Hormones in Harmony

2012-01-25T13:24:00.000-08:00

Dear Corporate Personhood, …

What has been your experience with large corporate entities? Are you just a cog in the wheel or do you have a voice?

I now have experienced the soullessness of corporations. I may be just a little cog in their wheel, but I have an effect.

The recession caught up to my small health care business. We held out for a long time. I will not close my doors, but I do need to supplement my income. So I sought outside employment to lower my debt ratio.

My plan was to work for a company in which I would not get attached. So the large national corporation that offered me a job seemed like a win-win. I would work for them for as long as it took to pay off my debts doing assessments of the elderly and making recommendations to their primary care providers. A public service without the strings.

I did cause some waves, I must admit. I was shocked at the misinformation of this huge national company who hired nurse practitioners and physicians. They clearly did not know the individual state practice acts. Their contracts left much to be desired. I was just protecting myself…but felt it my duty to my colleagues to offer suggestions of change within the corporation to better protect the health care providers.

And after a month of jumping through hoops for them and just a few days before I was to start work, I got a voicemail. Apparently the position no longer existed. Not because I made waves, but because they counted their chickens before they hatched. Their California client pulled out after waiting five months for them to fill the position.

Hmmm. I felt strangely relieved, yet wondered why? And did not receive an answer, nor closure, nor condolences. I expected more. They were so friendly and available before I got the voicemail.

So I drafted a letter to them…

To Whom It May Concern;

In an effort to seek closure, I am writing this letter.

As a nurse practitioner with 25 years experience, I have assessed, diagnosed and treated thousands of patients. I have helped birth infants into this world and the elderly and infirmed through death. And I have always been fully present in every healing situation. So with presence, I reached out to those who guided me through the process of employment within this national corporation. And I am grateful to each end every one of them for their kind assistance.

This is my first experience of employment with a national corporation. Corporations may have legal personhood, but this one, at least, seems to have no soul. I have yet to receive condolence, explanation, or compensation.

As an entrepreneur, I have created an entity with soul. My employees are well cared for, listened to, and taken seriously. They are not a means to an end, but the spirit of my practice. I am grateful to be reminded that my choice to open a small business and keep it running during the recession has been best for all of us.

During our long interactions, I do believe that your corporation has benefitted. I was the first part-time employee to bring to your attention the lack of clarity in your contract. Which I was told would be rewritten.

I was also the first who alerted you that your California Nurse Practitioner-Physician Collaboration Agreement does not adequately reflect the state practice act for either nurse practitioners or physicians and thus as written puts both parties at risk. I hope you change this as soon as possible.

I take responsibility for believing in your national corporation, for rushing to fulfill all that was asked of me as a contracted employee, for taking time away from my own business, and paying for legal counsel before signing your contract.

In the month it took to fulfill all that you required of me to prepare for employment—hours of filling out paperwork for credentialing, inoculations for health clearance, submitting to you my banking and identity information—all of which I completed by your deadlines—I have missed out on four weeks of income from the job I refused once I signed on with you.

I am sure your employment process is the same for everyone. Yet I was informed that the situation that happened to me was quite unusual. So I can only assume that you do not have a policy to deal with it.

At the very least, I wish acknowledgment that you have destroyed all my sensitive information.

Clearly it is not meant for me to work with you. If there is a next time, I will insist on a sign-on bonus. Executives with less responsibility for public well being receive sign on bonuses to make it worth their while. Nurse practitioners must have a higher sense of self to be valued by all employers, even national corporations. Especially those that base their profit margin on the services rendered by nurse practitioners.

I serve on the Past Presidents Council of the California Association of Nurse Practitioners representing 14,000 nurse practitioners and will be speaking at the annual educational conference in March regarding business practices. I am grateful for what I have learned in this experience yet am concerned for my colleagues should they choose to seek employment with your corporation.

I hope you make the necessary adjustments to policy so that another potential employee is not adversely affected.

I’m sorry that I cannot recommend your company to my colleagues. I wish you success in helping those you serve—patients.

Sincerely;

Deborah Maragopoulos MN APRN BC, FNP
Intuitive Integrative Medicine
Full Circle Family Health
www.genesisgold.com

I have spent my life creating change. Being a pioneer. Walking down unknown paths, finding the pitfalls, and alerting those who might follow. I am an effective patient advocate and a voice for my colleagues. I created change as President of the California Association of Nurse Practitioners. I created change for patients by providing integrative medical choices when I opened my own practice in 1997. And now I am creating change in voicing my concern.

Health Care Reform is needed….for all our sakes…patients and providers alike.

We need choices from the best of conventional and complementary medicine.

We need freedom to choose what is best for us, for our patients, not be tied to insurers’ treatment protocols.

We need to educate our patients especially on the health care choices that are within their control…but first we need to educate ourselves on natural means to healing and how to help our patients heal themselves.

We need to stop creating dependency on prescriptions, on myopic assessments that force the patients to come back over and over milking the system, when time spent educating rather than medicating would heal them and be much more cost effective.

We need to remember as health care providers that we do not heal our patients, but are instruments in their healing process.

We need as patients to empower ourselves, take responsibility for our health choices, and learn to listen to our bodies’ innate wisdom.

We need to work together—patients and providers—with the goal of optimal health and wellbeing.

We need to start NOW!

2011-11-10T15:51:00.000-08:00

The Body Innate: How to become your own Body Whisperer

What if you could know exactly what your body needs? Without researching on the internet, consulting with medical experts, or running a bunch of tests. What if you could be your own medical intuitive?

Well, you can. Your body has innate wisdom that you can tap into. You have within your DNA all the information needed to heal any dis-ease, age gracefully, in fact live much longer than your ancestors. But how to access that information?

Your body communicates with you all the time. Most of us don’t listen to the subtle communication until we become ill. Dis-ease is your body screaming at you when you haven’t attended to the whispering. It’s ok. It’s how we learn. As humans, we are a bit hard-headed. We think we know. And we try to think our way through our body’s intricate physiology without really understanding its language.

And the soul speaks through the body. I find that in spite of the best treatments, until the deep soul issue that one’s dis-ease is mirroring can be identified does the true healing begin. Most of my work now focuses on helping patients discover why their body has manifested imbalance in the form of injury or illness. We address the physical aspects with a combination of conventional and alternative medicine. Sometimes patients are so ripe for healing that in our first two hour consult they receive the soul issue and start to do the work.

I believe that my patients have progressed because I have learned to open myself to receive them body, mind, and soul. So in their own sweet time, they learn how to heal themselves, how to trust their body’s innate wisdom, and then miraculously it seems they heal. Really healing from dis-ease is a result of deep commitment to self.

Becoming innate is a remembrance of our abilities to self heal, to know what our bodies need for health and vitality and what our souls need for growth and enlightenment. It’s like becoming a Body Whisperer. That is what it feels like to me as a healer. Very similar to reading the subtle messages of my horse or my dog. Someone once called me a Hormone Whisperer. That’s where I start…I resonate with my patients and “read” their body’s innate wisdom like a vibrational book.

It has always been my intention to tap into the body’s innate wisdom. I feel strongly that communication with the genetic blueprint is possible if…and this is a big if…our hormones are in balance. By focusing on the hypothalamus which directs all the hormones, I was able to get my own hormones in balance and hundreds of others over the past eight years.

By creating then consuming Genesis Gold, I achieved hormonal harmony and became a Body Whisperer. First for my own body and then for others. Because when you’re in harmony, dis-ease and imbalance really feels out of tune!

Since Genesis Gold came to market in 2003, I have witnessed many of my formerly “stuck” patients—those unable to heal themselves—start to listen to their bodies and then trust that innate wisdom enough to allow healing to occur.

In fact, I warn my patients before they choose to partake of Genesis Gold that their lives will change, that they will not perceive their lives with the same eyes. As they consume Genesis Gold, their perspective shifts. Yes, many of the changes are physical—people sleep better, their hormones come into balance, their moods stabilizes, their digestion improves, they detox more efficiently, their hair grows, they look and feel more vital—but there’s more subtle changes that transform their lives. They start to recognize synchronicity. Dreams become more lucid and they begin to understand what their subconscious needs to heal. They start to live more peacefully, experiencing greater ease, trusting in their own ability to heal, to transform their lives.

Geneticists have discovered that within the unexpressed DNA are potentials. As if everything we were and will be lies in the blueprint in every cell. What we are at the moment is DNA expressed. What we needed in the past is still in our genetic code…like the genes for hibernation. Still there some 50,000 years since the last Ice Age. We may need it again. In fact some peoples’ bodies are expressing that Ice Age genetics today. We call it Insulin Resistance. Yes, your body needs to store fat around your middle with thick sugary blood that acts like antifreeze flowing through your veins and a very slow metabolism in order to survive the Ice Age.

Unfortunately, because of hormonal miscommunication, the genes of hibernation are turned on. Medicine calls it dis-ease…pre-diabetes…Well, I call it maladaptation. So why not improve hormonal communication and turn off the “dis-ease” genes and turn on healthy adaptive genes? You can do this by changing your lifestyle—turn off all your lights after dark. That’s right, no computer, no TV, no light what so ever shining on or near you while you sleep. Oh, and stop eating processed foods. No sugar at all! Adopt a strict Paleolithic diet AND a very early bedtime. Oh yes, to keep in perfect balance, you must rise with the sun.

And this strict healthy lifestyle may help some achieve their perfect health. But it won’t work for all of us. And I, for one, prefer to celebrate life with good food, good wine, (yes, wine—the good stuff, life is about joy so why suffer?) So I take the easy way out.

Recently I had a physical examination, pretty much from head to toe by my local nurse practitioner. We have colleagues for years, but she hasn’t seen me—well, all of me—since 2004. She was surprised. “You’re in such great shape. You haven’t aged at all.” Well, that’s not true, but compared to who she usually examines, I’ve maintained a pretty youthful 50 years.

“You must work out all the time! It shows!” Nope, I don’t!

“You must never eat junk food!” That’s not true. I love home baked cookies and home-made ice cream.

“Then what is it that keeps you so healthy?”

It’s Genesis Gold. It’s all I take and I eat what I want and keep active, but no more formal exercise. Unless shoveling horse manure counts as lifting weights...

You too can take Genesis Gold. Then your body will tell you what it needs. And it may need drastic lifestyle changes…or it may need a more gentle transformation. Either way, you’ll be naturally supported and not have to take a ton of supplements to stay well.

The choice is yours. Remember you can heal yourself by tapping into your genetic potential. In the next edition, I will teach you just how to mine your DNA for health, healing, vitality and some amazing attributes.

2011-04-06T12:41:00.000-07:00

As I enter the portal of menopause, I yearn for a way to release when my blood no longer flows. My cycle prefers to mimic the moon—menstruating on the dark moon, ripening with the waxing moon, experiencing the fullness of my power on the full moon, releasing with the waning moon—over and over every month, since I began Genesis Gold.

Not before. No, I had such low body fat that I did not have enough sex steroids to menstruate. Years of bulimiarexia had taken its toll. Until 2000, when I first took Genesis Gold, a botanical formula that came to me in dreams, did my body finally realize its Sacred Feminine potential and I had my first period without the aid of bio-identical hormone replacement therapy. It was a miracle that I even conceived my children. Both came to me in dreams and then I would gain five pounds and conceive...without menstruating…on my own. My gynecologists were flabbergasted, but my pregnancies were healthy, although delivering the babies was difficult.

It wasn’t until my daughter was eleven that I tried to turn the tide of my eating disorder which began just before I entered high school. Although my mother had educated me well throughout puberty, she was disempowered by her upbringing, so my first period was not received in joy. Without a sacred chamam of women with which I might retreat and understand my budding feminine powers, I felt the burden of becoming a woman. So I stopped eating—lost twenty pounds, my breasts, and my period.

In the fall of 1999, I was determined to make peace with my femininity and began wearing a long gypsy skirt during my menses. It was my own personal red tent. My family treated me differently, because I began to treat myself with loving kindness. I rested, drank tea, took long baths, and retreated to my garden to commune with the earth. A few cycles of wearing my period skirt and I began to have lucid dreams. In response to my prayerful meditation during my moontime, I conceived Genesis Gold. And within two months of taking it, I gained five pounds (the same five pounds I needed to make enough hormones to conceive my children) and started menstruating without exogenous hormonal support at the age of thirty-nine. My body has been following the moon cycle ever since.

So now at the portal of my next feminine transformation, my body still tries to cycle with the moon. At this time, I am taking bio-identical hormones again, a luscious blend of botanicals, I conceived with a wonderful compounding pharmacist. I am ever grateful that my body has waited this long to go through the change. With the support of Genesis Gold, I am entering menopause 4-5 years later than my younger sisters.

So this cycle like so many before, I celebrate with a great release. Under the new moon in the presence of countless stars, I set my intention to bleed out the illusion of unworthiness. It is this not-good-enough attitude that fueled my eating disorder for so long. It is time to let it go.

Just before going to bed, I watched a you tube video of conscious men apologizing to the Sacred Feminine. I wept with joy. I accepted their apology, released our past unconsciousness and opened to receive sacred partnership with the Divine Masculine. I am blessed to be in such a relationship with my beloved husband. And more so blessed to be alive at this time of transformation as the Divine Masculine awakens to honor and co-create a new reality with the Divine Feminine. Then I fell asleep and had a dream.

In my dream, I was ministering to my youngest sister. Her beautiful tan skin was peeling off and underneath was the pale blue veined skin of a man—one that has haunted my dreams since childhood. My daughter, a nursing student, was with me and started to examine her aunt’s desquaminating leg. I shook my head and told her silently, This is a condition that affects women who give up their power and choose to live in parasitic rather than symbiotic relationships with men. Treat her with love but do not take on her dis-ease.

I woke up knowing that the fabric of illusion called unworthiness was finally ripped. I had protected my Divine Daughter with Divine Mother Wisdom. I no longer must wear my not-good-enough veil. Blessed am I to be a woman at this precious time on earth.

A powerful woman healer once sang this to me…and now I can sing it to myself.

Hail, Deborah, full of grace. Blessed is the fruit of my womb. And blessed is the world to receive the sweetness of my labor.

And now I sing it to you…

Hail, Sister, full of grace. Blessed is the fruit of your womb. And blessed are we to receive the sweetness of your labor.

Thank you, dear sisters, for doing your soul work. For cycling with the moon and dancing with the Divine. I am honored to be in your sacred presence and look forward to celebrating your feminine transitions with love and joy.

2010-12-20T08:05:00.000-08:00

The long nights of winter are a time of contraction—as we go within to find our own light. With the rebirth of the sun on the solstice, we appreciate our many blessings—as the outer light reflects our transformation.

As I reflect on this season full of blessings, I cannot help but be touched by the transformative events of our lives this past year. 2010 was a year of great change. The first half spent living life in the moment—our new year’s mantra—as we cherished every precious drop of time spent with my husband’s beloved grandmother. Gran passed in July yet her light shines through every flower picked for a bouquet, every hummingbird sipping sweet nectar, every sip of coffee that we so enjoyed sharing with her.

Gran’s passing heralded three more—a dear patient, our Great Dane and our old horse. Yet death begets birth…opportunity flows into our lives…we are filled with wonder…

My daughter Kyra was the first to be blessed by Gran… only one month later…accepted into nursing school! A natural born healer, she is thriving spiritually and academically making the Dean’s list. The world is blessed to have her healing hands and intuitive heart.

The first to feel Gran’s passing, my son Jarys has become filled with her light…truly seeing the light in each of us. A newly credentialed teacher, he works with underprivileged children in San Francisco and every family gathering, he blesses us with his wisdom.

My husband Steve is the most sweetly affected. Gran has inspired him to enjoy the present while sipping the past like sweet wine and allowing the future to manifest in ripe time. He prepares for retirement by collecting lessons learned while serving the public as a police officer. I am so very grateful he arrives home safely and ever wiser after every shift.

My own growth has been profound. Taking care of Gran at the end of her life and helping midwife her through the veil of death has helped me become a more complete healer—embracing spirit as I heal body, mind and heart. More challenging patients come yet it is not clear who is more transformed—them or me.

This holiday season as we celebrate with family and friends, I pray to honor Gran by embracing the light in each and every one of them.

After so much time spent in the cocoon of our making, we shall finally emerge in 2011—like gracious butterflies—enjoying each flower of opportunity.

MAY YOU DANCE THROUGH THE NEW YEAR WITH A JOYOUS HEART, A PEACEFUL MIND, AND A LOVING SOUL.

