My Story

When I was 8 years old, my uncle and Godfather died of cancer at age 39. I remember months of sadness in our home and seeing my Mom and NanNan crying a lot. I went through the usual grade school traumas of being left out or made fun of, being bullied by older kids, and struggling to fit in at times. When I was 16 another uncle passed away from cancer at age 39. This was a very sad time as well and my Mom left home to help her sister in another state for weeks at a time.  My Mom started struggling with anxiety attacks around this time in my life as well, which was hard for me to understand and know what to do for her. 

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I point out all of these stressful and scary times in my life because they are all likely connected to me having significant hormone imbalances as I began puberty. Any time we go through a stressful and traumatic experience, our cortisol levels are increased. The increase in cortisol sets off a cascade that disrupts all of our other hormones and our gut. 

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When I got my first period at age 13, I was doubled over in pain in the bathroom and I felt sick for two days. My monthly routine for the first day or two of my cycle became lying down with a heating​ pad for over an hour and taking 3 or 4 ibuprofen to knock the pain out more quickly, I frequented the nurses office at school and I had to keep my activities light for the first 2-3 days of my cycle.  What a lovely introduction to womanhood! At 15 I developed heavy bleeding and my breasts grew to a D cup on my thin body. My cycles and my breasts were the reasons I stopped dancing, and they greatly affected my performance playing field hockey and lacrosse as I got older. In high school I developed horrible cystic acne on my face. Nothing I did could cover it up and I still wear the scars of it today. I became very self conscious of my body and my appearance.

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My Fertility and Pregnancy Struggles

Fast forward to when my husband and I wanted to start a family at age 30. It took us 12 months of serious effort to concieve our son. My pregnancy was complicated by swelling, high blood pressure, and a 60-pound weight gain. I was put on bedrest at 5 1/2 months pregnant which affected our income as I could not work at my nursing job in the ICU for the rest of my pregancy. Due to my extremely high blood pressure, I was induced about 10 days before my son's due date. I ended up needing a C-section. All was well though because my son arrived perfect and healthy!

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Two years later we decided to try to conceive again. This time it took 10 months to get pregnant, and I had started taking a whole-food supplement called Juice Plus right when we found out we were expecting. I did not have as much swelling with that pregnancy, had not one day of high blood pressure, only gained 22 pounds, and I did not need to be on bedrest at all. That Juice Plus was amazing! Thankfully our daughter also arrived perfect and healthy! All was well. 

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About three years later we decided we'd like to try for one more child. Mind you, my cycles had gotten much heavier, my breasts were DDD-E, and my stomach was constantly distended and hard. My weight was 40 pounds heavier than when I got married and no matter what I did I could not lose belly or breast fat. I felt puffy all the time and my face always looked red and irritated. When our daughter was 4 years old I underwent bilateral breast reduction due to constant back, neck, and shoulder pain. As painful as that recovery was and how guilty I felt for traumatizing my healthy breasts, I never regretted the decision to have the reduction. It improved my quality of life immensely and I wished I had done it sooner. We tried to conceive for 8 years before I ended up needing to have a hysterectomy due to a large fibroid tumor in my uterus that was causing me to be anemic. 

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Life After the Hysterectomy

After the hysterectomy, my quality of life increased expontially. I wasn't anemic anymore (hello energy, I missed you), I was not worried about heavy bleeding mishaps anymore, I didn't have to plan 2-3 days of going nowhere due to heavy bleeding and feeling like crap anymore . . . . BUT . . . I was sad. I did not want to give up my uterus. It is a major organ and the health of it is partially responsible for a woman's longevity and vibrancy as she ages. I was also sad to learn that the reason we had secondary infertility was because of the cantelope-sized fibroid that was literally squashing my uterus and making a successful implantation of a fertilized egg virtually impossible. It took me years not to cry when speaking about this. I have come to peace with it these past several years and am incredibly grateful I was able to have two beautiful children before the hysterectomy. 

