Welcome to the first newsletter!

Vital Stuff allows me to introduce myself to anyone interested in joining Female Vitality. I will also provide information and suggestions to improve overall wellbeing.

I can think of three distinct things that steered me toward creating Female Vitality: an addiction for self-help books, frustrations with insurance-guided care and a particular learning experience with one of my patients.

The “first spark” was 3 months after transitioning as a new Family Nurse Practitioner at a primary care clinic. I had spent the previous 10 years as an emergency medicine nurse, and this felt like a whole new world. At the time, I had a newborn baby as well as a rocky marriage which ended in divorce. The divorce was extremely stressful, and the experience was a low point in my life. Throughout all the turmoil and change I found comfort in reading. I found the book “You Are a Badass” by Jen Sincero. It truly helped me, and I became invigorated! It inspired me to meditate, journal, become grateful and increase my positive energy. Since then I have read, listened to and subscribed to everything about raising my consciousness, staying present, reducing worry and promoting wellness. I didn’t know it at the time but I was beginning my journey into coaching others.

I want to mention that I am now in an awesome relationship with a wonderful man. We had a baby girl last year! I am thankful for all the heart ache I went through to get me to the place I am at today. The picture shows my two beautiful girls and gorgeous niece.

Fast forward through 6 years of my life as a primary care provider in a rural clinic. I knew that I loved helping people lose weight, but at the time one of the only thinks I had in my insurance-approved-arsenal was an appetite suppressant called phentermine. I found over time it was not effective for my patients and had too many side effects. I enrolled in an obesity clinic boot camp with the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. I started a weight loss clinic to help patients restart their lives. Along with it came knowledge but also many obstacles and frustrations.

Over the past year the medication I prescribe most is called semaglutide (brand name Wegovy). It has worked exceptionally well with patients progressing toward their weight loss goals. However, insurance does not want to cover this medication. We have to send multiple prior approvals and still are getting denied. It has been so frustrating to have my hands tied by insurance companies. There has also been a national shortage of Wegovy causing a lot of my patients to faulter in their weight loss journey.

One of the features I’m most excited with Female Vitality is the use of compounding pharmacies. A regular pharmacy provides commercial medications at standard doses, while a compounding pharmacy can customize medications based on the patient’s individual needs. There are no prior approvals, medication trials or shortages. And this is exactly what I need for my clients!

The final peice of the puzzle was when I met with a patient of mine a few years ago. Tracy came in asking me to check her hormones. “Okay. We can check your thyroid.” Tracy said: “No. I want to check all of my hormones, like my testosterone.” To that I responded: “Tracy, if I check your testosterone and it’s not normal, I wouldn’t know what to do about it.”

Tracy ended up going to a hormone focused provider and came back to me feeling significantly better! In her own words the treatment had been “life changing.” I had to learn more about this! I had replaced my addiction for self-help books with knowledge of hormone replacement therapy. Since then, I have sought out everything from books to clinical studies to national conventions to obtain every ounce of knowledge I can.

When I started FV I wanted to provide the most potent interventions for improving longevity and overall happiness. To do this effectively I need to have a small group of clients I can focus on without “insurance-guided care.”

I have three goals with embarking on this program:

• I want to enjoy my work.

• I want to spend more time with my family.

• And I want to mentor the women I work with to make small, consistent changes until it is part of their daily habits. These habits along with tailored doses of hormone therapy and/or weight loss medication will improve everything from emotional health to physical wellbeing and everything in between for the rest of their lives!