Happy July
It's a short holiday week here in the U.S. and whether you had a staycation or are at the beach, I hope you are enjoying a little down time and staying hydrated in this heat.
A few weeks ago, I briefly shared my thoughts on the skin-gut connection and my son's journey to better health.
Our skin health can be a very complicated issue, but for most of us, it can also be a reflection of our internal/gut health. The terms dysbiosis and microbiome plus the beneficial role of probiotics have become popular topics in recent years, but this wasn't always the case.
After the birth of my son with special needs several years ago my daily focus quickly shifted from routine new mom tasks to finding ways to help calm his gut. I vividly remember friends and family telling me things like "your work as a physical therapist will be so helpful to you as you raise your son". While that might have been true, all I wanted to do was feed, bathe and play with this sweet boy. Spending countless hours doing research wasn't part of my plan.
As with anything in our unpredictable world, I switched gears, adapted to my new situation (my plan bee commencement) and quickly sought out the support that I needed to help my precious son. His never-ending gastrointestinal problems that began just a few weeks after his birth consumed all of my days and nights. And it was only a matter of time that his skin issues also appeared and I began to intimately understand the skin-gut connection.
Although my traditional education and professional experiences in the hospital setting helped me sift through the research available online, I found that all of that knowledge was only going to take me so far — I came to the realization that most conventional medicine encouraged just treating the symptoms and not digging further to understand the root causes of my son's GI/skin issues.
I will never forget the day that I was called an "internet mom" by a medical professional as she glared at my pile of research that I carried so neatly into her office when my son was just a few months old. I left that office angry and more empowered to question everything and seek out help from a highly regarded GI doctor who understood my mama bear instincts. He helped us get the answers that would eventually allow us to avoid the placement of a g-tube and improve my son's gut health.
Sometimes things don't go as planned. We have all experienced a time when we had to adapt to a new normal. Although my son's health forced me to throw out some of what I thought I knew about the physiology and pathology of our gut and skin, my past work experience definitely helped me appreciate that we should keep asking questions and that a mama's gut instinct (pun intended) should always be trusted.
In my next post, I will share an overview of how we went from gut mayhem to a better understanding of gut health and its role in immune response and skin health. I will also share the steps I took to help my son.
I encourage all of you to never stop learning because it's through that learning process that we become stronger advocates for ourselves and our families. And although our family is not perfect, knowledge is power and no one can take that away from us – not from you or me.
I would love to hear your story. Send me a note to share your journey to better health and skin care. I can't wait to hear from you.
Thanks for being here. I appreciate you.
Wishing you a safe and relaxing weekend.
XO,
As with anything in our unpredictable world, I switched gears, adapted to my new situation (my plan bee commencement) and quickly sought out the support that I needed to help my precious son. His never-ending gastrointestinal problems that began just a few weeks after his birth consumed all of my days and nights. And it was only a matter of time that his skin issues also appeared and I began to intimately understand the skin-gut connection.
Although my traditional education and professional experiences in the hospital setting helped me sift through the research available online, I found that all of that knowledge was only going to take me so far — I came to the realization that most conventional medicine encouraged just treating the symptoms and not digging further to understand the root causes of my son's GI/skin issues.
I will never forget the day that I was called an "internet mom" by a medical professional as she glared at my pile of research that I carried so neatly into her office when my son was just a few months old. I left that office angry and more empowered to question everything and seek out help from a highly regarded GI doctor who understood my mama bear instincts. He helped us get the answers that would eventually allow us to avoid the placement of a g-tube and improve my son's gut health.
Sometimes things don't go as planned. We have all experienced a time when we had to adapt to a new normal. Although my son's health forced me to throw out some of what I thought I knew about the physiology and pathology of our gut and skin, my past work experience definitely helped me appreciate that we should keep asking questions and that a mama's gut instinct (pun intended) should always be trusted.
In my next post, I will share an overview of how we went from gut mayhem to a better understanding of gut health and its role in immune response and skin health. I will also share the steps I took to help my son.
I encourage all of you to never stop learning because it's through that learning process that we become stronger advocates for ourselves and our families. And although our family is not perfect, knowledge is power and no one can take that away from us – not from you or me.
I would love to hear your story. Send me a note to share your journey to better health and skin care. I can't wait to hear from you.
Thanks for being here. I appreciate you.
Wishing you a safe and relaxing weekend.
XO,
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