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Read Kathi’s complete story.

Casey (00:02):

All right. Well welcome, Kathy. How are you today?

Kathi (00:06):

Casey? I’m doing great. Thanks for having me.

Casey (00:09):

Yeah. I’m so grateful to have you here talking about your health story because it’s, uh, it’s an impressive one. How far you’ve come. So kinda take us back to the start of when your health challenges really began and what you were experiencing.

Kathi (00:29):

Uh, absolutely. Um, it was, it was five years ago around this time, uh, around the new year where I started experiencing symptoms, um, where I felt like there was sand in my eyes and I, I used a significant amount of eye drops throughout the day, but I couldn’t seem to get rid of that gritty feeling in my eyes and that I was experiencing. And it just seemed to progressively get worse over the next few weeks of early 2016.

Casey (01:01):

Wow. And at the time I want us to kind of set the scene for people because you were in a very demanding career that

Kathi (01:13):

I was, um, I, at that time was, uh, the branch manager of, uh, one of the largest, well, the largest branch, uh, as far as a household size for one of our banks in a five-state region. So I had a significant amount of responsibilities that included a lot of, I work a lot of computer work, a lot of paperwork, um, a lot of moving around and demand to, uh, go out into the public and meet and greet customers, clients, and customers of the bank, clients and whatnot. And so there was, there was a lot of eyestrain.

Casey (01:53):

Right, right. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah. So, so you started to really experience, you know, this discomfort with your eyes, the grittiness, and how did that progress from there and what types of practitioners did you see?

Kathi (02:08):

Sure. Um, so within, uh, uh, this was January of 2016 and then by the middle of February of 2016, I literally woke up one day and had double vision. Uh, and that was, you know, that was obviously a very scary, uh, situation. Uh, my dad had just passed away a few days beforehand and so I was navigating the, uh, the needs of taking care of that piece of it. Um, and I, so I didn’t, I didn’t go running to the, um, to any doctors at that point. I literally woke up, saw double and closed one eye and navigated next few days until my sister and I could, um, you know, uh, see to, uh, my dad’s service and whatnot. Then I found myself, um, needing to go back to work immediately. Cause I had just had a few days off of work and I managed my S my schedule and my role and responsibility at work by patching one.

Kathi (03:24):

I, uh, my, my team at the branch was extremely supportive knowing and seeing that I was struggling, but, um, and encouraging me to go to a doctor, which, which I eventually did, but I think it was at least 10 days later before I finally made an appointment and I to see an ophthalmologist, uh, that was highly recommended by a dear friend. And when I saw her, she immediately knew it. She thought it was, um, excused herself from the room and then came back, continued with her exam, but had, uh, made an appointment for me for the next morning at a neuro ophthalmologist office where I was, I was in his chair by nine 30, the next morning.

Casey (04:15):

Wow. And what were her suspicions?

Kathi (04:19):

Uh, her suspicions is that I was, um, suffering from, uh, the, uh, tertiary symptoms of, um, thyroid eye disease. It’s called TED. And, uh, the thyroid gets impacted in my case, it was impacted by an auto-immune disease that I had called graves’ disease. And I did not know that I, I was being negligent in seeing a doctor, even though I had healthcare through my employer. Um, but I, it was a couple of years behind on having your traditional blood work and whatnot done. And, uh, I was told that that probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway, because it seemed to come on very suddenly. And so in with grace disease, that’s, autoimmune where the antibodies in the blood, in my case affected and attacked areas of my thyroid, I became hyperthyroid. And, uh, then the thyroid, um, uh, uh, the, the chemicals of the hormones, things that the thyroid lets out attack the tissues, the muscles and the fat that hold your eyeballs in, in your sockets attack, those tissue tissues, which caused the inflammation that eventually pushed my eyeballs off its alignment, which is what was causing the double vision.

Casey (05:45):

Oh, wow. How interesting.

Kathi (05:48):

Yeah, that’s crazy. Yeah.

Casey (05:50):

So yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Um, so did you get that diagnosis then the next morning with that neuro-ophthalmologist?

