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Healing chronic illness by rewiring the brain and restoring the gut · Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News

0:06
Welcome to the auto.
0:09
Take a deep breath.
0:11
Take the higher road.
0:13
It's what they always say.
0:15
If they know the way, they won't take it from me.
0:20
Don't have a dad stuff.
0:22
It's laughing just a dream.
0:24
You made your own so kid and scream.
0:28
The laugh with a never ending force.
0:31
You never have the chance to watch away for my friend because this is time of this.
0:54
Hello, and welcome to the Nurses Report on America Out Loud Top Radio.
1:00
This is your show host, Melissa Schreibfeder, founder of both the Functional Nurse Academy and the Christian Functional Medicine Academy.
1:12
Welcome everyone.
1:14
I have another great guest lined up for you today.
1:19
She has such an amazing background, and she really is doing God's work in this world.
1:25
So today I am joined by one of my functional nurse academy graduates, Karen Bettison, who is a board certified functional medicine practitioner with her own virtual private practice, the redstone integrative health.
1:44
She is also a part-time surgical nurse.
1:48
She has been a nurse for 39 years, holds a master's degree in nursing education, and is also a board certified wound care nurse.
2:00
She formerly served for 19 years in West Africa as a nurse, Bible translator, and literacy specialist.
2:08
She has authored numerous linguistic books in five different languages, as well as a missionary memoir of her faith journey through fear, anxiety, depression, and trauma entitled I Will Fear No Evil.
2:24
She and her husband have four grown children, two of which are adopted from Guatemala and two grandchildren.
2:32
She lives on her homestead in rural Missouri with her husband, who was a pastor, teacher, and editor.
2:38
Welcome, Karen.
2:39
It's great to have you.
2:41
Thank you for having me.
2:43
So I was so impressed when you sent over your bio and all of your links and the book that you have out.
2:49
And I can't wait to post all of this in the show notes because I think that your story is so incredibly inspiring.
2:56
And I just love to hear about all of the great work that our students from FNA are doing.
3:03
And I know that you really, you know, went through the ringer with your health.
3:08
And you are so much better today through functional medicine.
3:13
Can you tell us a little bit about what happened?
3:16
Well, you know, what exactly were you struggling with and how are you doing now today?
3:22
Okay, yeah.
3:24
Um, well, my health journey, I guess, began back when I was about 19 years old.
3:29
I started having stomach pain.
3:31
And um, you know, I went to a doctor and they said, Oh, you have an ulcer here, take Zantech.
3:37
And so that was kind of the beginning of it.
3:40
And I just did what they said, and I about the same time I was studying uh in a Bible college.
3:47
I was also going to nursing school under a lot of stress, and I was working my first nursing job when I, you know, actually I got sent home from work from having severe abdominal pain, and that's when they really just you know said, hey, this is something going on.
4:05
And so I trusted that, and then I went uh overseas as a missionary, and of course, you probably know in third world countries or developing countries, like I was in West Africa.
4:16
Um, there are so many diseases and parasites, and they impact the gut.
4:23
And so I really uh struggled with that for years.
4:27
Um, cannot tell you how many episodes of a meebic dysentery I had, um, as well as different types of parasites that were diagnosed in the laboratory.
4:37
And so um, being a nurse, I was working as a nurse overseas, and I was able to get my own laboratory, my own microscope and learn how to diagnose parasites uh like malaria and roundworm and uh different simple parasites and including uh amoeba.
4:56
And so I was not only able to identify it and treat myself, but also my colleagues.
5:03
But you know, we used conventional medications, and you know, of course, that would get rid of them for a while, and then they would come back.
5:09
And of course, there were bacterial infections, and so what did we do?
5:12
We gave ourselves antibiotics and so years of that I think had its effect on my gut.
5:19
But what I didn't know all those years was that I also had celiac disease.
5:25
And so I that was not diagnosed until I was 44.
5:29
So I went all those years without a proper diagnosis.
5:33
And finally, when we did come back to the US after serving in West Africa for 19 years, a gastroenterologist did a scope and he said, I'm 99% sure you have celiac disease and my head just, you know, I just went, oh no.
5:47
You know, if I know what that means.
5:49
And so then uh, you know, I went on the gluten-free diet and started feeling better, but was still having issues, and then they took my gallbladder out.
5:58
And um, over the years, of course, I struggled with anxiety, depression.
6:03
Um, and of course, was in a very stressful environment.
6:07
But uh, little did I know that my gut health also impacted my mental health as well.
6:13
So, as I've learned functional medicine, that is one area that has really improved is my mental health after I was able to address my gut issues.
6:23
Turns out I had leaky gut.
6:25
Turns out I had two different dysbiotic bacteria, also had candida.
6:29
Um, and so after addressing all those things with a functional approach, I was able to really start feeling better eating eating foods that uh hadn't been able to eat for a while.
6:42
And I did a food sensitivity test on myself and was lactose intolerant, egg intolerant, and other things that were causing inflammation in my gut.
6:51
So when I eliminated those things, um I was able to uh improve.
6:56
And um, in addition to all of that, during all those years, I was also developing some uh precancerous tumors.
7:04
I had one in my thyroid, had 10 in my gut and my large intestine.
7:09
And um, so I was I also had some benign tumors.
