The Strep Kept Coming Back: Lyme, Immune Dysfunction & the Missing Layer in Holistic Health

Lauren and her family were already doing so many of the “right” things — eating clean, supporting gut health, limiting gluten, using raw milk, exploring holistic therapies, and trying to stay ahead of recurring illness naturally. But despite all of that, the strep just kept coming back.

What started as a simple sick day call for her children quickly uncovered a much deeper immune story involving chronic infections, Lyme disease, Epstein Barr virus, immune dysregulation, candida patterns, and a body stuck in survival mode.

In this episode, Elizabeth and Lauren unpack how recurring strep can sometimes be the first visible clue of a much larger issue beneath the surface — especially in families already prone to inflammation, fatigue, histamine issues, food reactivity, and chronic illness patterns. Together they discuss functional immunology, immunotherapy, chronic pathogen burden, and how helping the immune system regulate changed not just Lauren’s health, but the entire family dynamic.

This conversation is especially meaningful for the “crunchy mom” who feels like she’s already doing everything right… but still doesn’t feel well.

In this episode:

• Recurring strep in children and families

• Lyme disease & tick-borne infections

• Epstein Barr, chronic illness & immune dysfunction

• Histamine issues, candida patterns & food cravings

• Functional immunology and immune balancing

• Why “healthy living” sometimes isn’t enough

• Raising resilient kids without fear

A favorite takeaway:
“Less sickness means more life. More energy. More capacity. More peace in the home.”

Please note that transcripts may contain minor errors or inaccuracies. We hope you enjoy reading them and find them helpful.

Hey, you're going to be okay. I'm Elizabeth Mae and my functional health practice. Hey, hey. Mae helps people heal when they've exhausted traditional options when no one can figure out your health challenges. My team helps you resolve symptoms and restores your health. You're listening to my podcast. Where will your stories of healing chronic illness from a root cause immune centered approach?

Welcome back. Today we're going to talk about how being in a crunchy space can be great, but sometimes we've not been exposed to portions of a healing journey that we need to be so we can get better and retain wellness. We're really going to talk a lot about, in the beginning, recurrent strep, and why sometimes the first visible clue of that is more of a clue to a larger immune picture and what's happening underneath.

So Lauren and I are going to talk about her journey at hey, hey Mae. She worked with Krista. Her family, you know, went through kind of an injury point around strep stuff. And you guys were already eating well, avoiding toxin load like drinking around milk, having quality food, things like that. But those recurring infections were kind of the thread that brought you to care.

So just kind of intro for us. Learn about how you guys got started and what was going on in your family at the point that we began? Well, we got started a couple of years ago when my daughter had started kindergarten and she kept getting strep throat, and I took her to the doctor and they gave her antibiotics.

And then the second time, again, by the third time, I was like, and this was within, you know, the school year started in what, the end of in August. And so this was by springtime. So we were on our third time of her supposed to be taking antibiotics. And I was like, I can't do this. This isn't working.

So I had mentioned I don't even know if I mentioned it to a friend. I was talking with a friend, though, and she had told me about work she had done with you. Not for strep for something else, but she had. Oh no. And then I told her about my struggle with strep and she had said, if you look at her Instagram, she has all this information about the strep up there right now.

So when I got home I did and I was like, oh good. So everything you said was about strep when I first looked at your Instagram. Yeah. So so I expected it all. Yeah. So you guys have done the antibiotic route and obviously wasn't resolving. You were just getting recurrence. And I think it was more than just her to like you had your own bout and maybe your son like there was some passing around going on.

Got it twice. Yeah okay. Okay. Yeah. And really like there was that family strep pattern. But as we started to talk through your daughter symptoms like she had had some tummy pain, she'd had like the tummy involvement which a lot of people aren't familiar that like vomiting was strep can be very correlated. Stomach pain, picky eating stuff was happening.

But you'd also shared that there was some other like she would get red blotchy cheeks or there was some leg pain. She'd had eczema in the past, which can be a flag for some recurrent strep threads, and she was just tired. And I remember talking to her because we did, I think, an SOS call at first, you and I to start out the strep care, and she was on it and just talking about being tired and like her body falling asleep and like she just felt like she didn't have the get up and go a kindergarten or should have to just walk around and do normal things.

But as we talk more, we talk to you about your health history and kind of like you grew up with recurrent strep. You had no tonsils. There had been fatigue that was coming in for you when she was sick. When you look back now and think through those kind of family history pieces, do you see where the immune dysfunction was there?

