About Nicole
You might not know...
1
I once had to eat the same 7 foods every day for 4 years.
2
I am a mother of 2, ages 19 and 13.
3
I have had 2 tumors in my head at the same time.
4
I am a lover of all things health related.
5
My favorite place to be is on the beach.
6
I once had a doctor tell me they only treated horses. I was a zebra and needed to find a doctor that treated zebras.
7
Inside my head I really think I am a scientist.
My Journey
Growing up, becoming a nutrition and health coach wasn’t something I ever imagined I would do. In fact, I was set on being a private investigator. However, at the age of 14 my father was diagnosed with cancer at the incredibly young age of 39 and passed away fairly quick. Unfortunately, his original cancer was misdiagnosed and treated incorrectly which ultimately led to an earlier death. My thoughts of going away to school came to a halt and it was then I decided I would stay close to home and go on to be a cosmetologist. My mother and father had owned hair salons for many years, so it just seemed fit.
About 3 years in I became pregnant and suffered many complications throughout the pregnancy. I’d say it was then my health went on a downward spiral. I began to suffer tumor growths, fatigue, joint pain, migraines, bloating, irritable bowels, recurrent sinus infections, skin issues and so much more. Pregnancy number 2 was 6 years later and with that came an even longer list of ailments. I had grown another tumor, this time on my pituitary gland which was producing hormones causing a multitude of negative effects. In the beginning they did not suspect a tumor. In fact, for seven long months they threw around early menopause, hormone imbalance due to pregnancy and tried to pump me up with many drugs. While on these drugs, there was a worsening of symptoms, weight was piling on and I mean, weight gain is the worst thing a post-partum woman wants to experience, am I right? I decided to do some research of my own, as I was determined not to end up misdiagnosed like my father. I began to write each symptom down, pair it up with my research, and take it in with me to the doctor. I requested an MRI and had it done within the week. I had myself diagnosed before the results came back, went on to schedule an appointment with a specialist so I would be ahead when the results came in. Sure enough my hypothesis was right and it was indeed a tumor. All the medications they had me on were a waste and were of no benefit to the tumor. Thankfully, the specialist got me going in the right direction and slowly the hormones leveled out.
During the next few years, my anxiety was at an all-time high. It did not seem right to always feel so anxious. I knew there had to be something else going on, but what was it? The migraines were debilitating, the bloating would leave me looking pregnant.
None of this seemed fitting for someone that worked out 5 days a week and ate a healthy diet. Or at least I thought the diet was healthy. We are taught to choose wheat, right? Wheat is healthy. So, I ate lots of wheat pasta, wheat breads, you name it, I chose wheat. The fatigue would then set in and take over my body. The migraines left me lifeless. Throughout the next 3 months, while continuing to work in the salon, I would have stays at 4 different hospitals and visit 13 different specialists. I was diagnosed with 3 diseases that were later confirmed I did NOT have. I was given a drug to take for one said disease, in which I again, went home to do some research. I did a drug check and plugged in my seizure medicine, tumor medicine and the new drug they were prescribing. Turns out just that year 7 people had died from the drug combination. Well, let’s just say I’m really grateful I did a drug check before taking their prescriptions.
These 3 months took a toll on me mentally and physically. I was losing weight rapidly and found myself at 97 pounds. The bowel distress was unlike anything I had ever seen before. The Gastroenterologist could not come up with anything that was wrong and wanted to place me on a feeding tube. I knew a feeding tube would just be a band aid and we would still go on to have no answers. The other doctors told me I was just depressed, told me I had major anxiety, told me I “looked normal” and nothing was wrong. I even had one tell me to go home, take 6 Xanax and go to sleep. Throughout this time, I avoided all prescribed anxiety/depression meds as I knew there was an underlying reason for my anxiety. I decided I had enough of the false medical diagnoses and called a client’s dad. He was a local physician and if anyone could help me, it was going to be him. Sure enough, within 48 hours, he had me lined up with a new GI doctor, a friend of his. I went in locked and loaded with everything I had been experiencing written down. He schedules a colonoscopy/endoscopy and sends me on my way. Why did I have to wait this long for an endoscopy? I had been complaining of bowel distress for months only to come out with “you are depressed, how’s your marriage, you look fine, take these meds.” Unfortunately, this happens far too often in the medical world. Self-advocacy means more now than ever. The biopsy would come back positive. It was celiac disease I had.
