I got a severe form of Rheumatoid Arthritis in 2011, right after the birth of my second baby. I didn’t want to take drugs because I wanted to continue breastfeeding for as long as I could, but even after I changed my mind, my disease didn’t budge. I kept getting worse and worse. I was terrified, depressed, and completely dejected. I was having suicidal thoughts and believed that it would be so much easier for me to be dead than to live with this much pain and suffering. So, I managed to convince my husband to sell everything we owned and go traveling for a couple of years. And guess what happened? I got “miraculously” healed. My pain and inflammation disappeared, and I was back to my healthy, functioning self. I didn’t think much of it then, thinking it was one of those “spontaneous remission” flukes, so we returned and settled in our hometown. Unfortunately, after a while, the RA came back with a full-blown vengeance. While I was greatly disappointed, I was beginning to understand that my being sick had something to do with my lifestyle.

From that point on, I dedicated my life to researching immune and nervous systems, stress, healing, every form of autoimmune disease and much, much more. I’ve read every book and every research article, I’ve taken classes in psychology, immunology, neuroscience, functional medicine and a variety of alternative healing systems. Eventually, I realized that my problems stemmed from my brain being dysregulated by childhood trauma, and I needed to figure out a way to train it to return to a calm, peaceful state to reduce stress response and inflammation created by the stress hormones. I developed the SAGE method, which I used to regulate my nervous system and bring my body back to a state of homeostasis and heal. I am working on my PhD in Mind-Body Medicine, studying the impact of stress hormones and emotions on our health and well-being and helping others heal. I am here to share what I am learning and my own personal experiences with autoimmune disease, trauma and healing.