And kind of the strep helped us just like know that it wasn't just strep, I guess. Yeah. I mean, you all knew. Yes. Yeah. I took so many antibiotics growing up, you know, and then I was giving her antibiotics because I thought if I didn't give her antibiotics, it could go to her brain and kill her or whatever it is they tell you at the doctor.

Yeah, there's party out concerns, too. I mean, that's very legitimate. And I think that's something we teach a lot is like, I'm a big fan of grab the antibiotic and have it in your house, and then let's work some other methods to get it addressed. Because really, strep frankly really stinks now because of antibiotic resistance. That came a lot from our generation over using them.

And the strep has become more resilient against antibiotics. And so we do want to try to like not use them as much as possible. Sometimes we have to. But knowing and learning kind of those pieces that there are other ways. How did that feel for you? Because I think our conversation was maybe one of the first moves into like there are other options besides antibiotics when there's a strep infection.

Did you feel that was new for you or empowering or, you know, empowering? I knew it was possible, but I needed your help with that. And antibiotics weren't working anyway because it kept coming back. Yeah. You know, so how many times am I going to give her antibiotics, you know? Yeah, yeah. And that's a good point. Like you guys weren't new to, like, approaching things from a wellness angle either, like, lifestyle wise and even with the strep.

Like, what other things were you guys doing or have you done for your own health that maybe had helped, but like, hadn't gotten you where you needed to be with either her or your own stuff? Yeah. Then I had certain supplements that I had found, you know, through research online, through friends who have shared things with me.

I had her on some supreme supplements. I was doing things to really boost your immune system. And then I did do a bit of binding even then, I think, because I knew about Takasugi. Yeah. So yeah, but I didn't I didn't have all the faith in it. I never used Cat's Claw on my kids before I met you all, so.

Yeah. And then I just. I knew that stuff was. But I didn't have the confidence that I could do it. I didn't have, I didn't have all the pieces, and I didn't have, like, the whole idea of it yet. Yes. Yeah. That's so good. Because sometimes clients can see that they're still struggling, but you can see little progress with some of the parts that you'll throw in.

And a lot of the things you were doing work helpful pieces. And it's not that you were doing anything wrong, it was more that you were doing a lot right. We just haven't like, addressed the immune infection layer with like the right strategy yet and combining those parts as what really has to happen, especially when there's recurrent infection, a one time strep thing.

We can throw a couple things that it probably will back down, but when it starts to be recurrent, that's when it becomes more of something that needs that immune infection layer, not just the antibiotic or the antibacterial, you know, herbal layer. And so, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So we moved from her into working on some stuff with you.

I think you'd had like a thermography maybe reading that brought up some stuff and you've been doing some parasite things and kind of like making progress, but not. So tell us about where you were when we started talking about, care for you? Well, with my kids, we worked with Krista through the summer. That summer, I remember. And I got a feel for what she did with them, and it worked really well.

And so then I was like, okay. I started to feel a little bit more confidence because, you know, you do start to feel defeated even though you spend all this money on food and, you know, you do things differently than other people and it requires a bit of effort and thought. A lot of my thought, like so much of it.

And so I was getting discouraged at that point. And then it kind of turned around. When we did work with Krista, and the kids were thriving and they were doing, you know, their protocols. And after that, I was feeling good about them. And I, I think it was a few months later, I went and got a thermographic scan, and I didn't want to get a mammogram, but I wanted to get the scan and just see what it said, because I had read about that, and the lady looked at me and just was horrified at how red my armpit lymph nodes were, and I was expecting her to be like, everything looks great.

Oh, you're so healthy. Yeah, there was a lot of work done, but she looked at me and she goes, you have got to do something about this. Now this comes. So I was like, what do you mean? She said, that's you see that? She said, your lymph is clogged. She's like, it's very clogged. And I thought to myself, how could it be clogged?

I sweat all the time. I jump on a trampoline with the kids. I work out like every day. I'm always sweating. Doesn't that move some stuff? I mean, that's what I was thinking. Sure, yeah. I won't again, discouraged. And I was like, why is this a problem? And so that is really what that that alone, that lady's look on her face and what she said to me that I need to do everything I could to take care of that.

And I didn't even really know what she was talking about or why it could be that way. So that's when I called Krista, because I'm like, what would you. And I said, I need a dream. My lymph, I think. Yeah, yeah, I think that coming here and you guys started exploring more symptom load and kind of saying like, okay, well the lymph on fire situation we have, but what else is going on?

