A Fond Farewell
by Edalyn Johnson, CFNP
As the title implies, this will be my last article for Truly Alive Magazine. I started writing for Truly
Alive in May of 2015 and have enjoyed the opportunity to reach out to a broader audience (more than the patients in my practice) and share information about being healthy.
In the next few months, I will be relocating my practice, Natural Women’s Health, to join forces with MicroNutrient Infusion Services (MNI), a local natural health business owned by Chris and Natalie Hall. I am currently serving as the medical director there, and have found the job to be 
challenging, and very rewarding. We are doing what many other medical providers would call “alternative”, but I believe that providing people with the resources to heal their bodies through nutrition, supplements, and lifestyle modifications should be mainstream. It would appear that mainstream medicine is largely supported by the pharmaceutical industry, whom have given up on the Hippocratic oath “at first we do no harm”.
My job at MNI has challenged me to learn more about the intricate blend of chemical reactions in the body and where nutrients fit into those reactions. My most current learning experience has been with Sodium Bicarb infusions (yes, baking soda). It helps push the blood stream to a more alkaline pH, which bacteria, viruses, molds, yeast, and even cancer cells don’t like. I chose to do a series of Sodium Bicarb IV’s for myself because I have had elevated blood sugar for several years, and most likely have Candida, or yeast. Not surprisingly, the reaction I had to the first IV was moderately uncomfortable. By the completion of the IV, I had a “fuzzy brain” feeling, and the start of a headache that lasted 48 hours. This reaction is presumed to be the effect of “die-off” of the Candida. If I had drank twice the amount of water that I did, I would have felt better. On the positive side, I’ve noticed better memory and improvement in my arthritis after 4 infusions. The “die-off” effect that hit me after the first infusion has lessened, partly because I make sure to drink a gallon of water on the day of the infusion, and because there is less Candida in my system.
Sodium Bicarb IV’s are only one of the numerous infusions we offer, and infusions are only one area of services we provide at MNI. Treating infections and metabolic imbalances with safe and proven therapies is working on the root cause, rather than trying to abate the symptoms with a pharmaceutical agent. Very Functional Medicine!
In closing this last article, I would like to say that it has been fun and challenging to write an article every other month that I hoped would be inspirational and informative for the reader. I have learned and grown. A special thanks to Karen Larre, editor of Truly Alive, for providing me with this opportunity.