As I am still feeling inspired from last night’s Wellness for Children event, I wanted to share more about our journey to finding a functional medicine pediatrician, and to give an update on my youngest son’s leaky gut. Last night several other health-minded influencers and small business owners gathered at Integrative Health Carolinas to chat about wellness with Dr. Ana-Maria Temple and her team. We shared stories, spoke about current trends and common questions among moms in regards to children’s health, and I also took a look back at the last year with working to heal Ridge’s skin and leaky gut.
The Event
The reason for this meeting was to gather other moms who either lead teams, have a blog, an instagram presence, own an essential oils or clean beauty business, who are all interested in spreading the word about health for kids. We all are like-minded in that we think outside of the box a bit, and try to go a little outside of the norm when it comes to health and wellness. For me, that means blogging about it and sharing our story on instagram. It means making strong decisions about the food we eat and do not eat. It means focusing on gut health.
All of the women there had experienced something in their lives that caused them to turn toward an alternative way of looking at wellness. Several of the women had had severely ill children, some had dealt with food allergies that had caused a myriad of other symptoms, some had focused on improving their own well-being, such as dealing with hormone issues, and some want to lead cleaner lifestyles.
We gathered to encourage one another, and to brainstorm about how to spread the word about the other options that parents have for their kids’ health. We all have a common goal of healthy kids, and Dr. Temple and her team felt that it was important to gather some of the women who are talking about it, and it was inspiring.
We reminded each other that it is okay to do things a little outside the norm:
It is okay to ask your pediatrician questions, it is okay to listen to your mama instinct, it is okay to try eliminating something from your child’s diet even if his/her doctor does not think it will work. It is okay to get a second opinion, it is okay to reach out to other moms who have gone through similar things you might be going through with your child, it is okay to ask for alternative options if your child’s doctor wants to quickly put him/her on a medication that makes you nervous. And it is okay to talk to your family about making better eating choices.
(I absolutely respect doctors, and I realize they know much more about medicine and how the body works than I do, but I also know when that mom instinct kicks in that I should not ignore it. A balance of both is important).
We mingled and ate some of the snacks I made, then I shared my story of Ridge and his progress in healing his gut, then Dr. Temple shared her story.
Ridge and Leaky Gut. One Year Progress!
Every time I look back at these photos I get a little emotional. Even though this was a mild diagnosis compared to what some parents experience with their children being sick, seeing him heal has been emotional. I am so grateful.
I shared much more about leaky gut, how he was diagnosed, and the testing we did in this post.
We ended up at Dr. Temple’s office, because I was honestly not satisfied with what his previous doctor was instructing me to do. They said it was not related to diet, even though I asked, and they gave me topical steroid creams for his eczema. Don’t get me wrong – I loved the practice we took our kids to. I love and respect the physician we saw, and both of the P.A.s we saw often. I do not blame them one bit for not recognizing that it was a gut issue. It is just a different outlook on health, and his case needed a more functional, let’s-get-to-the-root-of-the-issue, approach. I actually learned about Dr. Temple through a P.A. there who is also a dear friend of mine.
The story of what happened next is included in that blog post, but I wanted to add to it. We had his blood tested again after 6 months, and almost all of the foods he had had an immune response to were now okay to ingest. His gut had healed so much that those foods no longer bothered him! We are slowly re-introducing gluten and dairy, but doing mostly sheep’s milk and goat’s milk cheeses and yogurt. His skin is completely clear now! He did have pink eye and a yucky nose last week, so it is not like he is absolutely immune to germs, but he is so much healthier than he was before! And he was much healthier this winter than he was last winter.
Though Ridge’s gut is better, and his skin is clear, we still continue to see Dr. Temple as his regular pediatrician. She treats children with and without chronic illness, and also does well visits, checks for ear infections, can sign school health forms…all the typical pediatrician things.
About Dr. Temple and Integrative Health Carolinas
Dr. Temple also shared her story of having three sick children who were all sick when they were young. All of her kids were on medications, and she grew tired of that being the “only option.” She said that her mama instinct overpowered her doctor knowledge, and she decided to try cutting sugar way down in their household, and having her children eat more fruits and vegetables. She spoke of the importance of children drinking water instead of all of the sugary beverages like chocolate milk and apple juice which are commonplace in American kids’ diets. Her kids got better. They were able to come off of their medications. Their eczema, allergies, asthma, attention span all improved. This is when her thinking started to change, and it eventually led her to functional medicine.
She is a pediatrician (MD) with a functional medicine approach, and she is extremely passionate about building healthy children. The statistics about how many kids will have or already have a chronic illness in the U.S. is alarming, and she wants to help change that number. She works with moms who are pregnant, newborns, all the way up to age 22. She sees patients who have been diagnosed with severe eczema; allergies; asthma; bipolar disorder; PANDAS; ADHD, and so on. The appointments last an hour, and she works to get down to the root cause of the issue or disease.
When we brought Ridge in, she asked a ton of questions about what pregnancy had been like, if I had been on any antibiotics, what childbirth and nursing were like, and family history. All of those things have an effect, and usually there is a big-picture answer to a problem, such as eczema.
Integrative Health Carolinas has been open for about a year, and they have seen such wonderful progress in many of their patients. I am grateful for her and her team. As she was speaking about some of the success they’ve seen in her patients, they got a little emotional. There is nothing worse than having a sick child, but it is nice to have a doctor who will help you get to the bottom of it and passionately works to heal.
I know I am gushing, but this is something that has truly impacted our family. I am thankful that we realized something was wrong while Ridge was young! It is remarkable how much the gut affects the rest of our health, and I am constantly trying to learn more about it.
If you have any questions about her practice, her team would be happy to help you! You can call the office at 704-533-1203. Tell them you know me. 🙂
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