So, You Have a Diagnosis (Or You Don’t)… Now What?

Whether you've just received a diagnosis, are still sitting in the grey zone, or simply have that gut feeling that something’s off—know this: you're not alone. And more importantly, a label doesn’t define your path forward.

It is the unwinding, understanding, and nervous system integration happens. But what about the in-between moments—when you're at home wondering what to do next?

Here are a few practical tools, gentle reminders, and energetic supports to help guide you back to yourself between sessions. Think of this as your starting place—a bridge between knowing something needs to shift and actually feeling that shift land in your body.

Let’s begin.

The Nervous System

When the nervous system is dysregulated—whether from stress, trauma, overstimulation, or burnout—your body and brain can’t fully process or integrate change. You might feel foggy, anxious, stuck in overthinking, or just plain exhausted. That’s not failure—it’s feedback.

1. Sleep is one of the most underrated nervous system healers. It’s not about aiming for perfect sleep every night, but about creating consistent space for your system to slow down and repair. Here are some simple tools to support deeper rest and nervous system regulation:

• Gentle wind-down routines: Turn off technology, close laptop lids, flip your phone over, shut textbooks, and clear your study or work space. Physically closing these loops gives your brain permission to switch off.

• Magnesium or detox baths: Epsom salts or bentonite clay baths can help calm the educe blue light exposure: Screen-free evenings are ideal, but blue light glasses can help if screens can’t be avoided.

• Sync with natural light: Watching the sunrise or sunset helps regulate your circadian rhythm and reminds your body it's part of a natural day–night cycle.

• Shift your evening nutrition: Eat dinner earlier, avoid late-night snacking, and swap the chocolate for a calming herbal tea like chamomile or passionflower.

2. Vagal Tone, Digestion & the Power of “Rest and Digest”

Your ability to move into rest, digest, and repair mode relies heavily on the health of your vagus nerve—the social and emotional regulation superhighway that links your brain to your gut, heart, and lungs. When vagal tone is strong, you digest food better, regulate emotions more easily, and bounce back from stress with greater resilience.

Here’s how holistic Kinesiology can help—and how you can support it at home:

• Postural awareness matters. The vagus nerve runs between the anterior neck flexors—right where your head tends to fall when hunched over a phone or laptop. Opening the posture of your neck, shoulders, and chest helps create space for better vagal communication. Use a foam roller, stretch over a yoga bolster, or lie backwards off the edge of your couch or bed to gently open this area.

• Humming (yes, humming!) It might feel daggy, but consistent vibration through the throat, vocal cords, and jaw shifts blocked energy and stimulates both the kidney and stomach meridians—key players in helping your body feel safe. Humming can be a powerful “off switch” for subtle stress and over-alertness.

• Contrast temperature therapy. Sometimes the body needs a circuit-breaker to reset. Think sauna to cold plunge like our Scandinavian cousins—or just washing your hair in warm water and finishing with a cool rinse. You don’t need extremes to make an impact—just enough contrast to gently nudge the nervous system back into balance.

• Diaphragmatic breathing and breathwork (with care). Breath is a beautiful tool—but here’s why it’s not the first on this list. The emotion most commonly linked to nervous system dysregulation is shame, and in Traditional Chinese Medicine, shame lives in the lung meridian. Breathwork can stir up this energy quickly, and while that’s not inherently bad, it deserves to be approached with respect. In clinic, we often clear these emotional residues gently and safely. You don’t need to re-traumatise yourself to heal. Shame has been working hard to protect you—it deserves to be met with ease, not force.
  

• Eat an MSG-free diet. MSG (monosodium glutamate) is a chemical flavour enhancer designed to excite your nervous system—amplifying taste, increasing cravings, and overstimulating the brain’s desire for more. It literally pushes your body into a synthetic “on” mode. But here’s the thing: your body can only be in one state at a time—rest and digest or react and respond. If your system is constantly being triggered by artificial stimulants like MSG, regulation becomes almost impossible. Choose whole, clean foods that support your body’s natural rhythms, not ones that override them.

  In Australia, MSG often hides under other names, even when labels say “no added MSG.” The top 10 to watch for are: 621 (monosodium glutamate), 627 (disodium guanylate), 631 (disodium inosinate), 635 (disodium 5'-ribonucleotides), yeast extract, autolysed yeast, hydrolysed vegetable protein (HVP), soy protein isolate, natural flavours or flavour enhancer, and stock powders or seasoning blends. These additives contain or trigger the same excitatory glutamates that overstimulate the nervous system and disrupt the body’s ability to rest and digest. Always check the fine print—even "natural" and "health" foods can include these hidden sources.

3. Supplements That Support Regulation and Restore Balance (and Why)

When it comes to nervous system regulation, Calcium, Magnesium, and Vitamin D are your foundational trio—but the key is taking them together in one bioavailable supplement, with the right ratios.

I can’t stress this enough: do not separate them if nervous system regulation is your goal. When you take one in isolation, your body often has to pull the others from tissue stores to absorb it properly—this creates more work for a system that’s already under stress.

Here are a few supplement combinations I trust and recommend in clinic and just order online depending on the lowest price:

• BioBalance Calcium Magnesium with Vitamin D3 – clean, well-absorbed, and easy on the system.

• Pure Synergy, Bone Renewal® – contains a blend of minerals and co-factors that support not just the nervous system, but bone and immune health too.

• Solaray Cal-Mag Citrate 2:1 Ratio – the added dandelion root is a bonus for liver support, which is often under strain when the nervous system is overloaded.

• TruHeight Kids Bone Growth Gummies – not my top pick taste-wise, but for fussy little nervous systems, it’s a great starting point. Pick your battles—once regulation begins, more solutions become accessible.

And here’s a tool that pairs beautifully with these supplements: Alternate Nostril Breathing. This gentle practice is different from the deep diaphragmatic breathwork mentioned earlier. Alternate nostril breathing helps re-regulate the left and right hemispheres of the brain, balance the energetic body, and gently cue the system that it’s safe, it’s daytime, and it’s okay to integrate.

Additional Nutritional and Herbal Supports

• Fulvic Minerals - These are one of my go-to supports for a depleted body and mind. Fulvic minerals help detox and replenish at a cellular level, especially when you're navigating long-term stress or burnout. I often speak about balancing ionisation in clinic—these minerals are a beautiful way to reset and restore.

• Lion’s Mane and Reishi Mushrooms - For the tired, wired, racing mind, these two medicinal mushrooms are a dream team. Lion’s Mane supports focus and neuroplasticity, while Reishi calms and nourishes the nervous system. I always recommend quality over quantity—Teelixir is my go-to, and I do a bulk order of all my mushrooms and tonics from there.

• Ashwagandha – A Powerful Adaptogen. Here’s the key: your nervous system has spent a long time adapting—often under stress. Ashwagandha helps you recover from that constant adaptation. It supports the body physically, calms the emotional landscape, and nourishes the adrenal system so you can start forming new neural pathways and ways of being, rather than running on survival mode.

4. Releasing Shame with Tapping

Tapping (or EFT – Emotional Freedom Technique) is one of my favourite tools for gently shifting feelings of shame out of the body. I’ve got a little YouTube video that guides you through the process—it’s part of the Autumn Cleanse series.

I’ll be honest: I’ve always felt like I should update it… but I never quite got around to it. So, it is what it is—raw, real, and slightly imperfect. And maybe that’s the point. Somewhere along the way, the shame I used to feel about needing everything to be perfect has softened.