Rooted Wellness

01/11/2026

Leucovorin Update – Week 10 (7 weeks at goal dose)

We are now at week 10 on leucovorin, with approximately 7 weeks at her full dose. We continue to see meaningful changes, particularly in expressive language, singing, and spontaneous social interaction. She is now also within or ahead of all of her milestones.

Singing has become a major area of growth. She now sings along anytime music is present, whether live or on TV, and is able to accurately mimic the tune. She will also sing strings of words from songs she has heard from memory, while carrying the tune. In addition to this, she is spontaneously making up her own songs throughout the day with original melodies. In this video, the song is mostly nonsense, but it is clearly centered around her sister (“Ro ro”), which feels significant in terms of social referencing and intent.

Her speech clarity has also improved. She has been intentionally practicing consonants (e.g., “la la la”) and working on annunciation, and as a result, most of what she says is now intelligible. Previously, she was attempting many new words that were difficult to distinguish, and this shift has been noticeable. She has also begun playfully copying what we say to tease us, which reflects growing social awareness and receptive–expressive language integration.

In addition to language gains, she is showing more creative, spontaneous, and expressive social behaviors. She will sneak up on us and say “boo,” approach us to give unsolicited kisses, put on accessories and show us, and ask us to put her princess dress on her and then spin. She will also stand in front of the gecko enclosure, point then clasp her hands together, and exclaim “aww.” These interactions are unprompted and consistently directed toward shared attention and connection.

Overall, it feels like she is not just acquiring new skills in receptive language comprehension, expressive output, and social-emotional awareness, but becoming more intentional, expressive, and socially engaged, with increased initiation of play, affection, and shared enjoyment. These changes have occurred while maintaining her goal dose of leucovorin and continue to be very encouraging.

01/05/2026

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/15/2/151

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and interaction, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities. ASD encompasses a wide spectrum of clinical presentations and functional...

01/05/2026

Our first food drive has come to an end, and the girls & I are ready to take the bounty to Crosslines tomorrow! (I've had to fend them off of the fruit snacks multiple times).

With your contributions I was able to purchase these nonperishables & vitamins. The emphasis was on nutritious school snacks & breakfast options for kiddos.

Thank you to each and every one of you for your support and uniting with me in giving back to the community!

12/24/2025

From my family to yours, Merry Christmas ❄️

12/21/2025

Leucovorin Journey Update – Week 7

We are now in week 7 of our daughter’s leucovorin journey, with 4 weeks at her goal dose.

We did experience a small setback recently. When we removed dairy, she went on a food strike, and the transition to dairy-free alternatives didn’t go as smoothly as we had hoped. To protect her intake and regulation, we temporarily phased dairy back in for about a week while slowly building acceptance of new alternatives.

During that time, we noticed a quiet regression. She continued to have spontaneous speech, but the new words she had been gaining began to disappear. Her previous pattern of saying several novel words daily came to a halt.

We are now on day 3 fully dairy-free again, and the change has been striking. About 24 hours after removing dairy, her novel words and total word count began to rebound, and that progress has continued. Yesterday, she started learning her colors—she can now name and accurately identify the primary colors on request. Today, she started yelling the verbal prompts on Dora the Explorer.

She continues to grow in her interpersonal skills and motor planning as well.

But what I really wanted to share is this moment: a video of her dancing and singing with her big sister.

Two months ago, this simply would not have happened. Not the imitation. Not the appropriate behavior in context. Certainly not the singing. If anything, she might have stood nearby and watched—or more likely, not even been aware of what was happening. Now she is participating, imitating, singing, using several-word phrases, and even carrying a tune.

I couldn’t help but shed a few tears while filming it.
If you are watching your child struggle, I would love to walk that journey with you. It is hard. It is scary. But there is hope.

12/02/2025

Week 4 Update – Leucovorin (goal dose, week 1 at full dose)

This week marked our daughter’s first full week at the target leucovorin dose, and we’ve seen meaningful gains across language, social engagement, cognition, and adaptive behavior.

1. Language & Communication
• She is now producing new words and short phrases daily.
• During book reading, she engages throughout the entire story, answers questions, and responds with appropriate comments.

• She is beginning to use humor and intentional wordplay.
- Example: when called a “little monkey,” she immediately made monkey noises and gestures.
• Demonstrates emerging double meanings, showing higher-level language processing.
- Example: she jokes “HEADgehog” while carrying her toy hedgehog & pointing to her head.

• She has started counting, naming mostly intelligible numbers (although mixed in order) while counting on her fingers.