Kathi (06:00):

Uh, he, he was pretty confident. Uh, he was very confident as to what was going on and he immediately, uh, referred me to an endocrinologist to work on the thyroid, uh, portion of it. Um, I was immediately sent that day for blood work, uh, to, to measure the levels of, uh, the antibodies and, and just the blood work that, uh, all the things that the blood work will diagnose. I was also sent in for an MRI that day, um, because although he was very, uh, confident of what he was experiencing, they do have to rule out things like a brain tumor and whatnot. And so, uh, the MRI was able to help view the orbital areas for inflammation, but also rule out any, anything else that might be going on. And then I did make an appointment for the endocrinologist where I was, um, formerly diagnosed with, uh, an issue, a hyperthyroid issue that took a little bit of time to get the blood work back and, and have that happen. Um, but ultimately, uh, yes, uh, graves’ disease was diagnosed, thyroid eye disease was also diagnosed and, um, and then Ted’s thyroid eye disease was also diagnosed,

Casey (07:24):

Right? Yeah. Yeah. So, and this is all pretty sudden all at once. Um, I mean, did you have some symptoms leading up, you know, fatigue or anything that may have suggested auto-immunity

Kathi (07:40):

I, I had some fatigue going on in the fall, but I had chalked that up to the fact that I was, um, navigating, uh, uh, some health events with my dad, uh, the lifestyle of, um, a very demanding career and, uh, being a mother of, uh, three amazing kids at various stages. Two of them at that time that were, uh, still partially one, one was full-time at home. And one was, I, I believe my, my oldest son was just in the starting college locally, so there was a lot going on and I just talked, tossed it up to the lifestyle and just, you know, cowboyed up through it. All right. Um, I used to, uh, tease with my, my cousin and my sister who were all very close that I felt like I was the healthiest overweight middle-aged woman that I knew because I was very active, but I didn’t have any conditions that I knew of other than I needed to take better care of myself and that I had gained some weight. Uh, you know, what I thought was a significant amount of weight.

Casey (08:50):

Right, right. Interesting. Okay. Well, I know it at some point, you a diabetes diagnosis as well. When was that? Yes,

Kathi (08:59):

The diabetes diagnosis also came at the same time that I saw the endocrinologist, uh, for my blood work. Um, I, I didn’t overeat, but I definitely inherited my mom’s sweet tooth. Um, and, and so there were times where I found myself as a stress eater, um, but not an overeater, but not a, not a healthy eater. And I was diagnosed with type two diabetes. Um, well, at that time I was, I was pre-diabetic. I was really borderline, but then the journey that, uh, the symptoms that ended up continuing to manifest itself relating to my, my eyes and my thyroid eye disease progressed. Um, and within a couple of months of my diagnosis, um, probably two and a half me, maybe three months and about two and a half months or so I woke up one day where the next step of the progression of my symptoms was I woke up one day already dealing, navigating with the double vision and, uh, going through my world by patching one eye in order to do this and, and function I woke up and all of a sudden, I didn’t have color in my right eye. Uh, everything was a different stage of gray or a different, uh, tone of grays.

Casey (10:22):

Yeah, that’s scary.

Kathi (10:25):

It was, it was significantly scary. I didn’t know what it meant. I, of course called, um, the neuro-ophthalmologist saw him right away. And what was happening was is that the inflammation was increasing enough to compress the optic nerve in my right eye, uh, the, the muscle and the fat, the tissues that hold your eye into the orbital area were starting to significantly impact the optic nerve. And, um, at that point, then I was treated with IB steroids to bring down the inflammation because regular oral steroids wouldn’t have had a significant amount of impact. And so I had a gram a week for several weeks of IB steroids. And although it was in an effort to, um, reestablish, uh, optimal vision, I did not know that it also, uh, tipped me over significantly the scales of diabetes. And to this day, I have done a much better job, an amazing job of navigating it with diet and exercise in, uh, what I believe a significant amount of weight loss, but I still have not been able to fully kick, um, uh, the need for medication. I still need to step it up even further.

Casey (11:49):

Right, right. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think you’ve found a, an effective combination. So tell me more about what your treatment has really looked like. What has worked the best for you? And I know you did have a couple of surgeries and then, you know, had done some lifestyle things. So kind of walk us through what all the steps look like.

