081 Healing Naturally with Tami Moor!

You know, experiencing a trauma like that, it's like just so important for somebody who has Lyme or any other chronic illness to really get control of your mind and your emotions because they all work together. It's like mind, body, soul, you know, and your physical, your mental health impacts impacts your physical health, and I write about that on my blog about how—

Welcome to Lion Voice. We are your hosts, Sarah and Aaron Sanchez. We created this show designed to inspire, educate, and encourage you on your path to wellness. This show's purpose is to help you put the puzzle pieces of healing into place. Join us as we interview other warriors and discuss how fighting is a mindset, healing consists of choices, and living is the outcome.

Wishing your doctors could communicate and come up with a cohesive plan specific to your medical needs and genetics? At Invita Medical Center, they offer a team-style approach, giving you the opportunity to heal. In addition to a commitment of providing radical love and care for their patients, they are strategically located in sunny Arizona because Arizona offers the best integrative medical laws in the country. Call today to speak with one of their patient care coordinators. You can find them online at invita.com.

Line Voice thanks Invita Medical for the continued support. Please reach them at 1-866-830-4576. Welcome, Line Voice listeners! So glad to have you today.

Yes, so happy to be back on the mic.

Where fighting is a mindset, healing consists of choices, and living is the outcome. You almost missed your cue there, babe.

I know, I was thinking like, eh, might be time for a change.

You don't like our, our little—

I don't know, change is in the air, babe.

You never know with us, we haven't done it the same way twice.

Nope.

Okay, who's on today?

Today is Tammy Moore, and she is a natural health practitioner. And I like— I just love her energy. I think she's a fantastic person to work with. She understands Lyme. She's battled it for years and years, and she also is just a fighter in the sense of like, this is what I need for my life and I'm moving forward, and just working at controlling what you can control. And this episode, really, like, the meat of it is in the last 15 minutes.

You gotta wait till— yeah, and I have analytics people, so I know how long you guys are listening. So here's your assignment: you have to listen to the end. I will know, and you'll get yelled at if you don't do it. You gotta listen all the way to the end to really get the good part of this story. Great gal, you're gonna really enjoy this episode. I know it. I did.

Yeah, and you know, if you have followed along our personal story with Lyme and my second reinfection over the last year, you know that it's been a very transformative year.

Oh yeah.

I think we've said that a few times. I don't know, my brain's a little foggy from the last couple of months, but it's been very difficult, but it's been very transformative, and we're still kind of processing a lot of things.

Oh yeah.

And so we have a whole episode that's coming up here in the very near future about some of those things, because Lyme— the destruction of this illness forces you to evaluate every aspect of your life over and over again.

You have to be bigger than the disease, and the disease is huge. It's so impactful that every moment of our lives have to be tailored to be bigger than disease. You can't wake up and just be a blob that day. You can't, you can't just suck. You have to keep going.

Yeah, you can't just like go with the flow of life and do things the way everyone else is doing them because you can't keep up. You can't, right?

But we're— I mean, and we're realizing this, and I think right now we are totally different people than— I mean, if you go back and listen to episode 001, those are old people. And you're gonna— I think in the next year, you guys— and I think some of you have noticed this in the last few months, we've progressed. But even— there's been so much transformational, so much. I— like, we started— we wanted to kind of bring it up, and even in the previous episode we tried to talk about it, but we really— we're still dissolving it, or processing. Processing.

Yeah, it's so deep. The— in a sense, the trauma of getting sick, of being sick for so long and going through treatment the first time was this big breakthrough moment for me where I'm like, I'm not living this way anymore.

Right.

And on a lot of levels, right, I had suffered for so long and given away my power and been told it was all in my head for so long that that was my big aha moment. But for you, that's come through this second reinfection. Of, oh, we're not living this way anymore. Like, yeah, and but we've been making incremental changes over the last 4 years and are finally starting to see some of the reward of some of that. And it's so powerful and transformative, it's hard to process.

I know, and we want— I mean, we want to, we want to give it to you because it's so rewarding, and we want to introduce you guys to some of the things we've learned because there's such— we just can't put it into words quite yet.

We're still packaging it.

Ah, chewing it.

Yeah, chewing it.

Actually, we're still working through, but I—

and you all see the changes, you will see new people. And we— Aaron's right, we have not done hardly any episode the same way twice, but that's changing. It will be more formatted, but there will be a— it— there will be more attitude, there will be more sass.

You're gonna get a little ornery on us.

More attitude. I think less lamenting, different energy shifts, because I've realized, you know, comedy, um, comedy comes from pain. And I've been talking about including more satire and comedy, and some of that I in a sense have not been allowed to do because of the criticism, because of the topic, because of the criticism, because how dysfunctional this Lyme community is. Like you kind of can't win. No matter what you say, you're going to get ostracized. And I'm no longer willing to live with that.

Yeah.

And that those changes are going to be coming out. And it wasn't like even something I was really aware of. I just feel like I've realized to a great extent how hard it is to be part of this community. And for me, in order to stay in it and be able to talk about it, I have to come from that place of not being a victim. And for me, I feel like it's coming through comedy and through different aspects. So you guys will see huge shifts and changes and bringing a couple extra people on who are really excited.

Yeah, we have, we have some new voices that are going to come on and be hosts. Hopefully. We're still working on it.

Hopefully.