And there was like sugar intolerance stuff. And you had some like hand feet lower back stiffness and you had like some rashes, redness around your eyes. I think you'd done some parasite work before. Right. But it never it didn't feel great or it didn't go great. So you would like kind of pull back and pause that. So those were little signs for us to and there are some GI stuff to some mood stuff irritability after sugar.

So for us that's like a bacterial flag of like what bacterial things hanging out here which we already knew the strep history and you kind of had some Candida patterns and you had more of a handle on that than most people. A lot of people come in and are like, I feel like crap. I don't really know how I feel.

But you had some of that and even understanding, like you'd done some fungal work before you, you know, you'd done a little parasite stuff, but did you realize how many of your symptoms had kind of become like normal for you at that point, or was it. No. Yeah. No. And Chris was like, well, limes hides in the lymph.

And she just met me where I was at time and time again because I'm like limes, you know, like, what are you talking about? And she's like, well, limes hides in the lymph. And, you know, a lot of this really sounds like Lyme infection. And, she said it right away and I was like, well, I don't I don't know of any.

That doesn't make sense to me, you know? Yeah, but how do you I knew not that I knew of. Yeah. I mean, not anything. No bull's eyes, that's for sure. Sure. Yeah. Not really. Probably, but didn't know. I mean, could I have not noticed? Of course. You know. I mean, look at my hair. Yeah, yeah. Farm adjacent and, you know, and just some people are like, no, I live inside all the time.

I literally don't go outside. And that is a different. And I'm outside. Yeah. No, we're in the woods. And at the time I had been milking cows with a friend, and I had not known about regularly cleansing for parasites, so I didn't know about that. And gosh, it must have really built up. And I did go in before I saw Krista.

I went in for muscle testing, and the first thing was like, wow, you know, like, this is coming up. It's the milk or it's the cows, and it was nematodes and it's just your full, you know, you've got to get rid of some of these. So when I started to do a cleanse, it was just coming out of my face and I was like, oh no, I don't ever have anything on my face.

Like, no, no, no. And I'm sure that was like a shocker. It was. And I didn't like it at all. And I felt kind of awful and just like, gross. And so when I went to when I went to Krista, this had already happened. And I didn't want to do it anymore because I didn't want my face to break out.

So she again met me where I was at and was like, let's take a break and we'll start again more gently and ease into the hard stuff. Good. So how did I do it? Well, by the time I did the same cleanse that I'm telling you about when I first started in that earlier in that year. By the time I did that same stuff after immune therapy, at the end, I did it and didn't break out.

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eah, and that's important for people to hear too, because a lot of times we figure out, okay, I probably have parasites or I probably have this, I'm going to take this supplement. You start it and you're like, wow, I feel like trash.

That supplement must not be for me. I can't tolerate that. But it's more like sometimes we have to have the wisdom of someone who can see the pattern and the symptoms and say, no, that's you are on the right track. But we got to slow that down. And with you, you had limp congestion. There were portions of drainage that probably would help you if they were supported in a different way.

And then we have that immune layer. So once Krista kind of presented the lyme idea and you were open, we moved into testing. And that's where the larger picture became more clear of the immune dysregulation, which teaching wise, like when pathogens are not being killed off accurately, naturally, as our body should, that Th2 side, the inflammatory parasite patrolling regulating side starts either overcompensate or not work well.

And your body was kind of like the fruit of that. You weren't feeling horrendous every day, but you did have the parasite stuff. Our bodies, we all have parasites. It's when there's big populations or particular populations that they're become issues. And that is a cascade, really. That kind of came from the lime stuff because you guys discovered lime and or and and a plasma mycoplasma.

So respiratory related and some viral stuff too. I think there was parvo and Epstein-Barr inside of Megalo a little strep. So there was like a cocktail of things there. And when someone has a bug borne Lyme exposure and it's made home in the body, it makes the immune system really not resilient. And then other stuff can kind of stack up like the parasites.

There were things that had stacked up for you over time. And that's also why a lot of times clients come in who are already taking good care of themselves, investing in good food, spending all the time to make, you know, healthy meals and good choices. But they're still like inflamed or exhausted or really congested or just their bodies are very reactive and stuck.

And I don't know, I'm curious how it felt for you seeing those test results and like, did you feel validated or perplexed or what was that like, seeing the panel results? I was perplexed and I said, I said, does everybody have all this or does everybody have these infections? Like, do you look and most people have them. And she's like, no.