Kathi (12:16):

It has been quite a journey, Casey, and, um, you’ve been, uh, uh, watching me, um, um, turn my lemons into lemonade, delicious lemon drop martini, not just lemonade. Uh, that’s been my attempt through this whole process. I, I want you to know I had nothing but, uh, gratitude in my heart for amazing health care access and, uh, the, the best of, um, doctors to, uh, to navigate me through this. And, uh, as I had those IVs or, uh, IB treatments, the, uh, the inflammation did not progress, but it did not, um, restore my color. And so by mid-July of 2016, in order to, for the surgeon, uh, to ensure that I didn’t lose the vision fully, uh, by compression of the optic nerve, in my right eye, uh, they had to go in and do what’s called an orbital decompression, and that’s where they removed bone and, uh, tissue, uh, not the muscles, but there’s fat and other and tissue in there to make room for the inflammation.

Kathi (13:26):

And hopefully then take some pressure off the optic nerve. And so when that happened, uh, I went in for surgery and when I woke up, I did, I could see color again. So modern medicine, um, not only saved my sight, but resold restored that color in that eye. These types of surgeries though, do leave your eyeballs out of alignment to where they are, um, naturally. And, and I did, um, I did have to wait. They said several months for the healing of the surgeries, uh, the tissue from the, all the, from the surgery to heal to, uh, do what’s called a strabismus surgery to realign the eyeball, uh, in where it would give me its most natural, natural vision. But unfortunately, as I was waiting for the healing of, of the surgery and the next steps, uh, within about five weeks of the first surgery, actually, I’m going to correct that.

Kathi (14:29):

I’m going to say it was probably closer to seven, seven weeks of the first surgery by early September. I was having a similar surgery, the same surgery on the left eye after I woke up and lost color in my left eye and had to have an orbital decompression there that in turn left, both of my eyes pointing in very different directions. I, I navigated with long. What I refer to as wonky eyes, um, was the, um, was the epitome of driving, miss Daisy to my close friends and family who I couldn’t drive at that point anymore. And did, uh, it did impact obviously my lifestyle, um, my ability to return to my role, uh, at the, at my job and my role at the bank. And, um, and you know, even, even my parenting responsibilities because of, um, you know, because of my vision being impacted.

Casey (15:31):

Right, right. That’s challenging to, uh, not be able to drive, drive your kids who may not be driving at that point or, uh, yeah. And to do your job, all of it,

Kathi (15:47):

Certainly a lifestyle change from going from a fully independent person of many, many years to, um, let’s see. Uh, at that time, I guess I was 55, uh, approximately I think I had just turned 56. Uh, and, uh, while I was in the midst of all these surgeries and recovery and whatnot, and then in early, well in spring of 2017, I went, uh, several months where, uh, I had my first strabismus surgery to attempt to realign my eyes to a point straight enough to see the first one went horribly wrong. The, the tissue, the muscle damage was significant. Um, and I actually woke up with worse, worse wonky eyes than I did when I started. But within two weeks they had me in for another surgery where they were at least able to get me back to where I was. So, um, uh, I was able to since then navigate, um, several months with, you know, the status quo of healing, um, my eye areas, my orbital areas. And then eventually, um, several months later, being able to be fitted for eyeglasses that have a prism built into them that help reduce the double vision to more of a monovision. Uh, so I could function and I’m happy to say that, you know, today I, I have limited driving, but I do drive myself and function at a much higher level than I was at that time.

Casey (17:30):

Right, right. Absolutely. Yeah. How amazing, because I know you have referred to it as saving your vision, which, I mean, it sounds like it was progressively getting worse and you’ve been able to stop that.

Kathi (17:50):

Right. Um, the, uh, the inflammation of the tissues that happens with graves’ disease and, and with many people, it might run its course for two or three years and then somewhat stabilized through its, its ultimate initial flare, um, uh, was causing inflammation in my body, uh, that in my orbital area, that was the next step of losing the color would have been to lose all sight. And that’s when the optic nerve gets permanently damaged. And the chances of them potentially being able to restore that site, depending upon if there was permanent damage is, is where, you know, where that gets even trickier. So I was, I was blessed with, like I said, the best, uh, the best neuro-ophthalmologist, uh, as well as, uh, the other resources in the medical industry, uh, that also guided me in complimented, um, other ways to heal my body and heal my soul through this, uh, this life-changing event.

Casey (18:58):

Right, right. Absolutely. So tell me about some of the other ways that you have worked to reduce inflammation. Some of the natural approaches you’ve used.