Well, I mean, nothing— oh, we have not hit record. Until we hit record, it's hopefully. Yeah, make sure you go to lionvoice.com and check out everything we have there, all our episodes and different blogs. And then on whatever player you're listening to us, make sure that you rate and review us and subscribe so as we release more episodes, you can get them directly to your mailbox. Enjoy this episode, everybody. We'll talk to you next time. We really want to tell you about something that has changed our life.

Yes, our Kangen water machine has absolutely been a game changer.

Absolutely. We had such a great response from episode 64.

Episode 64 goes into the details if you have not listened to it as far as why it's been so helpful and what it does. And basically it's alkaline water, but it's also antioxidant rich. So 2 glasses of fresh water is equivalent to 5 pounds of blueberries, and it has been radical for us as a household.

Yeah, there's, there's so many more uses. We, I mean, we had to do a whole episode on it, but basically go to myfreewaterstore.com to find out more information directly. Go to episode 64, you can actually hear Wade Holder talk about all the different applications and benefits from it. And then when you are ready to purchase this machine, we are now distributors. You can find this at limewater.com. Simple to purchase right there. Choose your machine. If you have any questions, call me at 505-681-1770. And there is financing available. If it wasn't for their financing options, we wouldn't have a machine. Call me, we'll talk through some of those options, and this is going to be a huge benefit to your life.

Yes, it is. And we will be talking extensively over this next year even about fasting and how powerful fasting can be with alkaline water.

Yeah, excellent. Water is key, people.

Change your water, change your life.

Yep.

With me today is Tammy Carlino. Tammy is a natural health practitioner, and her and I have been talking for about a year and a half now, and I'm so excited to finally have her on. Tammy, thank you for being with us today on Lion Voice.

Yes, hi, hi everybody, thank you for having me.

Yes, so Tammy and I have talked on and off for the last year and a half, and she has, um, a very unique perspective, which is why I really wanted to have her on the mic as a natural health practitioner, understanding the complexities of chronic illness, but also as someone who has battled Lyme and has gone through the longevity, the losses that come with chronic Lyme. And so, um, her perspective is just super valuable. So Tammy, give us your story in a nutshell of what your journey with Lyme, chronic Lyme has where your journey with chronic Lyme has brought you at this point in your life.

Okay. Well, basically it all started November 2012. I was 28 and I was teaching full-time 4th grade at that point in my life. And I had gotten kind of like acutely ill and, you know, ended up in the hospital with like a migraine and just like all kinds of like weird things going on. And kind of like the typical Lyme story, you know, doctor shopping, hospital shopping, just going anywhere to see if I could get any help. You know, eventually, you know, things continued to spiral out of control. And once we had figured out that it was Lyme disease, then, you know, went full force with the just traditional medication route. I had a PICC line for about 5 months, was doing a lot of oral antibiotics. Just any kind of Western medicine. I hadn't really explored any other kind of realm of medicine at that point. So I kind of got to the point after several months of just medications where I didn't really know if the medication was making me sick or if it was the Lyme or just what was going on. So that's when I started to kind of branch into different realms of medicine, seeing like chiropractors and naturopaths and functional medicine doctors and things like that, really focusing on nutrition and whatnot. And eventually, you know, got to the point where I could get back to teaching in a teacher's aide position and did that for a couple of years and then decided to really, really focus on my health and just didn't work at all and decided that if I were going to make it through this, that I wanted to do something so what happened to me wouldn't happen to anybody else. And that brought me to the natural health program. Um, so I just wanted to be able to create something that I would be able to help other people, basically, if I was able to get to the point where I could actually work and not have to focus so hardcore on my health.

Yeah, and we're gonna get into the specifics of that as we go through this format, and one of the things we talk about is fighting is a mindset.

Yep.

And you call that your outlook, the outlook that you had through this experience and through these many, many years of losses. So, right, let's talk about some of those mindsets and those outlooks that you chose to either embrace or not embrace, and even in the sense of having no— very little experience outside of Western medicine, even just choosing to dive into the holistic side of things and how that panned out.