7:14
Like, why am I growing tumors?
7:16
Why is this happening?
7:17
And again, now I know a lot of that's driven by inflammation.
7:20
And so once I was able to address that inflammation, um, I felt better about it, but it also set me on a journey looking at natural ways to treat cancer or prevent cancer, because I didn't want to go down the cancer road.
7:35
We had seen my husband and I had seen multiple friends, multiple family members not only died of cancer, but die horrible deaths with suffering from chemo and radiation and the effects of that.
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So we did not want to go that route.
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We thought, well, we're gonna do things different.
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We're gonna look and see how to do things naturally.
7:58
So that also set the stage for me going down this functional medicine road.
8:04
Oh, I just love to hear that you are so much better now.
8:10
And again, like using that, and I'm a big believer that God can use our suffering to do good in this world, and he can turn something something, he could turn our suffering into a blessing on the other side.
8:24
And I love that you're helping so many clients now with these issues, but I do also want to touch real quick on mental health.
8:32
Because again, as many of our listeners know, I I used to be a psych nurse and uh psychiatric care in this country, it is so incredibly outdated.
8:44
It's terrible.
8:45
There's really no thought into nutrition or how they don't even recognize the microbiome as being a factor there.
8:55
And what is so important is that so many of our neurotransmitters are actually produced in the gut.
9:01
And then also when you mentioned cancer, so cancer is basically immune system gone wild, and the immune system cannot get control of cancer cells.
9:14
Whereas a healthy person, if cells become cancerous, the immune system goes in there and cleans house.
9:21
But then also, if you work on the gut, over 70% of the immune system is right outside of the gut.
9:27
And we know everything is so interconnected.
9:30
So uh, I also um, you know, wanted to share too.
9:34
So you mentioned the mental health issues, and I feel like this is very common for nurses to have issue issues with anxiety and depression.
9:45
And we uh work in such high stressful jobs.
9:50
We are exposed to so much human suffering, and it could really, really um impact our mental health.
9:57
But I also used to.
10:00
To struggle with anxiety.
10:02
And mine is completely gone.
10:05
No, no medications.
10:07
I can literally just go anywhere by myself, just talk to anybody.
10:11
And again, I can also go live on all these platforms and I just feel fine.
10:15
And I could have never done that, you know, 10 years ago.
10:18
Right.
10:19
So, but uh, but yeah, yeah, can you?
10:22
I would love to hear, or because I I really have not covered, I I I eventually would like to do a whole show where we talk about mental health.
10:30
And I would like to touch on the mental health.
10:34
I also want to chat about the cancer and the gut and how that's all related.
10:38
But could you give me some insight about, you know, what were some, you know, targeted interventions that you did to help with your mental health.
10:51
Okay, well, yeah, that's really a good question.
10:54
Um, so initially, before I really knew much about the functional medicine, um, due to some of the traumas that I had been through in West Africa, I actually developed PTSD.
11:06
And when it came back to the States, uh, you know, obviously getting away from the cause of it helps a lot, but time heals that, but there's a certain degree to which those triggers would come back, you know, 15 years later.
11:22
And so I explored different um modalities like uh EMDR and uh try to, you know, take those really hyper vigilant reactions to the back part of my brain where it wasn't going to be so much in the forefront of my brain.
11:40
Um, and that did make a difference, but I still found myself being triggered by things that had very little to do with the original trauma, but it's just those similar chemicals in your brain can be a trigger in themselves.
11:55
And so um I started exploring as a Christian.
12:00
Uh really, you know, did a lot, I do a lot of Bible studies with women, and I had actually started a group, a support group for women with depression, and we were looking at scripture and really developing kind of like a curriculum where it's just like renewing your mind and learning how to turn, you know, use your faith as a way to address the the anxiety you feel in the depression or PTSD or whatever it is.
12:26
And so I learned a lot in that.
12:29
And then later in my functional medicine journey, I've come across a lot of people who talk about this thing called limbic system rewiring, and it's a kind of fits into the category of functional medicine.
12:41
But it it all made sense because that's kind of what I had already been trying to do.
12:45
So there was a one side of it I like to address with my clients.
12:50
If they're open to it is that whole renewing the mind, renewing the way that you um handle stress, handle anxiety and how you respond.
13:02
Um, but then on the functional medicine side, the physical side, I do believe the gut, like you said, is you know, 80% of the problem.
13:11
And uh, so I found that my biggest challenges were in the areas of my gut health, my stress, the way I was handling stress, my cortisol levels, and also my sleep.
13:24
And so I wasn't sleeping well.
13:26
Um, my mind was racing all the time.
13:29
And uh so I did some different lab tests on myself.
13:34
I did the Dutch bus, uh, found out that my cortisol levels were um high but burned out as well.
13:41
Um, I found that I did a DNA test and came to find out that I had a slow comp and uh and THFR.
13:50
So that combination can sometimes result in high anxiety.
13:54
And I was actually taking some supplements that I thought were helpful to myself, but actually were potentially increasing my anxiety and stress.
14:04
So um, for example, green tea, it I've been drinking it for years.
14:09
It's great.
14:10
But if you drink too much, and if you have too much caffeine with a slow comp, it can accelerate that anxiety and build up too much because your body isn't able to get the drain unplugged, so to speak.