So that was what I said. And I just thought, oh, that's so strange, you know. Yeah, I didn't I didn't eat. Yeah. Because it's not like about fighting stuff harder, like pushing the immune system or eating better. It's more the immune system has to regulate or all those good habits are just going to prop you up. They're not really going to create like that constant vitality that they should.

If we're making great choices like you guys were doing. So what about the immune therapy process in the beginning? How did you feel like emotionally starting out? Going into that? I did not like the drainage. I it was it almost hurt me a little bit. It was I was swelling all around my hands and my feet and I didn't like it at all.

So that was a couple weeks at that time. And then so I remember that. And then after that, and then I had to keep doing the drainage right. And I kept telling her, I don't want to do this. Yeah. You were like, I need you to fix my lymph, but I don't want to drain. But I need this part I know, and I, I did.

I was like, I don't like this at all, but I did. She's like, just stick with it. It's fine. Then she tells you, you know, this is supposed to happen. This is going to happen and it's normal and it will go away. And then you just tell yourself, okay, it's going to go away. So it's not really a big deal.

I can handle it for a few weeks. So I did. And then I felt in the beginning of immune therapy I felt better mentally almost instantly. So that was the biggest thing. Yeah. Yeah. And then I mean system once it stops like our tissue and starts attacking the infections, you can feel some people that brain clarity piece. For some people it is like clarity and attention and less brain fog for other people like depression will lift very quickly because inflammation in your head can manifest as depression, anxiety, even just low mood or irritable stuff and correcting the immune system.

So it's not aiming at our tissue, it's aiming at the pathogen issue can make that those brain sensations resolve pretty quickly. But other stuff too. I think the lymph swelling. Did that reduce or persist through the the process? What was the process there. Because that was really like your big initial goal? Yeah. And my armpits got better pretty quickly as far as not being you know, I never noticed before.

She told me how how hot they were and how lumpy, you know. But they did get feel better and they were actually hurt even. And I didn't even really notice until I put my hands there and started, you know, I just didn't pay attention to that. And then once I did, I could feel a little bit of pain.

I mean, they're completely fine now. And they, they were they went it went down. It felt better. Those felt better in the beginning. My brain fog felt so much better in the beginning. And my anxiety was much better very quickly. Really has been non-existent.

So glad. It's really interesting too, because on this side we could watch that all the time. And we know that there is a visceral because of the way Lyme in particular, and some of the other infections you were dealing with, they interact with the immune system, but also the nervous system, like Lyme loves your nerves and your nerves and your brain are your nervous system.

And we see people say all the time, like, if you just do more breathwork, if you do this nervous system retraining, if you regulate more, but like you cannot out a pathogen that is stimulating your nervous system. And when we bring that immune therapy in and start addressing it and those pathogens start leaving, the anxiety shift is wild.

You go from feeling. I always ask people like, is are you anxious about something that is a situation, you know, that happened or you're worried? Or does it just feel like your fingers been put in a light socket? And it's more that like eat like the anxiety that's present with lemon, it really can shift so quickly. And it's not something that we think of as like, oh, this is a bug borne symptom.

Like we're used to know joint and pain. Yeah, that's no, I never would have I never would have known. And and it, it is the biggest for me. It was like probably the best part of all of it was to realize I can do all those things for maintenance, like wake up early, read, you know, pray, be quiet for five minutes in the morning.

But still it's helpful. And, you know, stop by to stop when I'm ready to explode. Try to stop first. All those practices or practices that I still have to do because I still struggle with all of that and all of that, all of that, that we call trauma and that we're worried about. Before, I never knew. I thought that was how I was forever.

I thought that I had to work harder and harder and harder, and it just was who I was and how I was. And when I did this, I realized that I'm it's so much easier than it was for me. You know, it's it's I mean, I would be in the car with like especially in postpartum with like my ears pounding, you know, and like ready to explode and take off like, it's like they say, like you're reacting to screams and noises in the back seat, as if someone's chasing you down, you know?

Yeah. And to me, my nervous. Oh, and it wasn't just like, it's like the pathogen load starts either. Your foundation is totally different. And then we address infections and you have like a new foundation. Still, people like you said, like those are still habits that are helpful for you, but you're not starting at fried, dried, exhausted, nutrient depleted because the pathogen loads not there anymore.

