Latest / Daily Influence / 514. From Dismissed to Empowered: Emily Gardner’s Journey in Functional Medicine and Women’s Wellness

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514. From Dismissed to Empowered: Emily Gardner’s Journey in Functional Medicine and Women’s Wellness · Daily Influence

• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the daily influence where our mission is to deliver a daily dose of positive influence that can uplift you personally or be shared within your sphere of influence.
• 0:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: While not every episode may directly apply to your unique circumstances, we strive to provide insights and inspiration relevant to most people's daily, weekly, and monthly lives.
• 0:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Whether you are tuning in during the morning, noon or night, the daily influence is here for you.
• 0:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Listen, share, and embrace the power of influence in your life.
• 0:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: Welcome to Daily Influence.
• 0:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm Greg Molino.
• 0:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: Today I'm Daily Influence.
• 0:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm thrilled to welcome Emily Gardner, a former nurse turned functional medicine practitioner who is helping women reclaim their health after being dismissed by conventional healthcare systems.
• 0:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: Through her platform, EM integrated wellness.
• 1:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: In her online presence at nurse acne, Emily and powers women to take a proactive, personalized approach to healing.
• 1:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: Doesn't advocate for wellness in the nursing profession and recently contributed a heartfelt post to Operation Happiness, a nonprofit supporting nurses facing stress and burnout.
• 1:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: Her journey is one of resilience advocacy and impactful change.
• 1:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I can't wait to dive in with her.
• 1:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: Emily, welcome to Daily Influence.
• 1:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for having me, Greg.
• 1:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm like, would you share up at about your background on what led you to where you are today with our listeners?
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Of course.
• 1:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: If we kind of go back to the very beginning to explain a little bit about who I am and how I ended up in this field, I am the oldest of three, the first born daughter in my family to two younger brothers.
• 1:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: And from a young age, I kind of assumed the role of caretaker in our family.
• 1:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: As a firstborn, I was pretty type A. I love school.
• 2:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: I loved being a high achiever and I liked when my parents really told me I was doing a good job.
• 2:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that was something that I really valued from a young age was school education.
• 2:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: and from a young age I really was interested in how the body worked and what it could do.
• 2:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: So science was always my favorite subject and then in high school I started taking more biomedical classes and I kind of knew that I wanted to enter the medical field as my career path at that point, but I knew med school was going to be too much schooling.
• 2:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: for me.
• 2:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: So an undergrad I decided to get my degree in nursing and started working as a registered nurse in the hospital setting by twenty eighteen.
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I had been a nurse for a little less than two years was really just starting to get my footing when twenty twenty hits a year none of us could have really anticipated at the time.
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: And as we all know and as every healthcare worker can still feel the impact of it was a very challenging time aside from
• 3:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: The stress I was experiencing at work, I started to experience my own health issues.
• 3:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was developing very painful, cystic acne that I thought at the time, maybe was related to just masking, but I also started to develop a lot of severe gut issues.
• 3:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I started seeing my own team of doctors for these issues that was my primary care provider, dermatologist, my gynaecologist, and they all kind of approach my health struggles from a different angle.
• 3:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: trying to determine if the acne acid reflux, bloating, was hormone driven, stress induced, bacterial infection, et cetera, et cetera.
• 3:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I was started on host of medications, kind of follow the conventional medicine route of trialing until something sticks.
• 3:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: So they put me on an acid reducer for my stomach for my skin.
• 3:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: They took me on and off for a control.
• 3:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: I started antibiotics medications to regulate my hormones and none of those worked.
• 3:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was also started on a nine month run of acutane, which is the strongest harshest medication on the market for any chronic acne cases.
• 4:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: So during with that time, I dealt with a lot of debilitating symptoms and the worst part was that it just felt like none of the medications.
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: we're working.
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I will say my skin cleared for a short period of time and then about four months after I got off of Acutane, which is many women's stories, the acne comes raging back.
• 4:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: So what was supposed to be this curall last-age effort medication, it failed for me and I thought, where are we going next?
• 4:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Everything I've ever been taught, the medication isn't working and so where do I go from here now?
• 4:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: Wow, what a story.
• 4:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for sharing that.
• 4:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: You spoke and openly about being dismissed in the conventional medical space.
• 4:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: How did that experience shape your current approach to caring influence your mission?
• 4:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so, you know, it was hard to continue working in the medical system when it was actively failing me to convince my patients, you know, don't worry.
• 5:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: The medication will work.
• 5:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: You just have to give it time when I myself was not having success with my own health journey and conventional medicine.
• 5:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: It sometimes may be feel like I was giving my patients false confidence in a system that I no longer fully trusted.
• 5:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: So my own doctors even knew that I was an nurse and often would refuse to run deeper lab testing on me stating that insurance would uncover it or dismissing my symptoms.