14:23
And then there was um the fact that um, you know, I did have MTHFR, I didn't know anything at earlier years about methylation.
14:33
So once I got on a good uh B vitamin, uh, I think that helped a little.
14:38
Uh, but also then I found out from my genetic profile and from my uh I did a metabolomics test, and I found out that my neurotransmitters were really high.
14:49
And so I just learned different ways in functional medicine how to mitigate those and modify those levels.
14:57
And I've used a combination of trying to improve my sleep, taking different supplements that help me handle stress, um, avoiding other subs supplements that were counterproductive and just the right combination just for me and my genotype, and then of course, fixing the gut, and all of that came together after about four months of doing this master plan on myself.
15:21
I was like, oh my goodness, I'm sleeping so well, and I'm so chill, and I'm not worried about anything.
15:28
And I just felt great.
15:30
And I think that I don't even know which of the one which of those things worked better than the others, but I think it was a combination of things because we're we're complex individuals.
15:42
We're our bodies are not just one thing, and it all comes together.
15:46
And I think that's the whole science of functional medicine.
15:51
It's all the different systems functioning together and weaving together and how they all impact our health.
15:58
And so when we're addressing something, I cannot tell you how many times I see people posting in a Facebook group.
16:08
I've got anxiety, what can I take?
16:10
And I want to say it's not just about one thing.
16:13
You got to look at root causes.
16:15
You got to look at what's going on in your body, like what's, you know, what's not working.
16:20
Are you having inflammation?
16:21
Are you having, you know, what's your genotype?
16:23
What all these things come together?
16:25
Do you have gut dysbiosis?
16:27
And then you fix those things, and 99% of the time, I really think the vast majority of your problems get better.
16:35
Even the ones you didn't expect to get better because you're fixing the root causes.
16:41
Yeah, I oh, I just love that testimony so much.
16:44
And, you know, I just see so much, and I remember when I used to be a psych nurse.
16:49
These people, they go on one drug and they go on more and more and more.
16:54
And then no one is really working with them on their stress response, on their gut issues, on nutrient deficiencies and a lot of a lot of these drugs deplete essential nutrients, and then they also cause other dysfunctions in the body.
17:13
And it's just so sad to see because I would see people that had mental health issues that then were going on to develop diabetes or liver issues or other conditions because of the medications that they are on and this other component that functional medicine addresses is just completely left out of the equation and it's so heartbreaking, and it really just it's very sad because I feel like these individuals are not given proper informed consent.
17:41
They're not even told that there are these alternatives.
17:45
And I also do want to touch on limbic system.
17:49
Last time I um massively upgraded the program, I added in some content on um limbic system, and then I also added in like elective biblical material, because what we are seeing is there are these concepts that the Bible repeatedly teaches that is now being confirmed by modern day research.
18:10
And one of that is neuroplasticity and limbic system training to our listeners that are not familiar with this.
18:17
So the um, and we know good and well in medicine that when people have been exposed to trauma per the adverse childhood event study, early trauma, trauma in general, that kind of stress that occurs can cause health issues.
18:34
The Bible says repeatedly over and over that our thought life influences our physical body.
18:43
Um, and then so a couple of got my Bible verses out anyway, Romans 12, too.
18:49
Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
18:54
One of my other favorite verses, Philippians 4, 8, finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
19:15
And the thing is when we dwell on what is true, what is lovely, that can retrain the brain.
19:22
And I remember um I also had some chronic stress responses for a long time.
19:29
And for me personally, I had a lot of you know, forgiveness, unforgiveness that I was holding on to and a lot of ruminating about bad things that happened.
19:38
And it it really was working through this with Christ that transformed my mind.
19:47
And, you know, we used to think that, like, okay, you have certain um neural pathways, and this is just how you are, but we're learning that that is not true.
19:55
The study of neuroplasticity tells us that we can actually change.
20:00
Those pathways.
20:01
And uh, and and we know that, like, you know, anger, resentment, unforgiveness, grief, all of these things, if it's not resolved, it can contribute to chronic health conditions and absolutely mental health conditions.
20:13
And again, you know, I always tell um my students, I'm like, this actually is scientifically confirmed that when we, because we know it's mind-body spirit, okay.
20:24
We have a soul.
20:26
And, you know, we need to address that part of health.
20:30
However, when we talk about anything spiritual or religious, we always need to ask permission first.
20:37
Because again, you know, um, one thing that is uh that I just love about the Christian faith is God does not he gives us free will.
20:45
He does not force us to do any, he doesn't force us to follow him, but he loves us and he wants us to follow him and read his word, but it is our choice to come to him.
20:56
So again, just like ads practitioners, if we have that faith-based background, we I, you know, I I see it all the time, but I see more tremendous results with people when they're incorporating their faith base.
21:10
But again, like I you you have to ask permission if that is okay with them.
21:15
That way we're respecting their choices.
21:18
So, and tell me, um, again, I I like to ask this question just to kind of I think it gives a lot of hope to our audience with your health issues that you were struggling with, because I mean you had celiac and the um mental health concerns and and things like that.
21:35
Um, about what percentage would you say that you're better now today.
21:40
Oh, I, you know, it's funny because I just turned 61 a couple weeks ago, and I was at some someone asked me, they said, Do you feel 61?
21:48
I said, you know what?
