My name is Sara and I am the own and chief practitioner are Dragman Holistic Health & Nutrition. I started on my health journey around 2010/2011. Then I had no know major health issues besides the typical being sick, allergies or sore throat that I knew and grew up having. Fast forward to today and so much has changed for me and my family.
I grew getting sick from having pneumonia as a baby through my childhood years to having tonsillitis or allergies through out the year. Through middle school and high school, I couldn’t gain weight but that was me and it honestly didn’t bother me. After graduation high school and in my early 20’s, I finally did start to gain weight!
When I was 23/24, I got pregnant with my first child and gained A LOT of weight, but lost half of it that first year after having him. This is when things started to change health wise for me. In 2009 and 2010, I had 2 miscarriages. The doctors didn’t say anything was wrong as they didn’t do further testing until after 3 miscarriages. So, mindfully, I started trying to eat a little better…..at least adding in more vegetables. In 2011 I got pregnant again and for obvious reasons was nervous and anxious about this one. This pregnancy I barely gained any weight and had her in 2012.
In 2015, after feeling tired, exhausted, sick, emotional, gaining weight, and much more I finally went to the doctor and had lab work done. Come to find out I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. It is an autoimmune disease, which at the time, I had never heard of. I was put on a prescription medication and a vitamin D. Google searching didn’t produce very many results, but what I did find was helpful. I started having my doctor run other lab work to see where other deficiencies were and through that found out I have a MTHFR gene mutation as well. Over the years, knowledge is power and I am 98% sure this autoimmune disease was exacerbated because of the HPV vaccine I received in the hospital after giving birth to my son in 2012. I remember some of the side effects vividly.
In the Fall of 2015, I came across a lady by the name of Lydia at a moms event. She offered acupuncture and Nutrition Response Testing. If figured it couldn’t hurt, as the medication I was on wasn’t helping. So I tried the Nutrition Response Testing, started on a program with her and taking her recommended supplements. I slowly started to feel better and better. She helped me change my diet slowly as the goals we were trying to achieve were easier to accomplish in small amounts. Three months into the program I received a letter from CVS that my insurance was no longer going to cover my prescription medication. By that time any way, I was feeling much better so I decided to not take it anymore and just do the Nutrition Response Testing supplements that I tested for.
Around the same time, December 2015, it all clicked! This is what I want to do for the rest of my life! I want to naturally help others feel better in this same way. I got with my practitioner on what I need to do in order to practice Nutrition Response Testing. So in early Spring of 2016 I applied for a Masters program at New York Chiropractic College. WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?! I have 2 young kids at home, a husband and a job. It’s fine! It’ll work out……and it did! The summer of 2016 I quit my administrative job and started working for Lydia. Started a few pre-requisite courses in the fall and started on my track to becoming a Nutrition Response Testing practitioner in December of 2016.
I can do this! 2 years of my life with kids, traveling, vacations and working….I can do this!
For the next 2 years, I was doing school work online for the Masters program and once a month, with a few months between sometimes, I traveled to and from Florida for my training in Nutrition Response Testing. Two different schoolings for 2 different degrees/certifications in 2 years. It was fun, exhausting, and emotional. I probably wouldn’t have made it if I hadn’t already started getting my health back prior to.
Now, I have my Master of Science in Applied Clinical Nutrition and am a Master Nutrition Response Testing Practitioner. I’m healthier than I’ve ever been and owe it all to dietary changes (reluctantly sometimes) and Nutrition Response Testing. I am still learning more ways to help and to improve what I do. I love every step of this journey.
2020, the year of the pandemic, I felt lead, I felt it was time, I felt that I needed to open my own clinic in Midwest City, Oklahoma….where I grew up. Yes, I was scared, anxious, nervous and all the emotions in between. BUT I still went for my dream and made it a reality!
Health is not a quick fix it is a journey that one takes when one is ready to take. Having a great support team behind you definitely helps, BUT having your mind ready is really important as well. I have been on this journey for 6 years and will continue on this journey as I know that I am not done yet and have more healing to do! I encourage anyone and everyone who is ready for a change to try Nutrition Response Testing.