The Better Question: Is Chronic Lyme Reversible? (Susan’s Story)

Opening: Ask Why and the Healing Mission 0:00

I think the biggest one that sticks out in my head is ask why. And you may be given a diagnosis and then offered to be put on medication, but rarely do they ever ask, why? There are alternatives out there who will listen to you, who help you get to the root cause of why you're having these health challenges. The better question is to just start asking why, ask Welcome to the resiliency method, the truth about healing. I'm Dr. Erica and we are here to uncover the root causes keeping you stuck. Together we'll restore your energy, your focus and your resiliency so you can finally heal, regenerate and feel truly alive again.

What happens when a nurse working inside the system starts reading the black box warnings on vaccines and realizes something's terribly wrong? Welcome to The Resiliency Method, the truth about healing podcast. I'm Dr. Erica and today's guest, Susan Hoffman, is a licensed practical nurse and a practitioner trained to work with clients using the resiliency method. Susan actually lived the nightmare of working in conventional medicine while being gaslight by that same system about her own declining health.

After being bitten by ticks twice and dismissed by doctors who implied that she had a Prozac deficiency, Susan spent 20 years suffering with undiagnosed

Susan Hoffmanu2019s Background in Conventional Medicine 1:24

Lyme disease, watching patients getting sicker on more medications while knowing there had to be another way. Her story of transformation and resilience took her from barely walking to almost running down the stairs. If you've ever felt dismissed by the medical system or you have plateaued in your healing, this conversation is for you. Welcome back to the Resiliency Method podcast. I'm Dr. Erica Schultz. We are here to talk about the truth of healing today and the fact that you can heal. And I've brought someone along with me today who has been on her own journey with her health for many years.

As they always do, those of us with the most challenging health scenarios, health cases, always make the best practitioners. So I'd like to welcome today, Susan Hoffling. She is a team member with us, an associate practitioner at Paramount Wellness. We're so happy that she just joined us. Glad to have her on board and a very seasoned and experienced healthcare practitioner with several credentials. I'll turn it over to you to start with that. And then we want to hear from your story. Well, originally, my original BS is in nutrition and I also am a functional nutrition therapy practitioner and then I'm also a licensed practical nurse.

Came from the Western world. I came from The Dark Side. Lovingly. Yes, very lovingly, yes. Yes. And so that started your journey, I guess, in the world of medicine was in a conventional path. Yes, it was. This is going to be a good story. Yeah. It's a long and winding road. Long and windy road, yes.

Tick Bites, Dismissal, and Chronic Lyme 3:18

Well, start us off. Tell us what it's like for you when you were in. the Western more conventional setting, working with patients then, what kind of things did you notice that you started observing and what ultimately got you to where you were obviously stepping off and taking a pretty big step, right? Right. From one path to another. Tell us that story. Yes. So I have my own experience with, personal experience, with Western medicine in that I was bit by a tick in my late 30s, not my early 30's, twice.

And I took both ticks into the doctor to get it tested for Lyme. They pretty much laughed me out of there, dismissed everything, really gaslighted me. Very, very frustrating because I knew something was wrong and they did test after test, after tests, which all came back negative within normal limits, they call it. They were doing conventional lab line testing at that time? Yes. Okay. And yeah, so everything's negative pretty much, you know, insinuating that I had a Prozac deficiency. So, but I kept getting worse and there was no help to be had through Western medicine.

As I worked as a nurse, what I noticed as people came in, was that they would come in over and over again, and this is the majority of people, there's always exceptions, but depending on their lifestyle factors, they will just get worse and they need another medication to help them along and then they wouldn't need medications to deal with the side effects of the medications or a surgery or something like that. And I also noticed that None of those practitioners didn't know the first thing about nutrition and the advice they would give.

I would be in my head kind of going, run, patient run. That's wrong. Anyways, so that's the second thing I noticed. The third thing, I notice was some angst for myself because I gave so many vaccines. that I thought, you know, this is a lot on a two-month-old baby. Are you tied to treatments, protocols, and gurus who promise results but don't deliver? You're not alone. For years, I struggled with my own long-term illness and I know how frustrating it feels when nothing seems to work. That's why I developed the resiliency method.

It's a science-backed approach to combine the best of Western and ancient medicines to restore your body's natural intelligence. Patient after patient has discovered what's possible, living stronger, brighter, and more spiritually connected than ever before. Whether you're facing autoimmune issues, hormonal imbalances, weight struggles, or just feeling stuck, you don't need another quick fix.

Questioning Vaccines and the Limits of Western Care 6:29

You need a clear path forward. Take the first step with a discovery call at drericaonline.com forward slash discovery. That's D-R-E- R-I-K-A online. com forward source discovery or dive deeper with the full initial consultation at Dr. Erica online dot com board slash initial dash consultation because your health, your clarity and your freedom cannot wait. I don't know, there was something inside me that was kind of going, should we look into this a little more? And I would go back to the nursing station, pull out the thing and look at the side effects of some of these and it would say in the black box warning.

Oh, you were actually reading the black box warnings? Yes, I was reading a blackbox warning. Where is anybody else around you reading? I don't know. I, and this was when I fully buying into Western medicine and I thought it was really the only way to go. But it kind of sent me down a road of starting to question something, starting look into some things. Okay, so now you have me just curious. So as you're doing this and you are showing up to work every day, clocking in maybe, did you punch cards back then?

On the computer. On a computer, okay. Yep. And so you're showing up to work every day as very qualified nurse, practitioner, and you are having this like, what, turmoil inside your stomach kind of like? Yep, right. What are you seeing around you? Is there anybody that you can relate with in that context? Are you having to keep this all to yourself? Oh no, no. I believe if I would have spoken up, I have been crucified, honestly. Do you think you would've lost your job? I'm not sure I'd have lost my job, but if told them I am not comfortable doing this anymore, then I wouldn't have.