21:50
I feel better now than I have my entire life, which is so crazy.
21:55
And you know, you have the occasional aches and pains after you've oh exer over exerted yourself and things like that.
22:01
But I remember, oh my goodness.
22:04
Was it about 15 years ago we were doing this major project on our farm?
22:09
And I was out there and I could barely do 30 minutes, and I was exhausted for the whole day.
22:14
And I I just, you know, had joint pain and aches and pains and just no energy at all.
22:20
And I can do so much more at 61 than I ever could do on the farm.
22:24
I can push wheelbarrels and throw bales of hay and stuff like I never could do.
22:30
Um, not to that degree.
22:31
And so, yes, I feel better.
22:33
And then my stomach feels so much better.
22:35
My mental health feels better.
22:37
I would say maybe 85 to 90% better than I was.
22:42
Um you know, I I just leave that little margin because there's some days that I, you know, you go out to a restaurant and you eat something you shouldn't.
22:52
You have your bad days.
22:53
Um, but you know, you know why, and you know how you can fix it.
22:58
That's the the beauty of it.
23:00
So I really I I just and I'm sure, you know, there's so much more to learn.
23:05
Something else I didn't mention was, you know, before I went on this journey, my I'm not overweight, but my A1C was rising and my cholesterol was super high.
23:17
And uh again, I believe all these things go back to inflammation and dysfunction in the gut, et cetera.
23:25
And once I fix that and reduce that inflammation, those numbers came right down.
23:30
Just amazing.
23:31
And so, yeah, it's like, well, you know, people ask the question, I don't want to go on a statin.
23:37
What can I do for my cholesterol?
23:39
Well, you know what?
23:40
Chances are it's your inflammation and your body, your diet's probably not the greatest, but there's a lot we can do.
23:46
And if we can find out why your body's got inflammation, whether it's a food sensitivity, or whether it's gut dysbiosis, or whether you know, you're under too much stress.
23:59
Um, you know, your your cortisol is off.
24:02
There's so many things, probably a multiple things.
24:04
It's rarely one thing.
24:06
But when we target that and we fix it, those numbers, they come down.
24:11
They get they get better.
24:13
And so we don't have to go on all these crazy medications that have all these side effects.
24:20
And uh, you know, of course, I always tell my clients, talk to your doctor about it.
24:25
I can't prescribe you this medication or tell you to go off of it.
24:29
But um, if you want to get better, if you want to be healthy naturally, functional medicine is the way to go.
24:36
You know, and one thing that you said that also really resonates is that you feel better and you've looked fantastic, by the way.
24:44
Uh, not not that, you know, 60s as old now.
24:47
I feel like like 60s is like the new 50s, right?
24:49
But anyway, um, so I uh I have a similar story with that too, because um also being a nurse, you know, I I remember being told by my preceptors, like, well, you know, mental health and uh chronic diseases, they tend to get progressively worse.
25:06
And I believe that, but I believe, like, well, this is just you know, the hand this person's been dealt.
25:11
And every time you see your patients, they're a little worse.
25:14
But then being on the other side of it, being on the functional medicine side of it.
25:18
And then also, I I also have a similar testimony to that.
25:21
Like I um, well, I'm almost 41.
25:25
And I I cannot, I I think back to like how I felt eight years ago in my early 30s, and I remember like we we had our son.
25:35
I feel like I missed out in the first three years because it took me that long to find a good functional medicine provider that properly diagnosed me.
25:43
But anyway, anyway, so I I remember it would be like 7:30, and he wanted a book.
25:50
And I remember just being like, oh no, not a book.
25:53
Like almost like like I'm so exhausted.
25:55
Like I like I was so tired.
25:58
Like I would have to just lay down in the middle of the day.
26:02
I remember I had some days where I had maybe like two hours of sustainable energy.
26:09
And I and you kind of learn to adapt because that's like, you know, your baseline, you live with it every single day.
26:16
But now I like don't even have to think about like laying down in the middle of the day.
26:22
And by the way, I did feel so amazing that I, you know, I did have two back to back babies.
26:29
And even now with my back to back babies, like it's busy in my house.
26:34
But like, I'm good, you know, I I've got it, you know.
26:37
So, but it uh yeah, and and I always tell my students too, I'm like, you know, these functional medicine modalities, the lab testing, all of these things, you can do this on yourself.
26:47
Like I have so many nurses that go through the program and they use it as a wellness plan for themselves and their families, and then they have that experience and that testimony because when you're going to work with clients that are sick and suffering, you know, I mean, they want to work with someone that genuinely cares and is going to do the research and work with them to make sure that they have a bio-individualized plan.
27:14
And I would love to um really chat about what you are doing and your practice because I am just so excited for your success and that you are just like booking clients left and right.
27:27
And um, but before we get into that, uh, we do need to pause just for a moment for break.
27:34
I do want to let all of you know if you are a fed-up nurse, you do not need to be handcuffed to the sit care model.
27:44
I absolutely can train you at the functional nurse academy.
27:48
We are the most comprehensive functional training on the market designed specifically for nurses.
27:54
All of our graduates qualify for 90 nursing CEs, multiple board certification titles and functional medicine, and you also get business mentorship and support.
28:06
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30:51
Hello and welcome back to the Nurses Report on America Out Loud Talk Radio.