2. Social & Prosocial Behavior
• Marked increase in prosocial behavior:
- Anticipates her sisters’ needs and attempts to comfort them (patting their backs, bringing toys when they cry).
- Shows increasing spontaneous helping behaviors, e.g., grabbing a towel and wiping up her own spilled drink without prompting.

• Heightened awareness of social cues and protection of others:
- At the park, when another child was picking on her sister, she quickly assessed the situation and pulled the child away before an adult intervened.

• Increased participation in group-style activities, such as engaging with Danny Go.

3. Cognition & Interaction
• Clear improvements in joint attention, reciprocal play, and following social sequences during interactive reading.
• Humor, imitation, and wordplay suggest advancing cognitive flexibility and deeper understanding of context.
• Overall behavior appears more regulated, engaged, and purposeful.

4. Motor Planning
• She can now drink from a water bottle & an open cup
• She is able to coordinate jumping

Summary
After one week at the goal leucovorin dose, she is showing significant and measurable gains in expressive language, social reciprocity, play skills, prosocial behavior, humor, and emerging academic-like skills (counting). Developmental integration across multiple domains has become more apparent, and her interactions are richer, more intentional, and more connected.

11/25/2025

A Key Mechanism Behind Neurotransmitter Issues, Low NO, and Chronic Inflammation

BH4 is a tiny molecule which sits at the crossroads of neurotransmitter production, nitric oxide signaling, immune function, and inflammation. When it’s working well, BH4 quietly supports mood, cognition, vascular tone, and protein metabolism.

But under inflammatory stress, BH4 can get pushed into a dysfunctional cycle often called the BH4 shunt—and this can create a surprisingly wide range of symptoms.

Why BH4 Is So Important
BH4 is required for several major enzymatic steps:
• Converting phenylalanine → tyrosine
• Initiating dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine synthesis
• Initiating serotonin synthesis
• Helping nitric oxide synthase produce nitric oxide (instead of oxidative byproducts)

Because of this, BH4 has a direct impact on mood, motivation, blood flow, sleep, sensory processing, and overall inflammation.

What Happens During the “BH4 Shunt”
When inflammation, oxidative stress, or nitrosative stress increases, BH4 gets oxidized into BH2, which is essentially a non-functional version.

Once BH2 builds up:
• Neurotransmitter production slows
• Nitric oxide synthase becomes uncoupled and produces superoxide instead of nitric oxide
• Phenylalanine may accumulate
• Peroxynitrite formation increases
• Mitochondrial stress increases

This is why people can experience a combination of low mood, irritability, fatigue, sensory issues, poor focus, migraines, and dysautonomia even with a seemingly “good” diet and lifestyle.

How This Pattern Shows Up Clinically
People with BH4 disruption often present with a recognizable mix of symptoms and lab findings:
Neurological/behavioral:
• Low drive or flat mood
• Anxiety mixed with irritability
• Sensory sensitivities
• Sleep instability
• Mood lability

Physiological:
• Migraines
• Cold hands/feet
• “Wired but tired” stress response

Lab patterns:
• Elevated phenylalanine relative to tyrosine
• Low dopamine/NE metabolites
• Low serotonin metabolites
• Signs of oxidative or nitrosative stress
• Low nitric oxide markers
• Elevated quinolinic acid
• Poor tolerance of high-dose methyl donors
• Low NADPH support

Most people with mold exposure, heavy chronic inflammation, or neurodevelopmental challenges show some version of this pattern.

What Drives BH4 Into the Shunt
BH4 is extremely sensitive to oxidative conditions. The biggest contributors include:
• Mold/mycotoxins
• Chronic infections (including MARCoNS)
• Heavy metals
• Gut dysbiosis leading to elevated ammonia
• High iNOS activity
• Folate/B12 issues (including MTHFR-related changes)
• Mitochondrial dysfunction and low NADPH
• Chronic stress
• Environmental toxicants

When these are present, the body simply cannot recycle BH4 fast enough to keep levels stable.

Supporting This Pathway Clinically
There isn’t a single supplement that “fixes” BH4. The goal is to calm the drivers of oxidation while supporting recycling pathways. There are many strategies which can help, such as:

•Reducing oxidative/nitrosative stress
•Optimizing folate/methylation pathways
•Improving nitric oxide balance
•Addressing gut and ammonia issues
•Restoring NADPH production

And, of course, addressing upstream drivers like mold, heavy metals, or infections when present.

It is important to understand your physiology and/or work with a knowledgeable provider prior to starting a protocol as everyone is biochemically unique.