Kathi (19:10):

Well, what I learned is diet was, was first and foremost, uh, as much as I didn’t think I was as much as I thought I was eating. Okay. I learned that, uh, I, I sucked at that. Um, I was not a label reader. Um, as much as I thought I was reducing my sugar levels to navigate my diabetes. I learned that there is sugar in absolutely everything. I mean, we hear about it, but until, until I really started to read the labels, which of course was challenging when you have an eye issue. I literally, I walked around with major large magnifying glasses and it would take me hours to sometimes navigate the stores, um, just to read the labels. But, um, I, I had to revamp everything, anything and everything that I put in my mouth in order to, um, bring down the inflammation in my body naturally by, um, by what I put in, you know, by what I ate, what I consumed.

Kathi (20:17):

And then, and then of course moving was more important, was important too. I had to get my weight down. Um, I learned that my body tend to hold onto cortisol, which is also what was creating inflammation in my body. And, um, I was, I had easily, somehow was 40, 50 pounds overweight at my heaviest, um, doodle, a lot of stresses that sometimes they’re even positive stress in your life, but your body can not differentiate between good stress and bad stress. It’s just stress. And, and I, I didn’t pay attention. And so I, I really had to revamp all my thought processes and how, how I had to take better care of me in many ways.

Casey (21:06):

Right, right. Absolutely. So tell me a little bit more about what your diet looks like, how besides reducing sugar, did you do gluten-free or what else?

Kathi (21:19):

Well, I, I should have gone gluten-free I wasn’t responding. I didn’t feel like I was responding negatively to gluten itself. Um, but I cut down on all the, uh, the normal, um, processed foods that you hear about, um, the flowers and, uh, um, you know, just, just a lot of processed foods in general and went back to, um, what I had heard was best is, is earth foods, the natural foods. Um, uh, I replaced my sweet tooth with, um, more fruit if I, if I needed it. And, uh, obviously higher in vegetables and fiber, uh, the greens, um, anything and everything that I could listen to, to educate myself, uh, on how to better take care of myself. Uh, now that I didn’t find those, uh, I needed to put all those excuses behind and make me a priority. Um, I did, I, I listened to a lot of experts back then. Um, uh, people that I learned through your avenues even, and, uh, to, to take care of myself and then I had to move, I just had to start walking and, uh, and that’s what I did as well.

Casey (22:36):

Yeah. So your exercise, you do a lot of walking.

Kathi (22:39):

I did a lot of walking back then. Um, I, where I lived at that time in the foothills West of Denver and evergreen, uh, uh, I wasn’t driving. So I was walking, uh, getting over to the local Lake where I lived, uh, even if it was winter time and just moving and reducing, uh, the stresses in my life, um, increasing my movement, my heart rate, and getting the weight off to take down some of the inflammation in my body ultimately.

Casey (23:11):

Right, right. Absolutely. So, yes. So you were doing diet, you were doing exercise. How about, I think you mentioned acupuncture at some point, is that correct?

Kathi (23:24):

That, that is true. Um, so I had also reconnected with a dear friend of many years who, uh, had a wellness, uh, ha has a wellness center in North Carolina. And I reached out to her, um, to talk about some natural other natural alternatives. And, and of course she, she recommended, uh, things like here for me being in Colorado. Uh, but one of the things that I did because I had some extra time on my hands is, um, uh, is I actually went out to visit her. And, uh, I spent a chunk of time with the, uh, practitioners in her wellness center with varying types of, um, therapies, including acupuncture, including, uh, being introduced to something called an amethyst medical bio-mat, uh, that used amethyst crystals and other things that really, uh, helped my body heal from the inside. And I, I was so amazed at how well I felt within, uh, within the week of being out there and getting daily treatments from, uh, people from her team along with complimenting then the diet and the movement that I was doing.

Kathi (24:41):

Uh, my friend was also once a year, had been doing this for several years, um, going out to, uh, the South Island of Jamaica, where she had hosted, uh, what, uh, she referred to as these healing water retreats on the South Island of Jamaica, outside of a community called treasure beach. And I signed up for, uh, her next retreat, which is, uh, early 2017 at that time. And it was such a phenomenal experience. My eyes were obviously, uh, felt more comfortable than they had felt in a long time, because I was in an, uh, an area that was much higher in moisture by the ocean. Um, and in a, you know, kind of a rainforest area versus the arid climate of Colorado. And I felt so much healing from just the different experiences that we had in the various waters, the healing waters that we found in the mineral contents and the moisture, um, that I just felt so, so transformational in a way that I had, I had never experienced in my life. Wow.

