“Sometimes the greatest calling in our lives comes through the greatest challenges.”

If you had told me twenty years ago that I would one day dedicate much of my career to helping women navigate hormones, menopause, and longevity, I probably would have laughed.

At the time, my passion was helping people move.

I was a chiropractor who believed deeply in the body’s incredible ability to heal. I spent nearly twenty years teaching yoga because I saw movement as more than exercise—it was medicine. Helping people reconnect with their bodies through strength, flexibility, breath, and confidence brought me tremendous joy.

Elle at Kachina Ridge 2021

Even then, my practice wasn’t what many people think of as “traditional chiropractic.”

I was already talking with patients about whole foods, inflammation, supplements, gut health, sleep, stress, and healthy habits long before those conversations became common. Functional medicine was part of my practice, but it wasn’t the centerpiece it is today. My philosophy was simple: restore movement, nourish the body, create balance, and allow the body to do what it was designed to do.

For many people, that worked beautifully.

Then one day, I became the patient who wasn’t getting better.

I Thought I Was Doing Everything Right

Elle with goat

I grew up on a farm where healthy living wasn’t a trend—it was simply how we lived.

We ate fresh foods, spent our days outdoors, worked hard, and respected the connection between nature and health. Long before organic grocery stores became popular, that was simply our way of life.

My passion for health didn’t begin in chiropractic school.

My father was a country doctor, and one of the greatest lessons he ever taught me was that a healthy lifestyle should always be a patient’s first medicine. Before reaching for a prescription, he encouraged people to look at how they were eating, moving, sleeping, and living. Long before phrases like lifestyle medicine and functional medicine became popular, he was quietly practicing those principles in our small community.

Watching him care for his patients shaped the doctor I would eventually become.

As I entered healthcare myself, those values stayed with me.

I exercised consistently. I loved running, hiking the beautiful trails around Santa Fe, strength training, and staying active. I paid attention to nutrition, chose quality supplements, and genuinely enjoyed learning everything I could about health and wellness.

If anyone should have been able to “prevent” hormone problems, I thought it would be someone living the way I did.

But life has a way of humbling us.

The Season That Changed Everything

There was a period in my life marked by tremendous personal stress.

Not the kind of stress that comes from a busy calendar.

The kind that changes your nervous system.

The kind that quietly follows you home at night, interrupts your sleep, raises your cortisol, and slowly convinces your body that it is no longer safe.

Looking back, I believe that season became one of the biggest turning points in my health.

I don’t believe stress was the only reason my hormones changed. Hormones are wonderfully complex, and no single event explains every symptom.

But despite eating well, exercising, taking supplements, and doing everything I knew to support my health, stress was the one factor that seemed powerful enough to tip the scales.

It fueled inflammation.

It disrupted my sleep.

It affected my metabolism.

It amplified hormone changes that my body could no longer compensate for.

One of the biggest lessons I learned is that you can do almost everything “right” and still find yourself struggling.

Today, I see so many women carrying invisible burdens.

They’re raising children, caring for aging parents, running businesses, navigating difficult relationships, grieving losses, or simply trying to keep everyone else’s world together.

Stress isn’t just emotional.

It’s biological.

And for some women, it becomes the spark that magnifies every hormonal change already taking place.

That understanding changed how I care for patients forever.

Making One of the Hardest Decisions of My Life

Elle Hysterectomy 202

As my symptoms progressed, I eventually faced a decision I never imagined making.

After careful thought and many conversations with my physicians, I chose to undergo a hysterectomy.

It wasn’t an easy decision.

Like many women, I wondered if I was making the right choice.

Would I feel like myself again?

Would my hormones ever stabilize?

Would I ever regain the energy, strength, and confidence I once had?

The surgery solved some important problems, but it didn’t solve everything.

In many ways, it marked the beginning of an entirely new journey.

Becoming My Own Science Experiment

After surgery, I found myself learning hormones from a completely different perspective.

Not just as a doctor.

As a patient.

I experienced the fatigue.

The brain fog.

The changes in body composition.

The loss of muscle.

The frustrating weight gain.

The emotional ups and downs.

The feeling that my own body no longer felt familiar.

Elle 2024

That’s when I became, in many ways, my own science experiment.

I wasn’t looking for a quick fix.

I was searching for understanding.

I began carefully optimizing hormone replacement therapy while monitoring how my body responded. I explored nutrition from a deeper metabolic perspective. I focused on building muscle instead of simply exercising. I studied blood sugar regulation, inflammation, recovery, and longevity medicine with fresh eyes.