Why This Mechanism Matters
When BH4 is depleted or oxidized, it affects everything from neurotransmitter balance to blood flow to mitochondrial resilience. Many “mysterious” cases—especially children with neurological or behavioral symptoms—show clear signs of this pathway being disrupted.
Understanding BH4 gives us a better framework for why certain patients struggle with mood instability, sensory overload, sleep issues, chronic fatigue, or poor response to methylated vitamins. The good news is that once you identify the stressors pulling BH4 off track, this pathway is very responsive to targeted support.

11/24/2025

Week 3 Leucovorin Update for Our Sweet Girl

We’re officially three weeks into our daughter’s leucovorin journey, and this week has been full of meaningful, heart-opening changes. I want to share everything we’re seeing—both for our own record and for any other parent walking this road.

✨ Speech & Language Blossoming
Her expressive language took another big step forward this week. She is now:

• Calling her sisters by name
• Using consistent 2–3 word sentences (current favorite: “give me that”)
• Increasing her two-syllable words—her new obsession is “hedgehog”
• Correctly answering animal sound prompts when asked “What does a ___ say?”
• Humming recognizable tunes throughout the day
• Spontaneously singing little words and phrases related to whatever she’s doing
(the spontaneity is brand new and so precious)
These are all huge shifts from where we started.

✨ Social, Cognitive & Play Growth
We’ve also seen blossoming in her connection with the world around her:

• Doing full choreography to “Wheels on the Bus” and “Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes”
• Initiating pretend play with interactions between her toy characters
• Following everyday social cues—throwing trash away, putting her dishes in the sink, and helping pick up toys when she sees us cleaning
• Appearing more attuned, present, and engaged with her surroundings and our family
It’s like she’s stepping into the room with us in a new way.

✨ Mild Regression → Rebound (Typical With Neurologic Healing)
We also want to note that she had a mild regression for a couple of days earlier this week—less engagement, a little more frustration, and a temporary dip in her new skills.

But then came a strong rebound, where skills returned and then surged forward.

This pattern is very typical when the neurological system starts receiving adequate folate—brief regressions often reflect active neural rewiring, followed by accelerated integration and gains. Knowing this helped us stay steady through the dip, and the rebound was incredible to see.

✨ Big Milestone: First Day at Her Goal Dose
And today is another milestone:
It’s her very first day at her goal dose of leucovorin.
We are so hopeful, grateful, and excited to see what the next weeks bring now that she’s at the full therapeutic dose.

✨ For Reference: Where We Started (Pre-Leucovorin)
Before beginning leucovorin:

• She used only 2–3 words daily (“no,” “mama,” and occasionally “that”)
• She might say a new word once, but never repeat it
• Her receptive language was strong, but expressive language was almost nonexistent
• She often wasn’t fully “in touch” with her surroundings
•She had a distinct "glazed" but also intense look in her eyes
• Mostly parallel play with little or no social initiation
• No spontaneous speech, no pretend play, and no initiation of communication
Seeing where we began makes her current progress feel even more profound.

✨ What We’re Feeling Now
We are watching our daughter open up, communicate, connect, and express herself in ways we had only hoped for. These moments—big and small—feel like miracles. It feels like she has "returned" to us.

And with her officially at her goal dose, we can’t wait to see what the next chapter brings.

11/24/2025

If you saw my post the other day about how functional medicine can make you feel weird, “floaty,” or almost “not yourself” at certain stages—this is the natural next piece of that conversation.

When you start shifting biochemistry—balancing hormones, stabilizing blood sugar, improving neurotransmitter pathways, lowering inflammation—your nervous system finally gets a chance to downshift from survival mode.

And when that happens, something interesting (and sometimes uncomfortable) shows up:
All the coping mechanisms and protective patterns you built during stress or dysregulation can suddenly start rising to the surface.

Not because anything is wrong—but because your system finally feels safe enough to process what it couldn’t before.

This is why healing can feel floaty, emotional, tired, wired, introspective, or even a little “off.” Your physiology changes first. Your psychology follows. And the two need to be integrated.

**Biochemistry alone isn’t the whole picture.
A multidisciplinary, whole-person approach is key.**

Functional medicine works best when the biochemical, neurological, and emotional layers are addressed together. This could look like:

🌿Therapy with trauma-informed professionals
Because when your defenses soften, old patterns can come forward.

🌿EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
This helps the brain safely process stored stress responses so they stop hijacking you.

🌿Conventional medication, when appropriate
For complex trauma or neuropsychiatric comorbidities, medications can stabilize mood, reduce anxiety, or improve sleep. When used alongside functional and somatic interventions, they provide a bridge that allows deeper physiological and emotional healing to occur safely.

🌿Somatic exercises
Teaching your body what "safe" actually feels like—through breathwork, grounding, movement, and interoception.