And your immune system is not doing wacky stuff like addressing your tissue instead of the pathogen issue. It's I mean, it's hard to explain, but I think you did a great job because it's weird even consider that like, oh, my disposition or my irritability or my anxiety isn't just me, because we're also kind of taught as women slashed in the South that like, you'd just be nice to be nice or try harder, be more nervous system work.

You'll get there. But like, there's more to it. Sometimes there are other symptom pieces to like. There was a lot of food craving and sugar craving and like exhaustion after eating. I saw in your notes like before. Tell us about that. And like how that portion changed for you again, my whole life. I mean, I crave sugar all the time.

I still struggle with it a little bit. It's not like it was before. You know, I crave sugar, and then I crave carbs, and there's not really anything else that I want. I used to do whole 30s back in my early 30s. I did whole 30s a lot, and I would get over it a little bit, but I would go right back the minute I had anything, you know, to being that way.

So it was very helpful to do those whole 30s. It was very helpful tool. But I couldn't keep it like my husband would be like, oh, I don't want I don't want treats anymore. And I'd be like, what? I yeah, well I didn't have that. And yeah, it was, it was a I always want sugar. I've always been that way.

I mean people that know me know that, like I just want dessert like all the time. So that's that. And I had I struggle with my blood sugar, you know, feeling terrible afterward, feeling cranky and then tired. Cranky and then tired. Taking a walk helps a little bit, but doesn't completely do it for me. If talking about this makes me start to sweat a little bit, actually.

Well, it's interesting too, because like, sugar feeds pathogens, so when we have a high load of them, especially bacterial, they will they dictate some of our cravings. Like, I remember when I had my McCully even eating any little bitty bit of anything that was even fruit for me at that point. And I had an acute bite and got very sick, very quick.

But my symptoms within five minutes of having something would escalate so much I would have vertigo and a lot of dizziness very quickly. And it's really about that sugar feeding the pathogen. But also sugar can function as a cheap dopamine and lime and pears, the body's ability to complete creation of dopamine. So sometimes for those of us who struggle with, like the sugar cravings or even like attention, because dopamine helps you stay attuned to an activity, you're getting a little rewards that that whole process can be altered to its most extreme degree.

I'll see kids and adults who have ADHD. We work on their infections in the ADHD is nearly or completely gone, and it was more the dopamine dysfunction and it can show up as that sugar craving. Because sugar sugar screens, lots of things can be cheap. Doesn't mean for us that kind of sub in there. But now that you've addressed infections, those two big factors are really greatly eliminated for you.

And we're still going to be, like you said, who we are. Like I, Elizabeth, am also always going to like a dessert. It's like my mom baked every day. And my childhood, she's amazing at it. I'm probably never going to be like, where's the dessert after the meal? But the physicality of the way it engages my body is different, and it sounds like that's the same for you.

It's not the constant craving, the constant. Do you feel like food noise or was that a part of things for you before? Like your brain always thinking about the sugar and what like, is that different or was that a piece I don't know. No, I think I fed myself. I didn't even have to think about it. Yeah. I mean, I just ate a lot of people spend so much time thinking like it's constant in their brain.

Like, I gotta find more and more and more, and then they go like, this is different. And no, I just feel better and I do better. And yeah, yeah, it's a little easier. What about pain pieces for those factors for you? I didn't know it, but yes, I didn't know till I felt better that it wasn't normal how I was.

And now that I know it's actually a problem because I'm going to feel it every time it comes back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that brings me to a good point. So you recently had a tick bite after you work through this process. And I'm curious how do you feel now. Like how do you approach them differently. How did it feel when that happens?

Were you more empowered or panicked or what? What's kind of come along for you there because you're outdoorsy and I don't think that's probably going to change. So yeah, we're here at first when there were when we had it first, they were on my kids a couple times this season in March, and I was panicking a little bit just because it's like, why are there so many ticks around in the backyard for that piece?

I was a bit panicked because it was just like it caught me off guard this year. But as far as when I got a bite and then I had a little bullseye coming up. No, I was not panicked. I was annoyed because I didn't want to deal with it, but I had Krista and she. She even what she told me to do right off the bat worked.

So I put I made a politics and I used binder and cat's claw and I put it on there and it, you know, the next morning it had, it had stopped growing. And then the next morning it had shrunk and then it went away. Yeah. So but I didn't know, I wasn't panicked. I was a little bit annoyed because I knew I was going to have to do some work, but I was already having symptoms before that.

