My journey to become a homeopath began when my second child was born with special needs, and shortly after I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, or auto immune disease of the thyroid. With these two events, I was thrust into a world of uncertainty and fear, but also of self discovery.
As a child I dreamed of being a pediatrician. Using my father's black leather doctor’s bag (I can still remember it’s smell!), I had members of my family come for appointments - testing reflexes with the small mallet, listening with the stethoscope, using the tuning fork for hearing. I printed my name and title on construction paper, and taped it to my door. I was certain this was my path.
But life’s twist and turns took me on a different road. I have always been in love with learning. I followed a wandering yet deliberate path, working earnestly and passionately in several fields, including film, theater, and social justice, earning a Master’s from the University of Texas along the way and co-founding, with my brother, a nonprofit that sends books to Texas’ incarcerated population. (It is still going today, almost twenty years later!) Advocacy and service was the thread that bound this path together.
With every project, I inherently moved towards helping others; telling stories of society’s unseen, creating art as an expression of advocacy, co-founding and serving with non-profits that represented underserved populations. Then I had my children, all born at home, and this focus on learning, advocacy and service, shifted to an expanding knowledge of nutrition, detoxification, local food sources and alternative medicine.
When my second child was born, I entered yet another world: health care. During that time (prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act), children like my daughter were routinely denied access to healthcare because of pre-existing conditions, even ‘pre-existing’ conditions that came with genetic anomalies (!). To have a child that cannot access health care creates an unprecedented level of
stress for parents. Not only was she experiencing many health challenges, I was alternately searching for new answers to her diagnosis, and trying to protect her health so that she did not need the healthcare she was being denied! Talk about stress.
I felt I was in a rush against time to both heal and protect her. It is no wonder that in this environment, I began experiencing symptoms many of you are familiar with - extreme fatigue, anxiety, and brain fog. When I saw that my neck looked enlarged, I went for help.
The endocrinologist confirmed Hashimoto’s, and handed me a prescription. She told me I would need it for the rest of my life, and in the end, my thyroid would destroy itself. And that was that. I told her that I had been through three pregnancies and incredible stress, and that my diet in my twenties had been suboptimal. Could this have anything to do with my diagnosis? Wasn’t there something else I could do? No, was the answer from the endocrinologist.
I have rarely taken ‘no’ for an answer. Ask my parents. :)
I went in search of answers.
At that time, the internet was in its nascent stages, with little information to offer. With an uninsurable child, multiple diagnoses for both of us, and two other children to care for, I needed major support. That is when I found homeopathy. In homeopathy, I found a system of medicine whose very nature addresses root cause of illness, can be mastered by a layperson for home care, and can be practiced by professionals at many levels to achieve profound healing. I saw the potential: healthcare independence.
In a society rocked by instability, where still to this day, our access to healthcare is, at best, extremely expensive and precarious, a system which is hardly “health care”, but in actuality, just a system of insurance, betting against ourselves in a race towards illness. In this environment, homeopathy, and the wisdom of other ancient forms of medicine, stand out as answers to our missing and broken
system.
Both using homeopathy and seeing a homeopath, I saw immediate change in myself and my children. Quick resolution of illness, improved speech, improved development, improved immunity and a range of first aide tools for my children. My Hashimoto’s resolved, as did my goiter, and my labs have been clear for over a decade.
And the power! The power you have at your fingertips when homeopathic medicine is practiced at home, is astounding. Basic mastery brings confidence and results, and fear of childhood illnesses recedes. With this medicine, we take back the power to truly care for ourselves and our children - in addition to a clean diet, balanced use of herbs and supplements - we create a true system of healthcare, one that actually heals and works preventively. (No wonder it’s the most widely practiced form of alternative medicine in the world!)
I left my former career, went back to school for five years to get a Master’s in homeopathic medicine and Board Certification. I also, deepened my knowledge of herbs, nutrition and nutritional supplements. I continued my advocacy, speaking for the uninsurable, the medically fragile, and access to quality healthcare for all. I co-founded, along with my talented colleagues, New Horizons Center for Children, to change the model of treatment used for children with special needs.
The wisdom of my childhood self, the desire to serve has been there all along. I am so passionate about healing, so devoted to knowledge and the evolution of self, so profoundly awed by the power of the tools I have in alternative medicine - tools that I am always refining, always, deepening, always sharing. My greatest desire is for you to have them, too. And for you to know, that your body has theamazing ability to heal itself. That is what homeopathy offers.
This website is for you. If you are ready to work for change, to choose health - I am ready to work with you.
In health and happiness,
Lizzie