🌿Polyvagal-informed practices
Understanding the vagus nerve and how to work with your body’s states (safety, fight/flight, shutdown) creates a roadmap for navigating emotional waves during healing.

In addition to a functional medicine plan addressing:
• Nutrients and supplementation
• Hormonal balance
• Neurotransmitter pathways
• Detoxification
• Gut health
• Inflammation control

Bringing these elements together under a coordinated, multidisciplinary plan ensures your nervous system has the capacity to regulate as your body rewires itself.

The bottom line:
Healing isn’t just about supplements, labs, or a single therapy.
It’s a rewiring process—physically, mentally, and emotionally.

When your body starts functioning better, your brain and nervous system finally have the space to catch up… and sometimes that creates strange sensations along the way.

With the right, multidisciplinary support, those “floaty” or vulnerable moments become the doorway to deeper stability, resilience, and a sense of safety you may not have felt in years.

If you’re going through this: you’re not broken.

You’re adjusting.

And you’re heading toward a healthier, more integrated version of yourself.

11/24/2025

One of the biggest mistakes I see—online, in wellness communities, and even in clinical spaces—is the assumption that a supplement that helps one person will naturally help everyone. But the deeper you go into biochemistry, the more you realize that the same compound can be therapeutic for one person and destabilizing for another.

This is why “take magnesium glycinate,” “everyone needs methylfolate,” or “just use quercetin for inflammation” can create more problems than progress.
Below are a few examples of how biochemical individuality changes everything.

1. Glycine Isn’t Neutral for Everyone (Magnesium Glycinate)
Glycine is generally calming, but in people with:
• slow SHMT activity
• folate cycle inefficiencies
• impaired glycine-to-serine balance
…it can worsen neurotransmitter imbalance, sleep issues, or even ammonia buildup. Magnesium glycinate may be perfect for one person but overstimulating, fatiguing, or dysregulating for another—simply due to how their body handles glycine.

2. Methylfolate Isn’t Universally “Better”
Methylfolate supports the methylation cycle—if the downstream enzymes can keep up.
In individuals with:
• slow COMT
• impaired MAO function
• high catecholamine burden
• low magnesium or lithium
• insufficient BH4
methylfolate can cause:
• anxiety
• irritability
• racing thoughts
• insomnia
• estrogen-dominant symptoms
• emotional volatility
It’s not because the nutrient is “bad.” It’s because the system can’t clear the increased catecholamine load.

3. Quercetin & Luteolin: Great for Some, Rough for Slow COMT
These polyphenols slow catechol breakdown, which is beneficial in high-inflammation states. But in slow COMT individuals they can worsen:
• low mood
• irritability
• estrogen buildup
• “stuck” or flat emotions
• PMS/PMDD patterns
For someone with sluggish catechol clearance, these antioxidants become biochemical traffic jams rather than helpers.

4. NAC Isn’t Ideal for Everyone Either
NAC boosts glutathione—fantastic in many cases.
But if a person has:
• sulfur intolerance
• CBS upregulation or sluggish CBS
• SUOX issues
• thiosulfate buildup
• hydrogen sulfide SIBO
• impaired molybdenum pathways
NAC can cause:
• headaches
• irritability
• fatigue
• gut pain
• sulfur body odor
• brain fog
For these individuals, NAC worsens detox and inflammation instead of improving them.

5. “Soothing” Aloe Isn’t Soothing for Everyone
Aloe is rich in salicylates.
For a person who is salicylate-sensitive, aloe can flare:
• headaches
• rashes
• irritability
• sleep disruption
• gut pain
…and they may feel “mysteriously worse” after using a product marketed as gentle.

6. Bromelain for Inflammation Isn’t Universal Either
Bromelain is a proteolytic enzyme with many benefits—but in someone with:
• high histamine load
• mast cell activation tendencies
• DAO insufficiency
…it can aggravate:
• flushing
• headaches
• sinus pressure
• itching
• mood instability
• post-meal fatigue
Not because bromelain is inherently harmful, but because their histamine clearance pathways are already overwhelmed.

7. Tyramine and Polyphenols in Slow MAO
People with slow MAO (monoamine oxidase) activity often struggle with high-tyramine or polyphenol-heavy supplements and foods.
This can trigger:
• irritability
• mood swings
• migraines
• hypertension spikes
• sleep changes
• overstimulation
Simply because their MAO enzyme can’t break down biogenic amines or catechols efficiently.

The Takeaway: The Same Supplement Can Be Healing or Harmful

A “helpful nutrient” only works when the underlying pathways can process it.

Two people can take the same supplement:
• one feels calmer, clearer, more focused
• the other feels anxious, inflamed, foggy, or exhausted

This isn’t placebo. It’s biochemistry.