We had the flu last winter, and I started getting so achy before we even got the flu, I started getting it's it's all around. When I sit down, I'm up. I don't sit down a lot. When I'm walking around and moving, I'm totally fine. But then I'll sit down and when I get up, everything is so stiff and it hurts so badly, you know, from ankles to feet to wrist.

It's a lower back and I can, like, barely walk out of the room, you know? So that part started happening again. And I, in my life before, that's just how I was. If I was sitting Indian style on the floor, it would take me forever to get up. I mean, there's probably like an 80 year old lady next to me getting up faster than me.

That's right. Yeah, that's how it's been, you know. And then when I did the immune therapy that that changed and that went away for a while. And then when we had the flu, it came back. And as soon as it did, I noticed it. And so that's, that's kind of how it went. But I don't think I noticed it for all those years I just struggled.

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Yeah, that's a good point too, because people ask, you know, like, once I get done with this process and I feel so much better then what? Well, then you continue to take good care of yourself. You don't have to be as hypervigilant, but there can still be immune triggers. But you have a whole new frame of understanding that.

So when you got the flu and you started, have pain creeping back in, we know that we need to come back in and do a little bit of immune upkeep. Nothing crazy or wild. The tick bite happened to come in at the same time and give you like perfect little storm of like, okay, now we're going to do a little support, get you back on track.

But I think too is like you mentioned, just more ticks than it being March. There's definitely a lot of conversation around that in our general space. And take exposure is common. And I would say they are bugs. They will continue to reproduce and there will be more of them. It's how it works. Our winters are becoming less harsh.

They're becoming more resilient against cold weather too. And so understanding how the immune system works and how we can support the immune system when those things happen that we as families and moms and dads can identify patterns sooner so we know what we're looking at. So then we know what to do. That part being empowered in prevention and awareness can squash the fear.

And it's not like a big, scary, awful thing. It's a thing that happens. It's the thing we deal with and that we can move through. And I think your story is a good one too, of like, there's a lot of symptoms that you didn't know was related, and you got to see that clear. And then we saw a little immune trigger.

And then, you know, we first saw that. And and you can really see how functional immunology that's the science of how this stuff works. And how we've come up with this process is really what changes your health. So I think it's been fun to watch from over here because of course you work with Cristo, but I get to watch and see all the things and we wow around cases.

And it's been cool to see you guys work through the recurring strep and then find, you know, underlying stuff for you and and see that resolve. So I'm curious what you would say on this side to like another mom who's doing things well and is maybe crunchy or eating well and doing stuff like doing all the right things but still struggling, what would you what would you say to her?

I would talk about balance, and I guess that's the immune system, right? Balance. You might if it's struggling with strep, let's say, okay, it's going to keep coming back. It's always going to be there. You can knock it down and knock it back. And you're and the kids body will your body or your child's body will will take over.

And I would send them to you. I would send them the link to your call. But what what it would be doing, what I've learned is that you can knock it back down, and then the body takes over and takes care of you, and you heal. Yeah. And you stay well. And then the minute it starts to overload again, like you're, you're you're going to feel a little sick again.

You'll feel that one symptom that you notice. Maybe for me, it's when I get off the couch, I can barely walk or, you know, I have a bit of anxiety. For my daughter, it's that she'll usually she throws up, and then I start on the protocol. But anyway, I would just say, you can work this with herbs and homeopathy and you, I mean, you might not be able to.

I guess everybody's different. But you can you can try it first and you may see huge improvement. And if you see improvement you can trust that. Yeah that's a really good point too because so often we have families who've gone just pediatrician route and eventually they get fed up because they're like we're just doing the same thing over and over again.

And I'm seeing that it's not working. And I'm saying that it's not working. And they just keep telling me to keep doing it. But like, I can't really trust what they're telling me to do because we're not getting anywhere. We just keep doing the same thing over and over and over again. And when something is working, you see that, like you see the improvement in the child.

You see the light come back in their eyes, you see your body pain shift. It's not a big mystery. It's not like a okay, well, maybe we'll do one more thing again. Maybe we'll just do another random supplement or whatever. You really do see progress. And in working in a, in a place, whether that we, we have clients who go to wonderful pediatricians who are so helpful and have wonderful tools and they get progress.

But being able to test yourself and know what I'm seeing is working or it's not, and then that can be true. And you're saying thing. Yeah. Being the mom I mean I with after working with you all, it is true that I feel like I am fully in charge of the situation. I mean, not in charge. God is in charge of the situation, but I am fully controlling the in and the out and your mom and medicine cabinet.

