My Story

I thought I was healthy. Then my son got sick—and everything I believed about health changed.

I’m Jill Carothers—a mom, Integrative Health Practitioner, former college track and field athlete, and relentless researcher who went down the health rabbit hole and never came back.

For years, I thought I was doing most things right. I exercised, tried to eat well, followed my doctors’ recommendations, and trusted that if something was wrong, someone would help me figure it out.

Then our youngest son, Bo, began struggling.

Meet Bo. So much more than his hardest days.

He lost words. He experienced eczema, frequent vomiting, and distress he couldn’t explain. Eventually, he received an autism diagnosis. Later, we began investigating PANS/PANDAS and other possible contributors to his increasingly difficult days.

The diagnosis helped us access services. But it didn’t answer all my questions.

Was he in pain? What was happening inside his body? What were we missing?

When dietary changes brought improvements we hadn’t expected, I started digging. One book became another. Then came conferences, courses, medical papers, and countless conversations with parents and practitioners.

Over six years, we spent more than $200,000 out of pocket searching for answers and trying to help him. Some approaches seemed helpful. Others led nowhere. Expensive didn’t automatically mean effective—and alternative medicine didn’t automatically mean better.

Along the way, I pursued training as an Integrative Health Practitioner and began looking at my own health differently, too.

What were we eating? What were we exposed to? What symptoms had I brushed aside because they hadn’t yet become unbearable?

I started this search for Bo. But the questions reached far beyond him.

That’s why I created Jill Carothers Health Secrets.

Here, I share personal experiences, investigate research, and explore terrain, toxins, nutrition, and the health assumptions we rarely stop to question. Through writing, practical teaching, and health coaching, I want to help others ask better questions about their own health.

I’m not here to announce a miracle cure. Our family’s story is still unfolding. Bo still has significant challenges, but we’ve also experienced moments of meaningful progress and ordinary joy that once felt out of reach.

And he is so much more than his hardest days.

If you’d like to understand what brought me here—from crying out to God on our laundry-room floor to finding hope again in my hometown—I’ve shared the full story on Substack.

We only know what we know. Let’s uncover what we don’t. 🕵️‍♀️🐇🕳️

— Jill