Live "whole"listically

 Holistic Health Coaches focus on the WHOLE person.  They use an integrative and holistic approach to lifestyle, diet, fitness, relationships and even career in order to help clients achieve their health and wellness goals.  Holistic Health Coaches look beyond diet and exercise in partnering with their client to create a plan to bring wellness to their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual goals.  In essence, a personal cheerleader to help guide you through your healing journey. 

At Wholelistically Healing, our mission is to empower individuals to take control of their health and well-being through personalized coaching and guidance.

Hi,  my name is Jennifer Affronti. Some of you may know me by my stage name Ms.Redd.  However you have found me, let me tell you my story. This is not only my illness journey, but my healing one as well.  I learned I needed to be my own cheerleader and health advocate and found my community along the way.  We all have our own journeys and are unique in our own bio-individual way.

Until my saline breast implant surgery in June 2001, I had rarely been sick.  On Christmas of 2001, I was rushed to the ER.  My bladder had shut down. I couldn't urinate and hadn't in over 24 hours. The ER physician wasn't quite sure what was wrong with me so, he inserted a urinary catheter in me and sent me home. I went to a urologist a week later. His diagnosis was that I was in the beginning stages of MS. He hadn’t even taken the time to discuss the symptoms I had that brought me to see him.  He just nonchalantly told me I had MS and to think about being in a wheelchair soon. I laughed in his face, took the portable catheter he gave me, and left. A few days later I went to see Dr. Randall Robirds.  Dr. Robirds is a chiropractor and energy healing practitioner.  I had made the appointment months prior,  as I have always been interested in energy healing and hadn’t been feeling 100% for some time.  He told me I had a severe bacterial infection in my uterus and put me on uva ursi. I could finally pee on my own that night.  I was relieved but also worried as to why did this happen in the first place?

Sometime around 2004, I started having these "attacks". My heart would start pounding in my chest, I would get discombobulated as to where I was, dizziness, brain fog, and then my intestines would “let go” and I would have severe diarrhea. I would also get these strange rashes on one breast or my legs that none of my doctors could explain.  I did go to a cardiologist, and was hooked up to a monitor for 24 hours. He determined that I had MVP (mitral valve prolapse). That only determined my heart pounding but not the digestive attacks. Later in 2007, I switched from saline to silicone implants. Both sets were under my muscle. I continued having these  “attacks'' and they seemed to be getting worse. I then went to a gastroenterologist. He said I had slight IBS.  SLIGHT???  There was nothing slight about the issues I was having. I didn’t even feel comfortable leaving the bathroom.  I had the worst stabbing abdominal cramps, and severe diarrhea.  One day I had made an appointment to see my family practitioner, she got called away in an emergency. I saw her nurse practitioner instead.  He suggested that I was just depressed and needed an antidepressant. I snapped back with “you would be depressed too if every time you left the house you didn't know if you would have an attack and shit yourself! I don’t need antidepressants!”

I was so exhausted all the time.  So much so that I would sleep all day long, then go to work.  Sometimes I'd have insomnia and would still be exhausted. Attacks would come and I couldn't make sense of when they would. I would get dizzy at times, but I had vertigo at 22 prior to implants, so I chalked it up to that. I had pain in my left upper boob area, but it was my tray arm.  I was a cocktail waitress, so I chalked it up to that. In December of 2010, I saw an ENT doctor.  My brother had surgery to correct his deviated septum he was born with and suggested I go. He thought maybe part of why I was dizzy and had brain fog was I needed surgery like him. When I saw the ENT, he had told me my septum was worse than my brother's and I also had very small nasal passages. He would have to do a more extensive surgery. It still didn't explain the rest of my symptoms and to be honest, the surgery didn't change my breathing at all.

The night before my stepdad passed in 2010, I swore to him I'd get to the bottom of what was making me sick.  He had suffered with ulcerative colitis for over 30 years and saw how sick I really was.  I went back to all the doctors again, but again I got the same results. My family practitioner said she was sending me to an endocrinologist. If that came back fine, she was taking me off of certain foods, one at a time, to rule out food allergies. Well, it came back fine. My first dietary elimination was gluten. I truly thought that a gluten-free diet was just a fad diet.  I quickly realized that I actually started to feel better. This was 2012. After 6 weeks of strictly adhering to a gluten free diet, I accidentally consumed gluten. I got so sick. I was wearing a steel boned corset. My tummy was so swollen, it pushed the corset out. 

I went back to my family practitioner and told her everything. She told me I most likely had Celiacs or a severe gluten intolerance. I asked her what would be the protocol for either one.  She said, “I would have to do a biopsy to determine for certain, but in either case, you would have to eliminate all gluten from your diet”. She suspected I had Celiacs because of all of the other symptoms I had (exhaustion, brain fog, rash, heart palpitations) along with the digestive issues. So I stayed gluten free and started to get better but never fully recovered. I did fasting and detoxing too. Some time in 2013 or 14, I found a lump in my left breast. I went to my family practitioner and my plastic surgeon. They both sent me to get a mammogram and I was also sent to a breast cancer specialist for an ultrasound. I remember that during this time I went to the ER as my left arm was bothering me with tingling and numbness. When I got my results back from the ultrasound, the breast specialist told me it was just my implant poking out from my muscle.  Again, everything was “normal”.

