Hi there! I’m Rachel, a Health Coach specializing in PCOS and whole-body health. My approach is compassion-based, rather than shame-based, because I speak from experience. I walk in your shoes daily. My journey with chronic illness officially began when I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis and Hypothyroidism at age 12. From there the diagnoses started to pile up, from various allergies, food intolerances, asthma, chronic fatigue, insomnia, General Anxiety Disorder, digestive issues, depression, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) to a classic late in life ADHD diagnosis. I was sure there was no more room for other issues when I got smacked with diagnoses of PTSD and an eating disorder. 

 My own struggles with holistic health – from mental and emotional wellbeing, to physical health, inspired me to share my journey with others. I never claim to be perfect, to have “arrived”, or to have it all figured out. My approach is simple – as I learn, I share. A lot of what I share puts me in a vulnerable position. I put my heart on display to help others see they are not alone. I’m here, and I write, to foster a dialogue, to make you feel seen and heard, and to instill hope. Hope that you are not a lost cause. That healing and freedom are possible.

When it comes to PCOS, the journey is ever-evolving. Treatment in my life began with the typical approach: a hormonal birth control pill and the ever-so-comforting “lose weight” prescription. For about 9 years, I was okay with that approach, largely because I didn’t know anything else existed. But when I was 26, I popped open the can of worms. My curiosity couldn’t be satisfied when it came to the enigma of PCOS. Why were so many around me struggling, including family members? Sure, birth control cleared up the painful cystic acne, and I could actually predict my periods. But something still felt off. 

I came to learn that birth control was likely acting as a bandaid. Instead of treating the root cause of many of my health issues, I was treating individual symptoms. But if I wanted to stop the swarm of bees, I had to go after the beehive, not after each individual buzzing terror. 

I joke that I ‘rage quit’ my birth control as an act of rebellion against the system that taught me to mask everything with a pill. All I knew was my body in defensive mode. All I knew was the reality of forcing myself to push through what I was feeling to deliver results in what felt like sprint after sprint of life. It propelled me into ‘productive anger’, into the biggest research frenzy of my life.

I was shocked to learn of everything that PCOS could contribute to in one’s body, and what it could one day lead to if not properly addressed. I was shocked to see validation in all I had experienced for most of my life, from stubborn weight, to fatigue, disordered eating, mental health complications, and severe body image issues. Thousands of patients experiencing the same things. Thousands of patients cancelling plans with friends, cancelling dates, hiding behind baggy clothes, because of PCOS shame and guilt. I was never educated about my own body and I felt betrayed.

I began to feel more hopeless the further I dove in. Anxiety. Depression. Chronic inflammation. Mood disorders. Fatigue. Cardiovascular disease. Metabolic syndrome. Type II diabetes. No cure, no cure, no cure. Infertility. Postpartum depression. Gut disturbances. Eating disorders. No cure, no cure, no cure. Head hair fall. Body hair growth. Inability to lose weight. Unexplained weight gain. No cure, no cure, no cure. Why didn’t anyone care?

I came to learn that PCOS was correlated with EVERY single of the other health conditions I spent my life struggling with. Could it be that everything was interrelated? That at the center of all the mayhem, all the madness, by improving PCOS, I could also improve the other conditions? I knew there had to be a better way to care for my body, to learn her, know her, and eventually, grow to love her. I searched for breadcrumb after breadcrumb of testimonials. And what I found: it wasn’t about a magic pill that would solve our problems. It was about learning how to adjust lifestyles to address root causes and better meet the needs of our bodies. 

PCOS is a heterogeneous, multifaceted, complex syndrome, which necessitates a multidisciplinary approach to caring for our bodies. After all, and pardon me while I nerd out for a moment, but, the body is a system, is it not? And, humor me, if we change the inputs into a system (food, sleep, self-talk, body movement, toxin exposure, stress), won’t the resulting outcome of the overall system change? Won’t that system’s overall performance be directly correlated and even CAUSED by the inputs being placed into it? Inputs like stress? Stress, environmental toxins and chemicals? The rest it receives – sleep?! The movement it craves? Food as fuel, not as a means to an end for weight loss? 

How could this be? Why didn’t anyone tell us?

Let me share something with you that I’ve learned on this ever-evolving journey: if you allow it to be, PCOS can be the gateway to understanding your uniquely beautiful body in a way you never have. No one walks around in your body each and every day except for YOU. A one-size-fits all approach doesn’t work, but what I aim to put on display is the blueprint for how I learn, in different iterations of life, what works for me. I hope you’ll join me by following along. I wish you the happiest, most empowering of healing journeys!