Sure. I mean, my outlook in the beginning was very, I want to say, negative because I was not getting better. And it was like the more people I talked to and the more support groups I joined and the more opinions I got, the more anxious I was getting. And I had to basically quit my job and move in with my parents because I was just so I was just so debilitated. So I was— I don't know, it's kind of like you almost like lose your sense of self as well. I just, I felt like I had no dignity. I couldn't take care of myself or anything like that. I had my friends coming over and bathing me, my mom trying to feed me. Like, I'm just, you know, I'm just like a hot mess. I'm like crying every day. I'm just like, can't do anything. And so yeah, it was, I was in a very, very dark place, I would say, for the first 8 months of it. And then throughout there, I really— I had a really strong Catholic faith background. So every night I would read out of this book that a lot of people refer— a lot of people I know with Lyme, they refer to that book, the one with all the quotes, like the daily affirmations and whatnot. So I was reading that book every day, and I would say like the one thing that really helped me keep my outlook was just reading that, and every day just having something to refer to, and having— knowing that like the faith was always there, basically, you know, is one thing that wasn't changing. So I had that, and then my outlook kind of like shifted also when I just looked at my mom one day and I just remember being like, I'm just gonna die. Like, I'm sorry, but I cannot be alive anymore. I'm like, I can't fight anymore. Like, I can't— like, you just basically see your whole world like crumbling right before your eyes. And it's like, it just seems like whatever you're doing to get better is not working. And so my mindset was like, I'm just gonna basically give up. But then when, you know, after I said that to my mom and I saw my mom like crying and tearing up and saying like, you know, if you die, I'm going to die also. And it kind of just gave me a kick in the butt to be like, okay, like I'm really like the way that I am like giving these, showing these, these raw emotions to the people around me. I'm hurting them. You know, I wanted to be honest with them, but I saw how much it was hurting them that it kind of was like, like I said, a kick in the butt for me to be like, all right, like this has to stop. Like I need to do something different. Okay, I've been doing the same thing for 8 months now. It's not working. So I need to do something different. And that's when I kind of just had a, you know, like something in my brain just clicked where I was like, I'm going to really I'm going to start to change my attitude and I'm going to start really fighting now, basically. So that's when my outlook changed. And I also just had this super, super strong desire to be an amazing wife and a mother. I wanted to be a mom so bad. Friends around me were getting pregnant and I was at the age where everyone's lives were kind of coming together. And I'm like, okay, well, I'm just stuck here in this bed and I can't do anything. When obviously the last thing I need is to be pregnant. So, you know, I'm not going to do that. So I'm going to try to get healthy so I can get to the point where I can take care of a child. So it was like that, that will inside of me to be a mom was another thing that really helped me shape my outlook into like, okay, I'm really like the disease is controlling me, but I'm gonna get it to the point where I'm going to be in control of it. And that's basically where I'm at now.

Hmm.

Well, and that leads us right into the next segment, which is healing consists of choices. Fighting is a mindset, healing consists of choices. And one of the things that I felt from you right away when we started talking a year and a half ago is You have made a steady— we, we talk about the losses of chronic Lyme so casually because we have to, because no one— we've all had the same, like, years and years of losses, and we can spend the entire show talking about those losses.

Oh my God, I know, right?

But the point is, is what I felt in you, which is what I feel in a lot of the people we end up interviewing, is that you made a lot of conscientious choices over and over and over again to bring your life out of that pit, to repair what you could, to control what you could, right? So even for you, like, after you got healthy, having been exposed to this and having battled it, you consciously made a choice to not give birth to a kid, but you still wanted to be a mom, correct?

Um, and that was something I really, really struggled with for a long time because I was like, Like I said, everyone around me was getting pregnant. And it was hard for me to watch that because, you know, you grow up, you're like, I'm gonna go to college, I'm gonna get married. I'm going to, you know, buy a house, and then I'm going to have children. And so, you know, that's what you just think that your life is going to be. But when something like something physical happens to you, like in my case, Lyme disease, I was like, all right, I'm making this steady progression in my health. So what are my choices here? Do I want to get pregnant and potentially risk having to lose all of the progress that I've made? And do I want to potentially risk passing this on to a fetus? And at the time, I was still taking some medicines as well that were contraindicated for pregnancy. I was like, you know, collaboratively with my then husband, we were like, okay, you know, maybe for our first child we will adopt a child. And then, um, you know, when we're ready for a second child, which would be in like a year or two, hopefully my health is in a place where I'm able to carry a child and, you know, without— with even a smaller risk than I had before. So that was the goal, was to just be healthy enough to take care of a baby, even though it wasn't my biological baby. But being— that was huge for me, just to be like, okay, I am confident enough in my body that I can take care of someone else and not worry about myself 24/7.

How much of a process of, like, faith was that for you?

Or I mean, it was huge because I just was like, I don't know, I just kind of looked at it as like, this is the life that, you know, God has given me. And what am I going to do? Am I going to sit here and just cry that I can't carry my own child and be sad about it? Yeah, I mean, I did that a couple times. But then I was like—

Doesn't get you very far.

No, it doesn't. I was like, I'm not— this isn't helping. So I was like, it doesn't matter where this baby is going to come from. I'm still going to be the mother and I'm still going to love it just the same as I would if I had carried her for 9 months.

Right. Yeah. And I love that about your story is because I remember I had already had 3 biological kids by the time I found out I had Lyme. And two of my kids have it. But when I was watching, before I even knew officially that I had Lyme, I was watching Under Our Skin, the documentary. And, um, at the very end, the woman who lived in Hawaii was having a baby on purpose knowing she was probably gonna give it to that kid. And I was so pissed at her, right? Oh my gosh.

I'm thinking you have to make a well-thought-out decision for everyone involved. I'm like, okay, if I have this huge relapsing episode afterward, A, who's going to take care of the baby? And then B, who's going to take care of me? Right.

But you also can't live in fear, which is what this illness does to you, is it paralyzes you to believe that you do not have any options.

Correct. Yes, that is absolutely 100% correct. And I know people who have been through this and they're just like, well, I guess I'm just not meant to be a mom. And they just you know, they— that, you know, that hope and dream is just gone. And I'm like, you know, to each their own, obviously. But in my case, I just knew, like, in my heart that I still wanted to be a mom and I was going to adopt a baby. And it was— I would— that's— this is just my life, and I'm totally fine with that now.

Well, and you made other choices too, though, because let's talk about you also made a choice to move back home with mom and dad at one point so that you could take care of your health.