• 5:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: And just not taking the time to dig deeper into the connectivity of my symptoms, which is so important because our body's work as a system, you know, your lungs cannot work without the blood that's being pumped to them from your heart, just as an analogy, you know, your
• 5:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: lung issue could really be a blood flow issue.
• 5:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: So our system has become so fragmented.
• 5:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: You see a different doctor for everything nowadays.
• 5:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so each time I saw a new professional and they all were not willing to work together really get to a deeper root cause.
• 6:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: I became very frustrated.
• 6:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I thought, you know, if they'll treat me this way, someone who they know is coming in, educated, well-versed in the system as a nurse myself.
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  [SPEAKER_01]: how in the world are any other patients advocating for themselves.
• 6:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: So once I started my training as an integrative practitioner, I knew I wanted to do it differently, and I wanted all people, but especially women to feel heard in a system that just too frequently dismisses them.
• 6:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for sharing that.
• 6:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's so true.
• 6:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: Can you tell us about a moment or experience where you've thought you made a positive impact on someone's life through your wellness work?
• 6:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, absolutely.
• 6:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: So my main work is mainly with women that are experiencing chronic acne, gut or hormonal health issues.
• 6:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I work very intimately with them for months on in to get to the root cause of their symptoms.
• 6:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: So as I've kind of shared about my own health struggles, I was struggling in many areas, but the most debilitating one for me was my acne.
• 6:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was not only painful,
• 6:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: But it affected how I showed up every day in my life.
• 7:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, it really took away my confidence, caused me to miss social events, it affected my dating life in my mid-twenties and changed how I showed up at work and even in any room that I walked into, I often wish that no one would notice me and my face when I walked in and I just became very naked mild, which is not my natural outgoing personality.
• 7:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I was just so terrified for people to see my face and it
• 7:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: had me, you know, keeping myself from taking risks and showing up authentically.
• 7:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: So now when I meet with women in their first call and they tell me how long they've been dealing with acne or chronic bloating or painful periods and they describe just how uncomfortable they felt in their body.
• 7:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: for sometimes as long as a decade or more.
• 7:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they feel like they have no control of their health.
• 7:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: I feel it so deeply with them and kind of sit in that moment with them of like, I see you, I hear you.
• 7:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I wish so badly that I had had someone years ago that would have just held my hand and said, not only do I believe you, but we're going to get to the bottom of this together.
• 8:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what I strive to provide for every single one of my clients is not just the proven protocols that bring them back to health.
• 8:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: but the love and individual attention that their story deserves to be heard and that they're allowed to take up space in the medical system.
• 8:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's great that you're there for them.
• 8:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's been very impactful for me to work with women.
• 8:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'll bet.
• 8:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, the IM team series all about showing up with intention and responsibility.
• 8:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: How do you encourage women to take ownership of their own health journeys while also feeling supported?
• 8:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love this question because it's something I think about often you know I don't want to just give someone a protocol to go home with loosely follow it because I told them so you know I want them to feel connected to the why of what we're doing and understanding the underlying dysfunction that was revealed in your labs I want them to be connected to it so
• 8:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: When I'm recommending these diets lifestyles and supplement supports, you know, I want them to understand the deeper issue and how lifestyle nutrition and these changes that we're making are really going to support them.
• 9:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I feel like when you're more connected to the work.
• 9:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: you're more willing to follow through and I try and educate as much as I can with my clients.
• 9:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: And remind them at the end of every call or email to not hesitate and reach out with any questions as they come up.
• 9:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think many women are used to having their questions push to side or just not answered at all and leave the obviously like they were spoken at instead of having a conversation with their provider.
• 9:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I want them to ask questions, so they feel like they're finally taking ownership of their health and can take that knowledge that they gained in our time together to empower them in the future.
• 9:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's wonderful.
• 9:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: You do that.
• 9:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, over the years, and I'm sure you've seen so many different, you know, issues that women are facing.
• 9:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: Are there a few different things that you've seen that are really rude cause of many of the issues?
• 10:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: So a lot of root causes are really rooted in the our bodies inability to continue to break down all of the toxins and inputs that we have coming in every day.
• 10:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: So whether that is toxins from our actual environment, things from our food sources that we're being inundated with and our body's detox systems, like our liver and the ability for our gut to break these things down, they get broken down over time.
• 10:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then you add in that we're in a high stress environment every day, you know, just the way we move about the way that we show up in business and we're trying to run households and teams and all of these things.
• 10:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so the body just becomes sluggish over time.
• 10:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we see a main driver for underlying root causes to be stress because when your cortisol is high, your gut does not function properly.
• 11:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now your liver is not able to keep up with what it's trying to push out and your body's immune system breaks down.
• 11:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: So stress is actually a huge underlying factor because from that root cause,
• 11:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: then it allows for your gut to become a place in which more bad bacteria can grow, let's say, or it pushes your hormones so far.
• 11:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: They now you're having your regular cycles and the issues that come up with that with women.
