My Why

Hello there! Thank you for visiting my site.
My name is Skye. I am the founder and owner of Holistic Indulgence LLC.

Today, I am going to share the highlights of the story of the most pivotal period in my health. I’ve experienced a lot and came to some revelations.
This all comes down to why I decided to start this business. Enjoy!

My Early Twenties

If you would have asked me 6 years ago about what I’d be doing today, I would not have had ‘business owner of an alternative health service’ on my radar.

In 2016, I graduated college with an Associates of Science degree in Urban Forestry and married my high school sweetheart. I went on to become an active climbing arborist and ground person. Around that same time, my health tanked. I spent long days working in the outdoors, and squeezed in doctor appointments where I could. These doctor appointments typically ended ended with gaslighting of my symptoms and no diagnosis. I knew my peers weren’t experiencing the same things I was, but it became more and more difficult to remember what normal was for me.

In 2018, I took an office position as my health deteriorated even further. I did what I could to still be a part of the tree community, to feel like I belonged somewhere and to work for a purpose. The new job title didn’t help body at all, and things progressed. Family and friends were very dismissive of what I was going through. At one point, some of my symptoms mimicked those of pregnancy and I was questioned about that. From there, my husband and I decided it was time to have children, as if it were a ‘now or never’ situation. I was already having some of the same symptoms, so why not go for it?

Baby Girl

My pregnancy was rough on me, but not terribly complicated. Some of my symptoms subsided, others lessened, and some remained the same.
My beautiful baby girl was born in July of 2019. Naomi definitely changed my world in ways I could not have imagined.

Naomi and I struggled through breastfeeding, but we made it work. I was a first time mother with extremely little prior experience.
She cried and screamed and vomited a lot. Once again, my concerns were dismissed by mainstream medical workers.
-“She wasn’t screaming, its only a cry, like normal babies do.”
-“She’s only been doing that cry for the last 6 hours? Go to the ER if she gets to 8.”
-“Vomiting? No, that’s called spit up. Again, very normal.”
-“Rashes? That just happens too.”
-“Explosive, smelly poops? Typical.”
There were more symptoms that built up and overwhelmed us new, exhausted parents. I did not enjoy very much of those first few months. Eventually, I found that if I didn’t eat anything, she would vomit less. I was hungry, but waited until 2pm to eat just so I could make it through the morning without needing to change both of us, and maybe get something else done.

At one particular feeding, Naomi popped off of my breast to scream, then promptly vomited all over me, the chair, and the floor. I didn’t want to feed her any more. But she pulled her body back in to me for more milk, for comfort. It gave me such a devastating feeling. I felt like I was poisoning my own child. I was beginning to understand her more, and this scream just sounded like “it burns, Mom!” I reluctantly let her suckle a while longer, and thankfully she only spit up a little after that.

However, that event sparked something in me. I spent hours that I should have been sleeping pouring through online articles and the parenting books we had received. I finally found something that sounded similar to what we were experiencing. My husband told me I was worrying too much, but still I persisted. I decided to remove dairy from my diet, just as an experiment to see if it would help. It was no easy decision! I could have easily eaten a pound of cheese curds in one sitting. Looking back I realize that I truly was addicted to dairy. And I knew it was a sacrifice I needed to make.

I was surrounded by skeptics, but I kept my diet up as best as I could. I noticed slight improvements, like less forceful vomiting.

One weekend we went to visit a friend, and I consumed a small amount of cheese. That night was awful. The screaming increased. And she vomited several times, going through 3 outfits in 15 minutes. I eventually decided to put her down in her pack in play for bed. I’m so glad I trusted my newly developing mom instincts, as I heard a quiet, but awful sound and rushed back over to her. She had vomited while laying on her back, and was struggling to breathe. I immediately picked her up and cleaned out her mouth as fast as I could. It felt like ages as Phil and I dug through our bags to find a nasal aspirator. We finally found one and spent a long time suctioning out her nose. I was so terrified that I almost lost my daughter that night. I swore completely off of dairy and made it my mission to find the cause of her issues and actually fix them. For the rest of the night, I cradled her in one arm as she slept, and did a lot of internet searching on my phone to find everything I could. I don’t recall sleeping much after that.