30:57
This is your show host, Melissa Schreibe.
31:01
And I am joined today by Karen Battison, who is another functional medicine nurse.
31:09
And she is also the owner of Threadstone Integrative Health.
31:13
And we are talking about her health journey and how she is using her experience to help clients across the country.
31:21
Welcome back, Karen.
31:23
Thank you.
31:24
So I would love to chat about your business.
31:29
So now I know that you mentioned that you do have expertise in cancer, but then you also work with all kinds of other health conditions.
31:40
So can you tell me about the type of services that you're offering in your business?
31:46
Well, you know, I've kind of changed it over time.
31:49
I I started out with uh, you know, a concealer's pro program, which is kind of like this big lump sum, and I'd order your lab tests for you and you know, we just do this comprehensive test on everybody, comprehensive testing on everybody.
32:04
And um, I started that way, and then, you know, I was I had a niche that I chose, but I wasn't particularly really getting a lot of clients in that niche, if any at all.
32:17
And I was doing a lot of advertising and on social media, focusing a lot of effort on that.
32:24
I frankly felt like I was losing a lot of money on advertising.
32:29
Um, in the end, I just trusted my gut instinct, and I did what I knew.
32:36
Um, I had worked a lot of uh over the years with cancer now.
32:39
I talked a little bit about my own, you know, fears about getting cancer and the journey that my husband and I had been on and wanting to prevent cancer.
32:48
So about 10 years ago, started posting information in a Facebook group I called nutritional healing.
32:55
Um it was kind of like my clearinghouse of information on things that fought cancer naturally.
33:01
And at the time it was more herbal and you know, just and that's what a lot of the supplements are is they're botanicals, they're natural substances.
33:10
And then of course there was nutrition, brought that into it as well.
33:13
And so I just kind of put it on there and I invited friends to the group.
33:18
And as that grew, um, it just seems like more and more strangers start joining the group and uh wanting information, whether it was from word of mouth or it was just floating out there in social media.
33:30
So um, that was sort of a free type of advertising.
33:35
But then I, you know, I had quite a sizable list of friends in my Facebook uh world and uh Instagram.
33:42
And so I thought, you know what, just gonna start there.
33:46
Um it's really hard, I think in today's environment to earn people's trust who don't know you, especially in this space when there's so many people out there.
33:56
It's like, who do you trust?
33:57
Who do you go to?
33:58
And so I really felt like um something you said in your training program was start with people you know and build the confidence and the the reputation by word of mouth.
34:11
And I I just kind of ran with that.
34:13
I said, forget the advertising.
34:14
I'm just gonna do that.
34:16
And so I've adapted my program a little bit.
34:19
You know, I've had a lot of friends that were, for example, missionaries and they did they really couldn't afford the big program.
34:25
So I offered it to them at half a prize for, you know, a discount.
34:29
I tried different pricing things, and I think um right now I'm kind of a I have a one little lump sum and then a subscription.
34:37
I think people can afford that more.
34:39
More people are signing up now that I have that model.
34:42
But basically it's the same thing.
34:44
It's uh, you know, I do an intake, I have intake forms.
34:47
We have uh an initial interview, which can take up to an hour.
34:50
Um, and then maybe more in-depth one after we get the test results back that we decide to run.
34:57
Sometimes that can take two hours, and we go into all the details of the findings.
35:02
What can you do?
35:03
We go over the wellness plan.
35:05
Um, uh, you know, I recommend supplements.
35:08
I have several e-stores, uh, including a full scripts account.
35:12
So just whatever works for the client um and their finances.
35:17
I really want to make it something they can afford, something they can do because that's the important thing.
35:24
Um, you know, I've chosen to continue working on the side part-time because I do want to stay in the field of nursing, but I don't want to um hold back on helping people because they you know, maybe they can't afford it.
35:41
So um, so I have, you know, we all offer our program to the family and friends sometimes at a discount.
35:48
So I have done that, but I feel like I have a fairly affordable program.
35:54
And I do think that um as I get clients, you know, it seems that they come to me, each one with their own unique issues.
36:04
And I I feel dedicated to being their detective, helping them find the problem that they're having and get to the root cause and solving that problem.
36:16
So I may not have all the answers going into it, but I have the tools and I have the skills that I've learned in my training.
36:23
And so I'm confident that we can get you to feeling better and that we can get you to a place where you know you're at a you're you're further along in your health journey and you're in, you know, we're gonna find those answers together.
36:37
So is it a hundred percent effective?
36:40
I would say that no functional medicine practitioner out there could probably say that it's a hundred percent.
36:45
But I've had good success.
36:47
Um, I've had patients that are I should say clients that have gone off of their blood pressure medications.
36:53
And um, I had one client who did all the things I recommended, and out of sympathy, her husband decided to do the same thing.
37:02
And he wasn't even my client.
37:04
He just did what she did.
37:06
And he his arthritis went away, his cholesterol went down, he lost 15 pounds.
37:11
And I mean, he just got started feeling better himself just by doing those things in sympathy with his wife.
37:17
So a hundred percent across the board, these things help you feel better.
37:22
Um, you get to a better place.
37:24
And in many cases, um, you know, you're you're just you know, if it's cancer, we can't always say anything can cure cancer, but we can do a lot of things that get our bodies to the place where they're gonna fight cancer better.
