How working with naturopath Charmaine D healed my anxiety and supported my stress management.

I have been working with naturopath Charmaine D for three years now. Originally, I approached her to support me with my skin issues. Because of her thorough protocols and holistic approach, this led us to understanding more about my health overall and what unique factors played into how I was feeling day-to-day. We deep-dived into my history, my lifestyle, my diet, my previous medications and how I was coping mentally and emotionally on a regular basis. All of these became pieces to the puzzle that equalled my story and through this process, Charmaine was able to support me through many important periods of my life.

One of these being my high-functioning anxiety and predisposition to fall into stress-induced burnout. My whole life I have worked in a high capacity, often on overdrive to fulfill this internal need to achieve more, do more, be more. One of the propellers that was driving me was chronic anxiety. This anxiety was so familiar to me I almost didn’t recognise it as separate from myself. So a part of me as it was, I rarely spoke about it, even to Charmaine. As it didn’t seem like a health concern, rather just an aspect of my personality.

Due to the fact that Charmaine conducts her business in a way that focuses on life-long relationships, consistent and constant health support, and educating others on their own health journey, over a period of many consultations and facial treatments, where we were focusing on my skin health, Charmaine learnt about this rather debilitating aspect of my life. In a way that only she can, Charmaine was able to learn more from me by asking the right questions and piecing together the puzzle to better understand what was going on internally for me.

Through this process, Charmaine was able to see that most of my life I had been running on high levels of anxiety that were pushing me harder and faster through life, making it seem like I was functioning and coping well, but suffering deeply through it all. Because she so thoroughly knew about my overall unique health story, Charmaine already knew I was suffering from histamine intolerance, which was currently being focused on to support my skin issues. She then started to look at this histamine intolerance in a new light.

Many people suffering from histamine intolerance find that their histamines are starting in the gut. Many people suffering from anxiety, also find their anxiety is starting in the gut. This is all due to the gut-brain connection and the fact that the gut is the second most intelligent place in our body, bar the brain. Due to my high histamine levels in my gut, it was deduced by Charmaine that so too was my anxiety. Histamines and anxiety also have a strong connection, and it all made sense that they would be coming from the same place.

This was also evident when I ate certain high-histamine foods that I was intolerant to and my reaction to said foods. For example, any time I ate spinach, my anxiety increased ten fold over the next twenty four to forty eight hours. Although anxiety is seen as a mental illness affecting the brain, for many we are treating the wrong area of the body. By understanding the connection between your gut and brain, and histamines and anxiety, we could see we needed to support the break down of my over-abundance of histamines in the gut to try to reduce my anxiety. We did this through adding in Beef Kidney supplements as beef kidney is full of the DAO enzyme which is the enzyme that breaks down histamines. It is also rich in vitamines and minerals and a way to use food as medicine, which was a philosophy both Charmaine and I were interested in.

After only twenty four hours of using the supplements, I felt the most radical change in my whole body. It was as if the anxiety, the started in my gut and permeated every aspect of me, just melted away. I didn’t need any complex therapy, anti-anxiety medications of any life-altering habits, I just had to support my gut in processing the histamines that were causing me to feel as if the anxiety was a part of who I was.

This was so life-changing I am still caught in disbelief that I can now live a calm, balanced and level-headed life without falling into the pit of anxiety that completely ran my life. All of this was because Charmaine was able to understand all of me, over being there through so many months of support about another issue, and understand my specific and unique health needs.

Another aspect of my life that this helped was my stress management that would often lead me to an extreme period of burnout where I had to stop everything in my life in order to recover. Of course the reduction of anxiety played a roll, but so did Charmaine’s understanding of my proclivity to stress and run myself ragged. Charmaine prescribed me a herbal stress-management herb that I was to simply dropper into my water when I felt I needed it. One of these occasions was around the time of my wedding. Not only were we completely planning every aspect of it, but we were also selling our house and moving into a new one all at the same time. Although I was no longer feeling anxious, my stress levels were beginning to rise. Through the use of this herb, I was able to stay calm throughout this massive life events and enjoy them to their fullest, rather than powering through them at such speed I’d forget to stop and look around to appreciate how great I had it.