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Weight Gain

I was always very active and thin as a teen and young adult. I never worried about my weight and I felt strong and healthy. After my first pregnany, the one where I gained 60 pounds, I held on to an extra 20 pounds that I could never lose. Then with my second pregnancy I only gained 22 pounds, however I was never able to lose 10 of those pounds. Then after my hysterectomy and perimenopause hit, I slowly put on another 20+ pounds that I could not explain. So by age 50 I was 50 pounds heavier than when I got married. I was bloated, swollen, puffy, red, easily fatigued, and my usual sunny outlook on life was changing to cloudy. 

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The Healing Journey

As an RN/BSN and after working in sickcare for over 25 years, I realized that our medical system is not designed to help us stay healthy. If you are bleeding, having a heart attack, or need a corrective surgery, our healthcare system will save your life and hopefully get you functioning again. But if you have metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, obesity, allergies, migraines, arthritis, autoimmune conditions, bowel disorders, mental health issues, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, hormone imbalance . . . you're screwed. 

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I had always considered myself a holistic nurse and mom. We ate natural peanut butter, avoided soda and packaged foods, rarely took medications, and spent a lot of time outdoors being active. But when I was fired from my nursing job on the 25th anniversary of becoming a nurse due to Covid mandates, it set me on a path to figure out what real health-care is and move away from the sick-care model. I learned how gut inflammation is the root of almost every health disorder you can name. I learned all of the causes of gut inflammation, the sequelae of health implications related to leaky gut syndrome, how our metabolic and hormone health is related to our gut health, and that you can heal the gut and heal the body with a holistic, functional medicine approach. I did all the functional tests on myself. I learned that I had leaky gut syndrome, bacterial overgrowths, impaired methylation, estrogen dominance, insufficient digestion and lipid metabolism, high cortisol, insulin resistance, and that I was well on my way to metabolic syndrome. My hemoglobin A1C and lipids were the highest they had ever been and were in the "time to start taking this seriously" range.

 

I found an amazing course to become board certified as a Functional Medicine Nurse Specialist. And then this practice, K Shannon Functional Wellness, was born! I was my first patient in my health coaching practice. I corrected my nutrition, detoxification, metabolic, and inflammation issues and healed my gut and by taking targeted supplements to support my body's needs. I balanced my hormones by lowering inflammation, taking hormone-balancing supplements, and by adding in bioidentical progesterone. Within 18 months I lost over 27 pounds of fat and inflammation weight. My skin completely cleared up. My bloating and gas disappeared and I felt my energy return to levels I hadn't felt in years. My husband noted that I stopped snoring and I noticed I was not grinding or clenching my teeth as much when sleeping. My hemoglobin A1C went down from 5.6 to 5.2, and my triglycerides and HDL cholesterol came into the normal range for the first time in 10 years.

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If I had learned this type of health-care, this root-cause approach, when I was in my 20's or 30's, I am positive I would not have had all of the fertility and reproductive issues I had. I am positive that my cycles would have been normal, I would not have grown a huge fibroid that led to a hysterectomy, and my breasts would not have grown to the point that I needed a breast reduction to be comfortable. All of my hormone issues stemmed from gut inflammation and impaired estrogen metabolism that triggered the cascade of all of my reproductive problems, as well as my excessive weight gain and other issues. I would not have been able to identify all of these issues without a functional stool analysis and functional hormone testing. These tests are not offered by traditional primary care or women's health physicians, nor do the majority of them know how to interpret them. The only prescription medication I have required for all of this healing is bioidentical progesterone cream. Otherwise, all of my healing has occurred due to diet and lifestyle changes and targeted supplements to heal my specific needs. If I can help even one person avoid some of these struggles by everything I have gone through and had to learn, it is all worth it and I wouldn't change a thing.

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Health Coaching

So now you know my story and why I am so passionate about helping others heal their gut, balance their hormones, optimize their metabolic health, and lower inflammation. If you are stuggling with excess body fat, reproductive and hormone issues, pain, fatigue, brain fog, bloating/gas, food sensitivities, and digestive issues there is no better time than now to get to the root of these issues. I offer every client a free introductory call to see if I am a good fit for you. I also offer new clients 10% off my Gut Health Program with code New10. I offer in-person and virtual appointments. I would love to help you reach your health goals! 

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