About Sherri Taylor - Path of the wounded healer
I come to this work not by accident. I have been led kicking and screaming along the way!
In 2005 I started showing signs that something was terribly wrong with me. I was having trouble with my balance and over the course of six weeks I had taken three pretty serious falls, one of which sent me head first down a flight of stairs. That's when I really started to be concerned.
Over the span of the next several months I continued to have problems with my gait. I was short of breath, my muscles felt weak and I was fatigued easily. I became exhausted just by doing the simplest of things. I was tired in the morning even though all I had done was shower and blow dry my hair. My joints ached and I had what seemed like random traveling joint pain and inflammation. My gastrointestinal system was not functioning properly and I seemed to battle diarrhea and constipation all the time. But it was the grave muscle weakness and fatigue that I just couldn't seem to get past.
Then on an autumn day two weeks before I was scheduled to leave for a much needed once in a lifetime vacation my world came to a screeching halt. I awakened to find that my speech was slurred, my vision was blurred and my limbs were weak. I had difficulty walking and I felt like something was seriously wrong with me. When I looked in the mirror, the right side of my face was slack and my right eye was drooping. I looked horrible and felt even worse.
I immediately went to the hospital and was rushed with lightening speed into the CT scanner. I will never forget how frightened I was due to the look on the admitting nurse's face as I explained in my slurred speech what was going on with me. My CT was normal but the doctors were still concerned and scheduled an appointment with a Neurologist. I went home and took some time off from work while I waited for the Neuro appointment. My primary care physician wanted to rule out Bells Palsy and a trigeminal nerve condition. He prescribed bed rest until my appointment with the Neurologist.
I went to my scheduled appointment with the Neurologist and he did a full work up and took a thorough history from the time I stared having symptoms to the present. The whole appointment took about an hour and a half and for medical appointments that was a long appointment. I felt confident that the doctor had done his job. The he dropped the bomb shell.
I was diagnosed with a progressive neurological disease. He said there was no cure and that he would prescribe a pill that I would take three times a day that would help with my symptoms and ordered more tests. The tests were inconclusive but he was steadfast in his diagnosis. The prognosis was marginal. As the disease progresses there is a risk of death due to lung failure. I was told that progression probably meant that I would be in a wheel chair and in and out of hospitals. My doctor assured me that he would do everything he could to make me comfortable and that he would manage the symptoms as the disease progressed. Typical progression happens rapidly usually within 12-18 months. He put me on disability and at the end of the hour and a half he sent me on my way - diagnoses and prescription in hand.
That was it. I was astounded and dumbfounded. That's it? You hand me a life sentence and all you have to offer is one pill three times a day, case closed?
I went on my vacation although I was unable to participate with the rest of the group. It was a golf trip to Scotland and instead of golfing I took in some simple sights and spent a lot of time sleeping and getting spa treatments. I also spent a lot of time crying. There was a moment in Scotland when I was standing in the St. Andrews cemetery that it hit me hard. It was the end of the trip and everything came crashing down emotionally all at once and I was left with just one choice to make.
I could choose to be sick or I could choose to be well. It was simple really. I was already sick and I was staring into the reflection of my life in that cemetery. I chose to get well.
When I got home I became possessed. I felt like my body was a ticking time bomb and that I had a very short time to understand my diagnosis so I read everything I could on the disease. It was horrible. I became depressed and was told that was a normal part of the grieving process. I kicked, I stomped and I screamed. A lot!! Then after my well deserved pity party I got on with the business of getting well.
I began seeing a natural health practitioner and she didn't buy into my diagnosis. Cool, I thought someone on MY side! She put some nutritional protocols in place and I started feeling a little better. But for me it wasn't fast enough and I needed to understand HOW I got there.
I had left my full time, very lucrative career (disability) and took up a new job of sorts. I made getting well my job. I attacked my illness with the same vigor I had used to acquire my financial wealth. Now it was time to obtain Body Wealth.
I studied full time, enrolled in Nutrition courses. I became a certified Holistic Lifestyle coach and was living the principals I had learned. I loaded up three lawn and leaf bags of garbage foods from my kitchen and I read every label in my household. I was a woman on a mission. I went on to study Functional Medicine from a world renowned practitioner named Dr. Daniel Kalish and I just kept getting better. My Neurologist was stead fast. He was convicted to say the least. His reason for my recovery was that I was not working any more. Ha! I was working my tail off!!
I am a firm believer that there are NO accidents. My story is but one of thousands. It was somewhere in this long and arduous journey to get well that I realized that I was called to help others to take back their health and to choose to be well. I help people with all kinds of problems, everything from severe, debilitating chronic health problems to people who just want to look and feel younger. Chronic illness is killing this country one spoonful at a time and it doesn't have to.
Getting that diagnosis was the greatest gift I could have ever received. Wellness is a choice.
Education
C.H.E.K Institute
Certified Nutrition and Holistic Lifestyle Coach Level ICertified Nutrition and Holistic Lifestyle Coach Level II
Kalish Method
Functional Medicine PractitionerClinical Rounds - Continued Education - Kalish Method
Institute of Functional Medicine
AFMCP - Baltimore MDApplying Functional Medicine in Clinical Practice