Casey (25:57):

Ah, that’s fantastic. It makes me want to go right now. Sounds lovely. Yeah. Especially because, you know, there’s like 18 inches of snow out front at the moment. So

Kathi (26:12):

We’re, uh, we’re both sitting in the remnants of our, our weekend Snowmageddon that at least it wasn’t as heavy as they had originally predicted, but certainly enough to make an impact, so

Casey (26:24):

Right. For sure. Yeah. Enough to want to stop a dose of tropical paradise.

Kathi (26:32):

Well, speaking, yeah. Speaking of that tropical paradise, um, it, you know, it, it, it encouraged me to continue to evolve my lifestyle change. Um, as, as, uh, I’ll share, you know, share with the group. I was, I was out there with my friend, Mary and we, we actually stumbled upon a property when I was out there for these retreats, that it was such an exceptional experience for me. Um, and this was an, a small organic farm with, uh, a modest, um, cottage on it. And a couple of outbuildings that we ended up pursuing, uh, purchasing this together with the hopes of continuing to expand on a retreat and, uh, lifestyle changes personally and, and hosting the same healing retreats that I was feeling. Um, I was so excited because I actually was not able to return to my, you know, my corporate, um, my corporate role or, or any corporate role at that level, uh, for that matter, at the level that I was used to because my, my, um, permanent damage to my eyes and my sight.

Casey (27:49):

Right. Yeah, yeah. Um, right. How lovely to, uh, have discovered that place in Jamaica sounds, sounds like an incredibly healing place.

Kathi (28:02):

It, it really, it really was. And I had, um, several friends come down and visit and, and experience that those same healing components of, um, you know, the grandmother earth that was there. Uh, the cultures that were there, it was obviously embraced by the people and the cultures and the environment in everything. And it was, uh, it was a significant lifestyle change for me, obviously, uh, working in, um, a corporate environment, um, you know, having a lifestyle here and I, I wanted to figure out how to rebuild my life and obviously, um, continue to re continue to heal myself, but, uh, ultimately find a way to, uh, focus in on another, the next chapter of my life, uh, as my kids were getting older and everybody’s in and out of college and whatnot, and moving on with their world, so,

Casey (29:00):

Right, right. Absolutely. So the last report I heard from you was that your, your thyroid antibodies and your diabetes markers were looking really, really good. So share more about that.

Kathi (29:16):

Yes. And in fact, I was, uh, just at my, um, both my eye surgeon and my endocrinologist. Uh, I think it was just an L less than two weeks ago. And, uh, although I am not in what they consider a remission state with, uh, my, um, my graves’ disease, uh, the markers are all in the going in, you know, have gone in the right direction of down. Um, I have no more progression of significant impact to my site. Everything is status quo these last couple of years, uh, or last few years for that matter. Um, and as far as the diabetes is long as I continue to, um, serve myself my health and, um, and the way I manage my sugar levels with, with natural, with, with what I put in my body, what I feel with my body, I am able to keep my sugar levels well within the, uh, normal markers. So I don’t impact my health any further with respect to, um, heart disease, uh, kidney damage or any of the other things that diabetes is it could cause, um, my, my blood work is showing that all those markers are well within the appropriate range, uh, for, you know, somebody my age, which I turned 60 last year, as well as, you know, maybe even less I’m, I’m healthy in those, those areas of, of my, um, of my progress.

Casey (30:49):

Fantastic. Yeah. And you, and then what types of medication are you taking to help manage

Kathi (30:58):

The, those two is I am on a very, I’m on a lower level of, um, hyperthyroid medicine. And I am on a managed level of, um, uh, diabetes medicine as well to continue just to complement what I’m doing with my, uh, with my diet and my movement, my exercise.

Casey (31:21):

Right, right. Definitely. Okay, great. Yeah, it sounds, sounds like everything you’re doing is working really, really well

Kathi (31:29):

Goal is to ultimately, uh, lose up to another 20 pounds, potentially 15 to 20 pounds and, uh, to get off of diabetes medicine fully. Um, I’m, you know, that is my goal before 2021 is over, so, right.