Around 2014,  I noticed the brain fog and exhaustion were back severely again. Even after not eating gluten, occasionally I would have an "attack". I would chalk it up to possibly being " cross contamination" but I cook 95% of all my meals with no gluten in my home. In August 2016, I had to go to urgent care. I had nausea worse than ever, dizziness, severe exhaustion, pain in my right abdomen, fever and I couldn't walk from the pain. I spent all day in urgent care and they assumed it was appendicitis. For my insurance I had to have a CT scan before they rushed me into surgery for my appendix. It turned out my appendix was fine. It was my intestines that were "thick" and irritated. They put me on antibiotics and sent me home. I had to have a colonoscopy done a few weeks later with a new Gastroenterologist because I had to wait until the swelling in my intestines went down.

It was during this time in between I had received an email from a fellow burlesque performer and pinup model, Sara X.  She had been diagnosed with Celiacs a few months prior and I had given her some advice on how to traverse the gluten free life.  She had come across some articles and a facebook group about breast implant illness (BII).  She was starting to do her own research to get her implants out  and thought I may want to read up on BII. My jaw dropped as I started reading everything.  This sounded like me.  Brain fog, dizziness, heart palpitations, digestive issues, odd skin rashes, constant metallic taste in my mouth, joints hurting, feeling like I am 90 yrs old and a number of other issues.  As I read on, I began to weep.  First,  because I felt how could I do this to myself?  Second, I was reading story after story that mirrored mine. Thirdly, could I give up my implants?

I went to my new Gastroenterologist for my colonoscopy and my results were normal. He said it could have been some kind of colitis attack but he wasn't sure. I brought up to him "do you think my implants could make my system go out of whack and bring on various autoimmune issues?" I told him about my recent dive into researching breast implant illness and showed him some research. He told me anything is possible and to definitely continue to do my research.  This was the first time I felt validated.

I did my research for six months and decided my implants had to come out. My health was more important to me than my appearance.  I just wanted to feel alive again.  I had my implants removed by the Plastic Surgeon that had done my original surgery. I opted to take them out in his surgical office on site. I was shot with a local anesthetic, he opened up my chest and pulled out my implants leaving behind my capsules. Capsules are scar tissue that your body creates surrounding your implants. He told me he thought I'd be able to detox the heavy metals out of my capsules and would be fine. I did feel a bit better after the surgery but not nearly as well as I had expected. I had seen on the BII page a lot of women that had a hard time with detoxing had a gene called MTHFR. I lovingly refer to this as the MotherF*&ker gene.  I took a DNA genetic test and of course, I have it.

I decided I needed help with detoxing, so I went to see a Functional Medicine Doctor. I explained everything to Dr. Yamane at Valhalla Wellness Center in Las Vegas. He was shocked at all the research I had done, and believed me. For a year straight, I was on his strict protocol. I was getting better but maybe by 30%. He was puzzled that after a solid year, I should've been in tip top shape. I had started doing more research and kept seeing that women who had left behind their capsules continued to get sick. The reason being is that you cannot detox the heavy metals from your capsules and scar tissue. I was going to need another surgery to get my capsules out. I was so upset. Here I thought by doing it in the office and not going under general anesthesia that I was still doing it the right way. Boy, was I wrong. I decided if I was going back under and having to pay for another surgery, I was going to have a fat transfer to my breast to fill in where I had some creases. Many women in the BII community do not condone fat transfer to the breast, there can be complications with fat transfers as well. I loved my smaller natural boobs and had done my biggest show sharing the same stage with Dita Von Teese for Viva Las Vegas 20th Weekender with them. I felt if I had to have another surgery, why not.  I spent another 6 months doing research on fat transfers to the breast. I found an amazing surgeon in Dallas that would not only scrape out my capsules but would also do a fat transfer for me to even out my creases. Dr. John Burns in Dallas, TX did my capsulotomy (removal of capsules) and fat transfer on June 5, 2018. Yes, the lipo hurt, I expected it to.  I put myself on a regiment and healed up quickly.

After healing up amazingly from my surgery, I noticed things becoming better slowily.  I also started receiving texts, emails and phone calls from many women who wanted to know my story and what I did to heal.  I was constantly on the phone or writing emails to women letting them know they are not alone, they are not crazy and here’s some research for them to look over. In March 2020 when the world shut down, I began yearning for my soul’s mission.  I knew I have  been in service to others for most of my adult life and was good at it.  I had been an actress, model and burlesque performer but I always kept a job in hospitality by being a waitress and cocktail server. I am a natural care taker, have always been interested in energy healing, holistic medicine, fitness, cooking and overall health.  What does one do with all of that?  I kept seeing an ad for the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and health coaching.  After lurking for a few weeks, I called and signed up for their program.  I received my certification in November 2021.  I will be adding more certifications and education as I go.  I truly believe we die when we stop learning and growing.  The promise I made to myself is to keep seeking the truth and learn all I can.  I believe in a holistic  approach to health that takes into account the unique needs and lifestyles of my clients. My coaching services focus on nutrition, exercise, stress management, and overall wellness. 

So…How can I help you achieve your health goals and cheer you on to heal the “WHOLE” you?