Shannon Goins-Blair is a highly trained Functional Medicine Coach, Integrative Health Practitioner L2, and LANA-Certified Lymphedema Therapist (CLT-LANA) based outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her extensive training includes over 1900 hours of education in various therapeutic modalities such as Functional Medicine, Integrative Health, and Lymphedema Therapy.

Shannon’s Interests and Motivations

Shannon’s passion for travel and diverse experiences have taken her to 6 of 7 continents and over 35 countries.  Travel has enriched her perspective and ability to relate to people from different backgrounds. Since a young age, she has had an interest in anatomy and physiology which fueled her interest in functional medicine.  Her dedication to helping others stems from personal experiences, including her own battle with an invisible illness and her mother’s decades-long struggle with lymphedema. 

Shannon’s Own Struggle with A Mysterious Invisible Illness

Ignored and Dismissed

As a child, Shannon often complained of invisible symptoms, including fatigue, widespread body aches, and gut issues.  Since these were not visible, she was told that she was “fine.”  As an adult, she continued to seek out medical help for these issues which were getting worse by the year.  Her doctors often dismissed her complaints as “all in her head” and told her that it was “all psychological.”  

Despite her efforts to discover the cause of her ailments, she got no answers.  The condition continued to worsen until one day, it was so bad that she couldn’t sign a check because of the excruciating pain.  It was here that her real journey to find the cause began.

The Initial Stage of Her Journey

In her relentless pursuit of understanding her debilitating condition, she embarked on a journey through countless doctor visits and medications, seeking relief from the relentless pain of fibromyalgia. Initially attributing her symptoms to stress, she endured multiple inconclusive diagnoses from various specialists, each providing temporary relief but no definitive answers.

A False Diagnosis

Her quest led her to a fibromyalgia specialist who prescribed a cocktail of medications, offering some respite but not a cure. Frustrated by the lack of progress, she delved into alternative approaches, exploring the potential link between her symptoms and food allergies. After extensive testing, she discovered a myriad of food sensitivities, leading her to overhaul her diet and gradually alleviate her pain.

Finally, An Answer

Despite these improvements, new symptoms emerged, and the lengthy quest for answers continued.  Fortunately, she finally found the help she needed in Functional Medicine.  The attention provided by her Functional Medicine Practitioner led to an actual medical diagnosis of something that lay hidden for decades, there to be discovered if only someone would take the time to look.  Finally, she was provided with the answer she needed.

The Diagnosis Was Only the Beginning

While the diagnosis gave her clarity on what was happening inside of her body, she still needed direction on how to manage her condition. Shortly after getting the actual medical diagnosis, the practitioner who had put her on the right path moved away.  There was not a clear path forward.  She still needed to figure out why she had the condition in the first place.  

The Long Road to Wellness

Determined to figure out the WHY behind her medical disorder, Shannon embarked on a several-year-long endeavor to learn everything she could about potential causes.  It could be a lot of things!  She identified several key issues, and they took time to address.  With each underlying cause removed, the impacts of the remaining causes were clearer.

“I had so many things wrong with me all at the same time that it was the proverbial situation of not being able to see the forest for the trees.  I had been on a super clean diet for years.  I thought that was enough.  It wasn’t.
As I cleared up leaky gut, mold, heavy metals, and so forth, I just started feeling better.  While some days or weeks were better than others, eventually, I had enough improvement that the feeling better became my normal state of being.
I was still left with questions:
‘Why did it take seeing so many practitioners over so many decades to find my answer?
and
If these causes are real (which I didn’t believe at first), why don’t more people (read: doctors)
know about how to look for them and how to treat them?’ “
–Shannon Goins-Blair

Where Shannon is Now

Empowered by her journey, she found relief and a new purpose in life.  She studied hard to become a Functional Medicine Coach and Integrative Health Practitioner to officially offer guidance and support to others navigating their own crazy health challenges that conventional medicine has failed to figure out.

How Shannon Can Help You

As a Functional Medicine Coach, Shannon aims to improve people’s health through science-based approaches that consider the whole person. She emphasizes a holistic approach, identifying and addressing underlying issues through testing and natural supplementation.  Shannon offers services to address gut issues, fatigue, and other health concerns often overlooked by conventional medicine.  

Shannon can also provide nutritional counseling, functional medicine testing, personalized wellness plans, and lifestyle interventions to address various health issues and promote overall well-being. By combining conventional and alternative therapies, she strives to empower individuals to take control of their health and achieve optimal wellness.