The worst my Rheumatoid Arthritis ever got, It was painful to do everything. When I woke up in the morning my joints were so swollen and inflamed it was difficult for me to get my legs up over the lip of my tub to take a shower. It was difficult for me to raise my arms up to wash my hair. It was difficult for me to get myself dressed. It was difficult for me to go up and down the stairs. Even my jaw joint would swell and it was difficult for me to chew my food. I was 19 years old.

The Diagnosis: Rheumatoid Arthritis at 19

I went to the doctors and in my first visit and first blood test they knew I had Rheumatoid Arthritis. They told me this was a genetic disease I got somewhere in my family history, they told me it was chronic – meaning I would likely have this for the rest of my life. They told me my only option is to try to manage the pain and the symptoms through medicines. The first of which they suggested was methotrexate (a type of chemotherapy & Immunosuppressive drug to treat cancer and RA). This was a lot to take in as a 19 year old girl living away from home in a different state at the time. I remembered trying to be brave and look on the bright side. When my doctor told me that I could have trouble conceiving a child because of my RA I felt my heart breaking. I felt so powerless, and hopeless. It felt as if my future and my plans were being taken out of my hands and I felt so much fear and sadness.

The Meds They Gave Me—and What They Took Away

First they put me on the steroid Prednisone to manage the extreme flare I was in. They only put me on it for a week or two because they said it was not good to be on for longer than that because of all of the negative side effects. They then put me on methotrexate. I did start to feel the symptoms go away a bit. I would still flare occasionally, but overall I mostly felt better. I never felt very good about being on the medicine though because I knew this medicine was just suppressing my immune system so it would stop attacking my joints, but I didn’t really understand why was my immune system turning against me and attacking my joints in the first place? The doctors told me it was because of my genetics, but that didn’t make much sense to me because I don’t know of anyone in my family or family history who has ever struggled with Rheumatoid Arthritis. According to the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021, the age-standardized global prevalence rate of RA increased by 14.1% from 1990 to 2020, reaching 208.8 cases per 100,000 population. The study projects that the number of RA cases will continue to rise through 2050. (Reference) So if this is a genetic disease we inherit, then why is it increasing globally at such rapid rates? That is a blog post for another time however.

I continued on the methotrexate for about a year. I had to get my blood tested every 3 months basically to make sure the medicine wasn’t damaging my internal organs. It felt very disheartening to think that was going to be my new normal for the rest of my life. Testing my blood every three months to make sure the medicine I was on wasn’t destroying my body. Also whenever I was ready to start a family, I would need to go off of it at least three months in advance because even if a small trace of it was left in my system it is proven to cause extreme birth defects.

It became even more disheartening when about a year into taking this medicine I started having more flare ups and symptoms again. My doctor recommended to me that I should take Humira injections in addition to the methotrexate to manage my symptoms. At 20 years old I now had to face being on a chemotherapy drug and injecting myself with a needle in the leg every other week for the rest of my life just to function like a normal human. I did that very thing for the next two years or so. This mostly managed my symptoms, but I would still have flares from time to time and often had stiffness in the morning from my RA.

A Wake-Up Call: Side Effects and a Shift in Perspective

When I was 20 I started dating the man who eventually became my husband. We were married when I was 22. After we got married he was the one who would help me inject myself. I was too afraid of the needle to get used to doing it myself. One day, maybe 6 months into our marriage, I started to feel a really bad chest and back pain. It was difficult for me to breathe in all the way. Laughing was painful. So I went to the doctor, and they ran a bunch of blood tests and had no idea what it was so they suggested a CAT scan. The CAT scan revealed that I had nodules growing in my lungs that was directly caused by the methotrexate medicine I had been taking. It turns out the nodules were not the thing causing my chest pain. I had a rib that was out of place. I went to the chiropractor and he fixed it in one session. It was such a tender mercy though that that out of place rib led to me finding out the unseen, unfelt damage the medicine I was taking was doing to my lungs.

At this point my RA doctor was exploring other medicine options that I could try out. However, after being on various medications for the last 4 years or so with very poor results I was becoming more and more disillusioned with the traditional medicine options. I remember asking “are there any natural things I could try? Diets, supplements, exercises” I would try anything that was more natural and easier on my body. She told me those options wouldn’t be enough and if I stopped my medicine it could lead to permanent bone damage. Well I obviously went off the methotrexate, and decided to continue with the humira because it was supposedly supposed to be safer on my body, and it was supposed to be safe during pregnancy. However, this is a relatively new medicine. There aren’t really long term studies. All the risks just aren’t known. So I didn’t feel very comfortable being on it. I went off of it without consulting my doctor (which isn’t something I would necessarily recommend) however, this is the time when I started to notice certain foods were making my symptoms worse.

