My Story

Hello! I am Marisa Chacko, a Board Certified Functional Nutrition Counselor.

My passion for health and wellness started long ago as a child. I have always wanted to be a practitioner who would help people find their healing without suffering from chronic illness.

As my career path began, I found myself in the world of healthcare administration. In 2018 I started having some health issues that no conventional medicine doctor could properly diagnose. My symptoms began with random bursts of hives on my arms or legs. Any part of my body left uncovered when I stepped outside would be covered in hives an hour later. I decided that an allergist would be able to give me answers. I found one, went in for the environmental testing, and my arms immediately bubbled up. The allergist totaled up my results to find I was reacting to 47 of the 48 allergens tested on me. I thought this was my answer. After all, year-round seasonal allergies can cause most of the symptoms I was having. My symptoms were hives, fever, puffiness, fatigue, heart palpitations, bloating, weight gain, and digestive issues.

The allergist got me started on immunotherapy, and I had a balloon sinuplasty surgery to help keep my nasal passages open. I thought I was in the home stretch to get better - nope! It was not the right path; it was just one answer to some of my symptoms.

Next up was fatigue. The fatigue became so debilitating that on weekends I would sleep 16 hours a day. During the week, I would force myself out of bed only to sit on the ground after my morning shower and push myself to get through the rest of the day. My primary care doctor ran some tests and found that my iron and Vitamin D were severely low. My doctor wrote a prescription, and I had hoped this would resolve my problems. Nope!

At this time, my Dad had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. As my stress increased, anxiety hit, and it hit hard. I had never had any issues with anxiety before, so I explained it away as stress. Of course, anxiety would hit. Right?! Well, not exactly.

I went back to my primary care doctor, who tried to brush this off as stress. Yes, of course, I was stressed about my Dad being sick, but something else was wrong! I could feel it. She prescribed me an anti-depressant, and she agreed to run more tests. Finally!

The battery of tests included a full thyroid panel, where I finally found an answer. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis which is a form of hypothyroidism. Hashimoto's is an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation of the thyroid gland. The thyroid is known to be the regulator of the body's hormones. My doctor whipped out her prescription pad again. This time I was put on synthetic thyroid medication and told this would help. As she was writing out the prescription, she turned to me and said, "I have read that going gluten-free might help with autoimmune disease, but I'm not sure." Irritated, I began my research on Hashimoto's.

After several weeks on the medication, I was back in her office. My symptoms were worse, not better. My doctor told me that meds would balance my thyroid levels, nothing could be done about my symptoms, and I would have to live with them forever. I was dismissed again and left with no plan.