My Story:
My love of medicine began early in my childhood, most notably in second grade, when my mom started her MD training. I have vivid memories of her medical education, as she was a single parent by that time and had to bring my brothers and I with her for lack of childcare. I remember coloring with her assortment of highlighters during a neurology lecture where the professor taught about how the human brain jiggles like jell-o in certain types of head trauma. I made sure to avoid getting a concussion after that lecture!
I remember, too, the inhumane hazing that was her residency and the burn out that set in amongst my mom and her classmates over the years. Though I was hooked on medicine, I resolved from a young age to never be a western medical doctor.
As a teenager, after years of suffering, I was diagnosed with endometriosis, a chronic condition that was deemed unresolvable by a couple different MDs, only to learn that if untreated, I could become infertile. Every month, I would end up in such agonizing pain I would eventually throw up and get sent home from school. Once there, I would draw the hottest bath imaginable, take too many ibuprofen, and wait there until I was so exhausted that I could sleep.
Fortunately for me, a couple years later, my Mandarin Chinese teacher (my teacher at a public school in Tulsa, Oklahoma!) took a group of us kids on a 6 week tour of China. We visited a hospital in Shanghai where an acupuncturist told me that, in fact, I had a treatable condition that could be asymptomatic if I committed to taking herbs and getting acupuncture on a regular basis. I was sold! I felt seen and heard. I had hope and a treatment plan. For the first time in my life, I was empowered by a health care provider.
When I got home, I immediately sought treatment from an acupuncturist who had a deep understanding of my health and a plan for helping me avoid long-term damage while managing my incapacitating side-effects. Having followed the recommendations of many acupuncturists and herbalists over the decades since, I now have two healthy kids, am pain free, and am happily settled into my calling in life, to provide support to people seeking a deeper connection to their health and particularly, to help women fix their periods, balance their hormones, and achieve a healthy pregnancy if they so desire.
I have been in your shoes, unsure if my health problems would only get worse with time, unsure of who to turn to to get the support I needed. I have felt unseen by my health care providers, and even been to years of unfruitful office visits where, although I was clearly communicating that I had a very real problem, I left the office with only pain killers or birth control, neither of which I used.
I had gone to those health care providers in hopes of being seen, receiving a diagnosis, and beginning a treatment. My difficulties have shaped who I am as a medical provider and want I want people to get from a medical visit.
Because of everything I have gone through, this is the commitment I make to my clients- I will see you. I will listen to your story and help you figure out what to do to get you feeling better and improve your health. I will explain clearly to you what I understand about your health so you can have a better sense of what exactly is going on. And I will also explain clearly the role of each medicinal or food plan I prescribe to you so you understand your treatment.
Please feel free to visit https://www.withinsf.com/heatherbird for more details on my professional training.