Starting to Listen to My Body: The Food-Inflammation Connection

This was a revolutionary concept to me. I didn’t realize at the time that my food would impact my arthritis! But it was blatantly obvious to me whenever I ate a lot of highly processed sugar, my symptoms would flare that evening or the next morning really badly. Once I made the connection between food and my symptoms I started trying to learn how to listen to my body. I started paying attention to when I was hurting most and what did I eat that day? How much sleep did I get? How stressed was I? I noticed there was a correlation between my symptoms and these factors, especially my food. This is when I really began my journey of healing my body naturally.

Pregnancy, Motherhood, and Natural Healing

At this point about a year into our marriage, my husband and I prayerfully made the decision to start trying to grow our family. It took us around 7 months before we got pregnant. The month before we got pregnant was the month I started diving deep into how to heal my gut microbiome and trying different probiotics and other diet and lifestyle changes. Being pregnant I really noticed my RA symptoms lighten. This is very common for pregnant women for their RA symptoms to lighten or go into remission while pregnant. The body will send signals to our immune system telling it to calm down because there is a baby in here and we don’t want the immune system to start attacking it. I was told that when you give birth it is very common for your symptoms to come back and flare significantly post-partum. I didn’t experience this as much. I still had flares occasionally at times when I wasn’t eating as well, but for the most part my symptoms were still very reduced because of my new healthier lifestyle. In fact I went from not being able to hardly walk up the stairs in 2019 to jogging my first 5K when I was pregnant in 2023.

Now my baby is one and half years old, and my little family and I are continuously learning how to incorporate a more holistic, nutritious, whole foods approach to healing. I felt so empowered when I realized I do have control of my body and my future. I am not a victim of my circumstances or of my diagnosis, but I have the power to feel better in my body and heal naturally through simple lifestyle changes like the food I eat.

Why I Created Heal With Me Homestead

My goal is to empower others along their healing journeys. I want to help people heal their autoimmune disease naturally as I did, and support whatever other goals they have on their path to a healthier, more fulfilled life.

I feel that God has blessed me with so much in my life. I have learned so much from dealing with my own struggles about how to eat better to reduce inflammation and pain, how to balance my hormones and heal my gut (which eventually helped me to become pregnant), how to grow and process my own food so I had a healthier relationship with food and my body, how to grow regeneratively and live my life more sustainably so I could have more health and freedom.

I believe healing should be simple, accessible, and sustainable. Through Heal with Me Homestead I plan to share natural healing solutions through:

• Anti-inflammatory nutrition & healing foods
• Sustainable living & homesteading
• Lifestyle practices such as stress reduction, improved sleep quality, and more

I know firsthand how powerful it is to reconnect with food, live sustainably, and embrace a holistic approach to health. This journey has given me more energy, less pain, and a better quality of life than I ever could have imagined—and I want the same for you.

Three Simple Things You Can Do to Start Healing Today

1. Reduce your intake of highly processed, and sugary foods. 70–80% of your immune system lives in your gut, so when your gut is inflamed, your immune response often becomes dysregulated—leading to chronic inflammation and autoimmune flares. What is the number one thing that causes inflammation in the average American’s gut? Highly processed sugars.

2. Start reconnecting with your body and heal your relationship with food. In this day in age of toxic diet culture, and ultra processed foods engineered to be addictive. We have forgotten how to be intuitive eaters. To listen to the cues our body is giving us and have a healthy relationship with real food rather than a sugar addiction and body image issues.

3. Figure out what works best for you. We each have bio-individualistic needs. What works best for my body will be different than what works best for you. The best “diet” for you to try is the one that makes your body feel good, is sustainable so that you can do it for the rest of your life and ENJOY it! Book a call with me today to discover what foods and lifestyle changes can help you start healing now!

Come Heal With Me

I am so thankful that you chose to be here in this space, reading my story, and joining this community of people trying to heal and feel their best. As someone who had to navigate an autoimmune disease diagnosis, I know how overwhelming it can feel to search for answers—hoping to find something that gives you back control over your health instead of feeling helpless to your symptoms. I am still learning every day how to better navigate the day to day challenges of keeping my family healthy and happy. It is my sincerest desire to help empower others to do the same. So please, come heal with me!