Empower Health

Aug 2023

In October 2021, I started developing hives out of no where. They lasted about a month, all allergy tests came back negative, and my dermatologist and allergist both agreed to a lengthy round of oral steroids and chalked it up to “chronic urticaria (hives)”. I was also told it was “safe” to go up to 4 daily antihistamines a day….and sometimes that didn’t even change the severity of the hives. Once the hives were gone, I was told to keep taking a daily antihistamine preventatively. A few months later, the hives came back. I met with a different doctor who did some new blood work and thought it might have been my diet which happened to be a lot of relatively high-histamine foods. Changed up my diet, and the hives went away. Until they came back, again a few months later. It stayed in this pattern of seemingly random occurrences, but I was always so baffled as to why my body just seemed to be reacting to something, and I didn’t know what it was. Then, fast forward to early April of this year, when my hives started back up, this time with a vengeance that lasted 2 1/2 months. In June, I was going to see a different allergist for new bloodwork in hopes of finding what was going on. Prior to getting the blood work done, I couldn’t take any antihistamines for a week. By day 5, I was not only completely covered in hives that felt like fire ants, but my lips were swollen to a point of being very painful. I had to cave and take antihistamines. I started searching for holistic doctors that may have a different approach to finding out what was going on, came across Elevate Life in Annapolis, and had an appointment a couple days later. I first met with Liz (FNP), who listened to my medical history and mentioned a few routes she wanted to explore of possible causes + treatment options. She sent in a lab order that ended up requiring 10 tubes of blood, but hey, anything to find answers! She also recommended I see Dr. Johns at the same practice, who would go over the NAET system of testing + treating what my body was (clearly) having some kind of a reaction to. After a quick Google search of NAET, I was more than skeptic. The actual testing technique “utilizes neuromuscular sensitivity testing which indicates the kinetic imbalance in the body caused by allergens”. I can’t explain it in detail without it sounding so bizarre, but Elevate’s FB page has helpful videos and goes more in depth. Dr. Johns tested me for a bunch of food allergens/sensitivities and I passed most but failed a few. This pass-or-fail process is the wackiest thing I have ever seen, and I thought it was all fake…until I “failed”. When I was holding a vile of something I was sensitive to, my other arm (the one being tested) lost almost all strength. It felt like he was just pushing harder than before, so I told him that, and his response was “nope, I could do the same with just using 1 finger”, at which point he did (push my raised arm down with just his index finger), and my mind was blown. This entire time over multiple appointments and treatments, my hives were disappearing by the day, with zero medications, creams, etc. I thought I was in the clear after we had tested + treated all of the food allergens, until we got to testing for mold, which turned out to be my biggest fail of them all. And after seeing my blood work results with an elevated c4a level of more than double what it should be, it became obvious what the problem had likely been from a year and a half of “random” hives: mold toxicity. After speaking with the team at Elevate and doing my own research, it made me furious that this had never even been mentioned as a potential cause from any of my other previous doctors. It wasn’t “chronic”, and I am SO glad I listened to my body to know that something was genuinely at the root cause of this all. So now, after treatment with Dr. Johns, and supplements Liz recommended to help detox my body from the mold toxicity, I am finally on the mend. I’m hive-free, and on zero meds.

Feb 2022

This place is literally changing my life. I have never felt more cared for by any medical team honestly. The atmosphere, personalized programs tailored just for you, and the time each Dr. spends with you, is refreshing. I’ve been suffering from one of the most traumatic knee injuries I’ve ever had and after 3 sessions with Dr. Ziegler I’m walking. My orthopedic put me on bed rest and now I’m walking…. Any pain or problem you might be having give them a try. I trust my care team at Elevate Life to get me on the right track and trust their judgement. They WANT me well. Can’t say enough about how wonderful each of them are. Go see them today!