01/14/2026
Always follow your intuition,and don’t let “systems” gaslight you.
For years, I knew something wasn’t right with my son's oral function. Time and time again, the pediatrician and pediatric dentist told me he was fine and would “grow out of it.” He wasn’t.
I pushed for a speech therapy referral. After months of therapy with little progress, I started noticing additional signs. His speech therapist, who is also a myofunctional therapist, took detailed measurements. Those measurements clearly placed him in the range consistent with a posterior tongue tie.
I took those measurements back to his dentist. Again, I was told: “Mom, we don’t see any structural issues. He’s fine. He’ll grow out of it. It will improve when he starts kindergarten.”
(So months of speech therapy didn’t help, but kindergarten was supposed to magically fix it?)
I tried to explain that I wasn’t just talking about structure, I was talking about function. Instead of saying, “We haven’t been trained in functional assessment,” which I would have respected, the concerns were minimized and dismissed.
I went back to the therapist, who recommended a myofunctional dental specialist. Today, we saw Dr. Holman at Holman Family Dentistry. She was incredible, she listened, she assessed functionally, and most importantly, we now have a plan.
All of this is happening alongside years of advocating for my daughter, Kelen, who has POTS. For years, I fought a system that struggled to recognize and treat what was clearly happening in her body. Again and again, intuition and lived experience were dismissed while we were told everything looked “normal.”
And that’s the problem.
Our healthcare system is built almost entirely around structure, labs, and siloed specialties. In the U.S., blood work is relied on heavily for diagnosis, yet lab values often fail to show how a body is actually functioning or utilizing what’s there. The reality is that labs only lead to clear diagnosis a small percentage of the time. So when someone has a real physiological or functional issue that doesn’t show up neatly on a panel, the default explanation too often becomes: it must be psychological.
My daughter has had severe GI issues since she was 10 years old. I had to educate myself, research relentlessly, track symptoms, and actively seek out practitioners and programs, because the system wasn’t built to connect the dots. We are finally able to bridge care for her until she can enter a program specifically designed for POTS.
Healthcare today is so fragmented that when a condition affects multiple body systems, many providers simply don’t know how to hold the whole picture. Somewhere along the way, medicine forgot how to see the whole person, and how to truly listen.
In fighting for both of my children, I also came face to face with my own story. I realized that many of my long-standing issues stemmed from a dysregulated nervous system, and from years of not listening to my own body because no one else had.
So I went on a journey to learn how to regulate my nervous system. That journey didn’t just lead to healing, it led to the foundation of the work I now practice and am in the process of formally bringing into the world.
At the root of everything is the nervous system.
The body doesn’t need to be analyzed to be met.
When it’s met, when it knows it’s being listened to, it can reorganize.
I provide a space of safety, respect, and care.
A space where your body can arrive exactly as it is in that moment, and finally be heard.
If this resonates, trust yourself. Your body and your intuition are wiser than you’ve been led to believe.
Blue Earth Massage
110 Swift Ave.
Durham, NC 27705
Blue Earth Massage in Durham, NC offers personalized massage therapy, from relaxing Swedish to targeted deep‑tissue and myofascial release, relieving pain, easing stress, and restoring mind‑body balance. Book your rejuvenating session today.
