Before we dive in, if you want to start where Amanda started, grab my free Drainage Starter Guide. It's the first phase of the method we used together.

This is the first post in a new series called The Stories, where clients I’ve worked with share their experience in their own words.

I asked every one of them the same questions: what was going on, what they’d already tried, what almost stopped them, and what’s different now.

I’m starting with , the founder of Substance and the writer behind Something of Substance, because her story is one I think about often.

When Amanda came to me in the summer of 2023, she was spending half of every month in bed. She’d been told to get pregnant as soon as possible. And, she had read everything, tried everything, and still had every symptom.

This post is a collaboration with her Substack, so if you’re reading this over on Something of Substance, welcome here :)

Everything below is in Amanda’s own words, lightly edited for length.

What was going on with your health when we first met?

In November 2022, I had just come out of a long-term relationship that caused a lot of emotional pain and turbulence. I moved out, found temporary housing, then a new apartment, all while running my business. I was also having issues with my IUD. Fibroids were basically pushing it out of my body, so I had it removed that November, and that’s when the influx of symptoms began.

I had always been a fit person, and I’d never had food sensitivities or chronic illness. But after the IUD came out, it was as if a larger problem was happening underneath, and my doctors weren’t advising me on how to navigate it.

Around February 2023, I started noticing bloating in my stomach and uterus area. Then, in May, it felt like I had an ovarian cyst, and I had to schedule an emergency appointment with my OB-GYN. I couldn’t drive, so my boyfriend drove me. I remember saying to him on the way, “This can go one of two ways. Either, I have a ruptured ovarian cyst, or something is really wrong with me.”

It was the latter.

They did an ultrasound and a series of tests. Afterwards, I got my results as a PDF. My doctor didn’t really tell me what I had. Instead, she asked, “How old are you, and are you in a serious relationship? If so, I recommend you get pregnant as soon as possible, because what you have causes infertility”.

We had only been together a few months. I had always wanted to be a mom later in life, and I wasn’t ready to have children.

That started my journey of researching my diagnosis, potential adenomyosis, and how to heal it holistically.

My symptoms: I was bedridden two weeks out of every month, from the start of my luteal phase until my period was over. I felt depressed at different points in my cycle and incapable of living a functioning life. I had the bloating, which I had come to call “adeno belly.” I was in chronic pain, constantly lying on the couch with a heating pad, and nothing was working.

What had you already tried?

I turned to Google, Reddit, and all kinds of health websites.

There was a lot of information about how food impacts your symptoms, but I didn’t really understand how or why.

I was looking for quick fixes, and that’s what those websites provided: eat more protein, take this supplement, an omega-3 for example, and you’ll feel better. I did all of those things. A month, then two months went by, and I still had every symptom.

It was so much contradictory information that I couldn’t piece together my own protocol. At the time, there was also very little out there about adenomyosis specifically.

What made you decide to work with me, and did anything make you hesitate?

Eventually, I had a Reiki session with from Gentle Being, and she channeled that I should work with Meghan on her cleansing and detoxifying protocol to help with my hormones.

Number one, I couldn’t figure it out myself. Number two, I admired the way everything in Meghan’s life seemed to be in harmony: her friends, her career, her relationships, her health. I wanted that for my own life.

What made me hesitate was that her approach was the opposite of everything I had researched, so I was wary of whether it would work. But, I also saw the evidence. She had healed herself and so many other clients with similar hormonal imbalances.

So I said, “I have a lot to learn. I’m going to sign up for this.”

What surprised you most about the process?

How many areas of my life needed refining. What started as a physical realignment around what I was eating expanded to my rituals, my routines, my career, my friendships, and where I was living. The protocol created space for me to evaluate what is true for me, to let go of what isn’t, and to make room for what is.

From a brass tacks perspective, I had no idea how to eat for my hormones. I had no idea about food combining, or how to care for my hormones through morning rituals, evening rituals, exercise, and lifestyle.