This support from Charmaine D was a byproduct of my time spent with her focusing on another health issue. I feel this is proof as to the importance of working long-term with her as a naturopath to support you throughout your life as your inevitable health issues come and go. Charmaine is in it for the long haul and sees you as a client, not a patient that she wants to ‘fix’ and send on their way. This is about life-long support and health, and there is no greater gift than that.

How working with naturopath, Charmaine D, healed my skin and helped me understand my histamine intolerance

Three years ago I stumbled upon Charmaine D, naturopath and skin specialist. I was searching for someone to support me with my skin issues and was hoping a naturopath could help. With Charmaine’s additional expertise in skincare, I knew she was the perfect fit.

For much of my life, but specifically my adult years, I was suffering from acne and redness. It was an issue I had been dealing with for some time that led me to months and months of frustration. I bought silk pillowcases, I increased my water intake, I fell for Instagram ads for the ‘perfect skincare’, and nothing helped.

Finding Charmaine felt like a saving grace and from our very first consultation we deep-dived into my history, my health, my childhood – everything! You see, Charmaine sees every client for what they are, a complex, multi-faceted equation of experiences, diet, lifestyle and health. She understands the holistic nature of all things and wanted to fully understand me and my history in order to appropriately guide and support me in my own unique needs.

Through thorough consultations and skin treatments, it became clear to Charmaine that the major factor was in fact a histamine intolerance. This histamine intolerance had been completely dictating my life and many more health issues than just skin flaws. It suddenly answered my persistent inflammation, my itchiness, my low immunity, my fatigue, and my intolerance to certain foods.

All this time I had thought my acne was caused by a dirty pillowcase or too much sugar, and for some people that may be the case. But for me, it didn’t matter what I did externally because it was my internal system that was putting up the fight.

While conducting my facial treatments to try and support my overall skin health and hydration, Charmaine and I would discuss what histamine intolerance meant for me, how to best combat it and all the many ways it could impact me in the future. Basically, through my skin treatments, we were also able to also conduct consultations. Because of this it meant I was being constantly educated about my health and the inner workings of my bodily systems. Our focus was to heal myself naturally, using food as medicine, and to make changes in my lifestyle that meant my health concerns never returned. Charmaine helped me to see there is no quick fix, no magic pill, and no one-size-fits-all approach.

Externally, we focused on changing my makeup and skincare to all natural, organic products that were plant-derived and support my skin as the organ it is. We used Cell Defence, a botanically-based skincare range made here in Australia from the most organic and potent ingredients. We also engaged in fortnightly facial treatments to work on the build-up of chemicals and damage from my past. These facial treatments used Charmaine’s Cell Defence line of skincare, as well specialised facial treatment machines to support lymphatic drainage and scar repair.

Internally, we used herbs, natural supplements, and an akalised, low-histamine diet to support my reduction of histamines and to create more balance in my system. We figured out my trigger foods through a process of elimination. We focused on my gut health, killing of a candida overgrowth and then a gut-lining healing protocol. Charmaine made it clear to me that with an unhealed gut, no real progress can be made with your health, especially for your histamine levels and skin health.

Although it seemed overwhelming at first, Charmaine was able to talk me through each stage. She supported me and educated me through each stage, and helped me to see the importance of following the protocol. I was determined to make life-long changes and was willing to commit to any changes that needed to be made. Charmaine was there for me every step of the way and over a three year process, we healed my gut, healed my skin, found a perfect balance for my histamines and worked towards my overall health.

