She was only 38, but she felt decades older.
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“I’m falling apart,” she told me. “My stomach hurts so badly sometimes I end up doubled over. My moods swing like a pendulum, and my skin is embarrassing."
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She confessed she doesn't enjoy food anymore because meals were just one big stressful event. Either she skips eating altogether or she has to eat such tiny meals she ends up eating constantly.
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What a blood sugar roller coaster!
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She stopped enjoying food or even wearing jeans comfortably.
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She had seen dermatologists, primary care doctors, even a naturopath and still walked away with no real solutions. Just more band-aids and more “come back later.”
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By the time she came to me, her biggest obstacle wasn’t willpower. It was the fact that nobody had actually taken the time to connect the dots and help her!
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​Instead of offering her another 7-minute doctor's appointment, I did what I do best:
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Dug deeper with functional labs. 👇
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We ran a GI Map Stool Test, a DUTCH hormone test, and I created a list of blood markers to ask her doctor for (her doctor wouldn’t run all of them - annoying trend I come across way more often than I should - but we got some really good data.
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Here are a few of the high-level findings we had to work with:
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​GI-MAP: Found an overgrowth of inflammatory bacteria, depleted amount of good bacteria, inflammatory markers through the roof (high calprotectin, occult blood) and a clear pattern of leaky gut.

(overgrowth of “bad” bacteria)

(very depleted microbiome which means a variety of serious problems were present like leaky gut, immune system suppression, inflammation, etc..)

(alarming levels of blood in the stool, immune activation, and inflammation)

DUTCH sex and adrenal hormone test: Testosterone being turned into estrogen, low testosterone but HIGH addons, tanked cortisol from the body clearing it out too fast as a way to protect itself.

(pretty flatlined cortisol awakening response screaming HPA Axis dysfunction)

(she’s making enough cortisol but the body is choosing to not keep it around as active cortisol. The body may be increasing CBG (cortisol binding globulin) to “bind up” free cortisol and protect the tissues from elevated cortisol.

So the question becomes - WHY is the body doing this?!
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​Possible reasons include: stress, infections, pain, inflammation, obesity, and insulin/glucose issues. So we address all these from a variety of angels.

(Testosterone is low because it’s being turned into estrogen BUT the androgens are exceptionally high which means even though testosterone is low, she’s still displaying symptoms of high testosterone)

Blood chemistry: Elevated cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL which are tied to her poor blood sugar handling and inflammation (and possibly thyroid as well but her doctor chose not to run those for reasons I can’t comprehend).

On paper, these results might look overwhelming. But to me they tell a clear story about why her symptoms were happening.

From there, I built her a personalized protocol:

• Starting with stabilizing her blood sugar with a food-first approach and some lifestyle shifts
• Lifestyle strategies to restore her cortisol rhythm.
• Targeted supplements for adrenal resilience, gut healing, and inflammation.
• Gut protocol to restore her microbiome back to healthy and fully functioning levels and rebuild her gut barrier.

I remember vividly our very first conversation, at the end of our discovery call she said, “Thank you for taking the time to talk to me. You’ve actually given me a lot of hope that I’ve never had before.”
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And that’s the difference between being dismissed in a 7-minute visit…and having a practitioner who knows how to work with the body, who sees how everything is connected, and who partners with you to build a plan for real healing.
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This woman’s story isn’t unique. Every week, I hear from women who’ve been told “everything is normal” or handed another band-aid solution that never changes anything.
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That’s why I do what I do. That’s why I relentlessly stay on top of the latest science. (By the way, did you know it takes an average of 17–21 years for new discoveries about the gut to make it into standard medical practice? If you’re relying on doctors alone—good luck to you 🥴).
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I was once the woman who felt frustrated and defeated by conventional medicine. I got sick of settling for “everything looks fine.”
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And I know many of you reading this are sick of settling too.
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You don’t have to settle for burnout.
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You don’t have to accept “good enough” as your reality.
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Because healing doesn’t happen in 7 minutes. It happens when someone finally sees the full picture.
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Let’s make it happen
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- Kristen
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​P.S. The tl;dr version of her lab results:

• Blood sugar dysregulation + chronic stress = HPA axis dysregulation and hormonal chaos
• A sluggish liver + inflammation = a lipid mess
• Get blood sugar steady, rebuild adrenal rhythm, open up detox/liver pathways, reduce inflammation and the lipids usually normalize without statins

If you’re ready for someone to help you connect the dots and give you the answers you’ve been searching for, let's set up a time to talk.

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