Who are we?

Dr. Lauren Sparks is the founder of Untamed Iona, a private medical practice specializing in the treatment of Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) . Why did she choose this specialty? Because she has suffered and healed from both CIRS and erythromelalgia (EM). Dr. Sparks own disease process taught her that no person will ever be more motivated to help you heal from a disease than someone who had it themselves. Dr. Sparks is also the founder of The Einstein Mission, a nonprofit organization dedicated to thinking outside the box to fund uncommon research and treatment for under-acknowledged diseases. The Einstein Mission’s current research focus is on erythromelalgia and CIRS.

Dr. Sparks is a doctorally prepared nurse practitioner. In addition, she completed post-doctoral physician certification administered by Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker in the “Shoemaker Protocol.” Why did she deeply desire to complete training under Dr. Shoemaker? Because she credits Dr. Shoemaker’s brilliant research with saving her life. After all the kings horses and all the kings men at Mayo Clinic couldn’t put Dr. Sparks back together again, Dr. Shoemaker’s protocol offered her an entry back into vitality and complete healing. While the Mayo Clinic could only strive for symptomatic relief, Dr Shoemaker’s protocol got at the root cause of Dr. Sparks’s suffering. Although traditional medicine has little to offer those suffering with erythromelalgia, treatment of Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) would correlate with a complete remission of Dr. Sparks’s erythromelalgia.

Dr. Sparks finds most people challenged with CIRS also benefit from emotional support. Due to her training as a therapist prior to becoming a medical provider, her practice offers Community Support Circles for those challenged with CIRS, erythromelalgia, or the “double whammy” of both diseases. What she hears frequently is that it was a godsend to be part of a group finding creative ways forward together. Dr. Sparks has collaborated with The University of Melbourne’s Dulwich Centre to help educate other therapists and community workers on how to support those challenged with pain and chronic illness.

Dr. Sparks has received post-doctoral training in functional medicine and functional psychiatry. In addition, she enthusiastically studied functional nutrition during her doctoral program. She enjoys weaving integrative practices into her work as she found functional medicine to be supportive of her own healing. Prior to transitioning into a medical provider role, Dr. Sparks spent time working in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). In addition, she spent almost a decade in hospice work. She has also worked in psychiatric settings. Dr. Sparks believes her wide range of experiences, especially including her own illness and recovery, make her the medical provider she is today. Many say she is the most compassionate medical provider they have ever met… she says that is so only because she has quite literally walked in a patient’s shoes.

What does Dr. Sparks most want you to know? You’ve lost too many years to illness already but with treatment of CIRS using the Shoemaker Protocol, you’ll find you have much living left to do! What does health reclamation feel like for a gal that could no longer walk? It feels like flying, vitality, and wonder. It feels like a renewed sense of creativity and energy that had long gone missing. It feels like an urgency and an honor to help those challenged with EM and CIRS to find their own entry back into the land of the fully living.