Many Blessings of Love and Light,

Deborah Maragopoulos MN FNP
Intuitive Integrative Medicine
www.genesisgold.com

2010-08-19T12:56:00.000-07:00

LET MEDICINE BE YOUR FOOD?????

So cardiologists in Britain have it all figured out. MacStatin! Yes. Just add a little packet of statins to your fast food and you can eat all the high calorie, low nutritive food you like and not get heart disease. Really?

Well, it doesn’t work that way. Cholesterol lowering agents will not protect you from a gluttonous diet. Hippocrates said…a long time ago…Let Food Be Your Medicine…NOT Let Medicine Be Your Food!

You are what you eat! It’s true.

So much fuss about rising health care costs in this country. Well, I have a really simple plan to CURE AMERICA…Tax Sugar.

Yes, I’m serious. If a heavy tax was levied on sugar then low nutritive junk food would be so expensive that we would be forced to eat highly nutritious natural foods. The Sugar Tax would be used to pay for health care….simple. And guess what? By eating better, many of our health problems would disappear!

Imagine candy bars behind bars! Locked up because candy is so expensive that grocers fear candy theft!

Imagine the check out at the grocery store lined with…apples! And oranges and pears and cherries and grapes! Yes, fruit for the pickin’—inexpensive, easily accessible, healthy. Because all highly nutritive foods would be cheap, in comparison to low nutritive foods…our divine right to eat healthy and if you so choose—a luxury to eat junk!

Oh, you’re worried about pesticides on the produce. Well, don’t! The Sugar Tax would be how we jump start the healing of our first world woes. A pyramid of taxes—with sugar at the base, followed by white flour, then a sliding tax scale based on nutritive value…the lower the nutritive value, the higher the tax on processed food…with a formidable exception…there will also be a tax on carbon footprint. The more energy it takes to get the food to market, the higher the tax—meaning it will save to eat local. The more natural foods would be the least expensive. Oh, and the pesticide covered produce—another level of taxes! No more feeding chickens and cows antibiotics and growth hormone, only completely organic foods, grown without pesticides and pharmaceuticals, with the lowest possible carbon footprint—will be not only the best food for us, but the least expensive!

Michele Obama is concerned that right now, the poor cannot afford to eat healthy foods. You can feed a family of four at McDonalds for $10…fresh produce, organic chicken, whole grains…are just too expensive. There is seriously something wrong with this system.

We can pay for all of our health care costs in this country without a “Cadillac Tax”, without socialized medicine, with free choice of health care providers, with insurance plans that favor healthy lifestyles…through the Sugar Tax!

So to begin: All forms of sugar would be taxed and all artificial sweeteners. Why? Because like sugar, artificial sweeteners increase insulin production leading to insulin resistance, diabetes and heart disease. Really it’s not the fat that makes us fat. It’s the sugar!

Over twenty years ago, we were told to eat less fat so we began consuming more sugar to replace the fat. We are fatter, have more diabetes and heart disease, more learning disabilities, cancer, and immune dysfunction than ever before.

Cardiologists blame cholesterol for heart disease. And conventional medicine has been blaming high fat diets for high cholesterol. Yet it’s really sugar that leads to high cholesterol production and the inflammation which is really the big killer. Yes, there are other factors…toxicity from poisoning our environment but just wait…the Sugar Tax is just the beginning. We begin with taxing sugar, just like the tobacco tax…yes, I know, despite the tax, people still smoke…but much less and smoke free zones are more popular. Just one generation ago, smoking was posh and now…it’s frowned upon. You can still have sugar…you will just have to pay for the luxury. It will be a conscious choice to choose to indulge in unhealthy food rather than all you can afford.

Making healthy food cheap and fast food expensive, well….in just one generation, we will have cured at least half of our modern diseases…Really! It only took one generation of poorly fed young women…girls who grew up eating high sugar, highly processed, pesticide-drug laden, artificial foods…to bear a lot of sick children. Children suffering from learning disabilities, allergies, asthma, seizures, eczema, obesity, depression. We are what we eat!

We can eat out way to a healthy America! I believe other first world countries will follow our example. Aren’t we the leaders of the free world? So let us set the best example.

Let Food Be Our Medicine!

2010-08-09T06:54:00.000-07:00

I’ve been dancing with death. I believe that death begats birth…and I appreciate the tender new soul growth emerging from the soil of loss. Truly I understand the circle of life…yet my heart grieves still…

Before we could bury Gran, I had to attend another funeral.

Just one day after Gran passed; I chose to join my husband’s family at the beach. One of Gran’s favorite places. But they gathered without me…instead I drove 95 miles from the foggy coast to the high desert to see a patient.

I don’t usually make house calls. Most of my patients live 50 or miles from me. Some are out of the country. So making house calls is not really practical. But I did this time.

Anita is one of my favorites…not that I should have favorite patients…but we have been working together for almost four years…really tough healing work, the kind that shifts the soul…hers and mine. Anita has cancer.

She came to me for a spiritual healing. Her cancer had advanced and her family thought this was it. I asked her. “Do you want to live or are you ready to die? Either way I’ll help you.” She chose life. So I did my best to help her live.

Nearly four years of research, trying the best in alternative care—that was her desire—and integrating with some conventional therapies...the best of both worlds. It was a rollercoaster ride—thrilling and scary. I am not a cancer specialist. I’m a hormone specialist. But I’m really good at medical detective work. And I favor the underdog. I hate when patients are not given choices. So I try to investigate the root cause of their dis-ease and usually find something we can work on. Sometimes the root is physical. Sometimes it’s psychological. Always I dig up spiritual roots.

So in our very first consultation, I got to the heart of the matter. Clearly there was not time to waste with stage IV head and neck cancer. The conventional physicians she had consulted had not given her much hope…so she explored alternative treatments on her own. It’s sad that we don’t integrate medicine as much as we should. We are all on the wheel of health care together…why can’t we partner?

Well, at least my patients are willing to partner with me. And as far as I’m concern, it’s their dance. They pick the music, I follow their lead. And I love to dance! And I haven’t met anyone I can’t partner with on the dance floor. The secret is being open to receive them. Same with patients…if I am open to receive them…our dance is harmonious.

So I danced with Anita. Followed her lead through the slow laborious melodies and the rapid tumultuous tunes. It was always her dance, not mine. Not that I didn’t have to remind myself on more than one occasion. Like last year, just before her daughter’s wedding. We were nearly there…having accomplished the last of her goals. She wanted to attend her daughter’s wedding as healthy and happy as possible. And all looked well…except I had a niggling worry. One that wouldn’t stop pestering me. Her daughter’s wedding was what she was living for…there was nothing beyond seeing her daughter all grown up, graduated from college and happily married.

So I brought Anita home…Yes, I work at home…in an office on my property, surrounded by healing herb gardens and great energy…but never had I invited a patient to stay with me, until Anita. It was a deep healing journey for both of us. I helped her discover where her “death wish” originated. We all unconsciously and sometimes consciously direct our bodies towards dis-ease. Sometimes towards death. It begins as a belief that manifests in our body as dis-ease. Anita had hers…and I felt that my job was to enlighten her…then help her reverse the “death wish” and replace it with a “life wish”. That meant finding her purpose.

She named a possible purpose…yet before she left I asked what she learned…and her “purpose” had not stuck… She said, “Being with you, watching you take care of yourself while you take care of me, makes me realize that I’m not taking care of myself as well as I could be.”

Anita taught me a crucial lesson. BEING is more important than DOING. Walking my Talk…Being my Truth. Taking excellent care of myself physically, emotionally, spiritually left the deepest impression on Anita. When we parted, she thanked me. The following month, she attended her only daughter’s wedding—as whole as possible in the face of her disease—pain-free, able to dance all night, as she wished.

And afterwards her health diminished. Plagued by complications of metastatic cancer, she rallied for months. She tried a promising alternative therapy, yet the cancer progressed. I hesitated to order that last MRI. I knew she didn’t want to know. And we discovered the worst—the cancer had spread to her brain.

It was time to let her go…to follow yet another path…this time to a major medical center. A path she had resisted…yet at the end she had to try one more possibility. I knew the specialists would want to try more than she believed in…so I went to the hospital to see her before surgery…to be sure she understood that it was palliative, not curative. She understood but had to do it for her family…to show she tried…everything…even though she was tired…even though she was scared. That was the last time I saw her walking and talking…clear headed…determined…yet knowing there was more. She wasn’t quite ready to go then, but she had accepted her death and felt the extra time would help her daughter let her go. And the last ditch effort to save her would help her husband feel they had exhausted all possibilities. She told me then that she did not want to die in the hospital…reminded me of her wishes…and thanked me for my care.

Over the last three months, she was enmeshed in conventional cancer treatment. The specialists kept telling her everything looked good…but our phone consults, the reports from the visiting nurse, the lab reports told another story. I knew she was dying but her family did not. So I went to her home to help them let her go.

All the way there I reminded myself why I had become a Family Nurse Practitioner. This was the circle of life. I birth them and death them…it’s a dance of midwifery into the body and out of the body. Yet still it’s hard to let go.

When I arrived, Anita’s husband let out a great sigh of relief. I could feel the heavy burden he had carried for so long. I gave him a hug and greeted her daughter and son-in-law. They too were delighted to see me...and escorted me to Anita’s room.

Anita was a lilac flame…a bright and beautiful energy…very loving, a bit tender, yet strong willed. But that night her brilliance had faded. The energy of the dying fades back to white. Hers had concentrated in her heart chakra only a faintly purple glow. She didn’t have much time.

Carefully I examined her, describing to her family what I saw. Anita was resting, not comfortably and was barely lucid. Gently I explained the process of death. What would happen to her physically, mentally and energetically. They wanted to know why the doctors had not told them the truth. Just two days before, she had radiation and they had to cancel that day’s appointment. Clearly she couldn’t go. Clearly…

As hard as it is for me to let my patients go, it’s harder for doctors. Death is seen as a failure in medicine. Anita’s husband felt the same. “I don’t know what to do if I can’t fix it.”

I reassured him that they had done everything possible, but now it was Anita’s time to leave her body. I suggested things that they could do for her to help her be more comfortable and how to be with her energetically. I told them their job now was to imprint themselves with her energy, so when she chooses to come to them, they would more easily receive her. Her husband wasn’t sure about what I was describing, but I could feel his desire to know.

Her daughter got excited by the possibility and remarked how strange it was that Anita seemed to be seeing things. I perceived the energy of Anita’s mother, dead now some 20 years, in the room as soon as I entered. I smiled, “Of course, that’s your grandmother! And we’re tripping over a big dog that won’t leave your mother’s side.” Her daughter cried, “That must be Savannah! She died just before Mom came to you.”

At that moment, Anita opened her eyes and nodded vigorously. Weakly, she waved me to her. I leaned close and she barely grasped my arm and whispered, “Thank you.”

Anita died just thirty hours later. We got hospice involved just in time so the family had support. In fact, I believe her husband was finally able to let her go when he signed the hospice paperwork the next morning. I called the team who worked with her…my collaborating physician, the dedicated pharmacist, the caring nurse. Tears flowed for all of us…as we supported one another…but for Anita…she was free of her pain, finally.

Her memorial service was so well attended…she had asked her sisters-in-law to organize a family reunion that weekend. She never made it, but they were all there to say goodbye.
Her family spoke eloquently with pictures of Anita as a young woman floating in the background. But it was her husband’s choice of music that touched my soul…

“The Dance” by Garth Brooks…”I’m glad that I didn’t know.. the way it all would end, the way it all would go. Our lives are better left to chance. I could of missed the pain, but I would had to miss the dance.”

Thank you, Anita, for allowing me to dance with you.

2010-04-22T13:35:00.000-07:00

Happy Earth Day!

I hope you are having a great time here on earth. Today we celebrate our connection to our lovely planet. I have always had a strong affinity for earth, for the seasons, the natural rhythms, and how they affect my body, especially my hormones.

It seems lately that I find myself counseling patients, family and friends regarding relationships. Most of us are quite entangled and it’s difficult to be free to pursue our soul purpose when we are bound so tightly.

I wrote an article a few years ago on how to disentangle our cords of attachment. So many of my patients have found this article to be very helpful in dealing with their entangled relationships that I thought, you my readers might benefit as well. When I did the work, I freed myself to be the healthiest, happiest, hormonally balanced me I had ever been. I wish the same for you. Enjoy!

Letting Go—the Art of Disentangling our Cords of Attachment

Driving back home on Southern California freeways crowded with
tourists taking advantage of the last glorious summer weekend…an ache in my
breast, a dark shadow where the sun once shone, an eclipse in my existence…I
left my daughter, my sunshine, at the university in San Diego.

How long I’ve prepared for this transition, how many soulful meditations, how many intimate conversations with so many other mothers who have gone through this phase of life. Yet in spite of all my work, during that last kiss goodbye, the cords that
bound our hearts pulled so tight to nearly snap.

I released my son into the world four years ago, but my daughter filled up the space that he left behind, so much so that now there is a void in my heart, in my home, in my life. Having counseled my patients, hundreds of them, through life’s transitions,
I should know better, I should take my own advice. Haven’t I told them how
within the web of life, we float upon the river of consciousness, connected by
invisible threads from heart chakra to heart chakra? Attached to everyone,
and entangled with all we love, all we hate, all with whom we struggle.

So now as a mother of an empty nest, some would advise that I cut the cord for her
wellbeing and mine. But that is an old paradigm teaching and an illusion for we
can never cut ourselves off from creation. We are all on the web connected
together. There is only one of us here. We are all part of the One
Consciousness, all cells of the One Being. Every cell in my body knows it is a
part of me just like I am a part of the earth and the sun, the plants and the
creatures. Research by neuro-biologist, Candace Pert PhD, has shown that even
when cells, tissues, or whole organs are removed, that the cells “remember”
where they came from responding more like the donor than the transplant
recipient. And I am connected to my daughter, imprinted since her birth,
no matter how distant she is from me.

I know this to be true, because I can feel her emotion, especially her fear…it has waken me up in the middle of the night when she has most needed me. I trust this connection even more so than my vision. It has served me as a mother and especially as a healer. I feel my patients’ dis-ease in the mirror of my being, but I have learned over the years not to embody their imbalances. Although connected to each and every one, I have learned to disentangle from the drama of being a healer and this is what I teach to my patients.

Imagine your life color as an infinitely strong gossamer thread emerging from your heart chakra to the heart of every other living thing. Each aspect of creation has its own color, born on the rainbow of light; its own vibration, its own sound. Imagine someone you are struggling with—your spouse, your child, your parent, your boss, whoever. What is their color? Imagine their cord and your cord braided together with knots scattered here and there. These knots represent your struggles, your difficulties in the relationship, your entanglements with each other.

Most of the people I counsel—my patients, my family, my friends—complain about the dramatic struggle within their relationships, know that they must make a change, come to me for help…and I tell them to disentangle from that being they are struggling with. We do the visualization together. They see their color, they see the color of the other person, they see themselves tied up in knots, they feel this
entanglement literally as an ache in their breast, but when I begin to have them
identify the knots in their cords of attachment, while they can name the
problems that the knots represent, they have no idea how to untangle themselves.
In fact most are afraid, most claim they cannot let go.

Upon the river of consciousness we all float, but entangled with others we struggle for breath, trussed together heart to heart, only one can breathe at a time, while the other holds her breath and prays. Everyone in our lives is a mirror to our souls, each
reflecting back what we most need to learn, the judgments we hold of our
humanity. What we like in another is what we appreciate in ourselves, what we
dislike is what we need to change or accept in us.

So how can you see in the mirror if your nose is pressed to the glass? That is why my patients struggle with disentanglement because they cannot see clearly what the lesson is in the struggle with another.

So I help them identify the most recent knot and going back in time a few more knots. Oh, they can name the knots, but not the gifts. What gifts? What could possibly be good about these struggles? Why, I tell them, every struggle is a gift that must be unwrapped. To receive the gift, first you must recognize it as a gift. Not all gifts have lovely exteriors in fact the most precious may be very ugly.

My Nana used to wrap up her garbage. Living in the city, the more compact the trash, the more likely the trash man would take it away, except Nana used to wrap it so nicely that Poppop would find it left on the step. The trash man thought it was a gift, so lovely was the wrapping. You see, you can’t always tell by the wrapping; life’s gifts are rarely wrapped so nicely.