It builds up and it changes. You know, there's always new stuff to learn. And, I do trust myself at this point so much more. Am I still going to message Krista when I'm lost? I can't help myself. She knows. He knows so much.

But and I do. I take to my phone and I'm like, I gotta ask Krista. I'm lucky. I can ask Krista. You know? I mean, some of us, we need to talk to each other, too, but that she pays really close attention and she is empathetic and understands. And you as a mom, can do the exact same thing, especially with your kids, you know?

Yeah. And so that's what I'm doing. And it's working. My kids haven't. And, you know, you don't like to say that, but it's my kids haven't since we worked with you all. Since before that, my kids haven't had to go back to the doctor for strep or anything. I think George had a screaming ear infection at one point after his allergies had dumped a bunch of last year.

He gets bad allergies. I think I took him in when he was screaming because he had so much and I he didn't take any antibiotics. Nothing came of that. I just wanted to see what his eardrum looked like. Yeah, that's the next thing I need to learn is how to look at that. But, you know, they haven't been back or had anything and that's been since early 2024.

So two years. That's a really good point because one of the things when we work with families that changes one, you become more equipped, you become more empowered. You learn things. And I like to say, we want to teach you a lot of things while you wait for the doctor. And if you end up going to the doctor because you need to, that's great.

And if what you've learned helps you push that doctor visit back because you don't need it, because whatever was going on resolved itself, that's great. But also less sickness in the house means more life. And that has always been my hope in building. Hey, hey, the way that we have is that I want moms and dads to learn to care for themselves and their families so that they can have less sickness.

They can have more life, more energy, more capacity, more peace in your house, because there's not peace when someone has strep and is randomly throwing up and somebody has an ear infection is crying because those are the things that we should be experiencing enjoying in parenthood, not the confusion in the run around on what's happening health wise. And we just got to go back to the doctor and we're financially taxed because another co-pay and, you know, like those things are not not what we should be experiencing.

We should be able to learn, take back our power as moms and dads, learn how to care for things at home. And then no one. We need to get help because there is help. And a lot of times in pediatrics, it's hard to get help in a conventional space. And it's good for parents to hear that too, because it feels a little, I would think, hopeless.

If you're not getting good help at the doctors where you're supposed to, why would somebody else have more to offer than the doctor? And when it comes to infectious stuff, gosh. And even just run of the mill stuff, learning how to care for an ear infection in a different way can be really empowering and free you up a lot, too.

So that makes me glad to hear all the layers. I'm glad that you are better, but also to hear about being able to care for your family in a different way. But where do you feel like you are now? Just your. I think you kind of covered a lot of that, but you're just confidence and your feelings around understanding what's going on in your household.

And, you know, I guess just general summary of now versus when you first started, what would you say has changed the most? Well, I'm so glad I met you guys and I'm so glad you're here for for parents that you're doing this. It is so right now when I look at other moms going to the doctor every other month and they've normal, they're just like, oh, we're on antibiotics again.

And oh, the kids are sick again. Like, and they and that's just become a thing where it seems like that's become a thing that we're we're accepting it's normal, you know. Oh, the kids are just sick all the time. I don't want my kids to be sick all the time. That's not okay with me. I feel like I was, you know, pulling from places and not quite able to get there.

And then you all helped me get there. And I really appreciate that. And I'm glad you put yourself out there and you do this. I now feel like I still need help sometimes because things are always changing and there's always new pieces, it seems like. But I know it's get older and you have new things and you'll have puberty and then you'll have, you know, so there's that's a very real and normal part to the kids.

I know they're I know what I'm looking at when it first starts. That's with me. I guess I know what I'm looking at when it first starts. It's easier to talk about with the kids because they're my little, you know, they're what? I'm. I'm watching them every day. And that's when I'm paying really close attention to. Right. I'm paying close attention to how they feel.

And then I can see if Hannah is starting to get a little strep. I can see it in her face. Everything you said earlier that I had told you it was exactly right and what happened. And so I start in immediately with the protocol that that Christophers gave us. And since then, she's even taught me more tricks. There's always something.

And then I add in and it's kind of like, we're going to go to kill it, we're going to detox it, we're going to bind it, and then we're going to replenish you. Right? So I'm working on that and I have that. And it's a balance always. And then with me right now I'm dealing with limes again. And I can feel it you know.

