The Moment I Realised I Had to Heal Myself
A personal story about losing control of my health and finding the path back
There’s a moment in many people’s health journey when something shifts. A line gets drawn. It’s no longer about managing an inconvenience or trying the next supplement someone recommended online. It becomes serious, maybe even urgent. It becomes your responsibility because you finally realise the system isn’t going to save you.
This is the story of the moment I realised I had to heal myself.
Not because I wanted to prove anything. Not because I didn’t believe in medicine. But because not one practitioner could give me the answer I needed.
And my body wouldn’t wait any longer.
The Beginning of the Unravelling
I was an Executive leading a large R&D team for one of Australia’s largest supplement brands. I was young, driven and determined to prove myself as a new leader within the company. I was exclusively invited to go to one of the greatest industry events of the year, Vitafoods in the US. To me, it was a milestone in my career, an opportunity of a lifetime and a privilege I was so grateful for and had lusted after for years whilst working my way up the corporate ladder in the nutraceuticals world.
We landed in LA and shortly after retiring to my hotel room that night, it started. I was up all night in the bathroom with excruciating gut cramps, vomiting and diarrhoea (sorry, TMI). The next few days, I couldn’t leave the hotel, I couldn’t attend the conference the company had spent over 15K getting me to. On the final day of the trip, I summoned every inch of my energy to attend the show as a shell of a human and then jumped on a flight home. I had caught norovirus, a pesky bug that causes gastro. I read that symptoms often resolve within 3-7 days but two weeks later, I was still not well. I found eating really hard and I lost a lot of weight. Every few days I would get a resurgence of symptoms, even from eating bland, plain foods leaving me up all night with a fiery, burning gut with relentless nausea.
Most foods were triggers. Water even hurt. I was down to a list of bland, safe foods I could count on one hand. My body, which I had always trusted to simply function, suddenly became foreign to me. I used to have cast iron guts and could eat anything.
I was taking probiotics and a few basic supportive supplements. I had been kindly gifted by industry friends but even with access to some of the best supplements available, I wasn’t getting better. I went to my GP and asked them to investigate. Everything came back normal. Then I saw a private Gastroenterologist and had a gastroscopy which showed very mild duodenal inflammation. I was prescribed proton pump inhibitors and was told in failing this, my next best option was antidepressants.
But nothing changed. In fact, it got worse.
I lost weight rapidly. I couldn’t sleep. Every meal became a calculated risk. I would spend nights curled on the bathroom floor, convinced something was dangerously wrong, only to be told again and again, “It’s just IBS and functional dyspepsia. You’re fine.” I had even sought emergency care on a number of occasions because it didn’t feel right and I was worried it was potentially my gallbladder or appendix.
We were also trying to conceive our second child that unfortunately led to several miscarriages. It was one the the darkest and most incredibly painfully chapters of my life.
The Loneliest Kind of Illness
If you’ve ever been told you’re fine when every part of you is screaming that you’re not, you’ll know the emotional toll it takes. It’s not just the physical pain. It’s the self-doubt. The fear that maybe this is just who you are now. Maybe this is your life now?
It was during one of those nights – around 2 a.m., unable to sleep, sitting upright on the cold bathroom floor again because lying down in bed triggered the nausea. I was worried I would have to quit my job and not work because I wasn’t coping.
That was the moment.
I realised nobody was coming to rescue me.
Not because people didn’t care. But because no one else had the same level of investment in my recovery as I did.
Choosing to Become the Practitioner I Needed
At that moment, something clicked. I wasn’t a victim of my body. I just wasn’t allowing myself time to heal and I wasn’t putting myself first. I had been so completely focused on my career, my family and soldiering on, I was forgetting to tap into my inner naturopathic clinician. If the doctors can’t help me, I’m going to have to just heal myself.
I was a mother, a wife, a manager and a leader. Giving up on myself and the life I created wasn’t an option so I had to recover.
I began to approach myself the way I now approach every client who walks through my clinic door - thoroughly, compassionately and without assumption.
I deep dived into the pathophysiology of gastritis. I learned everything there was to know about the triggers and the causes. I learned that a small percentage of people who contract norovirus (the stomach bug I caught) each year don’t fully recover, even 12 months post the infection.
I ordered a wide range of tests that the doctors hadn’t to check my microbiome, gastric function, nutrient deficiencies, inflammatory markers and immune function. Slowly, the picture began to form. My gastritis wasn’t random. It was the result of chronic stress, a weakened immune system and that nasty bug that just threw out my entire microbial balance, eroding my stomach lining and leaving me with poor digestive resilience. The very medication I was told to take was also perpetuating the cycle, affecting my intestinal microflora increasing the bacterial imbalance which made the gastritis worse.
It wasn’t a single problem with a single answer. It was a cascade of events that created a pattern and once I saw it, I could begin to unwind it.
I removed all trigger foods. I used targeted nutrition and therapeutic compounds to support my stomach lining and bacterial balance. I worked on my vagus nerve and stress levels. I worked with my GP to wean off the proton pump inhibitor that was exacerbating my SIBO (Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). It didn’t happen overnight but the healing did come.
My nervous system calmed. I began to feel safe in my body again. Episodes of being up all night with burning and nausea stopped and became less frequent. I could slowly eat a greater variety of foods again without being afraid over the span of the following months. 12 months later, I could finally go out for dinner without triggering an episode.
The Lesson That Changed Everything
That experience pivoted my career trajectory. It reignited my passion to return to clinical practice, dialling back on the corporate world I had become so entwined in and of course in doing so, I put my health first.
It also cemented a belief that has guided every consultation I have had helping others since:
You are not broken. You are communicating.
Symptoms are not your enemy, they are your body’s way of asking you to pay attention.
No practitioner, no test, no pill should ever override the intelligence of your own body and your body truly wants to be well.
Why This Matters For You
I share this story because I know so many of my patients arrive at the same point I did. They are exhausted, confused and losing hope. Their symptoms are controlling their quality of life. Their care has been unsatisfactory. Their intuition has been dismissed and they don’t have answers or a clear path forward.
But there is always a way forward.
Not always quick fix nor a ‘miracle’ cure.
A strategic, individual path that meets you where you are, honours your experience and gives your body what it needs to restore balance.
This is the foundation of Longevita Wellness.
It’s not just a clinic, it’s the place I wish I had access to when I needed it most.
If you’re at your own turning point…
If you feel your body asking you to listen more deeply, I invite you to start your healing journey with support that respects both the science and the human experience behind every symptom.
You do not have to do this alone.