Correct. When I was, like I said, knee-deep in all this, I was 29 at the time. So, you know, when my then husband— we were living together, we had just purchased like a new home, like everything's great. And then, you know, this whole thing happened. So he was working full time and just during the day was like just getting through the day. I know that there are people out there who can literally relate when you say like you just don't even know if you're gonna like survive the day. Yeah. And I— there were so many times where I was scared I was just like gonna die. And like I was scared to be alone because I thought I was gonna die. So I was like, instead of my mom or my dad coming over to my house every day, you know, it just made sense for me to go stay there. So there were, you know, I would stay there for consecutive days in a row. Sometimes I'd go home to my home on the weekends. Sometimes my then-husband would come over during the week, like, to visit after he would work, or he would stay the night there. And I could— I'd be like, I'm like, this is it, like, I'm gonna die tonight, so you should come and like say goodbye, you know. So, um, like, I can kind of laugh about it now, but back then I was like, I'm literally dying tonight, so You know, so I wanted to just be around my family because I was just so scared. So yeah, I just, you know, I just packed up the necessities that I needed. And I had only lived like 20 minutes away from my parents anyway. So it wasn't that big of a deal. But instead of me laying at home by myself all day, at least I was laying at home and my parents were there.

So Well, and I think the thing that shines through to me in the stories of people who are getting better, who are healing, is that they make those choices within a lack of choices. They still make choices and they don't get frozen.

Right, exactly. You know, it's like anything, you know, I wasn't there for that long. I think I ended up— it was probably like 2, 3 months I was there, like on and off. And, you know, I felt like I was helping my then husband because I was like, okay, he's not gonna have to like work from home every day. He doesn't have to worry about me if I— he knows that somebody else is caring for me. So I felt like I was making the right decision at that time.

That is a very powerful statement because what I find consistently is that, and I've done it myself over and over again, if you don't know the right decision, then you do nothing or you find fault in every possible decision. And I was on a call the other day and for every one thing I said, hey, well, here's an option that you could do. She had 8 reasons why that would never work. But that's a whole mindset that says, you know what, I have confidence in myself to believe that because people want a guarantee and there are no guarantees with this.

There are none.

And so if you go into it with that expectation— and that's something that Aaron and I came to eventually, realizing if one of us makes a decision and the other one is annoyed about it, then it's easy to blame the other person. But we just came to this place where we had to say, we think this is the best decision for right now, and we're not going to regret it whether it pans out the way we think or not. We're just going to just own it and keep moving forward.

Yeah, I totally agree. And that was kind of my mindset at that point where I was just like, I— me being at home all day by myself isn't helping me. It's only gonna— it's making me like more depressed, basically, just staring at the same walls all day. So I might as well go and stare at the walls on my parents' house and have people to talk to.

Yes.

So, you know, that happened.

That's an act of resilience. That's a choice. To be made within crappy choices, right? Um, okay, talk to us during this whole— we kind of glossed over it, but you're going through this several-year process of not knowing what's going on, right? Understanding Western medicine versus holistic medicine, you start embracing that. But during that time, life is not going good for you in all other realms, right?

Um, yeah, I mean, I had had I had lost some friends, obviously. And that was like really heartbreaking for me. I think it was also like, it just depends on like how the Lyme affects you. And for a while, like obviously it like crippled my body, but it also just like crippled my brain. Like I couldn't do anything. Like I just remember like not being able to tie my shoes, like not being able to really like formulate sentences very well, not knowing if like I'd be standing there in the shower and I'm like, oh, shampoo, conditioner, which one goes first? I just felt so like I had a learning disability basically. And I think that that kind of scares people. When they see you, they almost don't know what's going on. And if they don't take the time to try to educate themselves about it, then that it just kind of turns people off. It's almost like you become almost inconvenient to them, I guess you could say, where it's like something really hardcore is going on and some people just cannot— they just can't handle it. So whether that's family or that's friends, I see that as a pattern with chronic illness. Like people come and go out of people's lives and the people who stay through that, you know that, I mean, they're like the real thing. So, you know, so yeah, some friends and obviously like the job loss, I, there was just no way. I mean, I would just be standing there like looking at the math book of like the lessons I had to teach and I'm like, what is this? Like, I just couldn't even like comprehend what I was supposed to teach and like the lights and like everything was just so overstimulating for me that I was like, I can't even like be in the school anymore. So losing the career was a big deal. And then obviously losing friends and then just having— I've had some people in my family accuse me at that point of just being depressed, or I had somebody say that I was seeking attention and just all kinds of things where you're like, people, you know me. Why all of a sudden? Am I like falling off my rocker and I'm depressed? I don't get it, you know.

Um, but then what would you say to other people, or what do you say to other people when you do wellness coaching with them? When— how do you own— how do you take responsibility for yourself when you're struggling to tie your shoes or remember if you shampooed your hair or not? Like, how do you empower people to keep making decisions and fighting for their health when everything in your life is saying You shouldn't make a decision. You're not capable. You're, you know.

Yeah, I just like, I don't know, I just always felt like, okay, I'm at such a low point. I'm like, it can only get better from here. And that's what I tell people all the time. I'm like, it can't get any worse. I'm like, it's only going to get better. And, um, you know, finding something that motivates you to want to keep fighting. And like I said, for me it was the dream of having a family one day. Like, I could not— like, the Lyme already took so much from me that I was like, I cannot let this completely destroy this dream that I have for myself. And that's kind of like— that just made everything more clear to me and gave me such a reason to fight even harder. I mean, even when we were adopting her in Hawaii, I still was symptomatic and still having problems, but I'm like, it's now or never. So literally I was like, I'm just here and I'm just going for it. So, and this is it. And I'm going to do the best that I can and give this baby the best mother that I can be.

