I was watching an amazing film - The Way - when Alanis Morissette’s “Thank U” began to play. It opens with that line, “How ’bout getting off of these antibiotics…” and for most people it is simply a lyric, a cultural moment from the late nineties. For me, it lands somewhere much deeper. It takes me back to a period of my own life that was not subtle, not insidious, but dramatic and life-altering, also in the 1990s.

During my first pregnancy I was diagnosed with toxoplasmosis and was placed on continuous antibiotics in order to protect my growing baby from the possible infection. I followed the medical guidance at the time and swallowed 8 pills a day. What unfolded afterwards, however, was a profound collapse in my immunity. My gums began bleeding. I developed recurrent ear infections. A few months after giving birth I was hit with a severe secondary ear infection from which I nearly died in hospital. I had antibiotics on a drip which saved my life. The resilience I had once taken for granted disappeared. I did not recognise myself in that state. My body no longer felt robust or reliable, and I had no language to explain why.

At that time I knew nothing about microbial ecology, mucosal immunity, inflammatory cascades or nutrient depletion. I did not understand how prolonged antibiotic exposure could alter gut diversity, weaken barrier function or shift immune regulation in ways that ripple through the entire system. I only knew that something fundamental had been destabilised and that I was not recovering in the way I expected. What began as treatment had become a cascade. The more I tried to suppress the symptoms, the further my vitality seemed to recede.

That destabilisation became the beginning of my education. I wanted to understand terrain rather than symptoms. Why had my immunity collapsed so profoundly? Why did my body struggle to rebuild? What had changed beneath the surface? As I began studying more deeply, I came to see that immunity is not a single isolated system. It is inseparable from gut ecology, micronutrient status, detoxification pathways, inflammatory tone and nervous system regulation. The body does not compartmentalise. It responds as a whole. Prolonged antimicrobial exposure does not simply remove pathogens. It alters ecosystems.

When I now hear that opening lyric, I hear something different from what I heard in my twenties. I hear recalibration. I hear the body attempting to regain equilibrium after being pushed beyond its limits. I hear the moment where suppression ends and restoration must begin.

That early crisis shaped the way I practise today. I do not look at isolated symptoms. I look at systems interacting. I look at methylation capacity when resilience is low. I look at COMT and dopamine metabolism when anxiety or cognitive shifts are present. I consider oxidative stress pathways when inflammation is persistent. I look at mineral status, gut integrity, immune resilience and nervous system tone together. Biology is interconnected, and when one layer is repeatedly disrupted, others follow.

My dyslexic mind has always been comfortable with pattern recognition. I instinctively search for the thread that links apparently separate events. Pregnancy. Continuous antibiotics. Immune collapse. Recurrent infections. Mood changes. Inflammation. These were not random chapters. They were connected. Understanding that connection changed everything. What had once felt like chaos began to make sense as systemic disruption.

My professional life grew directly from rebuilding my own terrain. Restoring microbial diversity. Supporting gut lining integrity. Replenishing depleted minerals. Reducing inflammatory load. Regulating the nervous system so that repair could occur. What began as survival became vocation. The questions my body forced me to ask became the foundation of my work.

So when Alanis Morissette sang about getting off antibiotics, it was just a lyric to many. For me, it marked the beginning of a lifelong inquiry into what happens after suppression, and how true healing requires restoration from the inside out.

Would you like me to help you get off your antibiotics? I am right here…