my story
From a body that reacted to everything—to finally understanding why.
Amy Jeffreys — Certified Primal Health Coach
For most of my life, I felt like a walking symptom checklist. My skin, my eyes, my sinuses, my digestion, my cycles, my mood—something was always off, and I never really felt healthy.
I'd had minor skin sensitivities and allergies since I was young. The occasional rash. The itchy eyes in spring. The skin that needed to be handled carefully. Annoying, but manageable. Then perimenopause hit—and everything that had been a low hum turned into a roar.
My skin became the battlefield.
Suddenly I was reacting to products I'd used for years. Makeup that had never bothered me triggered rashes and contact dermatitis. Fragrances I'd worn forever caused hives and itching I couldn't control. I developed solar urticaria—a condition where UV exposure triggers an allergic skin response, meaning a simple walk outside came with consequences. My seasonal allergies turned year-round, my eyes were chronically inflamed, and my skin seemed to be in a constant state of reactivity, no matter what I did or stopped doing.
And like so many women, I was handed prescriptions—a cream for this, an antihistamine for that—with no one ever asking what was driving all of it.
The background that made her uniquely equipped to figure it out
I brought an unusual combination of knowledge to her own health crisis. As a licensed esthetician with six years of experience working directly with skin health, I understood the skin on a clinical level—its layers, its barrier function, its response to inflammation and irritants. As a massage therapist for seventeen years, I understood the body's connective systems, its stress response, and how deeply physical health and nervous system regulation are intertwined. And as a Certified Primal Health Coach, I understood the foundational role of nutrition, lifestyle, and environment in systemic health.
I also brought something else: the discipline and tenacity of an Air Force veteran. The commitment to keep going when answers are hard to find. The refusal to accept "this is just how it is" when the evidence says otherwise.
The first breakthrough — environment
The first real shift came when I connected her skin reactivity to what was touching it. She stripped her environment of synthetic fragrances and harsh chemicals—every product that touched my skin, my hair, my clothes, and my home. Lotion, deodorant, soap, laundry detergent, fabric softener, shampoo, conditioner. Conventional makeup, gone entirely.
My skin started to calm. Not completely—but enough to show I was onto something.
The second breakthrough — hormones
The next major shift came when I stopped using hormonal birth control in my early 30s. When my natural hormones came back online, it felt like a fog lifted. And critically, she began to see a pattern she hadn't been able to see before: her skin flared with her cycle. Her reactivity peaked when her hormones were in flux. The hives, the dermatitis, the sensitivity—they tracked her hormonal shifts with striking consistency.
The connection between her perimenopause-driven hormone changes and her skin's inflammatory response became impossible to ignore. My skin wasn't broken. It was responding to an internal hormonal environment that was completely dysregulated.
The third breakthrough — nutrition
Once she understood the hormonal-inflammatory connection, I turned to what I was putting in my body. She started with a paleo diet, moved into keto, explored carnivore, and eventually landed on the meat-heavy, low-carb approach she follows today. The effect on my skin—and my systemic inflammation—was dramatic.
The chronic reactivity calmed. The dermatitis quieted. The hives became infrequent. The solar urticaria improved to the point where she could go outside without dreading the consequences. Her gut settled. And my hormones—supported by nutrient-dense, animal-based nutrition—stabilized in a way that my skin clearly reflected.
Where she is now
At 49, my skin is calmer and clearer than it was in her 30s. I have had very few perimenopause symptoms. I build muscle, my moods are steady, and the skin conditions that once felt like a life sentence are now manageable, understood, and largely under control.
My allergies—including the solar urticaria that made outdoor life unpredictable—are no longer the headline. They are a footnote.
She did not find a magic cream. She found the root.
Why she became a coach
I became a Certified Primal Health Coach because she wanted to help other perimenopausal women make the same connection she had to fight to find on her own. Specifically, I wanted to work with women whose skin was paying the price for hormonal and inflammatory chaos that nobody was connecting—women who had been to the dermatologist, tried the creams, eliminated the triggers one by one, and still couldn't get ahead of it.
I built Primal Integrative Wellness at the intersection of everything she knows: skin, the body, nutrition, lifestyle, environment, and the mindset it takes to make real, lasting change.