37:39
We know that.
37:40
And that we have a better odds at beating it.
37:44
And so that's how I I try to explain it.
37:47
I use this analogy, the tin roof in Africa.
37:51
We had tin roofs.
37:52
And so it's a great, for me, it's a very real uh analogy because we had holes in our roof sometimes.
37:59
Well, with cancer, it's like you got a tinned roof and you got 37 holes in your roof.
38:06
And when you got 37 holes in your roof, you can't stop the house from flooding.
38:10
If you had two holes in your roof, you might be able to stop it.
38:13
But with 37 holes, you can't.
38:15
And so you have to, that's the way cancer is sometimes.
38:19
It it's because you've got 37 contributing factors, not just one sometimes.
38:24
And so we got to find out what those contributing factors are and one by one plug those holes so that your odds are your house isn't gonna flood, or if it's gonna flood, your body's gonna be able to overcome it.
38:38
And our bodies were made to heal naturally, but not necessarily with the onslaughts that that they are exposed to today, like toxins and the poor diet that we live on and the stress that we live under in our culture.
38:52
And you get this combination of things that just assault the body and it can't keep up.
38:57
And so cancer takes over and gets an advantage.
39:01
So if we look at it that way, we can start turning the tides of the battle, so to speak, and win that battle naturally if we plug those holes.
39:11
You know, and this is really one of the reasons why functional medicine has been proven to overall improve health outcomes and reduce health care cost.
39:23
And we know that there's a lot of industries that are threatened by functional medicine.
39:28
So I really do think that online, especially within social media, there's a lot of pushback.
39:34
Uh, you know, even on Wikipedia, it says, which, you know, Wikipedia is not exactly a trusted source of information, but Wikipedia says that somehow, you know, looking at their root causes and environmental lifestyle fact, or somehow that's quackery, you know, but these things are real and and it makes sense.
39:52
And I remember one of my dearest friends got diagnosed with, and she's she's in remission now, she's doing great.
40:00
But she got diagnosed with stage three breast cancer, you know, I believe in her 30s.
40:05
And, you know, the nutritionist that she worked with, the hospital the nutritionist at the hospital told her it didn't matter what she ate as long as it was low fat.
40:15
And, you know, but but then again, we know that we don't, and I do think that there have been some steps to improve it, which I'm very grateful for.
40:23
But for a long time, there have been a lot of regulatory loopholes that are allowing known carcinogens, level one, class one carcinogens in our personal care products to be sprayed on our food.
40:38
Um, you know, there are even heavy metal adjuvants such as aluminum being injected into people.
40:44
There are so many things that we're exposed to.
40:47
And it is just unbelievable that an individual will get a cancer diagnosis.
40:52
And then again, they're offered the standard of care, you know, for cancer treatment.
40:57
But then no one is working with them on what are you, what are you eating?
41:01
What are you being exposed to?
41:03
You know, what what about your stress response?
41:06
Are you sleeping?
41:08
God designed the body to heal when we are in deep restorative sleep.
41:14
Are you getting deep restorative sleep?
41:16
God also designed us to heal in parasympathetic nervous system mode.
41:21
Are you constantly in fight or flight?
41:24
Like there's so many things we can do.
41:25
And again, like there are even many exercises that we can teach the clients we work with that are free, like helping people to, you know, um, helping people with breath work exercises, helping people with limbic system retraining, circid circadian rhythm retraining.
41:44
There's so many things that we can do that don't involve this like crazy expensive wellness product.
41:50
And I also did want to kind of circle back around to the business side of it because I know um our I know a lot of nurses listen to this and they're just so that they want to hear the success stories of other nurses that have been through the program.
42:05
And I do uh uh agree with you and I like that you you took my recommendation to kind of start with people that you know because we know um online, especially on social media, you have access to so many people.
42:21
It really opens up the doors.
42:23
But there are a lot of people that are not practicing with integrity, and there's a lot of people selling stuff.
42:28
So people are distrustful and word of mouth is king.
42:34
It is absolutely king.
42:35
Um, if you serve your clients well, they're gonna tell everybody about you.
42:40
And then I know for me, if I have someone that calls and does a discovery call that they were referred by another client I have, I know that they're gonna sign up with me because they already know someone that had the experience.
42:52
They already know what the investment is, and and that person is a serious and uh committed.
42:58
But um, I like that, you know, in the beginning, like when you're a brand new functional nurse, people don't know, don't really know what you're doing yet.
43:07
You're still working on your social proof.
43:08
I think that that is a very, very wise business move is to kind of look at okay, what is competitive in your area and then to discount your programs from there.
43:20
And then as you get a stronger referral basis, you can move up to what is, you know, competitive in your area if you choose to.
43:28
And I also am hearing from, you know, um, I I do also like to hear, because I do really work to try to um help nurses get out of the system and get their businesses set up.
43:40
But I'm also hearing about so many committed nurses that love, they love being a nurse in the hospital.
43:49
And I have many nurses that choose to stay in there like on a part-time basis because they love the patients that they work with.
43:55
And again, you know, there's an impact that nurses can make if we want to completely exit the system and go full in on our businesses, but you also can still make an impact if you are still even, you know, part-time or PRN in that system because there's also an opportunity to transform that system from from the inside, you know, because when we go to work and you're in the hospital setting and you're talking about these like, you know, holistic functional medicine-based things with other nurses and with patients that can also spread the word about functional medicine.