Thankfully, after that episode, my husband was finally on board with my diet change. Naomi’s doctor was still skeptical.
With the issues Naomi had been having, I began doing some research into the ingredients in many common things. It was brought to my attention that some of the common pokes contain fetal bovine serum, which may also cause a negative reaction in those sensitive to dairy. After a long discussion with my husband, we decided that we only wanted to have her receive only 1 of the 4 typically administered, to lessen any potential issues.
At her 2 month well check, I brought up my concerns to the doctor once again. The doctor said maybe. Being the solo parent at this appointment, the doctor talked me into trying two of the regularly scheduled inoculations, so that we wouldn’t have to go back for multiple appointments to get them all in.
One of these were administered orally. I immediately knew something wasn’t right. She wanted to breastfeed after, for comfort, as many babies do. Within 10 minutes of the procedure, she was clearly having gastrointestinal distress. She pooped blood.
I went to the hall to try to find help. Thankfully her doctor was still nearby, and I had kept her diaper so the doctor could see it. Finally, I was believed!
But why did it have to take seeing actual red blood in a 2 month old infant’s diaper to actually get someone concerned?

We did go on to receive several diagnoses including IgE allergies, Food Protein Induced Entercolitis Syndrome (FPIES) and Food Protein Induced Allergic Proctocolits (FPIAP). These labels lead to more confusion and unanswerable questions, rather than clear answers and treatments.

The Medical System Is Broken
I hope that sharing just some of my struggles has helped you see it.

Why should we wait until our symptoms seem life-threatening to try to solve the problem?
Do you know of a medical doctor who tries to find the root cause of health issues?
Does your doctor know how to manage that root cause?
If you are lucky enough to get a diagnosis, do they just prescribe a pill to manage one of your symptoms, instead of reversing the problem?
Have you experienced unwanted side effects from those medications?

For some of us, this is system is all we know. It’s the system we grew up with. These allopathic doctors are treated with utmost respect, it is rude to question them.
I believe traditional, allopathic medical care has it’s place, like in emergencies and some surgeries.
However, I also believe that their approach to healthcare it is not applicable for many situations, such as chronic illness.

Unfortunately, many newer doctors have not been taught to look for signs of illnesses such as nutrient deficiencies, they have only been taught how to prescribe medications for specific instances. They are not required to take much coursework in nutrition, nor are they knowledgeable about other ways to keep the body healthy and prevent illness.

Some people have also sought the care of chiropractors, functional medicine and holistic practitioners. Unfortunately, these alternative, non-traditional forms of care are often shunned by the medical community. Without the seal of approval from traditional providers, many people are afraid to go to them and seek alternative opinions. I often wonder where the distrust from doctors stems from. Regardless, I believe everyone should have access to all of these options, and deserve the right to choose what aligns with their beliefs.

When all of these circumstances were happening in my life, I did look into receiving care from local alternative health care providers. However, they were not covered by the insurance that we worked so hard to obtain. I was beginning to feel like natural health was only accessible to the well-off.

What Can We Do?

Well, I took matters into my own hands to do everything I could. And I’m so thankful that I did!

I started by following a lot of non-traditional health providers online and began to expand my awareness.
I watched a lot of videos and absorbed free information.
I followed reference links and learned to read peer-reviewed, published articles.
I joined groups where people shared these articles and sought to understand more about the actual workings of the human body.
I purchased and read many great books on different methods to attain health.
Most importantly, I’ve put what I learned into action.

I have learned so much, especially surrounding the issues that can come with and contribute to the dis-ease in my and Naomi’s bodies.
The improvements we have made seemed impossible to allopathic practitioners.

Health is attainable, if you make the committed decision to work for it!
This is especially true in this day in age. We have the greatest access to information in history, all readily at our fingertips. Learn it, and put what you learn into action. Stay committed!

Our bodies are constantly giving us cues about how something is or is not good for us. We need to learn how to tune in and listen, and then provide the body with what it desires. I can guarantee you, no body became ill due to a pharmaceutical deficiency.

Your body was not designed for failure. It wants you to survive, and more importantly thrive!

I am here with Holistic Indulgence to get you resources that can help build you up into the more resilient, happy, healthy and bountiful person you deserve to be. Self care is well care! Please let me know how I can be of assistance to you.

“The greatest wealth is health“
-Virgil (70BC – 19BC)

Thank you so much for reading! This was not an easy post for me to write.
<3 Skye

If you’d like to know more about me, check out this post here.