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 My Story

Meet Josette, MS, CNS®, CN, LDN

My health challenges started when I was one month old and hospitalized with viral meningitis and subsequently received IV antibiotics. I suffered from colic and jaundice as an infant. As a child I appeared healthy, however the effects of consuming a Standard American Diet (or “SAD” diet) consisting of highly processed and inflammatory foods combined with my genetics and environmental exposures contributed to an eventual decline in my physical and mental health.

At the age of 18, I developed chronic migraines while living in Panama as an exchange student. I averaged 25 migraine days per month. I have a genetic predisposition for migraines. My paternal grandmother, father, and younger brother had migraines, as well as family on my mother’s side. Over the next 10 years, doctors tried every possible migraine medication on me, eventually resorting to Botox injections, which involved a series of 30 injections in the face and neck. All of these options were a dead end. In fact, the various medications and treatments only increased my migraine frequency and intensity and led to a myriad of other symptoms and health problems. During this time, I completed a BA in Journalism and worked as a radio and television journalist and producer for NPR & PBS.

At the age of 25, I attempted to end my life. The physical and emotional toll of chronic migraines coupled with doctors giving up on me left me in a very dark place. Our family has a history of suicide; tragically both my maternal grandmother and aunt took their own lives. There are some underlying genetic imbalances in our family that may have been worsened by dietary and lifestyle choices, along with environmental factors.

In 2011, I started researching Functional Medicine and nutrition and slowly began putting the puzzle pieces together regarding why I was sick. After six years of experimentation and trial and error, I ended up utilizing both the Gerson Therapy and Functional Medicine to successfully heal my migraines and other health problems.