• 11:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: So if I could say one underlying factor to be an umbrella that everything kind of offshoot from stress is a main impactor.
• 11:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: That would make sense.
• 11:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: You see a lot more stress in today's society.
• 11:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: You recently wrote
• 11:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: for operation happiness, the platform that focuses on stress and mental health and nursing profession.
• 11:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: Why is this community work so important to you and how does it influence your greater mission?
• 11:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so I think the whole world kind of got to see for the first time the curtains pulled back on our health care system during the pandemic, but truthfully the problems that existed there have existed for a long time.
• 12:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: So we have a population like I said that's getting sicker and sicker.
• 12:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: And our healthcare workers are being pushed to their max capacity, both physically and mentally every day.
• 12:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: I saw many nurses leave the bedside during COVID and they were just overworked over stress, could not keep up.
• 12:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: And as I still work in the hospital as a registered nurse on the days, I'm not seeing my own clients.
• 12:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've seen a shift in the mentality with my fellow nurses.
• 12:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Everyone's exhausted.
• 12:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: and it makes it hard for us to show it for our patients in the best way possible.
• 12:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: So no matter where my career takes me as I start to move away from bedside nursing and grow as a functional practitioner, I'm always always going to advocate for better care and treatment of our medical staff by sharing my story and advocating for mental health resources in the hospital setting.
• 12:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's great.
• 12:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: They're lucky to have you.
• 12:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I won't message our words and encouragement.
• 13:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: Would you like to share with our listeners who aspire to make a positive difference in the world?
• 13:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 13:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I want to share what so many others have shared with me over time.
• 13:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it is just get started.
• 13:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: So so many people have given me that advice and it rings true across the board.
• 13:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you want to finally take charge of your health again, just get started start with one small step at home, reach out to a practitioner or trusted resource when you're ready to dive deeper, but you have to take just that initial first step and initiative.
• 13:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you want to take
• 13:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: charge and be the change in your organization at work and start bringing maybe mental and physical health resources into the workplace.
• 13:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: You just have to start asking questions and find out how you can create a chain reaction and in your own journey at home if you're trying to change your own mental or physical health.
• 13:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Take each day as a new start and just start.
• 13:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: I just really can't reiterate it enough because you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish when you start to break things down into tangible steps and to not hesitate when you hit a roadblock but to really ask for help to get you to that next step because someone's always there and willing to help but you just have to take that first step and try.
• 14:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's really good advice.
• 14:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: What one small step could someone take from home?
• 14:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: for physical or mental health are just all around.
• 14:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: All the above.
• 14:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
• 14:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: I would say the first step really is to be mindful because I think we all are moving through our day so quickly and we create these routines that we may not even love and we engage in habits that we may not love every day, but you're just so used to doing it, used to doing it,
• 14:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: that you keep and continue, but if you can stop and be mindful for a moment, whether it's a deep breath or taking a couple of minutes to yourself before you get out of bed to set an intention for the day.
• 14:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Breathe into what you're wanting to see for your day, for your future, and give yourself that pause.
• 15:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think the power of a pause is huge of allowing yourself to
• 15:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: actually move through in a mindful way throughout your day.
• 15:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that starts to create a chain reaction of maybe I make a better decision for my breakfast.
• 15:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe I go on that walk after after lunch because I know it makes me feel good.
• 15:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just setting an intention and being mindful with yourself allows for you to make those changes.
• 15:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's great advice, Emily.
• 15:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for being a voice for those who felt unseen in their health journey and for taking your personal experience and trying into something.
• 15:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: empowering and transformative for others.
• 15:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: I know our listeners are going to walk away with inspiration to rethink how they can influence themselves and those around them, just beginning with how they care for themselves.
• 15:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: If our listeners want to get in touch with you, what's the best way to do so?
• 15:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so you can find me at nurse acne on Instagram.
• 16:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you're looking to take back the power of your own health and you need someone to be your advocate to guide you there.
• 16:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: I am accepting clients so you can find me through Instagram.
• 16:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: My link to my website is there also.
• 16:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: But if you're looking for just the website, you can find E.M.
• 16:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Integrativewellness.com.
• 16:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: I am there.
• 16:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can get in direct contact with me.
• 16:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I also host a women's walking group with another practitioner here in Chicago.
• 16:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's all about women getting in community through movement and our upcoming walking dates, our poster and our Instagram dates, wellness walkers Chicago.
• 16:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you're looking for something there.
• 16:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: Great Emily, we'll put all that information in the show notes.
• 16:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for joining us today.
• 16:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for having me.
• 16:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: I appreciate it.
• 16:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: To all our listeners, thanks for sending a few moments of your day with us on daily influence.
• 16:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: If something you heard moved you, share it with someone who needs to hear it too.
• 16:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: Remember the power to make a difference begins with you.
• 17:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: Your ideas, your choices and your actions.
• 17:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: Until next time, keep having a positive or responsible influence.
• 17:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: Bye-bye.