As new research emerged, I also explored peptide therapy as another tool to support healthy aging, muscle preservation, metabolic health, and recovery.

I experienced many of the same treatments we now offer at ElleWell—not because they were trendy, but because I wanted to understand them firsthand. Cold laser therapy became part of my recovery. Lymphatic compression helped me feel lighter and recover better. Detoxification strategies supported my overall wellness. Every therapy taught me something about how the body heals.

Some approaches worked beautifully.

Others required adjustment.

Some didn’t work at all.

There was never one magic answer.

Instead, there were layers.

Each one bringing me closer to feeling like myself again.

Today, I still continue to optimize my own health. I still read the research. I still experiment thoughtfully. I still believe that health is not something we achieve once—it’s something we continue to cultivate throughout our lives.

It Was Never About the Number on the Scale

You’ll see before-and-after photos throughout this journey.

Yes, my body changed.

Yes, I lost weight.

But those pictures tell only a small part of the story.

Elle 2026

The real victory wasn’t fitting into smaller clothes.

It was waking up with energy again.

Sleeping through the night.

Running because I wanted to—not because I felt I had to.

Building strength.

Thinking clearly.

Feeling joyful.

Being fully present with my family.

Showing up for my patients with the same passion I had when I first opened my practice.

That’s the transformation I hope for every woman who walks through our doors.

My Faith Carried Me Through

As difficult as that season was, it also deepened my faith.

There were moments when I didn’t have all the answers.

Moments when my medical training couldn’t explain everything I was experiencing.

Moments when healing felt painfully slow.

During those times, I found peace in prayer, in nature, and in trusting that God wasn’t wasting this difficult chapter of my life.

Some of my clearest conversations with Him happened while hiking the desert trails around Santa Fe. Watching the resilience of the landscape—the yucca blooming after years of waiting, wildflowers appearing after seasons of drought, life emerging where everything looked barren—became a powerful reminder that healing often happens beneath the surface long before we can see it.

Looking back now, I don’t believe that journey happened to me.

I believe it happened for me.

It gave me empathy I could never have learned from a textbook.

It taught me to listen more carefully.

To ask better questions.

To treat the whole person instead of chasing individual symptoms.

Why ElleWell Looks Different Today

My own health journey transformed the practice I had spent years building.

I didn’t stop believing in chiropractic.

I didn’t stop believing in movement.

I didn’t stop believing in good nutrition or natural healing.

Those principles are still the foundation of who I am.

But I realized they were only part of a much bigger picture.

Today, at ElleWell, we ask different questions.

We don’t only look at hormones.

We look at stress physiology.

Inflammation.

Blood sugar.

Gut health.

Thyroid function.

Nutrition.

Muscle health.

Sleep.

Recovery.

Longevity.

Emotional well-being.

And how all of those systems work together.

Because the body was never designed to be treated in isolated pieces.

It functions as one beautifully connected system.

That’s the philosophy that now guides every patient who walks through our doors.

If You’re Reading This…

Maybe you’ve been told your labs are “normal.”

Maybe you’ve been told it’s simply stress.

Or aging.

Or menopause.

Maybe you’ve started wondering if this is just who you are now.

I want you to know something.

I’ve been there.

I know what it’s feels like to wonder where the old version of yourself disappeared.

I also know there is hope.

Not because there’s one perfect hormone, one perfect supplement, or one miracle treatment.

But because healing is often found by looking at the whole picture.

Sometimes the greatest transformation begins with someone finally listening to your story.

Mine changed my life.

Perhaps yours is about to change yours too.

I’d be honored to help you write the next chapter.

Elle & Dad Graduation from NYCC 2003

My final thoughts – My father taught me that lifestyle is our first medicine. My own journey taught me that sometimes even the healthiest lifestyle isn’t enough by itself—and that’s where compassionate, personalized medicine has the opportunity to fill the gaps.

Today, ElleWell is built on both of those truths.

Dr. Ellenita Salko Reynolds (“Dr. Elle”) is the founder of ElleWell Holistic Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. With over 20 years of experience in chiropractic, functional medicine, women’s hormone optimization, longevity medicine, and integrative health, she combines evidence-informed medicine with her own lived experience to help patients uncover the root causes of chronic symptoms and build lasting health. Her approach focuses on movement, nutrition, hormone optimization, metabolic health, and personalized care that treats the whole person—not just the diagnosis.