Charmaine’s approach is to work in-depth with her clients, to pass on her knowledge, not gate-keep it. She believes that every person should understand how their body works and how to support themselves. Charmaine believes in consistent, lifelong care, and is under no misguidance that any health problem can be fixed in one or two consultations. In a society where instant gratification is so commonplace,  it is hard to comprehend that some things take time, but I chose to reframe my perspective. Instead, I saw Charmaine as my health champion, someone who was going to walk alongside me and educate me as I lived my life. Health is ongoing, and you are either supporting yours or decreasing yours at any moment of the day. I chose to support mine and knew I needed the support of a professional.

Charmaine made an otherwise overwhelming situation, manageable and enjoyable. Through this process I not only gained the outcome I was hoping for, but I also learnt more about myself, my body, my internal workings, and my health. I feel empowered and support and forever grateful that I was shown the tools to support my own health.

To begin your journey with Charmaine D, reach out to her for your first free phone consultation and see where she can take you. 

How working with naturopath Charmaine D healed my fertility and supported me conceiving my first baby

When I first found naturopath Charmaine D, I was hoping to heal my skin issues that had been exacerbated by my stopping the oral contraceptive pill after being on it for over a decade. Primarily, I was concerned about my skin. However, I had heard a little bit about the body’s inability to regulate its hormones after being on the pill for such an extended period of time and was curious to see if a naturopath could support me through that.

I wasn’t ready to try for a baby three years ago when Charmaine and I met, but I knew becoming a mother was a desire of mine in the not too distant future and thought it best to figure out what my fertility looked like after the pill now, rather than wait until I was ready to conceive.

Charmaine’s extensive knowledge on women’s health, reproductive health, and hormones was crucial to unpacking the complex nature of what female contraception does to you and your body. From her holistic approach of understanding the ‘why’, Charmaine and I worked through years of my health history and we deduced that I started the pill only a few months after getting my first period due to the irregularity of them. As a fifteen year old, having irregular periods was  the absolute worst thing to have ever happened to me. Because of how early I started the pill in my fertility development, Charmaine found that I hadn’t let learnt to ovulate. It is common for  your body to ovulate much later than your first period, and because of how the oral contraceptive pill works, my body was never given the opportunity to learn how. This meant, when I stopped the pill at twenty seven years old, I had never once ovulated in my life.

Through questions, testing, tracking my cycle, and understanding the female reproductive system, Charmaine was able to find the problem with my fertility without me even realising there was a problem. Using food as medicine, supplements at specific parts of my cycle, intense tracking and time, I began to have regular periods and ovulate from one ovary. This meant I was ovulating every other month. This was huge progress and helped motivate us to continue our health journey. Not too long after this, I started ovulating every month and my cycles went from 35 days to a perfect and regular 28 days. Throughout this time, I suffered from extreme period pain and discomfort – something I never experienced on the pill. But, after about a year of work and following my protocol correctly, my pain and discomfort left as I became more regular.

Basically, Charmaine taught my body how to ovulate and experience a proper menstrual cycle naturally, after the oral contraceptive pill had blocked that development from happening for me. Fast forward a couple of years, and my husband and I were ready to try for a baby. As I had been tracking my cycle so closely for so long, I was aware of when my fertility window was and when best to conceive. We were extremely fortunate to conceive our son the first time we tried. And although I am acutely aware of the privilege I have because of that, and that not everyone is following the same fertility journey, I also truly believe that the ease at which we fell pregnant was due to the years of work Charmaine and I put into my fertility before I started trying for a baby.

Because of Charmaine’s approach of supporting her clients from the first day she meets them throughout their entire health journey, Charmaine recognised my fertility struggles before I even knew I had them, and ensure I was on the right track to becoming a mother. So many facets of my health have been healed and supported by Charmaine throughout our collaborative time together and I know that she is a huge advocate for me, my health, and my own education on my health.

Without Charmaine I wouldn’t be able to be a mother, and there is no greater gift she could have given me. To find a life-long health advocate and partner in your health journey, contact Charmaine D to see how she can help you and start learning how you can support yourself.