Recently, my husband struggled with letting our daughter grow up. Once when he overstepped his parental boundaries, she told him after raising him for eighteen years she was done! He cried, “but I don’t know how to let you go.” She turned him over to me, “Mom, remember those cords of attachment? Dad needs your help.”

So I explained the concept and he amazed me by visualizing their life colors just as I do. He is forest-green, she—golden as sunshine. He could see how they were tied together in a lovely fishtail braid, and he could see the knots, especially how they struggled with her growing independence, but he couldn’t see the gift in lifting her curfew and allowing her some freedom before she took off to college. He could only see the sleeplessness until she arrived home at night, the worry about her making safe decisions. I pointed out that unlike his good friend who had not loosened the
reins on his daughter, my husband after weeks of suffering adapted slowly albeit
surely, finally falling asleep well before she arrived home. When she is away at
college, he will rest, but his poor friend will not.

My husband agreed, but still struggled with receiving the gift of the knot, claiming, “I don’t want to let her go.” Heartbreakingly honest. Fearing to let go, fearing that we may not be able to float on our own in the river of consciousness, not trusting that we are still connected, we struggle and tighten the knots.

I did this same exercise over two years ago, while writing my first book. I wrote from the perspective of the heroine and like most novelists I used those in my life to
base my characters. Envisioning how “Mary” would disentangle her cords of
attachment to “Teoma”, I realized I must disentangle from my husband. For three
days, he refused to go to work, sick to his stomach. I didn’t have a chance,
while nursing him, to do the meditation let alone write it. Finally he returned
to work and I opened myself to receive the gift of the encounter with my laptop.
While writing Mary’s disentanglement from Teoma, I disentangled my violet life
cord from my husband’s vibrant green. The knots of our most recent
struggles all the way back to those formed when our son was born prematurely.
The older knots were so well fermented I could sip the sweet wine of their gifts
easily. The more recent knots—like our struggle with our changing roles as
parents and the interference writing a book brought to our daily life—were more
acrid in their newness, but I took the bitter cup and using the lubrication of
love, found the gifts.

Mary and I floated free, breathing easily in the river of consciousness, while Teoma struggled to cling to the bank feeling very much abandoned. The moment I pushed “save”, my husband called. He was having a horrible day and “felt abandoned.” In spite of my reassurance, it took three weeks of repetitive visualizations before he relaxed and I no longer felt the painful ache of his sense of abandonment mirrored in my heart.

Now I did this same visualization with my son, disentangling my violet from his indigo. My knots of expectation in his success in school were more difficult to unravel
than the original knot between us representing his difficult birth. All the
challenges of his prematurity and his numerous endocrine problems became one of
my most profound gifts. He is why I do what I do, why I became an expert in
clinical neuro-immune-endocrinology. The more recent knot representing my
struggle with allowing him to be on his own, trusting that he would be safe and
happy in a world without my constant maternal influence was a bit more
difficult. The well hidden gift turned out to be…accepting my transformation as
a mother from nurturer-protector to confidante-advisor. In accepting him, I
accepted myself. Twenty-four hours after I loosened the last knot between us, my
wise son called me from college in San Francisco. “What are you doing down
there, Mom? I feel lighter than ever!” I explained the disentanglement and he
encouraged me to continue and “let go of us all, even yourself, and see, how
enlightened you can be.”

So I did. Each and every significant person in my life, I disentangled from, I felt more and more free and my relationships with each person changed, transformed by love into something finer. I even disentangled from all I believed myself to be—a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a healer, a woman, even from Deborah—and discovered my truth, which is joy.

Since disentangling from our daughter while she was a sophomore in high
school, now that the time had come to let her grow up and go away to college, I
am handling it better than I did with my son. With him, my body reminded me of
the pain of birthing…I suffered from a sciatic condition (just like when I gave
birth) that lasted from the moment I helped him fill out his college
applications to the day I drove him up to the University of San Francisco. Now
with my daughter, the pain is a bittersweet heartache, not physically
manifested. The kind of ache that actually feels good, like watching a sad movie
and crying your heart out and knowing the joy of being human is to feel
passionately.

In fact my ethereal connection with my children has been so acutely enhanced since disentangling from them, that I realize the knots of my entanglements interfered with the clarity of my perceptions. Since letting my daughter grow up, I sleep soundly, only twice bolting out of bed, feeling her panic and calmly contacting her (via the telephone, since telepathy is difficult through the veil of fear) and all was well. I’ve taught her to trust the inner knowing and realize that through trial and error she will learn to ride the wave of our ethereal connection.

Actually when it came time to escort our daughter to college, my husband did pretty well. He cried of course, and while at first resisting disentanglement, he admitted to having worked on it and yes, he felt lighter, less fearful, more willing to let her go and trust she will be well. And we have both begun to receive the gift of her leaving, becoming closer than ever, falling in love all over again—just the two of us.

So how might you release the illusion of your entanglements? Envision your life color, whatever comes to you is fine, then envision the color of the other person. Your
red cord and her blue cord are braided nicely for the most part, but knotted in
places. Like a precious necklace entangled into the thread of a silk
sweater you do not want to break either, but carefully loosen the knots using
the lubrication of love. I live near the beach and off the coast, derricks pump
oil from the floor of the Pacific Ocean. Often I come home with tar stuck to the
soles of my feet. Only oil gets it off—like dissolving like. These knots in your
cords of attachment seem like tar, but they are gifts of love and only the
lubrication of love can dissolve the knots. If you look with eyes of love you
can find the gift in each knot. It’s not easy, but after two or three knots, the
entangled cords start unraveling, setting you free to float in the river of
consciousness. You do not need to share with the person you are releasing what
you have done, but your relationship WILL change.

No matter how ugly the wrapping, there is always a gift of love waiting to be discovered. So just let go. Disentangling your cords of attachment will free you to be your truth—the most precious gift of all.

Copyright 2006 Deborah Maragopoulos MN FNP

2010-03-27T09:38:00.000-07:00

Happy Spring!

Since I celebrate my birthday on the vernal equinox, spring has always represented a special time for me. Growth and rebirth within is reflected by the beauty of Mother Nature outside. Here in Ojai, spring blossoms in glorious colors—mountains green from the winter rains overlook meadows where purple lupine dances with golden poppies. Here, camellias still bloom alongside roses that never wintered. My lush herb garden invites family and patients to sit and contemplate our blessings.

Yes, we are blessed to be here on this earth at this time. Great change is occurring. Political shifts and financial collapse are mirrored by the earth as quakes and tsunamis. We are transforming with our home. New diseases appear, species of plants and animals die or mutate, our very genetic code expresses the shift.

I have been receiving more emails from people around the world affected physically and emotionally by this transformation. My health care practice includes addressing the biological, psychological and spiritual roots of
dis-ease. We are not just a body, but energy communicating with matter. We interpret our reality through our perceptive and reactive minds. I find the body symptoms a wonderful way to understand our soul lessons.

I believe that this body is our vehicle for transformation and through our human forms, we can achieve enlightened states of being.

I recently got an email from a young woman who had a traumatic kundalini experience that resulted in physical and emotional problems. Kundalini is the energy believed to rise through the chakras (the power points that correspond with the endocrine glands) as one achieves an enlightened state. She asked if there were any therapies that could help her regain her health and still hold the higher vibration of her awakening.

During my 25 years of practicing Intuitive Integrative Medicine, I have encountered many spiritual seekers who were physically out of balance. Although certainly I seek spiritual enlightenment, I do not wish to sacrifice my health. I believe that if we support our bodies on the physical level, that holding the higher vibration of enlightened states is not only possible but joyous and without suffering or dis-ease. Partly this is a choice. We tend to believe that only through suffering do we achieve growth. But what if, joy was the way?

I think that is what is happening in the world. The old paradigms are breaking down to make room for the new. Joy is replacing suffering!
This hopefulness reflects my mantra of Choosing Love…always believing the best, trusting that all will be well, not living in fear, but in gratitude…Choosing Love led to my creation of Genesis Gold.

I have found since consuming Genesis Gold over the past 10 years, my body is able to withstand tremendous growth emotionally and spiritually, not just survive, but thrive. Although still very passionate with powerful emotions, the soul lessons are very clear to my inquiring mind and my body does not manifest dis-ease to help teach me.

People are often surprised at my age…I celebrated my 49th birthday last week…I guess, I don’t look and certainly don’t feel like I have been on earth nearly 50 years! I believe Genesis Gold helps me age more gracefully. You should see my mom! No one would guess she’s nearly 70! She also faithfully takes Genesis Gold.

The stress of life can age us, make us sick, and very tired. Certainly life has dished out stressors for me too. The last five months has been hectic with three of my elderly relatives critically ill, two at the same time! And all, I chose to help as caretaker, nurse, medical advisor. It was a great learning experience for me, teaching me the importance of self-care. A lesson I teach my patients yet the universe must have thought I needed a bit more empathy.

Now, I know how hard it is to be a caretaker and manage a family and household while working and still take care of myself. I have great admiration for all the women and men who choose the path of caring for the elderly. It was a blessing to be able to spend this precious time with aging loved ones. And I am grateful to have Genesis Gold not just to support my body, but help me live in the moment and receive the blessing of life’s drama.

So today on the first full moon of spring, I celebrate life with you. These seasonal communications help me to realize the blessings in my life. Thank you for the blessing of your readership. And have a glorious spring.

May you have Abundant Health and Happiness,

Deborah Maragopoulos MN FNP
Transforming Health—Body, Mind and Soul.
http://www.genesisgold.com/

2010-03-16T16:31:00.000-07:00

So Your PSA is High!

First of all do not panic. Just recently in Medscape news, the scientist who discovered PSA wrote an article on how the test is being abused. In his opinion PSA best shows cancer progression but is NOT a good indicator of cancer in the first place.

As a hormone specialist, I've been following a few middle aged men with creeping PSA's for years now. They have chosen not to have a biopsy because of the likelihood of spreading encapsulated cancerous cells and possibly causing malignant disease. The body as it ages has to deal with cells going crazy-- otherwise known as cancer or mutated DNA. White blood cells known as lymphocytes eradicate the abnormal cells or encapsulate the tissue. All normal aging process.

Prostate Specific Antigen or PSA is a measurement of a protein produced by the prostate. PSA elevates with enlarging prostates, either from inflammation, infection or testosterone deficiency. Prostates look for more testosterone, thus all aging men have lower levels of testosterone than they did as youths and the prostate enlarges to "suck" up more testosterone to convert to the active form--dihydrotestosterone. The amount FREE or unbound by protein in the blood serum is the percentage of how much PSA circulates free compared to the total PSA.

Men with 15-25% of their PSA free (unbound) are considered within normal limits.
Over 25% PSA free (known as free PSA or fPSA) usually indicates an enlarged prostate.
Less than 15% free PSA is suspicious for dysplasia or early cancer.
Less than 7% is highly suspicious of cancer.

If you are going to have your PSA levels measured than be sure and ejaculate within a week of the test but no sooner than 3 days for the most accurate result. AND never have a PSA test after a digital rectal exam. Touching the prostate will raise circulating PSA levels.

If your PSA is elevated than a percentage free PSA must be measured.

The most I recommend for marginally elevated PSA levels (4-10) with a high percentage free is a prostate ultrasound, not a biopsy. Being surgeons, urologists favor biopsies as standard care. I am concerned about spreading early disease and would rather boost my patients’ immune system to help them eradicate crazy cancer cells themselves, using the PSA levels to monitor prostate inflammation.

That's why the scientist who discovered PSA was so disturbed. So many men undergo unnecessary biopsies based on a test that was never meant to be used as a screening test.

It's like using a Ca125 to screen all women for ovarian cancer. It means very little in the general population but for those with ovarian cancer, it is highly sensitive marker of cancer growth. If we used this test on women like we use PSA on men, many would undergo unnecessary surgery because Ca125 can elevate for many other gynecological inflammatory conditions.

So if your PSA is elevated, breathe. Do some investigation as to the cause.

Do you have a strong family history of prostate cancer? If so, then follow your PSA and if rapid elevation with high percentage free PSA then seek specialist care for further investigation (ultrasound and possible biopsy)
Do you have signs and symptoms of testosterone deficiency? (low libido, erectile dysfunction, insomnia, night sweats, anxiety, depression, poor muscle tone, low energy, brain fog) If so, then get tested by a hormone specialist.
Are you experiencing signs of enlarged prostate? (frequent urination, nocturia, difficulty voiding or emptying your bladder, weak urinary stream, rectal pain or heaviness following ejaculation) If so, then you may need a urine analysis, then digital rectal exam followed by a post exam urine analysis. The two urine tests are compared to differentiate between bladder and prostate infections.

I have used testosterone replacement therapy in my male patients with elevated PSA levels (totally against conventional thinking) with subsequent lowering of PSA levels. I have had excellent results with Genesis Gold in harmonizing male hormone levels for those men who do not wish to use hormone replacement therapy (HRT). And for those who do use HRT, Genesis Gold helps them metabolize hormones safely and can help decrease their dose, so less is more.

An added benefit of using Genesis Gold as a foundation formula is the boost to immune function. Supporting the stressed and aging immune system helps the body fight disease including cancer.

Saw Palmetto, pygeum, pumpkin seed oil, all help to decrease prostate inflammation and can help lower PSA.

Being a holistic practitioner, I address the triad of mind-body-soul health. I find that men with prostate issues are more likely to lack a creative outlet in their lives. When our time to procreate is over, we energetically need a means for healthy creative expression. Some of my male patients have discovered that they are quite talented artists; others find that creating a garden, remodeling a room, rebuilding an engine to be creative outlets. Volunteering to coach young athletes, lead boy scouts, build stages for youth productions provide a creative outlet for many of my retired patients. Some find that being involved with their grandchildren helping to create healthy families to be their best creation ever. A healthy sex life with a loving partner does wonders to boost self esteem, hormone production and lower prostate inflammation.

Be Well,

Deborah Maragopoulos MN FNP
Intuitive Integrative Medicine
http://www.genesisgold.com/

2010-02-03T16:59:00.000-08:00

Healthy hormone production requires healthy fat consumption. Steroid hormones are made from cholesterol. Cell membranes are fatty acid enriched. Like a butter sandwich, cell membranes are made up of two layers glycoproteins (the bread) with phospholipids in between (the butter). Within the butter imagine olives—little doorways that allow hormones into cells—these hormone receptor sites require omega-3’s for healthy function.

Fish oils are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), that help hormones function properly.

Healthy fat consumption begins in utero. In the last trimester of pregnancy, the fetus gets bathed in DHA which is crucial for neurological development, visual acuity, and cognition. Most American women do not eat enough seaweeds and fish to have adequate DHA available for their unborn children, nor enough to supply in their breast milk.

Babies born to women who do not consume enough healthy fat, specifically DHA have a higher risk of developmental delays and learning disabilities. Studies have shown that healthy DHA supplemented babies reach developmental milestones like sitting, standing, crawling and walking sooner than unsupplemented infants.

It is recommended that pregnant and nursing mothers supplement with 300mg per day of pure DHA. A sea algae source or a mercury free fish oil source is recommended. Breast fed infants usually consume enough DHA…if the mother is consuming at lease 300mg of DHA daily.

If infants are formula fed than it is recommended that DHA be added at 100mg of sea algae source per one bottle per day. Adjust the dose if the infant is both formula and breast fed by a mother who is supplementing her diet with 300mg of DHA per day. For instance, a working mother may only breast feed her infant once in the morning, once in the evening and once in the middle of the night. The infant may be taking at least 3 bottles of formula while the mother works, so the supplemental DHA need is only 50mg.

Unless an infant is solely breast fed by a mother who consumes at least 300mg of DHA per day, then DHA should be supplemented for the first two years of life.

A good source of DHA is Neuromins 100mg capsules which can be poked and squeezed into formula. Once the infant is eating food, mix the DHA into cereal or applesauce, since it doesn’t mix well into formula. DHA supplements for children are often flavored with citrus oils. Citrus should not be fed to infants under 1 year of age as it is an allergen inducing food, like egg whites, chocolate, wheat, strawberries and cow’s milk.

Start off healthy hormone production for you and your child by supplementing with DHA daily.

2009-12-21T07:06:00.000-08:00

2009… What a year!

Not a recession, but a transformation. We began by choosing our annual mantra—rejuvenation. Commencing with our house…deconstructing and then reconstructing our kitchen. My husband, Steve, and I love to cook, so updating our 1950’s kitchen was a gift to ourselves, a rejuvenation of our passion. Yet the heart of our home in utter chaos for five months was difficult to bear. With the removal of our stove, my muse left. I expected to finish book two of the LoveDance series this year, but… Life happens.

