Christy Annis’ inspiring path to transformational healing

Christy Annis, a lawyer and researcher by trade, was on the Road to Diagnosis, to try and understand a mystery illness that no doctor could diagnose.  She decided that figuring out what was wrong with her was her new job.

She was extremely analytical and loved researching patterns, matching story with symptom and translating all the “weird” seemingly unrelated events into a diagnosis and searching for the root cause of disease.

Early on in investigating her treatment, it became clear the doctors were not going to be able to help her. She decided if she was going to get well, she had to take her case into her own hands and figure it out.

Christy Annis road to healing

Her family used to tell her she was addicted to the computer, addicted to being her own doctor and addicted to figuring out her diagnosis. While they looked at this in a negative light, it was exactly what she was doing! If the doctors weren’t going to help her, she wasn’t going to wait around for someone who could.

She dove into research, read books and medical journals, attended countless summits, spent a TON of time in the Facebook groups (where the real answers are) learning and networking with other patients. She ended up initially diagnosing herself with SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth) and Mast Cell (an allergy disorder, similar to auto immune, but they release too much histamine which can be very toxic) and was the only one able to make the real connection between psych issues and toxicity. Basically, when you are killing bacteria or parasites, your body can’t release toxins fast enough and this leads to emotional symptoms like anger, anxiety and depression.

Dr Schaffner, former partner of Dr. Klinghardt, was the first doctor to diagnose Christy with Lyme Disease.  She learned so much from her and her team. But it was getting really tough to get appointments and she found her program was very supplement heavy. She wasn’t doing well with the supplements, and they were very hard for her to import into Mexico.

It didn’t take her long to figure out the big rip-off clinics and doctors weren’t going to be able to help her. She decided she was better off coordinating her own care.

Finding oneself in the right place at the right time

Because Christy lives in Puerto Vallarta, she had access to a lot of specialized practitioners and holistic services. Thankfully, in Vallarta she is not caught in the American medical system and doesn’t need prescriptions to try new things. She put together a great healing team that have helped her immensely. She calls herself her own guinea pig and this has an actual term called biohacking.

By living in a medical tourism town, she has met many Lyme and chronic illness patients. She’s heard the stories, seen the protocols, and helped a lot of patients and witnessed what works and what doesn’t. She has a much better understanding of the sensitivities involved with Lyme disease and the value of going super slow.

When she first moved to Puerto Vallarta, she participated in another Lyme mastermind program with a group of 9 other warriors called Lyme Squad. They all had various backgrounds and history and were in different stages of treatment, so it was a great way to learn about the myriad of healing options that are available.

They had a private Whatsapp Group that supported and learned so much from each other; the ladies were key to her healing.

Her coach was one of the most knowledgeable people and chose a different topic each week to teach about, including parasites, detox, diet, etc. She taught her everything she knew, and she knew a lot. She was a patient under Dr. Klinghardt and had just published a book on biohacking.

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Christy had a 90-minute private session with her every other week, in addition to email and emergency text support access. She was her lifeline and having this personal support was priceless.

Once she discovered Dirt Road Discussions, a Telegram group of over 141,000 members she threw herself into the program and listened to every chat (6 hours a week), read all the materials, and networked with a lot of other patients trying to get well.

She was so determined to get well, she went back to school and started studying Functional Medicine, the branch of medicine she believed is the most successful in helping Lyme and chronic illness patients.

Christy is excited to take everything she learned from dirt road discussions and her functional medicine education and is now ready to help other patients! She has developed individual and group coaching programs and is excited to help other patients struggling in the medical marathon to find their root cause and get solid answers.

She is now a Certified Functional Nutritionist and Holistic Health Counselor.

What is Functional Medicine, anyway?

Functional Medicine is a systems-based approach that allows us to “put the pieces together” into a complete health history and search for the root cause.

​The first step of the program is to complete the Functional Medicine Case Review. Our investigation starts at birth!  We look at personal, family, social and medical history in order to identify the root cause of disease. Each symptom, differential diagnosis or life event may be one of many contributing to an individual’s illness.

During this 2-hour live review, she creates your individual functional medicine timeline and matrix. These documents help summarize your case, identify patterns, match history with symptoms and find the root cause.  She also offers personalized diet, detox and lifestyle tips to accelerate healing.

Lyme disease and chronic illness can be extremely lonely. But it doesn’t have to be! If you want to go beyond the protocol, dig further into your root cause, surrounded by other warriors who “get it” and can cheer you to the finish line, strap on your dancing shoes and join the party!

Upon review of the application, she will reach out to potential partiers to schedule a party planning session to see if you’re a fit.

Here is the link to the session application form – https://forms.gle/bHDEq3Vw23iK365WA)

Upon acceptance, you will complete and return the Intake Form. Once the Intake Form is complete, I will schedule your 2-hour zoom Premier Case Review (“PCR”).

During the PCR, we will take a “deep dive” into your case and discuss root causes, detox, diet and lifestyle changes.

After the PCR, you will receive your personalized Functional Medicine Timeline and Matrix.

Please start incorporating these suggestions into your daily life in preparation for the program. Diet and detox are key!

Once you’ve been accepted into the program, you will have access to a group messaging platform and can start getting to know your fellow participants.

Christy Annis is one of the Puerto Vallarta Women of Influence featured in the book to be launched on International Women’s Day.

This will be a weekly column where we will be inspiring writers and featuring local authors that live in Puerto Vallarta.  We will be giving you an inside look at the purpose of their writing and how they crafted their story to have an impact on their readers.

Julie Ann is the founder of Influence Publishing Inc, corporation from Vancouver, Canada.  She has lived in Puerto Vallarta for 5 years and is the owner of the Mexican Corporation, Casa de Influencia S.A. de C.V. which is a retreat and event center based in Old Town, Puerto Vallarta.  She hosts writing retreats and writing classes at the center. Opportunities to be a contributing author in one of the many Anthology book projects she is publishing can be found at www.casadeinfluencia.com