Meet Coach Kerry

Renee reached out to her customer list recently to get some ideas of the types of health issues that are the most burdensome to you right now. Wow, we got a lot of responses!! 

Let me start by introducing myself: I am Kerry Chamberlain, Renee’s Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach (FMCHC), a National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach, and owner of Root Cause Coach.

My hobbies include: organic gardening, herbalism, coaching high school swimming, strength & conditioning training, and downhill skiing here in Maine.

I'm also a resource to Renee and YOU as someone who can steer you into the right direction when it comes to your overall health.

If I were to pick one reason why I became an FMCHC, it would be my health journey.

I spent almost a decade trying to get my Hashimoto's Thyroiditis diagnosed.

My conventional, allopathic, doctors kept running tests, telling me everything was “normal”. They would send me away only to have other health issues crop up.

In the meantime, while my bloodwork was all still in the “normal” range, my body slowly attacked my thyroid until it was no longer functioning.

Needless to say, clearly “normal” wasn’t healthy for me. I could write a book on that decade alone!! :O By an absolute fluke, or divine intervention, my doctor sent me to an endocrinologist, (not even for my thyroid!), and he actually tested me for thyroid antibodies. 

Boom! 

Diagnosis! 

I should have been happy, right?

Yeah, NO!

I was told, “Here is your prescription. You will be on it for the rest of your life. See you in a year.”

Wait. What?!

Are you kidding me?!

I am a go-to girl that wanted answers like: WHY?? 

What I learned is most doctors are not interested in the root cause. They just don’t have the time to go there. Here’s your pill, see ya later, bye.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against pharmaceuticals.  But, as the last resort, not the first thing we try. Due to it taking so long for me to get a diagnosis, I WILL be on thyroid meds forever! I need them, but I also learned, I am not a helpless victim of the medical machine. There is plenty I CAN do! And plenty that YOU can do as well!

The past 20 years have been an incredible journey of learning, experimenting with what works for my body, and doing absolutely everything I can to NOT get another autoimmune condition. They stack. (Hashimoto’s was #4 for me.)

Once you get one, you are far more likely to get more, that is, if you keep throwing gasoline on the fire.

Here’s the tricky part, everyone’s gasoline is different. Mine is acute stress, mold exposure, & gluten. That trio is what flipped the switch in my body, far sooner than I ever realized.

While I was doing my functional medicine training in school, we had to complete our own Functional Medicine Timeline.

This is where you chart out, even before birth, your own health timeline.

On it you chart out antecedents, triggering events, and mediators/perpetuators, correlating to the age of onset.

Antecedents are genetic or acquired factors that predispose clients to an illness or pattern.

Triggers are people, places, or things that provoke the symptoms and signs of illness.

Mediators/perpetuators are biochemical, or psychosocial factors that contribute to pathological changes and dysfunctional responses.

Considering my age, it was not easy fitting all that stuff onto one sheet!! :D 

A Functional Medicine Timeline is one of the first things I fill out with my clients, as we dig deep to uncover their Root Cause. Mapping all that out, patterns will start to appear, and connections will start to be made.

It is also a perfect preparation for going to see a Functional Medicine doctor, Integrative Doctor, or a Naturopathic Doctor. Doing this work before you go in to your appointment can save you tons of time, money, (a coach costs less than a doctor hourly), and really help your doc get a clear understanding of where exactly to start with you. 

Next time we’ll start to dig into your questions, and tackle that low-hanging fruit…………….

In the meantime, let's get your questions answered!

Post your question and leave your email below and I'll send you some of the questions and answers we've received already, and get yours answered as well.