But it takes a lot of fear away too. Because like I said, tick bites are going to happen. So that happened after you'd work through the process and there can be recurrence. Also, we know that it can go right back into dormancy and not be an ongoing issue. I like what you said to you about the strep piece that like you work your protocol and if we need to learn some more, there's always something more.

And that is an advantage, at least for our team, because we see a lot of the same things. We really focus on infections, so we can work at strep from 25 different angles. And we have processes that we know that work, but sometimes we need to bring in new tools for new bodies and that part make short work of it.

You know, we're able to look and see, okay, this pattern is happening. We need to go this direction. And that just comes from getting to see a lot of pediatrics as opposed to being, you know, not as niched into one place or space. But yeah, definitely. I like that you're doing your studies over there because and looking at all these kids, you know, because and then sometimes stuff is going to come up and it's like, oh no, this isn't that so.

Yeah. Yeah it is. It's been a great advantage even for me. There's four of us now providers to be able to watch all of those cases. Like, I could never see as many people as we all do as a team and everyone. Krista's come with years of experience before she joined our team and has her own. And same with our other girls.

And it's been cool to be able to take that information than what we've learned about functional immunology, our own sick experiences, because we have all been unwell for some degree or our kids have, and that has really helped us to finesse that process. So it's not a lot of these health things are not a huge mystery if it's something you're seeing all the time and observing.

So it is curious, though I think sometimes for other people to look at this and see a different way of doing things, or even to see chronic illness and not track, maybe with the same way that we do things, or just even a parent who feels so much more comfort in like, let's just say an abiotic, because that's what we usually do.

But I'm always curious. My usual question is for those maybe who aren't familiar with chronic illness or haven't had this journey. How can they care well for others? Or how can they support? Like how was your family loved well during this process or supported well, listened to? First of all, listen and.

I mean, when I came to you guys, it's like you're listening. I'm being met where I am at because I'm not in this, you know, it's it's hard for me to do what you what what Krista does. You know, she's she knows what's going on. She knows what she's doing. And here you have this person who's like, but this, but that.

And so meeting someone where they're at and listening, I feel like we were listened to and met where we were at and also boosted up and.

Really listened to like the most important thing I felt. I felt loved and supported by being heard and someone being like, okay, you don't want to go to the doctor and take antibiotics again, let's figure this out. Let's do something else, you know? And that's that's that felt great because I don't want to do that. And when I got bit by The Tick, I didn't want to take antibiotics.

She knows that she knows me. Now, if I did want to take antibiotics, she would have supported me and then helped me to support my gut after I did. And I know that too. If you needed to, she would have pushed on you and said, Lauren, you're going to take them. This is why I recommend you taking them.

You know, like, and that part's really important too, because even in this space, it'd be easy for us just to be like, we have all the answers, do only our answers, but there are lots of things that we will be like, we're tapping out because you need. And that part's so important when you're looking for a provider, because there are plenty of things that will come along.

I always say, if I get in a car accident, you better drive me to the E.R. and if you don't, I'll be mad. Like. But every time there's some other time, the. No. But being able to discern those things. And I think the listening part to Krista's graded that. But also because she's so skilled at observing all the parts she can quickly when you're sick or you're dealing with a sick kid, that care can be enough, that stressor can be enough.

So to have an impartial party come in and say, oh, I see this, this and this, let me handle this for you. Here's where you're going. Go love on your kid and take care of them and just follow these steps. That part I think is such a grace too, because you be a mom, you don't have to be the figure out or of everything.

Wow, that part is such a grace. But I really appreciate you sharing with us about your journey and George and Hannah, and just giving us a bird's eye view into like, what the process was like for you guys and how things went before and after. I think it'll be really helpful for families thinking about or even just experiencing that second or third round of strep where you're like, something's not right here.

This doesn't feel great to keep trying the same route that's not solving things. So I really appreciate you sharing with us today. Thanks for listening. I hope you're leaving. Encouraged, curious, and hopeful. If you learned something, I'd love for you to share this episode with a friend. Hey, we are all healing together. You can learn more about my practice, our team, and what it's like to work with us at Hey hey Mae! 

I teach lots on Instagram and answer questions there. Each Monday my Instagram handle is at hey Hey Elizabeth Mae. You can watch these podcasts, episodes and more on our YouTube channel. Hey hey Mae, learn about and enjoy our homeopathic line and take our homeopathic short course at hey hey homeopathic. Happy healing.