Why I Do This Work

My Story

Looking back now, I can see that my journey really began in 2018, when I started experiencing irregular heartbeats and chronic air hunger. With a history of both heart and kidney surgeries, I immediately sought medical help. I was given a mostly clean bill of health, other than being told it was “anxiety and stress.” The symptoms lingered for a few months, then slowly faded as I bought into the idea they were, indeed, anxiety related.

In the summer of 2020, after heavy financial stress during quarantine, the symptoms came back with a vengeance. This time, in addition to the air hunger and heart issues, they included brain fog, mood swings, and a variety of uncomfortable physical sensations. Again, I went to multiple doctors. Again, I was told it was anxiety. 

Treatments and medications didn’t help. Eventually, the symptoms eased on their own, and I convinced myself the doctors were right, again. For a couple of years, I felt mostly normal, until I didn’t.

By spring of 2024, the perfect storm of stress hit: the loss of two of my dogs within five days, a toxic work situation, nearly closing on a new home only to have my husband laid off weeks before, three health scares with my older kids, and two car accidents involving my teens. This was layered on top of a lifetime of stress that included an abusive childhood, the hospitalization and death of my infant daughter, and a house fire. My body finally said “no more.”

I had my first panic attacks, ended up in the ER, and began spiraling into health anxiety. This state of moderate symptoms lasted for quite a few months.

On October 9, 2024, I woke to the vertigo attack that changed everything. Nine hours of violent spinning, crawling on the floor, and vomiting. What followed was months of relentless symptoms, malnutrition, hospitalizations, endless testing, medical procedures, and a string of functional diagnoses: dysautonomia, PPPD, POTS, CFS, and more. I felt hopeless. I didn’t want to live like that anymore. And some days, I didn’t want to live at all. I finally hit rock bottom at the end of 2024 (Bottom left photo in collage above).

That’s when I discovered Dr. Claire Weekes (author of Hope and Help For Your Nerves), The Steady Coach (a wonderful audiologist on Youtube), and Dr. Russel Teames (a local Functional Neurologist at Desert Brain and Spine, in Phoenix). For the first time, I understood what happens when the nervous system is stuck in fight or flight, and I learned about the science of neuroplasticity. 

At first it felt too good to be true, but slowly, (and in a VERY nonlinear fashion) through rewiring my responses and behaviors, my body began to heal.

Over the past nine months, I’ve recovered my mobility. I now walk, hike, sleep enough, and even run again. My symptoms have faded to a whisper, or even entirely, and I feel like a better version of myself. (Me today, in upper left photo in collage above).

I’ve gone from surviving to truly living, and more grateful than I ever imagined. Along the way, I connected with others in the same boat, formed friendships, and began coaching. At first it was just conversations with people who needed hope, then mentoring, and now building a community of recovery. I have never connected with any job I’ve had so deeply. I truly feel like this is my purpose.

I coach with love, honesty, and lived experience. I am not the coach who uses aggressive language and tough love (that’s fantastic when needed, but it’s just not me). I will never promise lightning-fast results or market recovery as a product. I believe in keeping my services affordable, because most of us in this space are already weighed down by medical debt. 

What I can promise is real support, real tools, and a real belief in your capacity to recover. This is my story, and it’s only the beginning. I would be honored to walk beside you on your recovery path.

Amy

Root and Response