During the chaos of remodeling, Steve protected Santa Barbara at night, and spent his days coaching high school track. With our children away at college, time with the local kids brings Steve a blessed break from police work.

Mid summer found us spending precious time with our children. Jarys, now 25, lives in San Francisco, supervising an after school program and working on his teaching credentials. Twenty-one year old Kyra is applying for nursing school, finishing up her prereqs at San Diego State University. Both very, very busy and at the opposite ends of the state! We are so very proud of them, yet miss them so very much.

The highlight of our summer was a romantic anniversary trip to Cancun. Even after 26 years of marriage, Steve and I are passionate about each other. We wish our children the joy of finding their soul mates too.

After losing our beloved Sara last December, we searched the Border Collie rescues for another. Finally in September, on Sara’s birthday, we got Charlie. Imagine Santa’s Little Helper from the Simpsons in black and white. Well, that’s our Charlie. Hope, our Great Dane is ecstatic. Pippin, the cat, is tolerant. Puppy training precluded writing and then… life happens again.

After returning from speaking at the national nurse practitioner conference in October, I got a call from Steve’s 90 year old grandmother. Her caretaker—Steve’s mom was deathly ill. We rescued them both, took Gran home and his mom to the ER. Thankfully Mom Maragopoulos survived her odyssey with modern medicine to rehab in our beautiful healing home. Keeping my finger on the pulse reminded me why I no longer practice conventional medicine. Intuitive Integrative Medicine has served my patients, my family, and my soul purpose very well, thank the Divine. All during the kitchen chaos, the summer lull, the fall fiasco, business was busier than ever. Patients presented themselves to receive the lessons of gratitude, self-nurturing, and patience I was learning from life.

Like caterpillars in a chrysalis, we transformed in seeming stillness. No great accomplishments, yet here we are facing 2010 ready to emerge from our cocoon as butterflies. I pray you and yours are rejuvenated this New Year, transformed by love as we have been.

Blessings of health, happiness, and love,

Deborah

2009-10-29T08:33:00.000-07:00

How About Holism for Health Care Reform?

When are we going to think out of the box? I just got off the phone with Bob, the local cardiologist. Last week, I did an urgent run down to the valley to pick up my gravely ill mother-in-law and brought her to our small community hospital. Admitted through the emergency room with aspiration pneumonia and congestive heart failure, she was at death’s door. Bob took over her care in the Intensive Care Unit and literally saved her life. Bless his heart, Bob called to check on her.

As a family nurse practitioner and her only daughter-in-law, I am her health care agent, the one who legally has the responsibility to make medical decisions for her if she cannot make them herself. My 70 year old mother-in-law is a retired nurse and primary caretaker for her 90 year old mother. I had to take them both…Gran to the house to be cared for by my husband and my mother-in-law to the emergency room. Having her in the ICU close to home was easier on all of us.

The family questioned if she would be better off in a tertiary care center. I said “No, too many cooks in the kitchen ruins the soup.” So all on his own, our small town cardiologist used his head to figure out what was wrong. I assisted by gathering all her pertinent medical records so he didn’t have to start from scratch. I gave him a thorough history on her and my blessings.

Within 48 hours, we had discovered that the cause of all this woe was a slipped lap band. You know…the surgery to lose weight…well, her lap band slipped causing the regurgitation that resulted in aspiration pneumonia, hypoxia and an ischemic event of the myocardium….AKA…a heart attack. Now she had a biliary obstruction….quickly becoming jaundiced and heading to liver failure. She was a poor surgical risk to begin with and now she was worse. But to leave in the lap band was more risky than the risk of surgery. So once stabilized, she was shipped to an advanced state of the art hospital so her bariometric surgeon could remove the offending device.

That was five days ago. She is getting worse…bilirubin rising, more jaundiced, less lucid, unable to make her own medical decisions. Why? Because the cardiologists in the grand medical center cannot agree, so the surgeon fears to remove the lap band until he has cardiac clearance. Everyday they wait, she gets weaker.

This is modern medicine. Oh, she’s had all the state of the art testing. Two MRI’s, a CT scan. Lots of look-sees, but no action. I had to pull teeth to get her surgeon to talk to me! He believes she’s lucid…while she is clearly delusional, wondering when we will have the nursing staff over for a barbeque! He ordered a brain scan because of her weakness and memory loss, while it seems obvious her liver is poisoning her brain. My grandfather died of cirrhosis of the liver. He too was swollen, weak, yellow and delusional… just like my mother-in-law.

Lots of tests and no one is looking at the patient. No one is looking at the whole picture. Too afraid of liability. Warped by their boxed in myopic vision. Something has to give. Unfortunately, my-mother-in-law may give her life for the ineptitude of modern medicine. Not because of lack of education, lack of technology, lack of science, but for the lack of thinking out of the box, for the lack of viewing the patient holistically.

What is happening to my mother-in-law is the reason heath care costs are so out of control and health care outcomes are so poor in this country.

I got a call a few weeks ago from my father…also a Medicare patient. He had been suffering from progressive weakness, climbed up a ladder and fell. Nothing serious. He was more concerned that he lost his balance and didn’t have the strength in his arms to catch himself. So in fear and pushed by frantic relatives, he went to the emergency room. Of course they found nothing related to this chronic condition. Nothing on the CT scan, the blood tests, the x-rays. He couldn’t understand, so he called me.

I explained that emergency rooms are great to save your life. Testing is to rule out life threatening conditions that could cause immediate demise. Using the ER to diagnose chronic illness is an inefficient waste of resources. Unfortunately doctors and hospitals often use technology to protect themselves from malpractice. Another reason health care costs are so high.

No one—not his primary care provider, not the ear, nose and throat doctor, not the neurologist—asked my father about his living situation. He lives alone in a toxic environment. He won’t listen to his family, not even his three daughters who happen to be nurses. But a quick review of his blood work together with knowing him as a human being, socially, emotionally, mentally…it seems clear that his woes are rooted in his home. A doctor, he would listen to. If only a doctor would get to know him.

Oh well. Family can be the most challenging for all of us, especially us health care providers!

I am stymied by the attitude of medicine. At the last conventional medical conference I attended, one lecturer reported research on how Tylenol interfered with Coumadin. Lots of data, but nothing on the biochemistry of the problem. So I went up and asked what aspects of the hepatic detoxification pathways were involved in the drug interaction. Phase I P450 enzymes or phase II conjugation? The doctor held up his hand and said very slowly and very loudly, “I am a lung doctor, not a liver doctor.”

I was flabbergasted! “Doctor, don’t all your pulmonary patients have livers?” He nodded. “So wouldn’t it behoove you to know the biochemistry of this drug interaction so you can guide them regarding the foods they eat and the supplements they take?” looked at me hopelessly. Had he forgotten basic human physiology—the college course all health care professionals must take? In the managed care system, he doesn’t have time to learn let alone educate.

Medicine has splintered into so many specialties that health care is fractured. Patients do not receive holistic care in most conventional medical practices. How dependent we have become on medical tests. Lots of technological data that provide “sound bites” of information. But no musical score, nothing to dance to…so few partner with their patients. Few get to know their patients. Few spend the time to provide wellness counseling. Have we sacrificed the art of healing for the science of medicine?

I am blessed to be able to practice outside of conventional old paradigm medicine in a community that rewards holistic thinking. The current health care system does not reward holism which is why I do not accept insurance. Yet patients come from around the world to pay out of their pocket for a consultation with me. Why? Because I spend the time to get to know them well enough to get to the root of their problem. I blend the science of medicine with the art of healing to partner with patients that are committed to do their healing work. It is time for a change! I am not the only one who can practice in this manner.

Ironically, the day before I picked up my gravely ill mother-in-law, I was in New Mexico speaking at the national nurse practitioner conference. I taught my colleagues how to recession proof their practices by adopting a holistic medical model and practicing integrated medicine. Not as well received as I would of liked, but as well as I expected. Few believe they can escape the rigid cage of insurance/pharmaceutical driven health care. I do have hope for my profession. But more so I have faith in the patients to force us to change.

I propose a new paradigm of medicine. I call it Intuitive Integrative Medicine. One in which we utilize all our gifts as healers, our intuitive knowing, coupled with our vast education, and really listen to our patients. Partner with them. Teach them how to access the healer within. Most of my colleagues would greatly benefit from learning to heal themselves holistically. I am not professing that we throw out all our modern technological wonders, but to use technology judiciously, to look at the patient, not just the tests.

When health care providers begin to think out of the box to evaluate their patients holistically only then will we be a healthy nation…physically, psychologically and financially.

Deborah Maragopoulos MN APRN BC FNP
practices Intuitive Integrative Medicine in Ojai, California.
http://www.genesisgold.com/

2009-10-12T08:38:00.000-07:00

I'm back from my spirit trip!

I just returned from New Mexico where I spoke at the national nurse practitioner conference. My topic was Recession Proof your Practice, but truly I shared a primer on how to manifest your reality. For me, this recession has been a joyous transformation, financially my best year yet as I float upon the river of consciousness open to receive the gift of each and every encounter.

Truly I manifest my reality as we all do. This weekend was no exception. One quite enlightened retired NP embraced me after my presentation and said that she wished I had been available when she was practicing because she never came out of the closet as an intuitive. She recognized that my audience was not receptive to my light and advised that as I manifest my practice, I must manifest my audience, then she offered her support energetically in my journey.

I did manifest that audience for I had little hope. While most of my colleagues are not yet ready to think out of the box of the insurance driven model of conventional medicine, a few received me. For that I am grateful.

My intention for this trip was to have a spirit journey. I did not make any plans but “saw” myself with a friend having a spiritual experience. As I drove down to the airport on Wednesday afternoon, I took a chance and called my friend. After a year of not connected, I was surprised she picked up! She was happy to see me but couldn’t come to Albuquerque where I would be speaking since she was having a family gathering but would love to have me. Unfortunately no rental cars would be available during the annual hot air balloon fiesta. I envisioned myself there and upon arrival checked with the rental car company at the hotel. Alas no cars…but I left my number and went about exploring the historic Route 66 on foot J

The next morning, I took a long walk to Old Town, had a nice light breakfast, returned to the hotel and packed a bag in preparation to visit my friend who lived over 160 miles southeast. I then got a phone call from the rental car company…that a car was available. So I called my friend for directions. She didn’t pick up! I went down to the lobby ready to go and prayed…she called back with directions.

What an amazing trip! A very long drive through the desert…without cell reception and very few signs of civilization. Then I headed up the mountains into gorgeous vistas and arrived on her property. We had a special time connecting, experiencing each other’s healing hands (she is a naturopath), then she took me to see a grandmother tree. An ancient alligator juniper that we embraced together…how very healing! On her property I perceived the energy of ancient civilizations. She confirmed my perceptions from recent archeological datings of remains. With a kiss and a hug, I left after dark…not the brightest plan. The deer, antelope and exotic oryx are in rut, so I wrapped white light around me and called in my guardian angels. Thank goodness, because about 40 miles later as I was opening a water bottle to take a sip, something jumped out of the dark. I hit my brakes and they locked up, spinning the car around once, twice, three times. As if in slow motion, I conversed with my angels…hey, a little help please. I landed two feet from the guard rail…safe and sound! A lesson in being present….my mind was back at the hotel!

On Saturday morning I took a hot air balloon ride. It was amazing! The most wonderful part was the connection I made with another nurse practitioner who truly seems to get what I have to offer. After the balloon ride, we all went to breakfast at a great New Mexican cafe in Old Town Albuquerque. The food was spicy and the conversation invigorating. Now because of my very passionate energy, I tend to excite others. Many wish to be a part of my vision, yet most are "talking heads" as my husband so accurately describes them. But this time, she really listened (or perhaps I felt received). When I voiced that while I am a healer, a teacher and a visionary, I am not a facilitator, she replied, "That is what I am."

I truly went to New Mexico with the intention of having a spirit trip. My dream is to teach healers to heal themselves....spiritually, emotionally and physically. I pray that this time I might fulfill my dream.

2009-08-26T16:28:00.000-07:00

Body Connections

What is this body which we seem so familiar, yet know so little of its wisdom? The body is the perfect vehicle for the soul in this third dimensional reality. It is through the dense, sensual physical body that the soul learns its deepest lessons and experiences its most precious gift. Creation is via the human body. The soul’s journey back to the eternal, to the infinite is through the human body. This earth and her human inhabitants are the most precious path in the infinite garden of creation. We are the Way.

Through the body do we realize our full human angelic potential. Within the temple of the body exists all the knowledge needed to make the journey. Through the body in relationship to other human beings with physical bodies do we experience the greatest gift of all, emotion. Emotion is the path to the soul, the body is the garden in which the path takes form. Matter begets reality through the biochemistry of the thought fueled by emotion.

The human body manifests for the soul’s appraisal symbolically. Spirit’s first garden is the body. The physicality of the body provides the fertile soul upon which thought sows the seeds of imagination and nourishes it with emotion. The quality of emotion and the clarity of thought directs the rapidity and solidity of the physical manifestation within the body. Disease and injury are born of fear, health and growth are born of love. Clear vision of wellbeing provides the matrix upon which the healthy, vibrant body becomes. Imagination fraught with horrific ideas of infirmity reaps a frail, sick, disfigured body.

The body, the garden/ the soul, the gardener. Thoughts are seeds, emotion is water which brings these seeds to life in the body. When we realize our full potential as the manifestors of our own physical reality, then we begin tending our body garden with compassion. We direct our thoughts to clear visions of vitality and carefully water these thought seeds with the waters of life giving emotion that of love.

Soon we begin to realize that we are manifesting our beliefs in the world around us. In the people who mirror our thoughts, fed by our emotions. We note that what we intend becomes. We become careful to think loving thoughts and to tend our vivid imaginations with care. We are like children in our magical thinking allowing our imagination to manifest to reality and playing in the garden of our making. We realize that we are co-creators in this life and become conscious of our power. We shed our egos as we release our fears and manifest in love.

First we come to love our bodies. We come to understand our bodies, deeply familiarizing ourselves with the miraculous nature of our physiology, the beauty of our anatomy. We begin to see the magic in creation and claim our right to brew the most delicious nectar of creation within our body cauldrons. With the up-regulation of the full genetic encodement, we begin to experience health and vitality. The brew is wrought from ingestion of all that is needed for biochemical symphony. Once the hormones are singing harmoniously, the DNA dances vitality.

We can heal anything if we imagine ourselves as healed vital beings and are in deep gratitude for our lives. We must choose life, vitality, health, happiness. We must choose love. Love is always one of the potentials, in fact love is at the core of every potential. By choosing love, we are given the choicest cut of life, rather than having to chew through the gristle of fear to taste the center of love. When we are faced with hardship, we are challenged to find the love within the pain. Illness as a blessing rather than a curse becomes the way back to our true essence which is that of love. Choose love, choose life, just choose consciously.

Keep Your Hormones in Harmony™ with Genesis Gold®.

Many Blessings,

Deborah

2009-08-16T17:34:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love our cosmic cycles?
Once again my perspective has shifted.

Last Grandmother's council, I shared a dream I had of a golden bear.

This great creature entered my mundane life (I was in the Home Depot shopping for jasmine). No one else noticed the huge yellowish-orange bear. I crouched down, slowed my heart and breath and waited. It lumbered over to snuffle my face before preceding to tap my third eye and my right eye over and over with its claw. Then it hunkered over me, pulling me into the protection of its form. It felt like that delicious sensation when spooning with my husband and he pulls me into his body...safe and beloved. As I relaxed into the bear's embrace, it transformed into a man...naked and hairy. I rose to face him. He was all men. The first MAN and he knew me. Then he disappeared. A girl friend of mine approached and said, "That is the aspect of the Divine Masculine that has been forgotten."

This summer for me has been infused with bear energy as I have spent much time going inward in introspection. Interestingly enough the men have come forward. Bear-like men...strong yet with a sweet core. And I am not rushing forward, yet enjoying the slow dance...what a relief from my former frenetic pace. I know not where I am going...yet I trust all will be well. And the great womb is lush with potential, sweet with honey like a golden bear.

I leave this week to bask in the hot sun on a white sand beach with my precious husband...(a belated anniversary trip!) So from the gulf of Mexico, I shall set my intentions this new moon.