Well, and we have two, our two youngest are both adopted from Ethiopia and we had, yes, three biological. And my first pregnancy was so awful and I was sick the whole time. No one knew why I was in and outta the hospital. I was constantly dehydrated, just had all these random, weird, unexplained issues. Yeah. And we thought, oh, it can't be any worse. I mean, it can't get any worse. Like that had to be this fluke thing. And the second pregnancy actually was worse and I was in the hospital and on bed rest and all these different things. And so we had concluded, we were like, okay, we wanted to have a big family, but we're not. But like, we knew right away that, okay, my body can't handle being pregnant again. We want more kids. We will definitely adopt. And I had, we both wanted to adopt. We ended up with a third little Margarita baby. Um, that was not planned, but that just confirmed like my body's inability to do those hard things, like go through a pregnancy.

It's a big deal for even healthy people to go through pregnancy, you know? It is.

But you know what, it's interesting because I remember someone saying like, oh well, don't you think— I don't know, something to the extent of, oh well, you know, isn't that going to be hard? And I was like, yeah, it will. I mean, obviously I didn't know I was super sick at that point, but I thought, yeah, it will. But okay, I'd rather them be in my home and I'm laying on the couch than them be in an orphanage while I'm laying on the couch. Right. I had no idea what I was up against, you know, on any level. I didn't know I was going to be totally disabled for 8 years. But, you know, I'm, I'm proud of that choice, even though it's been a very hard one to implement with, with the, the issues that come with chronic Lyme and the longevity of it.

Yeah, but no, that's like a really positive, um, outlook that you have of, you know, I'd rather have them be with me than be in an orphanage. And I'm sure they would 100% agree as well.

Most days, probably. Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. Hi guys, I want to let you know about a book I wrote called Little Bite, Big Trouble, and I'm going to read a review that recently came in. This is from Carolyn, and and she says, "Thank you so much for writing your book. It has become the means by which I have explained Lyme to my 4-year-olds. They ask for it to be read as a bedtime story over and over again and love that the mama birdie does yoga and juicing like their mommy. I can't thank you enough for writing this book. It has helped my family so much." You can find it today at amazon.com, Little Bite, Big Trouble. For nearly two decades, Invita Medical Center has been leading the way with the latest in personalized treatment options designed for patients dealing with Lyme disease complex. At Invita Medical Center, they offer a team-style approach and the latest technology regarding treatment and testing at an unmatched radical love and care environment for their patients. Call to speak to one of the patient care coordinators today to learn why hundreds of patients choose Invita Medical Center each year. You can find them online at invita.com. Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. But so let's talk about living and living being the outcome of those choices, of those mindsets, of that proactive Action. And so you ended up as a teacher saying, I don't want anyone to suffer this way. I love all this integrative medicine, plant-based medicine. I'm going back to school to become a naturopathic doctor. And that's the path you're on.

Yep. Yeah, exactly. I had started the natural health practitioner program and What should have only taken me like a year and a half ended up taking me 3 years because, you know, we had adopted the baby and then I had unfortunately gone through a divorce as well. So that kind of got put on the back burner for a little while. But after the divorce, it was again, it was like a kick in my butt where I was like, okay, I have to provide for this little girl. So I'm going to finish this. So I just, you know, was up till like 3 in the morning every, you know, for months trying to get this degree done. So I finished that. And then I'm like, all right, like, what's next? Like, what else can I do to better myself and to provide, you know, for my daughter and also provide for, um, and like the chronic illness community? Um, you know, what else can I do? So that's why I decided I'm going to finish that, the naturopathic doctor, um, program. So, um, you know, by getting in the naturopathic license and learning more about all these different realms of medicine, I myself have learned through trial and error with myself with all kinds of plant-based antibiotics and antifungals and antivirals and homeopathic things and energetic medicines and frequency-based things. I've done all these things to myself that I was like, okay, well, I'm still alive and they've all helped me. I want to be able to learn more about them and be able to offer that to other people as well. So that's why I'm like, I'm just going to keep moving forward. And I still teach. I teach part-time. I work Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and I teach young adults who have significant cognitive disabilities at a local community college. But Tuesdays, Thursdays, I'm trying to build my practice. You know, like really make myself known in the community and, um, online and doing a lot of networking and marketing. And, um, you know, I just want to be able to give back. Like, that was the big thing too for me when I was really in the trenches as well. I was like, if I survive this, I want to be able to do something where I'm giving back to this community because there were so many people like who didn't know me, like in all these Facebook groups and local support groups, like people just like being so kind to me and just a listening ear or somebody referring me to a doctor. Like, just— I met so many wonderful people on that horrendous journey that I was like, I want to be somebody for people who are going through this type of thing, somebody that they can trust. Somebody that can relate to them and somebody that they can literally just voice all their concerns to. I mean, if I'm going to go to— and it's happened to me several times. I go to my doctor, I'm like, hey, it feels like somebody just like beat me in my shins with a golf club. They're like, okay. So, you know, like they don't know what that feels like.

Right.

