The Beginning of Wild Elevation Co

I suppose I’ve always been holistic minded, but my journey to functional medicine began around 3 years ago. I was working in the ER and loving what I was doing, but I always knew there was a little piece of me that was not aligned. Que a whole list of my own health battles and issues - it was clear that I needed to start looking at my health from a different lens. The things that I’ve learned over the past few years are things that I wish I would’ve known 10 years ago. 

I will say that there is a certain ‘shedding of identity’ that’s required to open your mind and understand the importance of functional medicine. We could go down the rabbit hole of conspiracies in America regarding the hindering of Eastern/homeopathic medicine, or we could sit with the thought that - just maybe - science and humans aren’t always bigger than nature. Nature has a way of forging its path and putting in front of our faces what is important. 

I knew from a young age that I was called to work in the healthcare industry. I got my CNA as soon as I was legally able to, started working at a memory care assisted living everyday after school and on the weekends. Eventually I went on to expand my scope of practice by obtaining my bachelor’s degree in nursing. Before nursing school, I had transitioned to a job in the hospital setting, experiencing my way through multiple departments and work flows. While I enjoyed my time working in different departments, I knew I hadn’t found ‘my love’ within the hospital, so I finally applied for a job in the emergency department. I knew immediately my first day of working in the ER that I was home. I felt confident, at ease, and ready for anything that came through those doors. Upon graduation, I had a job in the emergency department as a registered nurse, and this change in dynamic was a huge shifting point in my life. I was once again met with the feeling of enjoying what I was doing, while knowing it was not sustainable. 

Throughout my time in the emergency department, I learned so much about myself as a person and as a professional. I found that my passions included connecting with patients, educating them in a way that made sense to them, and also the ‘puzzle’ aspect of being an ER nurse and putting together all of the information - labs, symptoms, physical assessments, etc. The part of my job that deploys my critical thinking and the part that deploys my compassionate heart. 

After working in the ER for three years, I made the decision to begin travel nursing to different ERs around the country. The feeling of not being content wouldn’t leave me alone. Throughout this time, I was dealing with personal health problems and family health issues that gave me the opportunity to really view healthcare from the other side of it - the side that most of the country is on. Being the patient. The frustrations of being sent to ten different ‘specialty’ providers while receiving no real answers. The disappointment of finding out tangible results only to be told ‘there’s nothing we can do about it, so here’s a pill to control your symptoms.’ And mainly - the revelation that maybe we are absolutely missing the mark. I had always felt that way working in the ER, seeing the same patterns and situations repeat themselves every day. Seeing many patients with the same diagnosis, on the same medication regimen, and still feeling the same doom and sickness over their life regardless of what they tried to help themselves. 

As I was growing and learning more, that little voice in my head that told me I didn’t 100% believe in everything I was doing at work - it kept getting louder and louder. That type of repeated discomfort told me all I needed to know. I was not living in alignment and it was starting to affect me deeply by becoming the source of a huge ‘energy leak’ in my life. I was also working 12 hour overnight shifts, which was going against all of the work that I was doing on my own health on the days where I wasn’t at work. I was primarily on a night shift schedule for the past 6-7 years, and anybody that has worked night shift can attest to how detrimental it is for your health. 

I can’t even say that it was a single moment when I knew that I needed to move on from the ER. There were many troubling moments, repeated over and over again. Being put in situations that jeopardized my morals and values, over and over again. Boundaries being crossed, severe lack of professionalism, and the growing rage inside of me that stemmed from a lack of control/not being able to change the system. 

I was at a breaking point in my career. Switching from night shift to day shift would not have fixed it. Moving to another area in the hospital to work would not have fixed it. I was convinced that no longer being a nurse was the only way to pull myself out of the toxic cycle that is working in healthcare right now. (Seriously - at this point I would’ve preferred being a bartender to being a nurse.)  I began researching, looking at my options, and really diving into myself to discover what my passions were and where I could find an intersection for them. This soul searching is what led me to functional medicine. 

