“It was a life-long dream of mine to become a nurse. When I was 17, my best friend was in a car accident and was pronounced dead. It devastated me to the point where I thought I could never become a nurse,” says Chattanoogan Lynne Sims.

She knew in her heart that she was meant to help others. But after witnessing the tragic death of her friend she didn’t think she could deal with the emotional traumas of being a nurse.

Lynne was born in New Jersey to parents Harold and Pearl Messerschmidt. She grew up with three brothers and two sisters.

“We used to go camping as kids. We lived on the lake and my dad and my sister used to race kayaks. We used to bet the neighborhood kids that they couldn’t take two strokes with the double paddle without flipping the kayak because the kayaks were real skinny; we would always win,” Lynne laughs.

Still wanting to be in health care, Lynne went to dental school to become a dental assistant. “I knew I had a passion to help people but just didn’t think I could do it with nursing – so I was a dental assistant for about 10 years,” Lynne admits.

She came to Chattanooga in 1983. Working in a dental office and working in the evenings as a sitter for home-care patients gave her the chance to put herself through nursing school at Chattanooga State.

In 1990, Lynne married her husband Randy the day after she received her results from Chattanooga State. “I told Randy that if I didn’t pass, we weren’t going to get married,” she laughs, “because I wouldn’t be fit to live with!”

The couple had a daughter and a son together while Lynne worked at Hutcheson Medical Center as an ER nurse. She became the charge nurse on her shift and then became office manager at Trenton Family Practice; a branch of Hutcheson. Husband Randy built custom cabinets owning Custom Woodwork in Trenton for the last 20 years.

When son Austin had asked to go to Baylor School, Lynne knew she would need to bring in more income, so she transferred to Memorial Hospital as the charge nurse for the ER and eventually became nurse manager in the ER.

Having their mother’s ambition in helping others, daughter Ashley attends UT majoring in biochemistry and Austin recently graduated from Baylor and will be attending Georgia Southern for pre-med.

One of the biggest influences in Lynne’s life is friend and business partner Angie Fielden. “For three years Angie came to me wanting me to open a business with her in Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT),” Lynne says. “The timing was not good until Ashley became a senior. We finally sat down and talked about going into business and decided to do it.”

In 2010 Angie and Lynne partnered with Dr. Paul Miranda and opened “Balanced Life MD” on Shallowford Road where Lynne is director of operations.

“I had a hysterectomy and knew that I needed hormones but I wanted to go the natural way. And, as I got older I knew that I was not going to be able to stay in the ER because of the pace - so this just made so much sense for me,” Lynne attests.

“Angie conducts free seminars every Monday night for those that want to learn more about BHRT and she consults with all our patients. She is a wealth of information,” Lynne maintains.

“Our daughters started playing basketball together and Angie had told me about the hormones.  She told me that she thought I could benefit from the pellets myself. I told her that I was okay and didn’t want to,” Lynne says.

Most women put off getting help for menopausal symptoms because in the beginning they feel it isn’t a real problem. Lynne knew she was dealing with symptoms and saw Angie’s passion, as her friend had seen remarkable results in patients over several years.

“When we had discussed starting the business, I said that I wanted to go ahead and try the pellets because I couldn’t be enthusiastic if I didn’t know about it on a personal level,” Lynne affirms.

She became a believer from day one. “There is a night and day difference! I would wake up soaking-wet with night sweats and I was irritable, had very poor cognitive function and now all those symptoms are gone - I have libido again!” Lynne laughs.

The important thing for Lynne in wanting to take care of symptoms naturally was to not deal with the many side effects that come with synthetic medications. “I felt pills would only cause other problems down the road because the ingredients in them are not what the body produces naturally,” she says.

Now, being as zealous as her partner is with BHRT, Lynne says, “I feel like I did back when I was 30 years old. Quality of life is so much better – I have my energy back. I have my life back – naturally.”

The BHRT pellets are injected around the hip area every four months for women and every six months in males. A quarter inch slit is made in the skin but does not have to be sutured. You will see results from Estradiol in about a week. Testosterone takes about two to four weeks for men.

Testosterone levels in men should be between 800 -1100. One of the symptoms in males is that they cannot gain lean muscle mass.

Lynne explains, “They experience loss of energy, have poor cognitive function, decreased libido, they are sluggish and …that honey-do list doesn’t get done anymore!”

According to Lynne, men can take pills for erectile dysfunction with the pellets if needed but she says she does not see many patients who require it after they have their hormones at a more physiological level.

“We also do HCG weight loss and treat patients for thyroid disorders,” Lynne says, “As the business continues to grow, I would love to see us be able to open a second office.”

Facing such adversity in her life, Lynn continues to accept the challenges she is presented with. She has applied for nurse practitioner school which will start in November.

“It will increase my knowledge to help patients more,” she says, “I have learned that nothing is handed to you. The harder you work for something, the easier it is to achieve.”