44:32
And um, I did want to ask you.
44:36
So I'm just curious since you're still part-time in in the system.
44:41
Um, do your coworkers like know what you're doing with the functional medicine business and are they supportive?
44:49
Yeah, actually, it provides a great opportunity to share with people what you're doing and open their eyes to it.
44:57
Um, I've actually had a few nurses take down your information and think about signing up.
45:05
So I don't know if they have yet, but um, you know, I've talked about the program.
45:09
I've talked about, you know, I've looked at a lot of different programs.
45:11
I was in a different program before I joined yours and it was very expensive.
45:15
I went into debt very fast, um, doing all the, you know, like I said, the advertising, all the things and the the cost of the program.
45:24
But then I found yours and it was so affordable and reasonable.
45:28
And I think the foundation was just solid.
45:32
And so I've been recommending it as a great place to start.
45:36
Not that any of us should ever stop learning, because we all should continue learning beyond our training.
45:42
But it's great foundational and it's super affordable.
45:46
And it's just right, I think for the nurse.
45:49
Um, you know, and I started uh, you know, like I said, in another program, and I just felt like I was just spinning my wheels, spending so much money.
46:01
Um, and when you're starting out, you don't have that much.
46:05
You gotta start slow and don't expect to just boom overnight.
46:09
And honestly, I I like the pace that I operate on.
46:13
You know, I have two grandkids, I spend time with them every week.
46:17
Um, I my husband and I have this small harby farm out in the country.
46:21
We like to spend time doing that.
46:23
I don't want a business that is so busy that I have to be a full-time social media influencer.
46:31
I need to have just my clientele.
46:33
That's me.
46:34
That's my choice.
46:35
But if you wanted to do those things, go right ahead.
46:38
But I really felt like I need to find where what fit in my personality, my pace.
46:44
And, you know, taking on, you know, two to five clients a month is plenty for me.
46:52
Uh I stay very busy with that, plus everything else I'm doing.
46:55
But there's some people that want more than that.
46:58
So that's up to them.
46:59
But again, I don't want to get to the place in my life that I'm so stressed out that my health declines again.
47:06
So I need, you know, especially I'm 61.
47:10
This is kind of when you start thinking about retirement.
47:12
And that was actually one of the motivational factors of why I went into functional medicine is I just I couldn't work full time anymore.
47:20
I needed to start slowing down.
47:21
I wanted something I could do from home.
47:24
This fits it perfectly.
47:26
Um, I can fit it around my schedule.
47:29
Um, I block off my schedule and I, you know, time slots for people to sign up for a consultation or a meeting.
47:36
It's it's my schedule.
47:38
And that flexibility is is priceless.
47:42
So that's that's kind of how I'm landed where I'm at right now.
47:46
Yeah, yeah.
47:47
And again, you know, I I hear this a lot that when nurses start their businesses, they have more time to actually live their life.
47:56
And and one of the models I teach, and and again, like, you know, we know that this model does not work when you are, you know, seeing like, you know, 30 clients per day, like a, you know, average primary care provider office, they may be seeing 30 patients per day, and they could have four patients booked in a one-hour time slot.
48:15
And you cannot provide good quality care that way.
48:18
It's set up to fail.
48:19
And the um the system that I like to teach is, you know, really um, you can exceed your income from what the hospital could pay you doing functional, um, working within functional medicine programs.
48:35
And then, like for my model, what I did is I I worked about, you know, 20 hours a week from home.
48:41
And I would sign about 10 full-time clients quarterly.
48:46
And then that really made it to where I wasn't overwhelmed with my workload and I was able to do a good job.
48:53
And I was also able to spend time with family and things like that.
48:57
So now, uh, but but yeah, no, I'm I'm so glad that you've been able to master this work-life balance.
49:04
And it is so wonderful that you were able to spend time with your grandbabies.
49:08
Because I, you know, it's just there's so much more joy when you're able, you know, you don't want so I feel like some of these positions that people are in.
49:18
I mean, I know so many people that their job is consuming way too much of their life.
49:24
And uh, you know, it's not good for the soul.
49:26
So, well, I would love to hear a little bit more.
49:29
I'm so glad you had a good experience with the functional nurse academy.
49:33
And uh, this is one of the reasons too why um I I hear it all all the time, nurses that well, I don't want to speak poorly of any other program, but there are a lot of programs out there that are really, really expensive.
49:47
And when I went through the ringer as a functional medicine client myself, I saw that there was such a push for me to take very expensive functional medicine tests that were marked up.
50:00
And also a push for me to be on all of these supplements every single month that were also marked up.
50:06
And I think that that was happening because so many functional practitioners go into a tremendous amount of debt.
50:14
So then when they're starting their business, they in a way are reliant on their clients having to buy so many wellness products and whatnot from them.
50:24
And it's really diminishing the quality of functional medicine care.
50:28
So that was one of the reasons why I wanted to offer an affordable program to nurses.
50:35
And then we're able, again, we're able to do that because we are a small business.
50:39
We work from home and we get a ton of like word of mouth referrals.
50:43
But um, but yeah, we didn't want our students to like start off in their business in a crazy amount of debt.