I applied everything Meghan told me immediately and went 110% in: the eating protocols, the colonics, the supplements, the morning and nighttime routines, all of it. I started experiencing detox symptoms that felt like the flu or a cold almost right away.

Thanks for reading The Detox with Meghan Swidler! This post is public, so feel free to share it.

What was the hardest part?

Adjusting my lifestyle in those three months: setting boundaries around when I went to bed and when I stopped working, swapping coffee for matcha, skipping high-intensity workouts in the latter half of my protocol, not drinking, and not going out as much.

I really had to grieve. I couldn’t live the way I had before. I had to go into a cocoon and heal for a while, and then eventually come back out and re-engage with the social parts of life I hadn’t been able to enjoy for a long time.

What got me through it was letting people know honestly where I was at, feeling the emotions, and surrounding myself with the people who supported me.

When did you realize something was changing?

From the very beginning. On day one, I swapped coffee for matcha, and my eggs, avocado, and toast for a fruit bowl. I’d never really eaten lunch, so I replaced it with a homemade salad every day. I started a wind-down evening routine. I’d never even considered winding down before.

That’s when the detox symptoms came. And, by the first or second month, I had a 28-day cycle, several days longer than my cycle before.

What’s different now?

Everything is different now. I have this amazing connection to my body. I know how to listen to it, fuel it, and nourish it. I can go out and experience life while keeping my rituals, and I know how to give myself what I need at different stages of the month. If I ever get a little off kilter, I know how to adjust.

Physically, I don’t have any fibroids, I don’t have any cysts, my cycles are regular, and I no longer have adenomyosis in my body. I get regular checkups with my OB-GYN, and they haven’t seen anything for at least a year now.

Now, I’m planning for the next stage of my life: becoming a mother. Back then, that felt impossible, considering I was told that what I had causes infertility.

What do you understand about your health now that you didn’t before?

I’ve learned that the body really can heal itself, given the right environment and once the blockages in its way are removed. I feel like I have a master’s in my body.

What would you say to someone who’s where you were and is skeptical?

I would start by saying, I’m so sorry that you’re going through this. I’m so sorry for the pain, the uncertainty, the confusion, and the lack of information you may have received.

If you’re looking for a holistic approach, it is possible. It takes consistency, dedication, and applying the teachings. This approach gets to the root of the problem, and it teaches you how to take care of yourself so that, no matter what you face in the future, you’ll know how to care for yourself.

It isn’t for everyone. What’s important is whether it aligns with your values and the way you want to heal. If the conventional route has worked for you, great. If not, and you want to try something different, this is a great next step.

Where can people find you?

I’m the founder and creative business strategist of Substance, where I help conscious and holistic wellness practitioners and brands grow their businesses through a framework that blends strategy, product development, and content with creativity and consciousness. I also write Something of Substance, and I’m working on two books.

Substack: Something of Substance
Instagram: @amandalchase and @substanceplatform
Website: wearesubstance.co

, thank you for trusting me with your body, and now with your story.

The line I keep coming back to is hers: the body can heal itself, given the right environment and once the blockages in its way are removed.

That’s the whole method. Amanda didn’t start with a hormone protocol or a parasite cleanse. We started by opening the exits, then rebuilt from there, in order. The detox symptoms she felt early on were her body finally moving things out.

Amanda’s experience is her own, and results vary from person to person. This post is for education only and isn’t medical advice. If you have symptoms like Amanda’s, please work with your doctor alongside any holistic approach.

If her story sounds like yours, start where she started.

→ Download my free Drainage Starter Guide.

And, if you’re ready to do this work directly, I have a few spots open for 1:1 work this fall. The first step is a free 45-minute intake call.

Book your free intake call

Or join me for The Blueprint, my free live masterclass on November 17 at 12 PM PT, where I'll walk through the full detox sequence and take live questions.

And, if you have any other questions or comments, don’t hesitate to ask me any time in my weekly Q&A in my paid subscriber channel. If you’re not a paid subscriber, sign up below.

The Stories — "I Was Bedridden Two Weeks Out…