Casey (31:47):

Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like you’re on your way. Awesome. Um, well, Kathy, so you, I think there’s something interesting that also happened to you in the past few years that I wanted to touch on. You had a little bit of a twist in your story. So tell us a little bit about that. Uh, kind of, um, yeah,

Kathi (32:09):

There is a, there is a significant twist. So while I was in the, um, process and thank you for asking, um, it’s a mission that is near and dear to my heart and, um, uh, through this process of rebuilding my health and my life and, and my career, um, I made some personal decisions, um, spending time on the South Island, Jamaica and, and, um, adding value, uh, you know, rehabbing this property to potentially host a small group, uh, groups, um, of people there, uh, adding a structure, uh, remodeling the existing structures that were there. I was spending, uh, chunks of time down there. And I decided, because at that time, then by 2018, all my kids were, were gone. Everybody was in college at, uh, at a different level. My daughter had gone back to graduate school. My youngest who was home with me had, um, moved to, uh, uh, Bozeman to go to Montana state for, for college.

Kathi (33:09):

And nobody needed our family home, which is a restored cabin in the foothills of evergreen, but me. So I made a decision in 2017 to rent out the property, uh, short term, which I did on my own. And then when I found that I would need to travel a little bit more in 2018, I used a management company to rent out our home and manage it in, uh, in July of 2018, uh, that company put a tenant in there. And within 90 days, um, uh, and in August, I was actually in Jamaica working on the property. I came back home. And by the end of August of that month, um, I’m sorry, by the end of September of, of that time, when I returned in August, I had learned there was a minor water break line at my home on the outside, but when I came to the home, it turned out that that minor break was really a major break, uh, on the outside of the home, nothing was damaged on the inside, but, um, I got very curious about what I was seeing at the property.

Kathi (34:11):

And he had only been there just about 90 days. There was a lot of tubs and things like that on the front porch. And I made my way around the back of the house. And I, I saw some hardware that I could not explain. And, uh, I was very perplexed. I called the manage, uh, the property manager who, uh, had been there the day before, who had seen, um, some of that who had seen all that same equipment and whatnot, and had been inside the home. And, uh, I, I became very suspect and I, I took a photo that was given to me by the manager property manager taking the day before, uh, to the local authorities where they in turn, got a search warrant and serve that search warrant in a couple days, within a couple of days. And, uh, once they did and were inside, they found a significant amount of, uh, multiple types of drugs, a huge amount of, uh, arsenal of guns, as well as a meth lab in my home.

Kathi (35:18):

And that put me on a, a whole new path. Um, and since then I have been on a mission, uh, because I learned, uh, quite a bit. I mean, I was, I had a hundred huge hurdles in the first hundred days to learn about meth toxins and what, what meth does to a property. There’s a secondary, um, impact, uh, when you don’t do the drug yourself, but it affects the environment. And so, uh, I ended up in 2019 through my journey with meth toxins and what went on with my home, creating meth toxins awareness Alliance to build awareness for prevention, um, by D gathering some top experts and offering education and support for those affected by toxins, meth toxins, as well as to provide resources to prevent this from happening to others through educational classes. So, um, this has been a huge shift for me from my own health story to learn about an environmental impact that is in our homes, our properties and our lives that, uh, has taken me on a two and a half year journey, uh, since discovering all this, that, um, I wouldn’t wish upon anybody, but, uh, feel that, uh, like, like I was doing with respect to my home, with my eyes and my sight and my health, um, trying to really make a pause, uh, turn something negative with some grit and some grace into something that’s positive and could ultimately help others.

Kathi (36:55):

Right?

Casey (36:56):

Yeah, absolutely. Which is, which is a beautiful way of putting it, you know? Um, because I think from my understanding, since this happened to you, you have come to understand how common it is for homes to have meth toxins in them, maybe not a meth lab, but that the toxins right

Kathi (37:17):

There is a significant amount of, uh, recreational use. Um, uh, I can’t speak for every state, but, um, I have learned that, um, you know, here in Colorado behind, um, alcohol rehabilitation or, um, uh, meth, um, meth addiction is number two, and this is when it is smoked or manufactured. Um, as opposed to other ways that one can consume meth, it leaves them a residue in the environment that, uh, can contaminate the home to the point where it has significant health impacts, uh, to others that are, uh, uh, exposed to it. And it can not be fully remediated. And it’s very common. Um, most of the testing companies, at least that I’ve been working with, uh, referenced that out of the homes that they get in and, and have a chance to test, um, 85% or more have some level of trace toxins in them. (38:15)

Kathi (38:16):

And out of those homes, approximately 25 to 30% need additional testing in some level of remediation, some minor levels of remediation, others, very extensive, like my home. And, uh, um, I’m in the process of, um, you know, continuing to build that and education on a, on a local platform here, as well as a state and ultimately a national platform because of how common I am learning that most people don’t know about, um, meth toxins in real estate that they should have, um, have a home tested before they look to buy it and do a lot more due diligence, uh, before they purchase a home. Because once you do have that impact in your home, except under vandalism, I did learn from personal experience that, um, insurance does not cover this under our residential real estate, uh, property insurances, um, due to the criminal activity and whatnot of, of meth.

