Let me help YOU put your chronic pain, crippling fatigue, and misery in the past --
so you can enjoy life again!
THE MYSTERY ILLNESS SOLUTION
Ellen Nicholas, FDN-P, AADP
Hi! I'm Ellen Nicholas, a functional medicine practitioner with certification as a FDNP (Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner) and a member of the American Association of Drugless Practitioners.
Unfortunately for you, I can probably guess why you're here....
You're looking for help? My clients are almost always going to be fairly miserable people who have been sick awhile, in most cases--for months, and for some, it's been years...
When you look at the questions below, does it seem like I may have
psychically intuited what is going on with you?
** Have chronic pain, exhaustion and misery taken over your life?
** Have you been diagnosed with an illness or illnesses -- that you just can't get past? Like Lyme? Or mono? COVID?
** Have you done what you were told to do by the medical profession and you're
STILL not well? You took your 14 to 30 days of antibiotics and the many doctors you've been to just don't know what to do next? I personally hated most
when I was told there was nothing wrong with me....
** If you haven't been diagnosed with anything, and thus you don't even know
WHAT you're dealing with, are you seriously struggling most days?
Maybe, even every day?
** Are you frightened because your ability to work and/or take care of your family has been impacted? Many people in this situation wind up with anxiety... I know I did.
** Have you decided it's time to get help from someone who understands and has
lived the nightmare of complex chronic illnesses characterized by
chronic pain, exhaustion, and misery?
Who do I work with?
I work with people including career professionals, entrepreneurs and family heads of household who need to get back to the business of living before everything REALLY falls apart.
They NEED to RECOVER as soon as possible from chronic pain, crippling fatigue, and overall misery from either known (diagnosed) or unknown sources (undiagnosed) so they can function and lead NORMAL lives again!
Not just the pared down minimal lives of the sick, but truly normal lives with plenty or at least sufficient energy, strength and stamina to be proactive at work, keep up with family, and have energy left over to have a recreational life too! Will you absolutely get back to 100%. I can't guess. But I run 85-95% of my old energy 100% of the time.
I sincerely hope your first reaction reading this is to experience the joy of hope that for many has been dormant for too long. It took me more than twenty years but that's how I know it can be done. That's also how I know what it takes to help you get there too, and a lot faster.
Here are some facts about chronic illness:
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According to statistics, there are approximately 150 million people in the US with a chronic illness.
One-hundred million of them have more than one chronic illness, and almost unbelievably 30 million have more than FIVE chronic illnesses.* (Spoiler alert: that was me and I thought I was alone.)
You have to wonder that we are in one of the most advanced, industrialized nations in the world with some of the most advanced medicine available in the world -- and yet a stunning 50% of our nation's adult population is struggling with chronic illness. How can this be?
​
There are certainly plenty of rhetorical and philosophical questions that can be asked about why this is, but I'm going to settle for just this question:
Are you one of them? How did you get to this place?
​
As a rule, for the average individual born healthy, when we are young, our body just keeps pumping out energy and we can seemingly do anything we choose. As time goes by our body comes under fire from various stresses -- both good and bad: starting a family, getting a new job; moving; deaths in the family; injuries; sickness; too much partying, overwork; over-exercising; poor diet; pesticides in our food and water; insufficient rest; environmental assault of toxins and heavy metals whether at home, work or during commute in products and the air; etc.
The long-term affect of known stress and hidden stressors makes the body become less able to function perfectly. It begins to make accommodations which eventually wind up being symptoms. Fatigue, insomnia, overweight/underweight, digestive issues, brain fog, depression, and anxiety are just a few such symptoms. Dysfunction in one body system begins to affect other body systems which then begin to dysfunction as well. FDN calls this (trademarked) concept, Metabolic Chaos. This added dysfunction creates more symptoms further overwhelming the client and the specialists' ability to figure out what disease or ailment they are looking at and how to treat it.
​​
**https://www.rand.org/blog/rand-review/2017/07/chronic-conditions-in-america-price-and-prevalence.html
So if the GOAL is to optimize health or regain normal functional health, what is
that and what does it look like? It seems like everybody, including the many doctors
I've been to, says it's normal to have changes as we age...
The work of Optimized Brain & Body is to help chronically ill clients regain
or optimize their functional health.
Typically, I help clients regain functional health utilizing the roadmap of my Signature Program, Mystery Illness Solution: A Recovery Roadmap for Chronic Pain, Exhaustion & General Misery. This includes clients struggling longish term with tickborne disease, Long Haulers/COVID, and what I call "mystery illness" meaning neither you nor your doctor knows what you have. I will educate, lead and coach you to advance through steps designed to bring you from your present state -- to a healthier, more ABLE, functional you.
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In no way similar to a simple doctor appointment or two, the Mystery Illness Solution is an intensive health journey. At this time, remember that those doctor appointments haven't actually worked at getting you better. Be forewarned, those best suited to this program are very motivated and determined to get well. Being sick is hard but getting well is not a lot easier. However, those of us who have recovered -- and certainly speaking for myself,
I can tell you for sure -- being well is better.
My work with clients is clearly non-medical, there are no prescriptions and no magic pills. While we treat nothing specifically, we deal with the whole of your situation non-specifically.
​
The FDN answer to this question is that the only normal state of function is when one has no symptoms and their body is operating in a state of balance, one known as homeostasis. The word I like to use to describe this state is "ABLE". Able to think clearly; perform at both work and home; play whatever that looks like for you; be social and enjoy life without pain, discomfort or lagging energy.
No matter how common they are, symptoms are NOT normal and they aren't a result of aging. They are a sign that something needs attention. Without an intervention, attention and support, there's a good chance that a client will experience a continued decrease of energy or feeling less "ABLE" as time goes by. Lack of attention to early functional dysfunction could potentially lead to more serious outcomes which can no longer be optimized. A familiar example is that failing to control blood sugar can lead to full blown diabetes and all of the ramifications that come with that. A less familiar example for most people, is that failing to control blood sugar can lead to neurological issues. In fact, these days Alzheimer's Disease is referred to as Diabetes 3.