May we each enjoy a flexible spine and will, open hearts with loving connections, and abundant energy to enjoy cool days and passionate nights ;)

With Love, Deborah

2009-08-05T09:57:00.000-07:00

CHOOSING LOVE

Who do we know has a carefree life?

No one! Everyone has issues, some greater, some lesser. How we deal with them is learned form our parents, our extended families, our neighbors, our communities, our heritage, our religions and then our own trials and errors or successes teach us how to be in the world.

Yet there is more…a perspective that we come in with, that we are born with.
We either choose to view our life circumstances through the lenses of love or fear. These can be learned. Fear is the most prominently taught in the school of life.

If we choose Fear—
The glass is half empty. We do not trust. We rarely give of our true selves to others. We attract more fear through our innate vulnerability and anger. We feel less than and act this out by being a victim or a victimizer.

If we choose Love—
The glass is half full. We trust that all will be well. We attract more love, peace, joy and beauty for we become the embodiment of love.

It’s not that by choosing Love, we feel more than. It’s not that we never experience fear, never have bad stuff happen to us. It’s just that by choosing love, we receive the gifts of all life events. We recognize our fear and fear in others as the absence of love. We shine the light of love into the darkness of fear and find our way through the veil. We learn rapid soul lessons, striving to progress, yet grateful for every opportunity—the good, the bad, and the ugly. Life doesn’t hold us down but lifts us up with opportunities to experience love everywhere.

In choosing Love, we know oneness, yet seek the Divine in everything. The Divine is Love. And the Divine is in everything we touch, everything we experience, everything we are. For We are Love.

May you always choose Love,

Deborah Maragopoulos MN FNP
Intuitive Integrative Medicine
www.lovedance.com

2009-07-22T21:15:00.000-07:00

JOYOUS TRANSFORMATIONS

I hope this finds you enjoying this blessed summer. Yes, “blessed”. For even in the midst of this economic recession…there is a great transformation occurring. It is during still times, hard times, challenging times that we enter the chrysalis of spiritual transformation. Thing may not seem to be moving, but they are underneath the surface. Just as a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly during the seemingly quiescent cocoon phase, so are we transforming into our higher selves.

I should know this day well, but alas it snuck up on me. Today, we honor Saint Mary Magdalen. Thanks to Mary, I transformed. While writing LoveDance, I learned some deep spiritual lessons. As I wrote it, it would manifest in my life. I awakened to my Higher Self during the composition, editing and publishing of Book One.

Not fully realized, I began Book Two of the trilogy. I finished part one and then got stuck. I attributed my lack of inspiration to my inability to cook. Cooking for me is a passionate outlet, could be my Italian heritage J. We just “survived” a five month kitchen remodel, in which my precious stove was out of commission. No cooking, no writing…

Then finally my stove was installed. As soon as I baked my first luscious tart…chocolate hazelnut mouse tart with a fine hazelnut crust…a gourmet recipe that taxed my skills and those of my Viking….and my muse returned! Visions of book two flooded my awareness, yet my healing practice took up my time.

Once again lessons from my life. At this particular time I am grateful to be in witness of amazing strides by my brave patients who are growing in leaps and bounds. I always have known that we revisit lessons for our soul's growth and now the time was ripe to summarize what I was experiencing and witnessing. So for your kind review, I present:

The 7 Layers of Soul Lessons

1) Red Layer: represents first chakra. It’s all about survival. We struggle to make our way through tough life lessons. Most of humanity barely survives life’s lessons. Not yet searching for meaning, those of us who do make it celebrate our survival from dis-ease, loss, trauma, etc. It’s as if we fought a war and won. We honor survivors. If they can do it, then so can we.

2) Orange Layer: represents second chakra. It’s all about gathering the sweetness of the lesson and trying to move on. We look for meaning in the lesson—what we learned. We love the “enlightened sayings” of those who appreciate the sweetness of life. It makes us feel good to share our hard earned wisdom, to read about or watch others’ stories that seem to end happily. It gives us hope. Receiving the blessing of the lesson is where forgiveness begins.

3) Yellow Layer: represents third chakra. It’s all about balancing will and emotion. Although this is a deeper layer, it feels less than. You thought you learned your lesson and here it is like a bad rerun rearing its ugly head. You know you should feel better about the lesson, but fear creeps in as it repeats itself again and you try to will it away, move on, not stoop to just surviving as you did in the beginning. You try to count your blessings but the sweetness has bittered. Time to release your fear. This is the place most of us get stuck. This is what wears us out, when our adrenals crash, our health fails, we age, we wish to die.

4) Green Layer: represents the fourth chakra. It’s all about compassion…for self! Here we learn to love ourselves. There is an energy of gratitude for our humanness. This is the deepest level of forgiveness when we can be grateful for the players in the drama of our lives. Those who seem most enlightened exist here. They express compassion to others for they have learned self compassion. The beloved teachers and gurus have shown us how to be human and live in the heart. But more lessons are to come…

5) Blue Layer: represents the fifth chakra. It’s all about truth. Your truth. Fully digesting the lesson and expressing the divine truth of the lesson in your life’s work. You have grown tremendously from the first time you faced this lesson. When it repeats itself, you are able to graciously receive it and name its truth. Being embodied on earth gifts us with soul baring opportunities to know our selves intimately. This is when the teachers are quoted and become immortalized.

6) Indigo Layer: represents the sixth chakra. It’s all about insight. You now have deep insight into the lesson as your relive it a sixth time. Quickly you survive, receive the sweetness, release the fear, feel compassion for yourself, express the truth of the lesson and become the gnosis….the experiential divine. You need not speak your truth to BE your truth. You exist in harmony with all life, following spirit deeply into this lesson without struggle. Yet one more time you will revisit the lesson in this life or another or perhaps beyond the human existence…one more time…

7) Violet Layer: represents the seventh chakra. It’s all about multidimensional connection. This is where Heaven meets Earth in you. You now have the Divine perspective. You understand the purpose of your humanity. You appreciate your emotions as vehicles to higher, deeper manifestations of Love. You are truly enlightened in regards to this lesson. Finally you are free…

Time for another sacred lesson.

May you be blessed with abundant health, happiness and peace,

Deborah

Deborah Maragopoulos MN FNP
Intuitive Integrative Medicine
Healer, Speaker, Author
LoveDance: Awakening the Divine Daughter
www.lovedance.com

2009-06-29T13:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I expected a Joyous Transformation, but this Summer Solstice was more like a tumultuous upheaval. Disillusioned I consulted my Q&A Journal*. I felt like I had come to an end in a five month long nesting period (as you can see I have hardly blogged) and looked forward to a new beginning on the solstice. Here’s an excerpt from my Q&A just before the solstice:

Q: I cannot see where I’m going… the fog is thick

A: Your “ship is coming in” as predicted…your life manifests beautifully, lessons learned day by day, letting go—releasing—allowing—creating—building—imaging—doing…

Q: So what is next?

A: You shall see. Be in the moment. Presence. Conscious Presence is all that is needed.

Q: I am clearing space, cleaning up old grime that keeps me fussing…

A: It is good. Let go of all that burdens you. Be free to receive Divine blessings of Love, Abundance, Health and Resources.

My muse left on 2-7-09 when my kitchen was demolished…it has begun to reawaken with the installation of a brand new stove just this week. They say kitchen remodels can cause divorces…it has been a great challenge…a lesson in patience that I have not fully received for the lack of pride of craftsmanship is disheartening .

The Summer Solstice fell on Father’s Day, which we spent with our beloved children. It wasn’t a grand shift, but a slide into sorrow of letting go. I waited a week to return to my Q&A Journal:

Q: I am lost…

A: You are not lost. You are here with ME—enjoy this existence…be calm

Q: I am tired…

A: You exhaust yourself with possibilities…over think, then regret not thinking of everything

Q: I tried with the kitchen…

A: You created beauty, grace, and functionality…professional designers may have broadened the possibilities but only you know you, your needs, your desires.

Q: I didn’t plan ahead. The remodel took so long…is still not finished…things changed in the long construction process, good things like the standing mixer and new stove, but the adjustments were too late…

A: Life changes. Soul remembers perfection, wholeness, and flows with the changes. Make the best of what you have and be grateful for it all.

Q: I don’t feel like it’s enough, because I feel I’m not enough. I try to do it all, be it all. I am loved and appreciated, I know, but I keep my distance so that others will not discover I am not enough.

A: You are enough. The Divine loves you as you are, not who you were, or who you will be. Relax and take pleasure in being you. As you accept yourself, love yourself, live in joy…then you open space in your heart to receive abundance, more love, more joy, more ease, more peace and greater knowing that all is well.

Q: Thank You.

A: You come to me when you need reassurance and I am here always. Do not avoid the connection because you feel imperfect. That is when the connection is most profound, most comforting, when you feel less, I give more. Release your fears and let ME fill you up.

You see how wonderful divine reconnection can be?

May you be blessed with Joyous Transformations,

Deborah

*What is a Q&A Journal? I’ve included complete instructions on how to connect to your Divine Self through a Q&A Journal in my Hormones in Harmony™ Survival Guide.
Click here to purchase Hormones in Harmony™ Survival Guide for the Hormonally Challenged Woman.

2009-04-24T09:50:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

I just received the letter below from the International Association of Compounding Pharmacists.
This is great news for those of us on bio-identical hormone replacement therapy.
The more positive media attention BHRT gets, the more pressure on the FDA to preserve our right to use compounded hormones.

Thank you for all your support.

May your Hormones be in Harmony,

Deborah Maragopoulos MN FNP
Intuitive Integrative Medicine

"Dr. Phil" TV Show Spotlights BHRT

An entire show dedicated to bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) aired Tuesday, April 21 on the “Dr. Phil” TV show. Dr. Phil’s wife, Robin McGraw, is a strong advocate for BHRT and has used compounded hormones for many years. IACP member Jim Hrncir of Las Colinas Pharmacy in Texas has been the McGraws’ personal pharmacist for 20+ years.

To view clips and read more about the show, visit http://www.drphil.com/shows/show/1263.

Show Recap
The show was entirely positive and educational about the subject of compounded hormones. Entitled “What’s Hormones Got to Do With It?”, the show also featured Dr. Prudence Hall and several patients suffering from various menopause symptoms.

Dr. Hall, a gynecologist focusing on functional medicine, gave an insider’s perspective on the diagnostic process for women suffering from menopause. Hall analyzed the hormone levels of a patient who suffered 12 years before seeking relief. Upon being prescribed BHRT, this patient reported her energy level became constant throughout day, her sex drive increased, her moods leveled out and she had uninterrupted sleep for the first time in years. The patient reflected, “I can live my life the way I want to live it. I feel marvelous.”

Dr. Phil interviewed several other patients who were experiencing severe menopausal symptoms, including a 33-year-old patient going through perimenopause and another female patient who also happened to be an emergency room physician. This physician reiterated how medical school training does not adequately prepare doctors to prescribe medications that are not mass produced and commercially available. Although she is a physician herself, she had never heard of pharmacy compounding or compounded medications until she was prescribed BHRT.

The show did an excellent job portraying the patient-physician-pharmacist triad, emphasizing that each patient should work with their prescriber to determine the customized, individualized prescription that is right for them. Hrncir and Dr. Hall both reiterated how bioidentical hormones mimic a woman’s naturally-occurring hormones, something synthetic hormones derived from horses cannot do. “You can’t improve on nature,” concluded Dr. Hall.

IACP works tirelessly to ensure that Big Pharma and the FDA do not take away compounded medications. To ensure that IACP can continue to protect your access to customized medication, please consider making a donation.

2009-04-11T10:12:00.000-07:00

Much has happened since the beginning of this year. Business is booming. Began and ended a new adventure. The kids are on their own, almost. Steve and I are closer than ever. Mom has found an old love. The kitchen is being remodeled. All change.

I am undergoing a transformation. I am entering the change…and it is truly changing my life. My relationship with my sisters is improved. And although I rarely write, rarely blog, rarely market, all the old seeds are coming to fruit.

Dreams are lucid, exploring my inner psyche. I am being initiated into the grandmother’s council and I love it.

I type this on a new computer. The old died, like so much passing in my life…Sara, Aunt Patty, Karen …death leads to birth. The winds of change clear the way for the new.

Most profound of all is my ability to instantly manifest. What I think becomes. I f I desire something greatly enough, it manifests. I have had little need to confront my worries as they absolve before me. I am in the state of realization. Becoming the Magdalen, the way to the divine.

The polarity of good and evil does not exist in my world. All is of joy. All is of love. All is well. Lessons cloaked in distasteful garb are often the most profound. Rarely is it difficult now. I move into my sagehood with ease.

Estes relates stories as a means to understand the psyche. I see great connection with LoveDance and her rendition of the archetypal stories. I naturally wrote into the story the maiden, the childself, the queen the king-bride groom, the mage and the gardener. Perhaps this is why the book touches so many on such a deep level. Through story souls heal.

Time to ride, to connect to the earth through Shane. She carries me into the dreamworld.

I am so very well, so very blessed. Gratitude has become a way of life. Love is my essence. The world is opening to receive me and I am prepared to bare all to be Joy.

2009-03-20T11:51:00.000-07:00

Happy Spring!

At 4:44pm PST, we welcome the Spring Equinox—the perfect balance between the darkness of winter and the light of summer.

This is the time of the Divine Daughter! She emerges from her Grandmother’s embrace deep in the earth to the arms of her Mother. As the Divine Daughter dances, flowers bloom at her feet. She brings the passion of spring to the mother earth…all potential blossoming into joy.

Today, I celebrate my 48th birthday. What a transformation! This time in my life has been one of great change, blossoming into great joy.

Like so many others, I was a caterpillar in my youth with a hunger for information, opportunities and experiences. My 40’s have been the cocoon stage, transforming from an all consuming caterpillar into something more. Now as I enter my wiser years, I can feel my wings, damp and untried, clinging to my new form, waiting, waiting to arise from my cocoon as a butterfly.

I love working with Hormonally Challenged women. The gift of the shifting hormones is this great transformation. We all have the potential to fly.

I am blessed to have my beloved family, my precious patients, and my loyal readers supporting my transformation. Thank you all.

May you have a Joyous Transformation on this beautiful Spring Equinox.

Many Blessings,

Deborah

Deborah Maragopoulos MN FNP
Intuitive Integrative Medicine
www.lovedance.com

2009-01-20T12:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I buried a dear patient.

I am a family nurse practitioner and not a stranger to death, but like many health care providers, I have viewed the death of a patient as a failure. Not this time. Karen taught me how to let go. How to accept. How to truly partner with my patients. Thank you, Karen, for the gift of your life and for the gift of your dis-ease that bonded us. Thank you for the grace of your death.

On the morning of her death, I felt Karen—like a bubble of delight floating through me. Not an hour later, her daughter called to tell me Karen had just passed. For the first time in 25 years of healing, I experienced the grace of death.

I chose to become a nurse; not a doctor as my father had hoped or as my college professors had guided me toward. I chose to become a nurse because I wanted the barometer by which I served my community to be one of wellness, not disease. Medicine honorably focuses on relieving illness, but I wanted to do more. I wanted to help my patients achieve their optimal state of well being.

I consciously chose nursing over medicine, not because I couldn’t handle the work. I was valedictorian of my high school, graduated cum laude from UCLA. School was easy for me. I chose nursing because I wanted a full life.

In the early eighties, I had no models of female physicians who had a successful practice, a loving spouse and a healthy, happy family. I wanted it all, so I chose nursing. So I graduated from UCLA School of Nursing with honors and married my high school sweetheart. We are still joyously married after 25 years. He is my best friend, my closest confidante, the Divine Masculine to my Sacred Feminine. We are soul mates.

A year later, I gave birth to our first child, prematurely. We both nearly died. My young husband and I had to make a very difficult choice. Our baby was born intersex. I had had a dream of a blond baby boy, so it was no surprise when our baby’s chromosome test revealed the male XY pattern. But the pediatric endocrinologist advised we raise our child as a girl. Back then we were told, “It’s easier to make a hole than a pole.” I was shocked, not by the bluntness, but by the total lack of consideration for the effect of “his” hormones on the developing brain, and if we raised “him” as a “her” what psychological trauma would “she” undergo at puberty or later in young adulthood. The experts didn’t know. So I followed my intuition, and we raised our baby as a boy.