But if I was to say, you know, if I were to go on one of these support groups, I would have like 15 people who would be like, oh yeah, like I've had that and this is how, you know, this is what worked for me. Maybe it'll work for you. So I want to be able to, like, I feel like I've literally lived through and been through every single symptom that you can think of that comes along with this. And I've had to do a lot of troubleshooting for myself and figure things out for myself. And it's a lot of trial and error. So, yeah, that's why I went back to school so I could like, not only am I still learning, and I love to learn, but through what I do, I can continue to teach. And teaching has always been my number one passion in life. I have always wanted to be a teacher. I've never steered in any other way in my life. I've always wanted to be an educator. So through this, I'm still— I'm like, I'm educating people and teaching them ways that they can get better.

That's awesome. Yeah, that's really awesome. You know, and it's funny too because I felt, I felt the same way. That's why we launched the podcast, was I just, I wanted to give back. Yes, because the suffering is so immense.

It's so immense. It's like you can't even— it's so immense that I even write about it like in blogs and things. Like, it's so immense to the point where I like, I didn't even want to be alive anymore. Like, I just Oh yeah. Like I just literally was like, okay, maybe if I kill myself, then I won't be putting all of this financial burden and emotional burden on all these people around me. But then like I said, when I had that conversation with my mom saying like, I think, yeah, you know what? I think it's just my time. She's like, no. I'm like, okay, if I die, all these people are going to be miserable around me. So I need to continue to keep fighting. They would rather have me be alive and be miserable than me be gone. So I'm like, "Hmm, well, I guess my presence really is worth something to these people. So I'm going to keep trying to, you know, dig myself out of this hole." Yeah. Hmm. Yes. I mean, if you've never been through it, it's— I mean, I, you know, I have a lot of friends who were there for me. Constantly, and they just, you know, they see it firsthand. Um, but like nobody will know what it's like to actually feel like what was happening inside of your body, right?

And then being able to problem solve. And I have seen over the years— um, I do not have any statistical data, I'm totally generalizing, and just this is what I feel, right? But I have felt like through my coaching calls that people often make more progress through a holistic practitioner who will problem solve, listen, and understand than they do through most of their physicians. And I, I've seen that so many times over and over again because it's— everyone is different. I was just having this extensive phone call with someone about vitamin D and how people process through different types of vitamin D. And all— most people who have Lyme will show up vitamin D deficient, but there's different types of vitamin D, and sometimes taking vitamin D can actually block your ability to absorb other supplements, right? Okay, so that—

I mean, that is different. Everybody is totally, you know, we are all made up— totally different and nobody knows how you as an individual are going to react. And, um, it's all just, like I said, troubleshooting and trial and error. And, um, you have to be patient and you— it's good to work with practitioners who are patient as well.

But who get it. And that was one of the things I asked you. I said, what makes you different? And you said, well, I get it.

Right. Yeah. I mean, I get it. I don't know what else to say. It's just like if you've been through it and you've lived through it and anybody who goes through any kind of significant, you know, whether it be cancer or, you know, any other kind of debilitating or chronic thing and you survive it, like you get it. You know the emotional and the physical strain that it can put on you. And to be able to— like, 9 times out of 10, you're going to go to a doctor and you have, you know, whatever condition, and odds are they have not had that condition. They know what the textbook treatment is. But, you know, they're not going to sit there and talk to you for an hour about homeopathy or vitamins and minerals and repairing your gut and this and that. So it's like it just all takes this like holistic approach with like a team of people. And, you know, I, you know, I kind of came to the conclusion with myself, I'm like, all right, like, you know, I have my quote-unquote Lyme doctor, I have a naturopath doctor, and then I have a, you know, just a family medicine doctor who's integrative. And I'm like, this is just the team, these are my people, and whatever, you know, they, they get me through. And I bounce or I get advice from one and then I take it to the other and then they add their opinion. And it's amazing to have these people who all have their little specialty and they all can give me ideas for myself. And then I kind of figure it out on my own as well.

Yeah, and that's just part of the process.

It is, unfortunately, and it's obnoxious, but yeah, it is like, it's, it can be obnoxious and frustrating, but, um, it's just what comes with the territory of this disease.

So you had written a blog post called Healing the Heart, and we talked so much about the social-emotional side of things, but then living and learning, learning to live again. Um, for me, I have— I'm continuing to try to learn to live, um, outside of the dysfunction of being in pain all the time, because for me that was a huge issue for over a decade, was just excruciating pain, and it changed the way I moved. It changed— in fact, I quit moving and quit functioning and quit getting up off the couch in, in order to survive. But I've had to unlearn all that dysfunction.

And, um, totally.

So let's just talk about healing the heart, because people do experience immense losses. Like, we— there, there are so many people are going through bankruptcy bankruptcy, they're getting divorced, they're losing their professions, they're losing their families, or you lose chunks of time with them. And so how do you heal, one, while still being sick, and then two, how do you heal differently than when you're really in the recovery phase?

Right.

