Everyone’s healing path is different. Mine began with my own health struggles, challenges that conventional medicine simply wasn’t resolving. Through years of dealing with worsening health and eventually studying herbal medicine, nutrition, and naturopathic health, I began looking at my body differently. I’m still a work in progress, but I’m well on my way.

More than twenty-five years ago, I was morbidly obese and diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Not long after came high blood pressure, then high cholesterol and extremely elevated triglycerides. I was prescribed medications for everything, and over time those prescriptions multiplied. I had always thought doctors were trained to heal, but my experience was different. My symptoms were being managed with medications, at first, but I wasn’t getting better and I noticed the medication were not even managing symptoms any longer.

Eventually, I was diagnosed with psoriasis, followed by psoriatic arthritis and eczema. My symptoms continued to worsen. At my lowest point, I regularly used a cane and secretly used a rollator at home. The soles and sides of my feet were covered in painful, cracked psoriasis that bled, burned, and itched unmercifully. It spread above my ankles, up my calves, and across the tops of my feet. Every step was agony, and there were times I cried because of the pain I new was coming from simply standing up.

I was also dealing with dizziness, fatigue, blurry vision, chronic headaches, difficulty breathing, intense joint stiffness, inflammation, and eventually depression severe enough that my family encouraged me to seek help for. My skin was red, dry, cracked, itchy, and bleeding on my feet, scalp, ears, navel, hands, and arms. I was miserable physically and emotionally. Further, without meaning to, I sometimes made the people around me feel my pain and misery as well. 

In Early 2024, Everything Changed

I hit rock bottom. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired, and I decided I had to do something different.

How I Took My Health Back

In 2024, I dove headfirst into herbalism and naturopathic health. I had always been curious about plants and their healing potential, but this time I committed myself to learning. I enrolled in courses, studied for hours, experimented in my kitchen, and began creating my own herbal remedies, all while continuing my full-time accounting career. Later, I enrolled in Naturopathic Coaching, which led me deeper into nutrition and into looking at health as a bigger picture rather than a collection of separate symptoms.

Today, my A1c is in the non-diabetic range at 5.6. My blood pressure is better than it was in my teens, and other areas of my health have improved significantly. I still take prescription medication for psoriasis, eczema, and psoriatic arthritis, and I’m still working toward improving my health. I don’t pretend that my journey is finished, but I feel better than I have in years.

Why I Chose This Path

Getting my numbers where they should be wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to understand why those problems developed in the first place and what my symptoms, health history, nutrition, lifestyle, and laboratory results could tell me when I looked at them together instead of separately.

I found integrative doctors who approached health this way, but there was a major barrier: access. Insurance often didn’t cover them, and personalized programs could cost thousands of dollars. I once paid $600 just for blood work. It gave me useful information, but not the whole picture. So I took what I was learning and started looking for answers myself, paying attention to changes over time and searching for patterns in my own health story.

And Now, I Want to Help Others Do the Same

My own experience eventually led me to create CPL Holistics | CPL Botanicals. I know what it feels like to have symptoms pile up and wonder whether any of them are connected. That is why my work focuses on helping people look closely at their health history, recognize patterns, keep meaningful records, and become better prepared to make decisions and have productive conversations with their healthcare providers.

Your body has a story to tell. Learn how to become the historian of your own health.

Herbally and Holistically yours,
Charlotte Lange, CNC
CPL Holistics | CPL Botanicals