Celiac disease that can present itself with up to 300 different symptoms.
Anxiety being a number one complaint. Things I had been living with that I thought were normal had been celiac disease all this time. Turns out wheat was not healthy. Or at least not for me. I was damaging my insides further each time I ingested wheat. The diagnosis hit like a death. I was losing my old life. Who even was I now? Everything I did that revolved around food would change from this point on. How would I socialize? How would my friends take my new restrictions when dining out? I did not know where to start.
The doctor sent me home with a printed paper that read “What is Celiac Disease”. No direction at how to navigate my new life. I spent the evening and days following researching the internet on how to live my new life. In between the tears of course. I searched for a nutritionist but could not find one that really had anything to offer my new way of life. Most were for diabetes, high cholesterol, and things of that nature. Health coaches were not really much of a thing back then, either. It turned in to me educating myself the best I could. I would read books, read the NIH.Gov research sites, take notes and follow all the studies they were conducting on mice. The connection between the gut, mind and your health became an obsession of mine.
I began by practicing on my cosmetology clients when they would come in for their hair appointments. Throughout the years I was able to guide many to diagnoses that they may have never been able to receive. I started changing their diets, creating meal plans, helping with weight loss, and fixing nutrient deficiencies. It was like I was health coach and cosmetologist all in one. Turns out, I was still living my dream of being an investigator after all. Just in a much different way than I had ever imagined.
Unfortunately, over the next 7 years, I would be struck with more bad health. I would battle candida overgrowth, leaky gut, over 200 food intolerances, and so much more. At the top of 2020, January 2nd to be exact, I would find out I had a massive tumor growing behind my eye. I had been noticing my vision diminish over the last year as well as some pain which took me into the doctor initially. They informed me surgery would be required and that would entail them cutting my eye/head open. I did some research and located the number one eye institute in Miami. Against the first doctors wishes, I went to a second opinion and asked to be referred down to Miami.
Against the doctors wishes, I went for a second opinion.
If I had any chance at coming out of this with my vision, it was there that I would stand the best chance. After a few visits and many scans, they would set up surgery. Upon my arrival for surgery, Ill never forget my life flashing before my eyes. The surgeon would pull me aside 20 minutes before start time and inform me she believed I had cancer. My scans showed cancer and the tumor had diminished the bone separating my brain from the orbit. It was possible I would suffer a CSF leak, and an extra team of neurosurgeons would be on standby. They would do a freeze biopsy while I was on the table to be certain if it were cancer or not. If the tumor were in fact cancer, I would be stitched back up without tumor removal and start chemo the very next day with a port going into the tumor. Can you say overwhelmed? Yep, me too. I had checked out of my hotel that morning. I was set on going home after surgery. Nope, not the plan. She would have my husband book another room and we were indeed staying. After 5 hours of surgery, and not one but two freeze biopsies, they could not believe I was cancer free. How could it be? I was the first she had seen in 15 years that presented a case like mine but not carry cancer.
Aside from being overjoyed, it was time I put my life into perspective. I had been given my last medical miracle. Why was I faced with so many battles over the years? I ate healthier than most, worked out five days a week but had battled more than most double my age. After some research and compiling graphs, it hit me. It was the chemicals. The chemicals in the salon. It was time I removed myself from the toxin filled environment and give myself the best chance at living a healthy life. After all, it had become my passion to help others. I had been servicing the public for almost 20 years but spent the last 10 of those years being an advocate of health for each and every person in my chair. I would follow my passion of being an investigator finally by becoming a certified health coach and begin investigating for others. I would take all that I had learned through my health trials that had been handed to me and use it to help others.