Casey (39:18):

Right, right. Yeah. Which is really tragic. Yeah, absolutely. (39:24) Yeah. Okay. So, and the website for your Alliance,

Kathi (39:28):

Um, thanks for asking it’s, you know, it’s, uh, meth Alliance, uh, ma I’m sorry. Um, www.methtoxinsalliance.com is the website. Um, also have a Facebook site, meth toxins awareness Alliance would welcome if you would go out and like us and follow us. Um, we’re hosting at this time free classes to professionals, um, in real estate, property management, other peripheral affiliate industries, uh, that support real estate lenders, title, whatnot, as well as individual consumers, and, um, continue to build tools and resources to make available on the site. There’s a resource resource tab. So one could go to the links within their own States to learn about, uh, what levels, uh, tolerance levels are available are, are, are set standards for their state. And some States have no standards at all. I think Arizona might be one, Iowa might be another, there are plenty of more that don’t have any standards at all for meth toxin. So it’s, it’s a resource to, um, to get yourself educated on what this means. Uh, the, the health impacts are, are astounding, the safety impacts as well as then the financial, so, right,

Casey (40:50):

Right. So, yeah. Yeah. Devastating on multiple levels for sure. Um, well, great. Well, congratulations on your new project and a new mission. Yeah. I’m sure you’re helping a ton of people with that as well as was sharing your health story.

Kathi (41:10):

Yeah. I’m appreciative of the opportunity to, um, share this passion with purpose, uh, with you. Um, it’s a journey that, uh, you know, uh, I call it from breaking bad to breaking worse, to, you know, breaking wide open. And it’s a journey that I’ve learned a lot and I’ve grown a lot and life happens sometimes when you’re not looking. Um, uh, but, uh, I am so grateful for the, uh, the, my, my family and my community that has really helped navigate me through this, this process, this journey, and then ultimately to put purpose behind all of it, so,

Casey (41:53):

Right. Yeah, absolutely. Um, well, Kathy, as a wrap-up question, what advice would you give to others facing a chronic or complex health challenge?

Kathi (42:04):

Well, first and foremost, I would say, uh, put yourself first. I, I am the first one to raise my hand and say that I was guilty of, um, uh, being an ultimate caregiver, a mama bear, uh, wanting to make sure everybody else was taken care of. And, and I did a bad job, um, a poor job of, of making myself a priority. So, um, uh, taking the time and the effort to, um, have those normal appointments is huge. And then ultimately listening to your body, uh, to respond to what it’s telling you. Um, (42:44) I found ultimately that movement and getting back to the earth foods really has healed my body. Um, I, I feel better. I look better physically. Um, my body responds better and, um, and ultimately I was able to literally shed a lot of weight just by doing, um, uh, feeding, you know, feeding my body with the right foods that, um, have fueled it appropriately. (43:15)

Casey (43:15):

Right, right. Yeah. Well, congratulations on your healing and just the overall positive trajectory of your life. It’s lovely to see

Kathi (43:29):

It’s um, um, I, I appreciate all that and it’s, uh, it’s an interesting journey and I am up for the, um, you know, the challenges that come with it, but, um, that I feel so much, uh, is so much impact is, is happen. I also feel the hope that comes with all of this, um, when, when things happen and being able to turn this into something that can be a positive benefit for, for many people, it already has been. And, uh, I, I find a lot of internal healing, uh, by knowing that, uh, that I’m on the right path.

Casey (44:07):

Right, right. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, Kathy, thank you so much for being here with us and sharing your story. We truly appreciate it and wish you all the best moving forward.

Kathi (44:23):

Thank you, Casey. I’m so appreciative to reconnect with you here and, and all that you’re doing to bring wellness out into the world and, uh, natural, uh, solutions that can truly help, help heal people from the inside out. Thank you.

Casey (44:39):

Yeah. Thanks Kathy. Take care.