50:50
Like we wanted to offer a good value because you know, the lower your overhead is, the more likely it is that you're going to be successful in business.
51:00
But I would love to hear about um, you know, how functional nurse academy helped you with your business.
51:08
Well, one of the things that I really liked about the program, first of all, again, was that it was less expensive.
51:14
Um, and there was a like I could achieve my goal of completing the program within a given time.
51:22
I think you know, you say minimum six weeks up to a year.
51:25
And so there was flexibility there.
51:28
Um, I ended up doing it maybe in three months, I think.
51:31
And that I wanted to get my board certification.
51:35
And um, I know not everybody values that equally in different programs, but I valued it.
51:41
I felt like it would increase my credibility.
51:44
And I wanted to have that on my website.
51:45
I wanted people to know that this is, you know, especially again in this world where we don't know who to trust.
51:51
I felt like that was a mark of approval that you have the credibility that you need.
51:58
So I really wanted that.
51:59
Um, so you guys offer that.
52:01
I think that's fantastic.
52:02
There's different options in that as well.
52:05
And um, I think it's it's a it's really great that your program is receiving recognition like that because um that also validates the training that we all get.
52:17
So where can our uh clients go to find you?
52:22
Okay, well, my website is www.redstoneintegrative health dot com.
52:28
If you go to the website, there's a tab where you can click on and there, you know, you can book a free discovery call there.
52:36
And that's where I listen to whatever your concerns are.
52:40
And we decide together if it's a good fit.
52:44
So that's a good place to start.
52:45
And then after that, um, if you decide you want to move forward, we can sign you up.
52:51
Um, and then we'll we'll have more uh set more appointments.
52:56
I have a calendar link to my website so you can book there.
53:01
And um also um, you know, once you're my client, then I make it easy for you to contact me.
53:08
You know, you can contact me by email or I have a phone number that you can reach me uh in an emergency.
53:15
So I I want to be available.
53:17
I want to um make it so that you're not left hanging.
53:23
I mean, there's nothing more frustrating in my mind when you know you're you're gonna do this home test and you don't know how to do it.
53:31
You're having you know uh confusion, reading the instructions and following them through.
53:37
So I want to be there to walk you through that no matter what.
53:40
So, or whatever it is.
53:42
I want to be there for you.
53:43
And so my my commitment is, you know, once you're my client and you know, you're a subscription client, I'm there for you whenever you need it.
53:53
And so I I find that it works really well.
53:55
I don't feel like people abuse that.
53:57
So um it works well.
54:00
And then I'm I'm available.
54:02
I love that.
54:03
And that is the number one reason, by the way, that people are not successful with functional medicine programs is they're not getting enough support.
54:12
And you know, I remember um my first functional medicine experience, which is a disaster.
54:18
They just like I just gave them a whole bunch of money.
54:20
They sold me a bunch of stuff and then they made me worse.
54:22
But anyway, um, it was like, oh, you know, here's a four-month protocol of like probably a thousand dollars of supplements per month.
54:30
It's crazy.
54:31
And then there was no, there's no support, you know.
54:35
Um, like if I had an issue, I would call the front office and I would get someone that didn't know what I was talking about.
54:42
And so I love that if they're because again, you know, when we're working with people through lifestyle nutrition, making those changes, people feel so much more secure when they have that support system.
54:56
And another reason why I love these, you know, concierge functional nursing practices is like if you need to reach out to your functional nurse, you can reach out to them directly and they will help you through it.
55:10
So, and also I have another question.
55:11
So we have listeners from all over the country.
55:14
Um, are you working um with individuals?
55:17
Um, do you have multi-state access?
55:21
Yes, I work in um everywhere except New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.
55:26
Okay, wonderful.
55:28
Um, cool.
55:29
So I will make sure.
55:30
So for our listeners, if you would like to reach out to Karen, I'm gonna put all of her links in the show notes.
55:37
I also will put a link if you want to get on a discovery call with her and see if that's going to be a right a good fit for you.
55:44
I'll put that down there as well.
55:46
Because again, it's so important to have someone that like truly cares and is knowledgeable and has expertise in your corner.
55:54
So and um, one other thing.
55:57
Okay, so if you are ordering labs, I know you have access to order lab testing.
56:02
Um, are you able to do that for clients out of state as well?
56:07
Yes.
56:08
Awesome.
56:09
Yeah, so that's another thing.
56:10
Like so many people are they're just not getting the correct labs ordered.
56:14
And with nurses, we know how to read those labs.
56:16
We may not be able to use it to diagnose and treat, but we can use it to educate and then to advocate.
56:22
And there's so much you can learn about um potential dysfunctions from your lab test days.
56:27
Yeah.
56:28
So I do work.
56:30
Oh, sorry, I was going to work with three different three different labs.
56:33
And I had a physician service that I work with as well.
56:36
So wonderful.
56:38
Well, it was so great to have you on the show.
56:40
I'm so happy for all of the great work that you're doing.
56:43
And again, um, you can learn more about Karen at Threadstone Integrative Health.com.
56:50
Thank you to all of our listeners for tuning in.
56:55
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57:03
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57:09
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57:10
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57:14
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57:19
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57:22
And until next time, be safe, be well, and God bless you.
57:26
It's time and this six.
57:34
It's time and business.