But you were doing all the things that you're supposed to do to be in that setting. So then what got you from that point where you are clocking in every day there to then going in a completely different path to starting to work with clients on your own? Right.

A Daughteru2019s Health Crisis and Turning Point 9:20

That would be my own health. Because I was getting no answers from Western medicine, when my youngest daughter was, I think a junior in high school, she started to have a lot of digestive problems and depression, very bad depression. And in fact, one time she actually tried to kill herself. And so I thought, you know what, she needs some help and I'm not trusting Western medicine right now. You know, let me back up because I was trained that way as well. People go in there because they want to help people.

And this is what you learn. you'll learn something in a box and you think you're doing the right thing. and that's what know. So that what they're are doing, right? Yeah, their hearts are good. So anyways, but from my own experience, I was noticing in terms of chronic things, they're great at acute care. Absolutely. Right? That's where I would go for, you know, if I were in a car crash or something, You know? But the chronic disease process, left quite a bit to be desired. So I wanted to take my daughter somewhere else and I to see a gal who did a certain modality that was highly recommended.

So I took my daughter there and I started noticing that she got better. And then I thought, well, I think I'm going to give it a crack at this too. Then for the first time I starting getting better and what I had all along was chronic Lyme disease. And so for the first time the fog started lifting, the fatigue started easing, and the pain started going away. Okay, so let's pause there for a second. That's awesome. And then I'm curious now, because the conventional pathway for someone with Lyme is going to be consecutive rounds of antibiotic treatment, right?

So that is the conventional path. Did you go on that for a little bit, Susan, or were you just like uncovering the lime and going more of the holistic route with that? I did not do that, the antibiotic route, until later on when I saw integrators MD. and then she put me on around, which I didn't, from my research, it was too late for that really. I think maybe there's evidence that it works early, like you catch it right away. But by this time, I'm 20 years into this and yeah. So anyway, so I started noticing improvement for myself and I worked in Western medicine for about five years and then I got back into school to get my RN.

Concussion, Career Shift, and New Training 12:22

I was standing at a desk going over an exam and I pulled up a rolling chair behind me and went to sit down. It was gone. The back of my head hit the crossbeam of a stainless steel crib and got a doozy of concussion. Eventually I had to drop out and that was actually the best thing ever because that's when I turned and decided to go. I don't think I'm supposed to be here." And that was a whack on the head to get me to realize that's not where I was supposed be. So that when I turned to... Some of the best lessons are...

Exactly. I fell into a hole where one foot went down. Did you? Yeah. The best lesson are really painful. Yeah, two surgeries, a year of recovery, learning to walk again. break your foot. But yeah, it was like, I said, okay, what are you trying to tell me? Right. Exactly. I'm like okay. So anyways, so that's when I started going down a different path and I got my certification in a certain therapy. I think it was end of 2014, 2015. And that's when I opened up my business and started seeing patients, I'm sorry, clients used to being a nurse.

So, and then I've just been learning ever since. Yes, every conference I can go to or class I could go too, I love to go and learn. And then you had been treating me off and on because we were both trained in that original method. It was good. It worked for a while. Yeah. But I felt a little bit like I was circling the wagon for awhile. Like I had plateaued and not gotten better past a certain level. Yes. And then that's when you really introduced the resiliency method. Yeah. And so since doing the resiliency, now you're becoming a certified practitioner in the Resiliency Method.

Yes. Avid learner, but also a great applier of learning. I will give you credit. You do great with that.

Resiliency Method Results and the Power of Asking Why 14:52

But what have you noticed for your health? since you started applying really phase two and phase three, right? That's where we started with you. Yeah. I just noticed that I have improved exponentially from there. Things are getting better so much faster. Your knees are working again, aren't they? Oh my goodness, my knees. Yeah, they're doing so much better. I can actually walk downstairs one foot at a time now. Actually, I almost ran downstairs the other day. Yeah. And I'm like, oh, thank you, God.

So yeah. That's important for chasing grandchildren that are starting to come in your room. Yes. Anyways, yeah, so, much improvement. Good. And what do you think is the thing that you would tell your patients in terms of their own health journey? Having kind of now seen that, you can plateau and you continue to get better and get well by just asking some more questions and specifically by you helping them ask those questions. What do think's the biggest lesson you've gotten out of that? You know, I think the biggest one that sticks out in my head, probably because I come from Western medicine, is ask why.

It's just not asked normally. Ask why, okay, so this condition, whatever it is, Is affecting your life, your health, Your work, Whatever it may be. And you may be given a diagnosis and then offered to be put on medication, but rarely do they ever ask why, why are you here? And I would really encourage people to think about that. And, you know, there are alternatives out there who will listen to you, who help you get to the root cause of why you're having these health challenges. Yeah. So the better question is to just start asking why.

Ask why? And then ask why again. That's what we kept doing. Keep asking, why and see even more continued results, more or continued improvement. And probably some of the healthcare practitioners out there, we all need to continue to ask, patients or clients into the next set of steps, the journey for their own health. Right. I'm resonating with my three-year-old grandson. Why, Nana? Why? I love it. Become a three year old again. Yes. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Schutzen, for sharing your story with us today.

Thank you for having me. We're excited to have you on our team. Thanks for tuning into the resiliency method, the truth about healing podcasts. If this episode spoke to you, follow, share, and leave us a review. Are you ready to go deeper? Book your discovery called now at drericaonline.com forward slash discovery and take your first step today.