I then began the struggle that so many other parents of medically challenged children face. I struggled with our managed care insurer to get our son the best care possible. Because we had not followed accepted medical standards at the time, the fight was long and hard. I cannot imagine how much more difficult it would have been if I wasn’t a nurse. Yet even being a nurse wasn’t enough, so when our son was just a year old, I went to graduate school and became a family nurse practitioner.

With a Masters in Nursing, I was better prepared to research my child’s options. Following my intuition, I found the best treatments, many of them out of standard medical procedure, but which are now accepted. In fact, my entire career as a health care provider has proven that my intuition is rarely wrong. I am fortunate to be licensed to order the appropriate diagnostic tests to prove what I “know,” but my patients have come to believe in my knowing. They have witnessed the proof in their in own care and that of my son.

Although with my son’s condition, we could not change our insurance, I refused as a health care provider to be part of a system that would keep me from providing the best care possible. So I avoided working under managed care. After becoming board certified as a Family Nurse Practitioner, I started a family practice within an urgent care. Because of my focus on wellness, the family practice grew quickly. The physician owners saw a business opportunity and signed up with managed care contracts. While the physician employees did not appreciate having their hands tied by the HMO’s, they sorely resented having their compensation tied to managed care. So the other doctors started handing me the HMO patients in favor of the better insured patients.

So I left that practice to work with an up-and-coming OB-GYN. He needed the TLC of a nurse practitioner in the office while he perfected his surgical skills. There I honed my skills in treating the Hormonally Challenged. Six years later, he too was seduced by managed care. By then I had another dream-to start my own holistic health care practice.

With my expertise in hormones and in the face of the aging of baby boomers, my dream manifested into a viable practice. I chose not to deal with insurers. I figured you get what you pay for. Patients paying a $10 copay for a routine office visit left feeling they got about ten dollars worth of care. And providers pressured by the need to see more and more patients in less and less time, delivered ten-dollar care.

Although a cash based practice was a novel idea back then, many of my patients had already been paying out of their pocket to see me, so why not? I left the gynecology practice seeing 27 or more patients a day as an employee to slow down and spend quality time with my own patients; time that they gratefully compensated me for.

In 1997, Karen supported my entrepreneurial nature by following me into my new solo practice. While working her up for postmenopausal bleeding, I had an uneasy feeling and asked the ultrasound technician to look higher in her abdomen. Karen hardily agreed. She had witnessed the power of my intuition a few years earlier when during a routine pelvic exam; I discovered a problem with her liver. So the ultrasound tech lubed up her stomach and placed the probe. That is when we discovered the tumor.

I had diagnosed patients with cancer before. I had even lost a few to the disease. But this beloved patient was different. Her cancer became our dance floor. I learned to partner with her to the rhythm of her dis-ease, to the changing beat of her desire, to the symphony of her life’s purpose. I held nothing back, dancing with her through choices that I may not have chosen, orchestrating a care plan that fit her needs—physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. I researched every option, conventional and alternative. She fought the good fight, but at the end…she showed me how to slow dance.

Karen’s death was the first I’ve accepted graciously. The others I resisted and thus could not fully receive the gift of their passing. But hers, I embraced. I surrendered to loving her as a person, to getting close to her family, to being a part of her circle.

At the funeral, others commended me for coming. How could I not? I came to honor Karen, to support her family and to let her go. Like many of her loved ones, I shared my thoughts. Mostly I thanked her as her delightful spirit, free now from pain, played with her little grandson.

This is the way it used to be. Before insurance carriers and malpractice, we used to get involved with our patients. We knew their families, we birthed them, we helped them get through tough times in their lives, and we buried them. We understood the circle of life. They understood too. We respected one another; we were part of a community.

My practice now is on my property. You walk through an herb garden to be greeted by a friendly tabby cat. My mother meets you at the door. She manages my practice. My medical assistant has been with me for eight years. Both joined me at the funeral. My patients love these two wise ladies who put my comparative youth into perspective. Everyone gets a hug. We genuinely care for our patients, and they care about us.

An initial consult is two hours of face-to-face time with me. There is no wait. I have nothing to do that is more important than to be fully present with my patients. We provide all the medical services customary to family practice, but sometimes we do them a little differently. Sometimes a wary toddler is best examined in the garden. Sometimes a reluctant patient opens up with a purring cat in her lap.

One of my new patients just commented during her pelvic exam that the experience with me reminded her of her doctor in France who had her office in her home, made her feel very safe, and that she actually looked forward to medical exams. Her little boy, diagnosed with autism, had been through the mill with medical providers. They were shocked at how patient I was during his exam and consequently how willing he was to “do it again!” His treat for the day was to meet my horses. We might get him into equine therapy for this little one has a way with animals.

From the time I became a nurse, I have been trying to change the face of health care. As president of the California Association of Nurse Practitioners, I led my professional organization to increase access to care for patients. I have tried to enlighten my colleagues—doctors, nurses, and health care providers both conventional and alternative. Until now, many have not been ready to receive such an evolutionary practice model. So I learned my lesson from my patients and began with myself. How can you heal others if you do not first heal yourself?

I transformed my own practice into one that suits my patients, my family and my life. I’ve never advertised. Patients come to me from around the world. I have a unique expertise as a neuro-immune-endocrinologist. My goal is to help patients get their Hormones in Harmony. I educate rather than medicate. With aging baby boomers, hormone specialists are all the rage now. In spite of my expertise and the aging baby boomers, I do not believe that is why my practice has been growing during the recession. They come to me because I dance their dance. I partner with my patients.

If you are a patient, then I believe you, too, can become empowered to partner with your health care provider to get the best care ever and learn to heal yourself.

If you are a health care provider then you can become enlightened on how to joyfully partner with your patients and survive this recession, make a place for yourself in the new administration.

A month ago, I got a call from a dear friend. She was laid off from her job as a pharmaceutical sales rep. A single mom with a medically challenged child -- this did not come at a good time. Or did it? That’s why she called me, to find the light in the darkness. “Nancy,” I said, “this is your opportunity to transform yourself.” She took the ball and ran with it.

We are partners now in a brand new business.
FULL-LIFE-SOLUTIONS

Our mission is to transform the business of health care.
Our plan is to Empower Patients, Enlighten Providers, and Educate Personnel.
Check us out at www.full-life-solutions.com

On Saturday February 21, 2009 we are offering our first workshop for the Hormonally Challenged—Hormones in Harmony. It will be small, intimate, a safe place for women to share their concerns and learn the secrets to perfect hormonal heath. There’s only room for 20 participants. And even before we’ve launched our site, women have signed up for this empowering workshop. Come, join us.

There is lots of room for change. A new paradigm of health care is evolving. The time is ripe for us to dance.

“For what is to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt in the sun? And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered? Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountaintop, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then you shall truly dance.” Kahlil Gibran

Thank you, Karen. May your dance be one of joy. Farewell, beloved partner.

Love and Light,

Deborah Maragopoulos MN FNP
Intuitive Integrative Medicine

2009-01-18T07:31:00.000-08:00

Hormones in Harmony™

Whether you’re entering puberty or exiting the golden years…
…whether you’re happy, vita, and fit or sad, sick and saggy…

HORMONES affect YOU!

As the biochemical interface between the energy of the environment and the matter of your body, hormones affect everything. Your moods, your memory, your metabolism.
Your appearance, your aging, your appetite. Your sleep patterns, your stress response, your sex drive. Everything.

When I refer to hormones, I mean all the body’s biochemical messengers—the traditional hormones of the endocrine system, the neurotransmitters of the neurological system and the cytokines of the immune system. All of these act as hormones affecting everything we do, everything we feel, everything we think.

Living in today’s fast paced, high stressed world of the interminable electric light and too many manmade carbohydrates creates havoc with our hormones.

Think of the hormones as the software program of the human computer. Many of us are so hormonally challenged, sick, aging, tired, or just plain stressed out that we need a software update.

Being a woman entering the thrills of the perimenopausal rollercoaster does not make me an expert. It does make me genuinely empathetic with my Hormonally Challenged readers.

Being a neuro-immune-endocrine specialist for the past twenty years…well, that contributes to my expertise regarding hormones.

Yet as I receive more and more Hormonally Challenged patients into my holistic health care practice, my expertise becomes more and more refined. Like good wine, it takes years to reach the peak flavor of healing.

In 1997, I broke away from a conventional medical setting to practice Intuitive Integrative Medicine. My specialty of natural hormones grew to encompass the gamut of endocrine disorders (diabetes, thyroid disease, adrenal deficiency, growth hormone deficiency, low metabolism, insomnia, fatigue, infertility, andropause, PMS, anti-aging therapeutics). Still the majority of my patients were women going through the change of life.

One day I got a call from a local gynecological surgeon. “Deborah, I’m sending you all my weird hormone patients.”

I thanked him and asked what was so “weird” about them.

“Well, in medical school,” he answered, “you learn that A leads to B and occasionally C, but I get to Z and still can’t figure out these weird hormone cases.”

“That’s because, Dr G,” I explained, “endocrinology is not an exact science. It’s an art.”

“I’m a surgeon” he sighed. “and since you’re the artist, you can take care of them.”

That’s when I came up with the term—Hormonally Challenged. Health care providers are as challenged by hormonal issues as their patients.

East meets West

The other day I was illustrating the connection between the body and the environment for a new patient. On my little stick figure person, I placed seven dots.

"Those are the chakras!" The patient exclaimed.

"Yes, and they're also where the endocrine glands lie."

From the gonads in the root to the pineal in the crown, the endocrine glands correspond beautifully with the seven chakras. Chakra is a Sanskrit word meaning little wheels of energy. Remember how hormones are the interface between the energy of the environment and the matter of your body, well the glands that produce the hormones are the power points. East meets West in the endocrine system!

Hormones affect everything--our nervous system, our immune system, even digestion and detoxification. These tiny messengers communicate to the DNA within our cells what's happening in the rest of our body as well as in our environment.

The DMAR Pyramid of Health™

Imagine that health is a pyramid. There are four sides on the Pyramid of Health: the environment, our anatomy or structure of the body, and the physiology or biochemistry of our system. The fourth side is our beliefs. What we think becomes. Our thoughts influence our biochemistry which runs the entire system.

At the top of the biochemical face of the pyramid are the hormones--specifically the neuro-immune-endocrine system.

The hormones are bio-chemicals with physical molecular structure, but they also are vibrational. Hormones each have unique vibrations. Hormones literally sing to the DNA and the DNA dances accordingly.

It is ironic how many physicians will become afflicted with the dis-ease in which they specialize. I just accompanied a dear friend of mine to a gynecological oncologist--a doctor specializing in cancer who still suffered the effects of radiation therapy twelve years after a bout with cancer.

Being a hormone specialist, I am very attuned to my own hormones as well as my patients. I can "feel" when hormones are out of balance. Like an internal symphony, each hormone has its own rhythm, its own sound, its own vibration.

Years ago, a young woman came to see me. She had been a patient of mine since her adolescence and just six month earlier had a complete physical with me. She had no complaints and when I asked what prompted her visit, she said, "I just need to sit in your vibration and I stay well for about six months."

She was describing resonance. How her hormones were attuning to mine. And how vitally important it is that I stay well. My patients remind of this all the time.

Healer heal thyself.

The Neuro-Immune-Endocrine System

Just hang out with a woman about a couple of days before her menses and witness the power of hormones. As her sex steroids plummet so does her demeanor. Not all women suffer from PMS but most will admit to feeling different, less tolerant, more emotional than the rest of the month.

Not just female hormones, but male hormones affect the brain. Believe me, I see many middle aged men prescribed antidepressants or anti-anxiety drugs when in fact their moods are related to declining testosterone. Both the male and female brain is affected by hormones.

But we actually have three brains. Yes, three. One in our head, one in our chest and one in our gut. The heart is the really number one brain. The aboriginals knew this truth and today science is proving that the heart gets first preference of resources for neurotransmitters.

Neurotransmitters are the hormones of the nervous system. And they’re produced by the gut as well as the heart. Ever been nervous before a big event? While you’re brain fusses over possible outcomes, your heart races and your stomach rumbles. Neurotransmitters. In fact, conventional medicine often treats irritable bowel syndrome with antidepressants and everyone knows that you can die of a broken heart (really severe depression means very little serotonin for the heart to function.)

You can live without a functional brain (coma) but not without a functional heart. And if your digestive tract cannot absorb nutrients, you’ll starve to death without medical intervention.

Now let’s explore the immune system. You know when you’re under a lot of stress and you become sick. You catch a common cold virus or break out in cold sores (the herpes virus). Stress affects the adrenal glands which in turn affects the immune system.

In the heart chakra lies the thymus—an endocrine gland responsible for programming the white blood cells to know the difference between you and other. Other what? Germs: viruses, bacteria, fungi, even weird cells like cancer. White blood cells (WBC) attack other and spare you. They do so best when you are asleep. Under the influence of melatonin produced by the pineal gland in the crown chakra the body shuts down normal daytime function and switches into nocturnal mode. The adrenals stop producing the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol and begin to produce metakephalins that stimulate the thymus to program the WBC’s. All hormones, all the time!

High stress means high adrenalin and cortisol production interfering with sleep and effectively turning off the immune system making you vulnerable to infection and over a very long period of time, cancer.

Think of the WBC as the pony express. The WBC can travel anywhere in the body, even pass the blood brain barrier delivering messages called cytokines. Cytokines are the tiniest of the “hormones”. These minute messengers instigate the immune response whether that be hives in response to an allergen or the attack of an invading virus. The amazing WBC carry on its cell membranes information about all the hormones, all the neurotransmitters, and all the cytokines in the body during its lifetime.

The neuro-immune-endocrine system is a massive communication network that makes the global internet look like child’s play.

So if the neuro-immune-endocrine system is the software for the human computer, what’s the operating system?

The Hypothalamus.

In the center of the brain, the hypothalamus lies vastly unappreciated. Part neurological tissue and part endocrine tissue, the hypothalamus is largely ignored by neurologists as a primitive brain structure. Endocrinologists pay it little heed because they cannot measure its hormones without sacrificing the lab animal. But the hypothalamus is crucial to life.

The hypothalamus orchestrates the entire symphony of hormones.

If the hormones are harmonious, you are healthy, vital, youthful, vibrant.

If the hormones are out of harmony, you are sick, tired, aging, stressed, and eventually dis-eased!

So to help the Hormonally Challenged, I focus on the maestro—the hypothalamus.

Balancing Hormones Naturally

I formulated Sacred Seven™ amino acids specifically to balance the hypothalamus.

Genesis Gold® balances the entire neuro-immune-endocrine system as well provides support for optimal assimilation of nutrients, detoxification of toxins and mitochondrial energy production.

I keep my Hormones in Harmony™ with Genesis Gold®.

Blessings,

Deborah”

Deborah Maragopoulos MN FNP
Intuitive Integrative Medicine
Full Circle Family Health
Deborah@lovedance.com
www.lovedance.com

Genesis Gold®—Creation in a Bottle: the natural way to keep your Hormones in Harmony™

2009-01-13T07:52:00.000-08:00

Letting Go

Sometimes, helping others come into hormonal harmony requires a sharing of heart and soul.

Last spring, I was invited by the Grandmother’s Council of Ojai to speak about my book. The grandmothers were very interested in the Divine Daughter energy. From the moment I entered the circle, I was enveloped in their loving embrace. The grandmothers gather in fulfillment of the Hopi prophesy that “when the grandmothers speak, the earth will be healed.” My own grandmothers passed years ago and while I have my husband’s beloved Gran, you cannot have enough grandmothers in your life!

The grandmothers offer empowerments—an amazing experience of being held in the love of all that is—so in spite of being the guest speaker, I was asked by Jill, the head grandmother to come and receive an empowerment. Wow! I have been embraced by a circle of wise loving women who are always with me now. What a blessing.

Yet, alas, I am not yet of age to become part of the circle of grandmothers. A woman must reach the age of 52 and be menopausal—no longer bleeding out her wisdom—to pass into the circle. I have a ways to go yet.

Fortunately on the second Sunday of the month, the Grandmother’s Council opens the circle to men, younger women and children. All are welcome to receive empowerments and once received are encouraged to participate in the empowerments. I have invited many of my friends and patients to come. Last month, I was blessed to have my son join me in the Grandmother’s Council Solstice Celebration. It was beautiful. Jill wasn’t feeling very well though and when I asked if I could be of assistance (I meant offer her a healing), she handed me the sacred cowl and asked me to perform the empowerments.