My path to functional medicine was both academic and personal. I was at a place in both where I was questioning myself and my knowledge, wondering if I was the only one who could see what was happening, and gaslighting myself into believing this was the only way I could help people. Personally - I was absolutely exhausted from having no real answers with my own health. There were seasons where I followed the rules perfectly and still didn’t feel well. That forced me to zoom out and ask better questions. I truly believe that everything in this life is perfectly and divinely designed, and the timing of me discovering functional nursing is a perfect exemplar. As soon as I started learning more about it, I knew with every ounce of my being that I was supposed to be following this path and learning this information.  

Since making the decision to pivot, I have dived headfirst into functional medicine and haven’t looked back. I began exploring labs more deeply. I learned how stress patterns shape hormones. I realized how blood sugar instability impacts mood. I saw how gut health influences everything from skin to anxiety. I ended up uncovering an autoimmune disease that onset in 2020 and was not caught. This has been a huge game changer for me - I have been able to target my supplements and health plan and focus on subtle lifestyle changes to support my body in my own healing journey. Functional medicine gave me language for what I was experiencing. It gave me tools and context. It helped me move from feeling powerless to feeling informed and supported. Most importantly, I learned to listen to my body instead of outsourcing all authority.

Functional medicine is empowering because it invites you into the process. You’re not a passive patient. You are an active participant in your own health. It can help you understand your lab work in context, connect your symptoms instead of compartmentalizing them, identify patterns you may have overlooked, create sustainable, foundational shifts, and feel validated in your health experiences. It doesn’t promise overnight transformation, but it does promise deeper understanding, intentional support, and long-term restoration.

Conventional medicine is incredibly valuable and I will stand on that. It saves lives. It excels in acute care, emergency medicine, trauma, and infection. If you break a bone or need surgery, this model is essential. But when it comes to chronic symptoms and preventative care, we are missing the mark. Functional medicine seeks to ask how we can restore balanced function - looking at the mind, body, spirit. Looking at the entirety of a person’s well-being is also something that is often overlooked in conventional medicine. Due to the way the system is designed, there is not time to have insightful conversations about each aspect of a person’s life - which is foundational to their overall health and wellness. This is an advantage of functional medicine. The time to truly sit down and have an open, honest conversation that is not rushed and not minimized. And instead of isolating body parts, functional medicine sees the body as an interconnected system. Your hormones affect your gut; gut affects your immune system; stress affects your hormones. It’s all connected.

What I didn’t expect when I stepped into this world was how much it would challenge me mentally and emotionally - not just physically. Functional medicine is a perspective shift. 

It requires moving from outsourcing your health to partnering with your body, which can feel uncomfortable at first. We’re conditioned to look for quick fixes, definitive answers, and someone to tell us exactly what to do. Functional medicine invites something slower, more intentional, and more participatory. It asks you to get curious instead of panicked, to pause instead of react, and to see symptoms as communication rather than betrayal. That takes emotional security and a whole lot of patience with yourself and grace for the past versions of you who might have held different beliefs. 

There’s a shift from perfectionism to personalization. Some individuals come into holistic health wanting the perfect diet, the perfect supplement stack, the perfect morning routine. But functional medicine teaches that your body is unique. What works for someone else may not work for you. It becomes less about rigid rules and more about informed experimentation and body literacy. 

There’s also a letting go that happens. Letting go of the story that your body is broken. Letting go of the belief that symptoms mean failure. Letting go of the urgency that everything has to be fixed immediately. In its place, you build trust. Trust that your body is intelligent, that symptoms are signals, and trust that foundational shifts compound over time. 

If you’ve found your way here, I truly believe it’s not by accident. Whether you’re navigating your own health challenges, feeling stuck in the ‘everything looks normal’ phase, or simply wanting to understand your body better - I’m so grateful you’re here. This space will be about education, grounded wellness, and honest conversation. There is no room for perfectionism, guilt, or shame here. Just sustainable, supportive shifts. 

If you’d like to follow along, I’d love for you to join my email list. I share deeper dives, practical tools, and reflections I don’t always post publicly. 

You don’t have to navigate this alone. I’m really glad you’re here. 

With love,

Emilee