Elevated Wellness Me

MY STORY

People often see the woman I am today without knowing the journey that shaped me.

I grew up carrying pain that was rarely visible to others. During a childhood marked by loneliness and emotional hardship, I learned how to survive long before I learned how to heal. Over time, that stress followed me into adulthood—affecting my energy, well-being, and relationship with my body.

In 2016, I passed my first unusually large menstrual clot. The doctor I saw told me it was normal. But the bleeding did not remain normal for me—it became progressively worse. My search for answers continued for more than seven years, until my hysterectomy in December 2023. The final three years were the most disabling. I felt as though I practically lived in emergency rooms, my family doctor’s office, and OB/GYN offices. Altogether, I sought answers from 12 doctors, including four OB/GYNs, yet I still did not receive an explanation that helped me understand why this was happening.

That same year, I began researching health, hormones, nutrition, and supplements because I desperately wanted to understand what I could do to change the way my body felt. I tried keto and other popular diets. They sometimes made me feel empowered because they gave me something concrete to try, but none became a sustainable long-term answer. At one point, I even ate a grapefruit every day, hoping that one more healthy habit might finally make a difference.

I was determined. For five months, I went to the gym four days a week and exercised for approximately two hours each visit. I brought my schedule to my doctor and asked how I could be gaining weight while working so consistently. I was putting tremendous effort into changing my health, yet nothing seemed to be working. I did not need to be told that I lacked discipline; I needed help understanding the larger pattern.

After that first clot, the medical system kept directing me through more examinations. I underwent mammograms, heart monitoring, stress testing, an MRI scan, and other evaluations. Each new test gave me hope that someone might finally identify an underlying issue, but I still did not receive an explanation that connected what I was experiencing. At different points, clinicians wanted me to take a statin and medications intended to calm me. I remember being told that I had heart problems. I repeatedly tried to explain that my heart was racing because I was losing so much blood, yet I did not feel that the bleeding and anemia were being treated as the central problem.

As the bleeding intensified, ordinary life became nearly impossible. During the worst period, I could not safely leave the house. I remember soaking through pads approximately every 20 minutes. My days became organized around bleeding, pain, exhaustion, fear, and trying to reach someone who would understand the seriousness of what I was experiencing.

The illness also affected my life at home. My live-in partner at the time became angry when I did not have the energy to clean or complete ordinary household responsibilities. From the outside, it may have appeared that I simply did not want to do these things. Inside my body, I felt as though I had nothing left to give. I was not unwilling; I was physically depleted. Feeling misunderstood at home compounded the loneliness of feeling unheard in medical settings.

Even then, I continued trying to be present for my children. After nights with little or no sleep because of ongoing blood loss, I still drove them to school, basketball practices, and other activities and functions. I kept showing up because they needed me, even when my own body was struggling to keep going. The responsibilities of motherhood did not pause simply because I was ill.

I was living with severe bleeding, pain, inflammation, exhaustion, dizziness, pale and increasingly dry skin, shortness of breath, and frightening weakness. My hair also began coming out in clumps in the shower. For approximately nine months, I noticed no meaningful growth in my toenails and did not need to trim them. Since the bleeding ended, I have observed that they grow enough to require trimming about every three weeks. This is a personal before-and-after observation. These visible changes showed me how profoundly unwell and depleted I felt. During one emergency visit, I remember being told that my hemoglobin was approximately 3 or 4. I was profoundly weak and barely able to lift my aching arms over my head. Instead of feeling reassured or carefully guided, I felt dismissed. A member of the medical team chuckled and sarcastically told me to go home, saying they thought I would live—that I ‘could make it.’ I left frightened, depleted, and still without an explanation for what was happening to my body.