While the grandmother’s received from healers and well wishers in the outer circle, I was supported by an inner circle of loving women. My son had commented before we arrived at the council that I looked like a high priestess. Well, I felt like one offering sacred feminine blessings to each amazing being who stepped into the circle for an empowerment.

This past Sunday, one of my dear patients joined us. Here is her letter …

Hi Deborah,

Thank you so much for inviting me to the Grandmothers Council. The empowerment circle was simply incredible. I had a totally different reaction to it than I expected- not so much a feeling of empowerment, but instead, of shedding something. And after meditating on it a while, I think I need to shed some of these walls I've put around me all these years. I've always been one who feels very blessed, and I think I've carried that almost to the point where I don't think I deserve any more. So I'm working on releasing some of that so that I CAN receive!
When I say my prayers of thanks, you are one of the people in my life I'm so thankful for!
Love, Lisa

Dear Lisa,

Thank you for coming!!!

This is the second month that Jill has asked me to take over. I have not yet offered any empowerments without the circle of grandmothers, but with you now empowered maybe we can begin. My mother needs to come and Chris too, but it takes awhile to be ready to receive.

In fact you're right...it begins with a release, a letting go of all that no longer serves, no longer fits into the new paradigm . Then we are open to receive the blessings of the next stage of life. My son was a very content child. He felt so blessed to be where he was at, that he resisted moving forward...

On the other hand, I pushed toward goals without stopping to smell the roses, not enjoying the present in favor of breathing life into the dream.

This past year has been one of great joy...wrapped in sorrow at times, all a letting go of the old way of being to make room for the new me.

I began this work in 2004...it was so powerful that I wrote an article on this disentangling our cords of attachment.

When I reconnected to my higher self, I was well aware that I was holding onto something that was preventing me from receiving more. I too feel very blessed, yet I know there is more... what I had to release was my fear...and the universe showed me all the faces of it for the past five months, until finally I could embrace it then let it go.

I realize now that life is about joy, that my lesson is to BE Joy, to be Faith, Beauty, Vitality, Compassion, Love...not wish for it, not work on it, just be it!

It's who I am. It's who you are, too.

Love, Deborah

Disentangling Our Cords of Attachment by Deborah Maragopoulos MN FNP

2008-12-28T21:22:00.000-08:00

What a year!

I began 2008 by launching my debut novel. LoveDance won Best Spiritual fiction yet my publisher refused to distribute it, so after six months of struggle, I now own the rights to my book. In western medical training, we do not any education in business skills, so thankfully, my foray into the world of publishing honed my feeble business skills. Enough so that I have joined forces with a dear friend of mine in a new business venture...Full-Life-Solutions...where we aspire to educate patients, empower our colleagues, and improve the business of delivering health care services. Since graduating from nursing school, I have always envisioned "changing the face of health care", perhaps this partnership will provide the vehicle in which to integrate alternative and conventional medical practice with an innovative business model.

The spring found me lecturing to my colleagues regarding integrating their medical practices. With much encouragement, I developed training modules to share my holistic approach. Last summer, I was asked to present a workshop on therapeutic nutrition, which I began with an introduction to the model of health care I developed over the past 25 years. DMAR Health was well received by the doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, many of them commenting that they felt empowered to finally begin practicing integrative medicine.

How exciting to be reinventing the health care once again. It is high time for a full examination of and holistic treatment for our ailing health care delivery system. I hope with the coming of the new administration that all aspects of health care will be considered. There is room for all healers...conventional and complementary...at the table. Holistic medicine speaks for itself. The healthiest state in the nation- Utah- has the lowest conventional health care costs and the highest expenditure on supplements. Therapeutic nutrition and alternative therapies are in demand because people want to heal themselves. It is time for healers to truly partner with their patients. Let's educate, not medicate!

I am honored that Hormones in Harmony was picked as one of the top 50 alternative blogs on LiveSmart. Thank you!

Have an abundantly healthy New Year!

Deborah

2008-09-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

Autumn is upon us, ripe with potential. What shall you harvest the glorious fall? I am redefining myself as a professional. Of course, I’ll always be a healer—it is my soul purpose. Yet how to bring my healing vibration into the world at large? That is the question I face now.

I believed this summer I would have discovered the answer to… “what do I want to be when I grow up?”, yet life happened. Family took precedence. I had some more growing to do. What I did discover was how very blessed I am as a healer, a mother, a wife, a human being. How supported I am by the universe and how loved I am! I was blessed with a crisis that showed me the face of my greatest fear. A gift that allowed me to practice joyous service.

And it wasn’t work. It was more like Being Joy.

For the next 21 days, I will be away with my beloved husband celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. I pray you will be safe and well, happy and free from fear, and filled with abundant Love.

May you be blessed with Hormones in Harmony,

Deborah

2008-08-13T16:55:00.000-07:00

The Symbology of Cancer

In yoga class, something was off. A sorrow emanated from behind me. During down dog pose, I could see that the sorrowful one was not really participating. At the end of class, I felt moved to approach her.

”Just thought I’d say Hi.” I offered. She looked up from rolling her mat and stood. I impulsively hugged her. That’s when the tears began to flow.

“I just found out today…” she sobbed into my ear, “that I have breast cancer.”

Parting from her that I might look into her eyes, I said, “Your dis-ease does not define you.”

“What?”

“You are not your dis-ease. In fact, this dis-ease is a gift in a rather ugly wrapping, but still a gift if you are willing to receive.”

She dried her tears and whispered, “Other women have said the same. But what am I to learn?”

“To love yourself. To not be the proverbial breast suckling the rest of your world, but turn that nurturing inward.”

“Sounds like you know me.”

“I know the symbology of dis-ease and I’ve worked with many women with breast cancer. The ones who receive its gift are amazing!”

When hormones desynchronize with age or stress or toxicity, the body’s communication network becomes so disrupted that some cells try to adapt. Cancer is a distressed cell’s way of rebuilding the ship. We may see cancer as mutiny on the bounty, but to the mutated cell it is doing the best it can to survive in a hormonally incompetent body.

With my cancer patients, I strive to get to the root of the issue, be it physical, psychological or spiritual. One of my most challenging cases came to me a year and a half ago. With stage IV cancer, she came for a spiritual healing. What I “saw” was a woman who had manifested her grief into an invasive tumor. We didn’t have time to waste, so I dove into the murky waters of bio-psycho-spiritual connection and asked her point blank if she wanted to live. She hesitated to answer. So I inquired as to when her mother died. She cried and admitted that is when the death wish began. And that grief spurred a mass biochemical miscommunication, so one little cell in her neck attempted to rebuild the ship.

In eighteen months, this lovely lady has done a lot of work. Last fall with the tumor out of control, I suggested she get a dog. She had lost her beloved shepherd just before being diagnosed with cancer (another grief). Her mother raised German Shepherds and that dog was their last connection. She wasn’t ready then, so we worked some more on learning to speak her truth, finding her purpose, embodying hope.

On her last visit, I again mentioned the need for a shepherd. Torn between going on a trip with her husband and staying home to protect her young adult daughter from a potential encounter with her stepson, she wasn’t sure what to do. It was time for her to take care of herself. . I assigned her an exercise called “Q&A” to get in touch with her Divine Self. Recently she wrote me this letter…

Dear Deborah,

I wanted to share with you that yesterday my daughter took her dog to the groomers and I had asked her to see if they knew of anyone looking for a good home for a Shepherd. She was told that a local rescue had just taken in a 1-year old who had puppies a week ago. I called and she sounded like what I may be looking for so we went and saw her. She is as sweet as can be, but frightened by a lot of things as I think she's been on her own for a while. But after being at this place for only two days she already was starting to trust the woman taking care of her. After being with her about 15 minutes she really took a liking to my daughter and even started playing with her a bit. I need to be "approved" for the adoption, but I've decided to put down the deposit for her so I'll be first pick for her.

I wanted to let you know because I felt after talking with you, you may have said prayers for me.

Also, the other good news .... After doing the Q&A regarding the trip to Phoenix, it was amazing how God worked. I was emailing a friend of mine yesterday morning and as I was doing it I thought maybe she would be interested in house sitting for the days we would be gone. And she was. So I talked to my husband later to say I had decided to go with him because I found someone to take care of the animals as my daughter had been undecided of her plans for that weekend, which was true. Then he said that his son was going with him. He thought he had told me that, but hadn't. So God truly blessed me yesterday!

I wanted to share these good things with you. Back when I had originally thought of getting a dog I had a name picked out and can't remember what it was, but I think I'm going to name her Faith (my daughter's suggestion that really fits her). She needs a lot of emotional healing, which will give me a purpose again, which in turn is what I need for healing. What a gift.

Thank you for being such an amazing healer in all aspects.

Love, A

Dear A,

How wonderful you found Faith!!!!
Last year when we talked about needing a purpose and how a shepherd would help, you weren't yet open to receive her. Now you have ripened to receive healing through the love of a dog and your own "faith".

I just love Q&A. Thank you for taking the homework assignment seriously. The Divine was so ready to give you all you desire, but until you were ready to receive the abundance, God's hands were tied. Thank you for ripening so beautifully. I believe this life is meant to be one of ease, of joy, of love. Life is a gift and our Divine connection is the greatest gift of all.

As always, you are in my prayers.

Much love and light,

Deborah

2008-07-28T17:38:00.000-07:00

TIME TO CELEBRATE THE DIVINE DAUGHTER!

Dear Friends,

Hope you are enjoying a sizzling summer…filled with all the luscious joys of life.

Last weekend, I brought my new book and my product to the California Literary Arts Book Festival in Ventura. What a beautiful day at the beach. I dressed the part….complete with a jingling belly dance hip belt, draped the standard issue table with purple veils and along with my associate Holly (also my belly dance teacher) who offered yummy flower infused hydrosols…enlightened the book festival with our sacred feminine energy!

People are hungry for healing. The feedback I’m getting from my readers is amazing. LoveDance is fulfilling my dreams of healing through story. Thanks to all who purchased my debut novel: enjoy the passion, savor the journey, receive the healing.

My deepest gratitude to Holly. Embodying the healing from Genesis Gold and LoveDance, Holly danced her way into the hearts of the public. Plus, she sold quite a few hydrosols and rose garlands—our display was the most lovely and smelled delicious too!

To my delight, Genesis Gold was a big hit. Honestly if it wasn’t for Genesis Gold providing the nutritional foundation for molecular vitality, harmonic hormones, genetic opulence, I could never have created so much joy in my life. I am truly living my dream.

And I manifested one of my goals for the festival—a speaking engagement. I was approached by Borders and Ventura Bank of Books to present my healing magic. It was wonderful. Already I have been approached by other authors for advice on selling books. I would love to share my insights at the next CLAS Book Festival.

My former publisher could not understand how I would dovetail my book into my healing work, but I have my book rights back now and I’m going out on my own. I’ve done it before with my health care practice and I can do it again. Seems like I’m always pioneering.

It was perfect for the California Literary Arts to hold its annual Book Festival this past week. The same time we celebrate Mary Magdalen’s Feast Day—in the heat of summer!

The most passionate woman forgotten by history is the hottest role model of sacred femininity today. What’s HERstory?

In the beginning, humans worshipped the Divine as a Mother embodied in the earth.
Then we looked to the stars and envisioned the spirit of the Divine as a Father.
Over two millennia, the Divine Son engaged our minds. Now the time is ripe for the Divine Daughter. She is passionate emotion, dancing the body, mind, and soul into
Sacred Unity.

Mary Magdalen was the embodiment of the Divine Daughter:
Sensual, passionate, the perfect partner to the Divine Son.

LoveDance is HERstory.

Heartfelt thanks to those of you who joined my dance at the Book Festival. For the rest, the music is playing, come on—let’s dance!

Many Blessings of Abundant Joy,

Deborah

Deborah Maragopoulos MN FNP
Intuitive Integrative Medicine
Full Circle Family Health
www.lovedance.com

2008-06-04T11:47:00.000-07:00

Hello, my Hormonally Challenged friends!

It seems that some of you are getting the connection between the hormones and health.

I recently received an email from a reader. She wrote: “I have read several of your articles and was impressed with your improvement in heath with whatever you found to drink…” after explaining a myriad of symptoms she suffered, including imbalances in: “circadian rhythm, mood, appetite, thirst, fluid balance, sleep…, pain control, and much more” all under the orchestration of the hypothalamus, she asked “So, do you think a nutrition drink could activate the hypothalamus?”

Yes.

I believe that if you feed the body what it needs to heal, it will heal. Since the hypothalamus controls the hormones, neurotransmitters, immune factors as well as all the basic aspects of life, supporting the hypothalamus is key to health.

She was very interested to know what was the nutritional formula I was referring to in my articles and when I explained it was my own formulation—Genesis Gold®—she wanted to know what personal health experiences influenced me to develop a nutritional hypothalamic support and what were my spiritual beliefs.

So I shared my story with her and now with you, dear readers:

“My story begins with the birth of my first child. In January 1984, I had a dream that I was to bear a blond baby boy. I'm Italian, my husband Greek. Blond is not in our genes, but that's what I saw. In spite of amenorrhea due to a 9 year eating disorder, I conceived. The pregnancy was great, but I never "showed". I developed HEELP syndrome years before it was recognized as such and my baby was born at UCLA, ten weeks premature 2# 7oz with ambiguous genitalia. It took ten days for the chromosome studies to come back and the docs to tell me what I already knew. My baby was an XY female. We were advised by the top pediatric endocrinologists on both the west and east coasts to raise our child as a girl. I strongly disagreed. My intuition told me that the high level of androgens my baby's brain had been exposed to in its attempt to overcome the androgen insensitivity affected development.

So we raised our child as a boy, found a pediatric urologist to perform the necessary corrective surgeries, and I went back to grad school. I became a family nurse practitioner and learned everything I could inside and outside of traditional medicine to guide my son through the medical maze. In the 90's documentaries were aired on children like my son, all raised as girls, all psychologically confused by the time they reached young adulthood. Research now shows I was right. If I would have listened to the medical experts instead of my intuitive guidance which at the time felt very divinely given, what harm would my child have suffered?

Overtime I became an expert in hormones and their effect on behavior. In 1997, I went out on my own to practice holistic family medicine. I started to see the most challenging cases related to neuro-immune-endocrinology. I searched for a single nutritional supplement to treat what I believed was the root cause---a dysfunctional hypothalamus...That is when I had the dreams that became Genesis Gold®.

As for my health, I too was hormonally challenged. My bulimia and obsessive exercise kept my body fat so low that at 37 I still had no menstrual cycles without using exogenous hormones. I used bio-identical botanically derived estrogen and progesterone with great results, but once I began researching the Genesis Gold® prototype in 2000, I took myself off everything---hormones and supplements---and joined my 50 plus research subjects. Within two months, I had gained five pounds, my hair and skin improved in texture and moisture, and I got my first un-induced menses. I've had normal cycles ever since and I am aging very slowly compared to my younger sisters—same genetics, the only difference, I’m taking Genesis Gold®.

Truth be told, I have had few patients who have not benefited from consuming Genesis Gold®. I have treated panpituitury syndrome, multiple endocrine disorders, neurological disorders and immune disorders over the past five years since Genesis Gold® has been available and the majority of my patients have been able to get off their other supplements, hormone replacement therapies, and medications. I believe if you feed the body what it needs, it will heal. Genesis Gold® and Sacred Seven™ amino acids were specifically developed to support optimal hypothalamic function.

With surgically induced hypothalamic failure, I believe it will take time to heal. I find as many months as years of dis-ease to build a foundation of healing. I would suspect you would notice improvement in the first month, but complete healing will take time.

As to my spiritual beliefs. I am not religious...I do not follow any particular dogma. I am very spiritual, intimately connected to this earth and its inhabitants. I respect all belief systems and have studied many finding pearls of truth in each. In 2003, after much pressure from colleagues and patients to share my healing lore, I struggled to organize all the content I had collected over the years. So I prayed for what it was I should write. My debut novel, LoveDance came to me in dreams and visions and I wrote prolifically for eight months. Readers report amazing healings while reading LoveDance, which has woven into the fabric of the story my beliefs about healing, how every dis-ease has a spiritual root and thus a lesson and yes, even a gift for those willing to open and receive.