🌱 Functional Medicine Is Personalized Medicine
This is why personalization matters:
• Genetics (COMT, MTHFR, MAO, CBS, SUOX, SHMT, PEMT, DAO, etc.)
• Active symptoms
• Gut health
• Detox capacity
• Nutrient status
• Inflammation level
• Environmental exposures
• Neurotransmitter balance

All influence how a supplement behaves once it hits the body.

11/19/2025

A lot of people starting functional medicine — especially those with MTHFR variants, slow COMT, adrenal dysregulation, low vagal tone, tryptophan pathway issues, gut imbalance, or CPTSD backgrounds — notice something confusing:

You start supportive nutrients…
● get overstimulated, intense, wired, irritable.
So you switch to gentler forms…
● and suddenly feel too calm, almost spaced out, foggy, or “not yourself.”
This experience is incredibly common — and deeply misunderstood.

That “spacy calm” isn’t a bad reaction. It’s your nervous system coming down from years of running on stress chemistry.

If your baseline has been fight-or-flight for most of your life, your brain learns to equate stress with being sharp, productive, and “normal.”

So when the body finally shifts into a lower-arousal, calmer state, it can feel like:
• dreamy or detached
• low motivation
• low arousal
• “too calm”
• mentally slowed
• like something is “off”

But this isn’t undermethylation or “not enough supplements.”

It’s simply unfamiliar.

It’s your brain experiencing a state it never got to live in.

People with trauma or chronic dysregulation often say:
“I only function well when I’m stressed.”
“If stress is low, I space out.”
“Is this what normal people feel like?”
Yes — and your body is learning a new baseline.
You’re not spaced out.
You’re calm… and the unfamiliarity feels threatening because your nervous system survived by staying activated.

This doesn’t only apply to methylation — it shows up across ALL healing pathways, including:

• Adrenal Repair
When cortisol drops from chronic high levels, people often feel “too tired” or “too calm” because they were running on adrenaline for years.

• Vagal Tone Improvement
When the vagus nerve strengthens and the body enters safety states, the shift from hypervigilance to digestion/rest can feel like “dissociation,” even though it’s actually regulation.

• Tryptophan Pathways
When inflammation lowers and tryptophan stops diverting down the kynurenine pathway, serotonin balance changes — calmness replaces survival-mode alertness, which can feel strange at first.

• Gut Healing
Reduced inflammation and a calmer gut-brain axis can feel like a “mental fog lifting,” but for someone used to stress chemistry, that clarity can paradoxically feel like being “out of it” in the beginning.

What’s happening overall:
For years, your nervous system relied on:
• high cortisol
• high catecholamines
• inflammatory drivers
• poor vagal tone
• gut-stress signaling
When these begin to normalize, your body finally steps out of survival mode — but your mind interprets the absence of chaos as unfamiliar or unsafe.

It isn’t understimulation.
It isn’t a deficiency.
It’s a transition.

What supports this adjustment phase will look different for each individual. Some generally helpful starting points:
• Magnesium for grounding calm
• Low-dose B1 or B2 for gentle focus
• Hydroxy-B12 instead of strong methyl donors
• Nervous-system supports like breathwork, humming, gargling
• Gentle adrenal support (vitamin C, electrolytes)

Your clarity will return — but from a regulated place, not a stress-driven one.
If this resonates with your healing journey, know you’re not alone.

Your body isn’t shutting down — it’s finally learning how to live without surviving.

11/18/2025

✨️Week 2 Update: Leucovorin Progress
It’s hard to believe it’s only been two weeks — the changes we’re seeing in our daughter are remarkable! (And she is still not at goal dose)

Sensory & emotional regulation:
• No longer doing ocular or vestibular stimming
• Softer, more relaxed look in her eyes
• Calm around loud vehicles — no longer going into fight-or-flight or panic

Language & communication:
• Up to 25+ new words
• Said 8 words from her “My First Words” book — several initiated independently, not just in response to prompts
• Beginning to use words in imaginary play:
- Making stuffed dog run & bark
- Driving toy cars while making car noises
- Feeding & tucking dolls, saying “there there”
• Sits through reading a book and listens attentively
• Uses statements appropriately:
-“Excuse me” after sneezing
-“Please” when requesting something
-“Cheeeese” when having her picture taken
- Asking for items by name instead of pointing
- Re-enacting things she has seen on TV, including phrases

Self-awareness & fine motor:
• Big milestone: pushes her bangs out of her eyes on her own rather than just staring through them!

We’re seeing so many little moments that add up to huge developmental leaps — it’s really exciting to watch her grow and interact with the world in such new, confident ways.