Um, it was bizarre for me because I just remember when I was like really sick, I was like, I am so fortunate that like I would be in these support groups and there would be women talking about, you know, how their husbands had left or how It was like they just couldn't— the husbands just couldn't handle it, basically. Like, it was so stressful and such a strain on their marriage that they ended up getting divorced or separating. And I was like thinking to myself, like, oh my god, I can't believe like these men are leaving these poor women when they're sick. I'm like, I'm so lucky. Like, you know, I'm so lucky that my husband is still here and I don't have to go through that. And he supports me. And like, I don't know what I would have done if if my marriage was ending while I was literally debilitated, I don't know how I would have done it. I mean, even when I was still sick, when I was very sick, I was going to therapists once or twice a week because I was like, I have to still somehow be an asset to this marriage even though I feel like I'm a waste of space, basically. Healing when you're sick, like you said, is going to be totally different than healing once you have gotten better. My divorce didn't really— I mean, my illness may have pertained and there may have been some preconceived things that may have carried on into my divorce. I'll never really know. But afterward, experiencing a trauma like that, it's like just so important for somebody who has Lyme or any other chronic illness to really get control of your mind and your emotions because they all work together. It's like mind, body, soul, you know, and your physical— your mental health impacts your physical health. And I write about that in my blog about how, like, you know, I just wasn't I was sleeping and obviously I had a newborn and there was a lot going on and I was by myself. And I was finally, you know, we moved forward with the adoption because I was like, "Okay, I'm healthy enough. I can do this." But then when my marriage started to, you know, take a turn for the worse, I was like, "Hmm, okay. So now I have to find this other, like I have to dig really deep within myself to really figure this out so I do not relapse."— and that was like my biggest fear was going through that divorce was me getting sick and then possibly losing my baby. So I, you know, I felt it like I was still working part-time as the teacher and I could— like I felt it, I felt something happening in my chest and I knew that something was like wrong. Basically, I just had this like sharp pain like a knife felt like it was stabbing through my chest wall. And then, you know, I had gone to the cardiologist and had irregular EKGs and blood work and all kinds of stuff. And I was like, you know, my doctor's like, this is literally like all of the stress that you're going through. Like, you are putting yourself in this position to just completely crash again. And I was glad that he said it to me very bluntly. Because I knew that like I was so depressed over what was happening in my marriage and I was so sad and I knew that no matter what I did, like, I, you know, my husband was gone. So I was like, I have to get control of my mind so it doesn't ruin my body. Yeah. So how did you do that? Basically, I started going to a therapist like twice a week then because I was like, once a week is not enough anymore. I'm like, I'm having Oh, I'm in full meltdown here. Yeah, major crisis and I need help. So I was there doing like a lot of cognitive behavioral therapy, um, just a lot of like mindset therapy. And, you know, I would have homework assignments and, um, it really, really, really helped me though because it was just an outside source that was looking at everything objectively and matter of fact. And same thing, she would agree with me. She's like, "Yeah, this is what's going to happen to your body. You're going to have a full-blown stress cardiomyopathy if you don't get control of yourself." And I'm like, "Okay." It scared me enough that I was like, "I really need to do something." And then I would talk with my girlfriends a lot. I would set up things that I knew made me happy. You know, just going out. It sounds so petty, but like going to Sephora, like it was like, I just like love going into Sephora. So I'm like, oh, look at all this like stuff, you know, and I just, you know, going through something like that, you feel like unattractive and you feel very just kind of like disposable. So I was doing things to just like make myself feel like look physically better as well, even though I may not have felt like it.. And then I started, I signed up at a gym that I knew, like I've never signed up at this gym site. It was always, I was always like, that place is too expensive. But you know, at that point I was like, I need to go to the gym like every day and like, you know, get personal training and whatever. So I just, you know, packed my baby up and went to the gym and signed up and started going 4 times a week. And it literally It transformed me because I forced myself to be there. When I met with the personal trainer for the first few sessions, I told him what was going on in my life. He's like, "This is your place to get your aggression out and to really continue to make yourself feel physically better as well." The exercise really, really helped me. And then I would also— there they also offered different kinds of yoga. One in particular was called Yin yoga, which was more of a meditative and just kind of like holding different poses. And it's just so quiet. It was so relaxing that I would fall asleep like at least 4 times. And then after the class, I'm like, I can never come here again because I'm so tired. Like, I can't even drive home. But It was so positive though. It was a place to just kind of like let go. And then I also joined like a local support group for women who were going through that. And that was like just so helpful for me because they were able to help kind of guide me and let me know their experiences. And you just like— I just didn't feel alone anymore. So— Yeah, just basically, I just had to restart my life and get a new place. Like, you know, just do anything that I could. And my biggest thing was I just wanted to keep a positive, like, positive, like, good vibes, basically, like positive energy for my baby. Because I'm like, if she feels me being so sad all the time, or like crying, I don't want her to I just don't want her to feel like that. We're so close. I don't want her to just feel that sadness that I have. So I would just, you know, we would go places together and just carry on with life. I mean, our life changed dramatically, but I just didn't want her to be able to pick up on that from me even though she's so young. So I just wanted to keep moving forward. And that's the biggest thing for Anybody who, like you said, you lose a career, you lose a spouse, you lose your home, or you lose, you're filing for bankruptcy. All these things are things that come along with any kind of physical turmoil basically. And it's all about, I always just say it's all about how you bounce back from it and what you do with it. Are you going to let it just destroy you? Or are you going to— like, yeah, it's gonna really suck, like, for a while, but what can you do to grow?

What can you do to mitigate the suck? Right?

I mean, it's gonna— like, it's, it's totally true. It's just, it sucks. Like, all those things suck. But how can you grow from it as a person? And if you do grow from it, just like, you know, when people they grow from getting over the— or going through these crazy diseases or any kind of serious adversity in life. You grow from it, and in the end, it just makes you such a better person. I know going through that will make me a better mom, and it'll make me a better doctor someday as well because I had gone through all of these crazy things, and I'm still alive.

