerns, health goals and together we will make a realistic achievable plan.