Before my hysterectomy, I underwent an endometrial ablation. What followed was about three months of severe pain that could leave me screaming on my living-room floor. It felt as though wolves were tearing at my insides. I later understood that blood had accumulated behind the scarred uterine lining. Eventually, I experienced a terrifying episode of extensive bleeding on my kitchen floor. During emergency visits, I remember being told to manage the continued bleeding by placing a pad beneath me while I slept. I felt drained, vulnerable, and unheard.

In December 2023, a hysterectomy ultimately became medically necessary. By that point, I genuinely feared that without surgery I might die, or that the prolonged strain on my body could contribute to lasting illness. That was my deeply felt fear—not a prognosis given to me by a clinician. I am grateful for the surgery that protected my health, but I entered it without receiving an explanation that helped me understand the underlying reason for everything I had endured. I believe years of dismissal and delayed attention allowed my condition to progress until surgery became the remaining option. That is my understanding of my experience, not a legal or independent medical finding. The experience left me asking an important question: How can we support the whole person—not only during a medical crisis, but throughout the everyday journey toward wellness?

After my hysterectomy, I hoped GLP-1 treatment obtained through Amble might help me regain the health and sense of normalcy I remembered before becoming ill. Before treatment, I had been muscular and had never experienced widespread cracking or popping sensations simply from rolling over in bed. During the period of reduced eating and rapid weight loss, I noticed substantial muscle loss and began hearing these sounds throughout my body. I later became concerned that my bone health had declined. No clinician established that the medication caused these changes, but the experience changed how I understood wellness: weight loss alone is not the same as health. Nourishment, strength, muscle preservation, bone health, sleep, and appropriate medical monitoring matter too.

As I continued searching for understanding, testing also raised questions for me about Aspergillus exposure while I was experiencing difficulty breathing. I do not present that test as proof that mold caused all of my symptoms. Instead, it became another reason to learn how environment, respiratory health, nutrition, stress, sleep, and medical care can intersect—and why results deserve careful interpretation with qualified healthcare professionals.

Nutrition and lifestyle education helped me see patterns I had never been taught to consider. Poor sleep, unstable eating patterns, concerns about blood sugar, water retention, fatigue, inadequate nourishment, rapid weight change, and loss of strength can reinforce one another. I came to understand that two people may experience similar symptoms while arriving there through different combinations of medical conditions, biology, environment, stress, nourishment, and life circumstances. Illness is personal, and responsible care must remain individualized. I did not discover a single medically proven explanation for everything I endured through self-study; I discovered a better set of questions and a deeper respect for how interconnected and individual the human body can be.

As I searched for answers, my faith became my foundation. One simple message remained on my heart:

“Eat what I made, not what I didn’t. If it is on the shelf, leave it. If I made it, eat it.”

I believe those words came from God. His message inspired me to study functional nutrition, health and life coaching, stress resilience, hormonal health, environmental wellness, and whole-person care. I began to understand how nourishment, lifestyle, environment, emotional well-being, faith, and appropriate medical support can work together.

That journey became Elevated Wellness Me.

Today, I help people feel heard, recognize their wellness patterns, organize questions for appropriate medical follow-up, and take realistic steps toward a healthier life. My role is not to diagnose, prescribe, or replace medical care. It is to offer education, encouragement, compassionate coaching, and respectful collaboration with licensed healthcare professionals.

I know what it feels like to struggle quietly. I know the fear of searching for answers while feeling dismissed. I also know the hope that comes from being seen, supported, and reminded that your circumstances do not define your future.

Your story matters. Your body matters. And you do not have to take your next step alone.

With love and grace,

Ashley Lynn Angeli, CFNC, CHC, CFNP

Functional Nutrition Counselor, Health and Life Coach

THE MEANING OF THE LOTUS

The lotus grows through muddy water before rising into the light and blooming. For Elevated Wellness Me, it represents resilience, renewal, faith, and the possibility of growth—even after difficult seasons.

It is a reminder that where your story began does not determine where it can go. Elevated Wellness Me exists to help you rise, restore, and bloom into the life God designed you to live.

Explore Ashley’s professional education and credentials.