Well, and I think too what's really neat is, you know, uh, for you, you had said that your passion has always been teaching and that, yeah, that was really important to you. And then you lost the ability to teach elementary school, but you have embraced that and found a new, a new sense of joy from teaching, even though it's about holistics and plant-based medicine and supplements. Correct.

And, you know, it's like, it's not like, you know, having a full-time teaching job. You're there, you're there every day, Monday through Friday. I was there from like 7:30 until 6:30, you know, every day. And that's like, I just had to be honest with myself. Like, if I'm going to be working 11, 12 hours a day, is this really going to— like, as much as I love it, is this going to be a positive choice for my health? And it's not. So being able to teach part-time is okay for me, and it's almost— the school year is almost over. And this, you know, being a natural health practitioner and one day being a naturopathic doctor, you can also make your own hours as well. So like, I knew— I know what my limitations are, and I know that I need to make accommodations for myself as well because nobody else is going to do that for me.

You know what, that is really true. No one else is going to make accommodations for you, and that—

I hear people unconsciously expecting that a lot, right? They do, but it's, it's just not going to happen. I mean, you have— I mean, unless you have some kind of plan implemented, you know, and your company is required to do that for you, then great. But odds are you're not going to be at a job where they're going to be accommodating for you. So, you know, I knew that and I said, okay, like, you know, I can teach X amount of hours Monday, Wednesday, Friday and still be okay, still be able to, you know, work out and still take care of my baby and still, you know, try to eat healthy and do all these things I need to do in order to keep myself healthy. But it's not realistic for me to work 11 hours a day. Like, it's just not because when you're teaching, you're on your feet the whole time. Oh gosh, yeah. I mean, it's, it's very demanding mentally and, um, you know, physically. So I just kind of had to make that decision even though I hated it. But, you know, I just said it's just not going— this is, this isn't going to benefit me. So it's always something I have to bet— I can always fall back on it. So like, I'm thankful for that. But, um, you know, if, if I can not do that and just still do what I love in these different, you know, increments like I'm doing now, then it's, it's great. It's the best of both worlds.

It really is. And I think, um, one of the things that I learned through this whole, whole process, and I'm still learning, but to make those conscientious choices, to not just assume— like, and for me, I owned a real estate brokerage, and I have not been there Um, really in— I signed over the company in 2013, but I hadn't been in the office in 2 years at that point. And I had always worked from home cuz that's what I was capable of and it gave me a lot of freedom. But like one of the things I really struggle with is transposing numbers still. Yeah. Of course. And it's so frequent that the thought of like writing a legal contract is just absolutely terrifying. And there are checks and balances in place that would compensate for that. But the amount of stress for me that comes through dealing with numbers and contracts, and that's a switch, switch for me. I used to love reading contracts and understanding the legal terminology and forming a picture in my head and doing that. And yet, and there were so many years in, even in like walking this whole self-employment route. I mean, I was self-employed as a real estate brokerage owner, so that wasn't new to me, but just in having to develop new skill sets and new mindsets and new career paths and, and to then own it. And so for me, for several years, I would be like, did I make the right decision? Because I still haven't matched my income, like, and money is so important right now. Maybe I made the wrong decision and I should have just gone back to what I know. And it took conscientious hours and hours of Aaron and I talking through it to say No way, that was never going to work for me. I could not, and emotionally, I could not go back into something that was not meaningful for me anymore.

Right. Yeah, exactly. So you make a new path for yourself and you find something that you are equally as passionate about as your previous employment and you just roll with it from there.

So Tammy, people who want to get in touch with you and take advantage of your 15-minute consultation, where do they just go to? Naturallywithtammy.com?

Yeah, give us, give us the lowdown. Yeah, so you can just go, um, to my website. It's, uh, naturallywithtammy.com, and you can click on wellness coaching and scroll down and you'll see that there's a little button down there that says schedule a free consultation now. And that's just like a 15 to 20 minute, you know, meet and greet and just see if I can be of service to you and if we would be a good match to work together to get you to your optimal, you know, level of wellness.

Awesome.

Tammy, thank you so much for being with us today. Yes, thank you so much for having me finally.

I know, it was a labor of love. It took us a while, but we got it. Yes, I'm so glad. Yeah, Naturally with Tammy. Tammy with an I. Naturallywithtammy.com. Look it up, book an appointment, and get ready to problem solve. All right, we know that you guys love what we are doing here at Lion Voice, and so many of you have reached out and want to help and support what we are doing.

Yeah, we would love your help and support, and we have a way for you to do that at lionvoice.com. If you look on the right-hand side, you'll see a little, a little part where you can put in your donation of one time, or if you want to sign up and become one of our monthly partners, go to lionvoice.com and help support us.

Disease is contrary to life. Therefore, wherever disease exists, life must also fight to exist.

Good job fighting, Lyme fighters. Keep it up. We'll see you next time. LionVoice contains general information about medical conditions and treatment. The information is not advice and should not be treated as such. Okay, Lincoln? Okay. The medical information on LionVoice is provided as is without any representations, warranties, expressed or implied. Okay? Okay. LionVoice makes no representations or warranties in relation to the medical information on this podcast. You must not rely on the information on this podcast as an alternative alternative to medical advice from your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you have any specific questions about your medical matter, you should consult your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. And for you, you consult your parents, okay? Okay. If you think you may be suffering from any medical condition, you should seek immediate medical attention. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment because of information on this podcast.

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