Now I am busy doing healing work with patients who seek my intuitive integrative approach. I am speaking to the public and teaching my colleagues about the unique model I have developed in 20 years of treating the hormonally challenged. My healing vibration is within the book and my nutritional products. I feed Genesis Gold® to my animals who outlive their natural life spans and many of my patients have used Genesis Gold® with their pets as well. No belief systems there, just healing. I have had infertile patients conceive while taking Genesis Gold®. I've treated Reyes syndrome as well as multiple autistic and learning disabled children using Genesis Gold® as their foundational support. As you can testify, the hypothalamus affects so much of our existence. Treating the maestro of the orchestra of ligands produced by the neuro-immune-endocrine system so that the "hormones" can sing harmoniously to the DNA and the DNA can dance beautifully is the secret to health and happiness.

While I researched each and every ingredient, I did not adulterate the formula that came in my dreams. It was given to me for a reason and the universe saw fit to provide the resources to allow me to get it into the world. It has been a lovely synchronicity of events that led to the birth of Genesis Gold® from the gift of my hormonally challenged son to meeting you, dear reader.

Blessings,

Deborah”

2008-03-19T13:44:00.000-07:00

Author Deborah Maragopoulos MN FNP Wins Best Spiritual Fiction Book in Reader Views 2007 Annual Literary Awards

“LoveDance: Awakening the Divine Daughter” was selected as the best Spiritual Fiction Book of 2007 by Reader Views Annual Literary Awards. Reader Views Annual Literary Awards were established to honor writers who self-published or had their books published by a small press, university press, or independent book publisher.

“Reader Views reviews more than 2,000 books per year from budding authors who have worked hard to achieve their dream of being published,” Reader Views Managing Editor Irene Watson says. “Our Annual Literary Awards recognize the very best of these up-and-coming authors, all talented writers who we know have very promising writing careers ahead of them.”

The Reader Views Annual Literary Awards are granted in 20 fiction and 30 nonfiction categories, as well as 15 specialized, sponsored categories. The entries are judged by Reader Views reviewers, all avid readers with a wide range of experiences, considered experts in the respective fields.

About LoveDance: Awakening the Divine Daughter

LoveDance: Awakening the Divine Daughter is an intimate unveiling of Mary Magdalen as a woman awakening to her sacred feminine power. LoveDance reveals the grace and the beauty of the times as well as the passion and the sorrow. Mary’s awakening will touch your heart and heal your soul.

Celebrity actress Kathryn Ross described LoveDance as “a lovely and timely book… Mary's story is a parable for all of us. It's time to get back in balance. Amazing that even 2000 plus years ago we were swayed or coerced into certain beliefs by politics and male dominated religion. Not too different from the present.”

History was written by men. LoveDance is HERstory.

LoveDance: Awakening the Divine Daughter may be purchased at www.lovedance.com

2008-03-04T20:22:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it's hard to define yourself. Who you are and why you're here. The past two months, I have spent presenting my message to the world. In the form of lectures to peers, consultations with patients, and articles sent into cyberspace. Although my medical message revolves around keeping hormones in harmony as the key to optimal health, I think the title of my novel sums up my purpose best. LoveDance

Life is a dance of love. Love connects us all and our dance is the way we present ourselves to the world. How can I separate health of body, mind, and soul from the importance of fulfilling my life's purpose? How can I define myself without the foundation of my loving relationships with my soulmate, my children, my family, my friends, my patients, my animals, even the earth?

Our relationships are mirrors of our souls. Our life's work is most fulfilling when it enhances our intimate relationships. Our physical and mental health reflects our beliefs. All are connected through love. Like energy which brings matter into form, love defines our dance.

Our LoveDance.

2008-01-06T11:07:00.000-08:00

Rain, Rain Go Away!

Here in Southern California, rain is a rare occurrence, but when it does come, it pours. The last few Januaries have heralded torrential rainstorms. A few years ago, the office flooded. This year our roof leaked. Friday night found my husband, the cat and me up on the roof in the pouring rain securing tarps. Our tuxedo tabby was a great help, revealing loose ends. Luckily, the barn stays dry or the dogs and the cats would have to make room in the den for the horses.

Surrounded by our menagerie, my husband and I nursed a nasty flu. Although I rarely get sick, this flu seemed symbolic of the end of a rough and tumble year. A year of fire and flood wiping out the old. A year of death - of loved ones and old ways of being. A year of struggle to define Self. A year of growth. What doesn't destroy you makes you stronger. This year forged the sword of our beings in the fire of change.

Hopefully the rain will wash away the last remnants of doubt and steel our resolve for a bright New Year.

Have an abundantly healthy and happy 2008,

Deborah

2007-12-09T08:26:00.001-08:00

What is Optimal Health?

Health is harmony of body, mind and soul. Dis-ease is an imbalance within this triad. Since humans do not exist in a solitary microcosm, the environment influences health both physically and energetically.

Imagine that health is a line stretching from optimal wellbeing to death. Symptoms of dis-ease represent movement away from optimal wellness and towards death. Most health care providers treat the symptoms either with conventional or alternative therapies. Few seek the root cause of dis-ease. Fewer still seek to help the patient return to optimal wellness.

All dis-ease processes are instigated by imbalances in the being, albeit biological or energetic. While most health providers recognize imbalances as dis-ease, few use a foundational model to assess and treat the whole patient. Without a holistic foundation, therapies are Band-Aids at best. Modern health care delivers chemical therapies that change symptoms but do not address the root issues. The imbalances must be assessed with a framework in mind to then deliver the appropriate therapies.

A decade ago while attempting to treat a myriad of dis-ease states, I began to notice similar patterns in the biochemical imbalances. Genetic expression favors homeostasis, so what made the body fall out of tune? Miscommunication. The complex messenger chemicals produced by the neuro-immune-endocrine system (NIE) tell the DNA what is needed by the body. To keep the hormones in harmony the body needs to take in micronutrients and get out toxins. As a triangular relationship formed between the function of the NIE system, the In and the Out cornerstones, I discovered the importance of a neuro-endocrine gland located deep in the brain at the sixth chakra level—the hypothalamus.

So I formulated a holistic model that addresses all aspects of wellbeing necessary to revolutionize health care.

DMAR Pyramid of Health™ is that model. DMAR Pyramid of Health™ refers to “the sea”—the source of all life—and assesses wellbeing through a pyramid of health. The four faces of the DMAR Pyramid of Health™ are the physiological, the psycho-spiritual, the anatomical and the environmental. The base of the pyramid encompasses the energetic vibration that represents life force. The energy within the system communicates itself via the biochemicals that make up the neuro-immune-endocrine system. These hormones under hypothalamic orchestration sing to the genetic encodement. The DNA then dances accordingly. If the music is out of tune, the genetic expression is one of dis-ease. If the music is harmonious, physical embodiment is perfectly healthy. Rather than tuning each of the hormones, I began focusing on the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is truly the maestro of the body’s biochemical orchestra.

In clinical practice, I have found using the DMAR Pyramid of Health™ approach to dis-ease to be highly successful. I investigate imbalances in the neruo-immune-endocrine system, as well as perform functional testing of the assimilation and detoxification pathways, to uncover the root biochemical issues. Working with the other facets of the pyramid of wellbeing including the psycho-spiritual belief systems, the social and physical environment, and the anatomical structure of the physical body, provides a foundation in which to treat the patient. Being a biochemical specialist, I find that most patients need nutritional support. Feeding the brain holistically requires supplementation.

Tuning each biochemical pathway separately with nutritional and vibrational therapeutics is temporarily effective. Supporting the neuro-immune-endocrine system, as well as the assimilation and detoxification pathways, simultaneously creates harmonious communication with the DNA. Focusing on the hypothalamus which orchestrates the biochemistry is key to optimal genetic expression. A synergistic nutritional supplement to support all the biochemical pathways would create balance and harmony in our health and lives.

Hippocrates said, “Let food be your medicine”. In a world of fast food, gathering all the nutrients necessary to support the complex biochemical pathways can be difficult. After spending years sending patients out my clinic door with lists of supplements to balance their systems, I wondered if I could do what I was asking of them. The perpetual tuning and retuning of their supplementation programs required dependency on me. Parents of learning disabled and autistic children begged me to simplify the process. My research led to the development of the DMAR philosophy, but my dreams were the path to my greatest creation.

For three months at the end of 1999, I had a recurrent dream. My worse case patients came to drink from a golden chalice I held. We never spoke, but intuitively, I knew they were healed. I awoke asking what was in the cup. A formula unveiled itself. I spent the following year doing clinical research on the nutritional supplement that came in my dreams. In the summer of 2003, Creation in a Bottle was born. Genesis Gold® is designed to support the hypothalamus as well as the assimilation and detoxification pathways while keeping hormones in harmony.

For most of my patients, Genesis Gold® has replaced six to ten bottles of supplements. For many, they are no longer dependent on medications, hormone replacement, or natural remedies as their systems have come into harmony. Health is encoded into our DNA. Isn’t it time we tap into our highest potential?

2007-10-28T09:36:00.000-07:00

From the Ashes We Rise

The sooty gray sky frames a rose sun. Ash from a distant fire dusts the oak leaves. A midnight call from my daughter at San Diego State University, “I’m scared, Mom. We have to prepare to evacuate.” I reassure her and for my own peace of mind imagine a protective white light cocooning her precious form. Many of the professors can’t make it to the campus, so the college cancels classes. My daughter packs her art work, her kitten, her roommate, and her boyfriend and drives 200 miles home. She gets out just in time. The interstate 5 closes a few hours after she leaves San Diego.

Smelling of smoke, she arrives safe in my arms. “Mom, a lot of old people can’t breathe down there.” She worries, voice hoarse from breathing sooty air for four days. “What can we do?”

Calls coming in from across the country. “Is everyone alright?” Safe here in Ojai, but my mother trapped in Canyon Country. Mom asks if I remember holding the ladder while she watered our roof 39 years ago as fire engulfed Camp Plenty. I remember it like it was yesterday. Flying embers singeing our lawn. The thick smoke making my eyes water, choking me. My mother’s fear inflamed us all, yet she vowed to protect us and our home.

My stressed patients call for advice. Their loved ones trapped in the fire zone, their husbands—firemen and police—summoned to protect our neighbors. I prescribe natural remedies to help them sleep, relax their stress, soothe their inflamed lungs. My assistant wonders how this advice can be disseminated to those people in the evacuation centers.

So along with my prayers for your safe delivery from this crisis, here are some tips to handle the stress.

• Fend off illness by getting deep sleep.
Watching the news before bed can disturb sleep. Experiencing the crisis even virtually through the television can raise stress hormones gearing your body for fight or flight NOT a restful night’s sleep. Television and computer screens mimic daylight and suppress production of the sleep hormone—melatonin. If you must watch TV then wear pink sunglasses. Like the dusk, pink lenses induce melatonin production. A cup of chamomile tea can help you fall to sleep naturally.

• Relieve stress with natural remedies.
Massage can relieve muscle tension. You don’t need to be professional masseuse to help your loved ones. Firmly but gently massage the neck, shoulders and back with lavender oil for the ultimate in relaxation. Chelated calcium and magnesium has a calming effect on the nervous system. Bach flower essences like Rescue Remedy can soothe the system

• Eat a colorful diet
Consuming fruits and vegetables in a rainbow of colors helps you get the antioxidants necessary to cleanup the effect of stress in your system. If fresh produce is difficult to come by, try a fortified super green food powder mixed in antioxidant rich juice like pomegranate to detoxify your system. Avoid drowning your woes in sugary drinks or stuffing them with sweet starchy foods and you will help prevent depression of the brain chemistry.

• Breathe easier
Hot steamy showers assist in clearing the lungs of smoke. Place your hand on your stomach and take a deep breath using your abdominal muscles to draw the cleansing moist air deeply into your lungs. A few drops of eucalyptus oil in the bath or in a humidifier can help open blocked airways.

• Practice gratitude
While it’s difficult in the midst of a crisis to count your blessings, focusing on the positive induces a cascade of healing neuro-hormones. Your body responds to negative thoughts, angry words, and bad news with stress hormones that literally eat away at you. Gratitude can repair the damage. Be thankful for the blessings in your life.

Last year, fires ravaged the national forests surrounding Ojai. Our town was saved by the diligence of many brave firefighters and the positive uplifting meditations and prayers of friends and neighbors. Since then many of us have experienced losses. After the fall fires, we suffered a winter freeze. Many of my patients and friends have lost loved ones. I’ve spent the past year counseling them through crisis after crisis.

This has been a death year, beginning and ending in flame. Every seven years, the earth renews itself. Even humans seem to go through change in seven year cycles. The death year will end and we will experience a rebirth. Southern California will rise from the ashes and renew itself…stronger, wiser, and grateful for our very existence.

May we each receive the gift of this encounter and become better for it.

2007-08-01T12:48:00.000-07:00

Recently, we have had to cut down four trees that died in a rare freeze Southern California experienced this winter. I was bemoaning their loss and the many losses I’ve experienced this year. My dear husband tried to comfort me by reminding me that this is a death year. Since the fall of last year—he says from harvest to harvest are the true years just as the ancients celebrated—many deaths have occurred. The fires last fall that threatened our beloved Ojai Valley. The numerous patients that called for comfort after losing loved ones. And in January my beloved dog died of a rare and ravishing cancer. That same day I lost a friend to a pulmonary embolism. Six days later I was moved to call my mother and that moment her dog, the sister to mine, died in her lap.

I have always believed that birth is preceded by death. Most deaths are symbolic, like the death of childhood to become an adolescent. My dear grandmother died shortly after holding my premature son and after burying her, my baby was released from the NICU. When Genesis Gold® was birthed, I midwifed a dear patient through the veil. He was the one who helped me get my product manufactured and then a week after I placed the first bottle in his hands, he died. My husband reminded me that while I wanted my first book to be published in the spring, it could not be born in a death year. LoveDance will be released this fall…the beginning of a seven year birth cycle.

It makes sense that the earth would renew herself every seven years. Wasn’t it an ancient tradition to let the fields lay fallow on the seventh year? So perhaps now is the time for rest, renewal, recovery. Let us look forward to for a new beginning this fall when we break free from the chrysalis and become butterflies.

2007-07-12T08:39:00.000-07:00

I have left this blog unattended for so long while I care for my family and especially challenging patients. In the last month I referred one of my patients to an alternative cancer clinic. We have been communicating by email and while her spirits are good, still the fear overwhelms her.

Last night we shared this correspondence…

Deborah, you have all these gifts in helping others, it's truly remarkable to me. You're intuition is so perceptive and you seem to zoom in on what each person needs, whether it's physical, spiritual or emotional. I've always wanted to go into psychotherapy and my hope and desire is that when I get well I'll find a new path of helping others, too.

Right now I'm really trying to find that inner peace that comes with a heart-filled faith from God that everything is going to be fine. However, when I feel the enlarged lymph nodes it brings up that fear. I keep listening and watching "The Secret" and tell myself that this is something my body is capable of healing, but fear is an awful thing that keeps popping up. I begin questioning if I'm doing everything I can be doing to get well and then get stressed thinking about that. I pray that in the future when someone hears they have cancer it won't have the implication that it does today. My dad used to say that cancer is not that different from a common cold. I try to hold onto that thought because when we get a cold we know our bodies will get better and we don't worry about it other than the unpleasant symptoms.

As with the doctor you had lunch with, I think my emotions are so much more of why I'm not getting well. Even in writing you I get so tearful and I'm not even sure why.

It's wonderful that you've found a way of reaching so many through your book. Do you have any ideas for your next book?

Thanks for listening ...., A

Dear A,

I believe that there are really only two emotions--love and fear. Just as darkness is the absence of light, fear is the absence of love.
Fear is part of being human, the condition of feeling separate from God. Love is discovering Oneness with the Divine.
Dis-ease is fear embodied. It is doubt, negative thoughts, disbelief, wavering faith. It is an opportunity to learn.
Dis-ease is the body's way of communicating for the soul. Cancer is a rejection of self.
For you, it began when your mother died and you wished you could be with her. When you believed you were only needed until your daughter grew up. Just like in The Secret, you manifested your beliefs. But just like in The Secret, you can form a new belief, fuel it with a great desire and manifest wellness.

The question is: What is your purpose?
I believe that all misfortune is FORTUNE unrecognized.
Cancer is a gift...a learning tool. You are taking the ultimate course in faith, and I believe you will graduate with honors.

After I started my own practice, my former medical assistant developed breast cancer and came to me for healing.
Together we had watched another of our colleagues succumb to breast cancer. My assistant wanted to know why she developed the cancer. I explained that the cancer was a gift...to start taking care of herself...to stop putting everyone else first at her expense...to love herself enough to be well. She survived, alive today doing great work counseling other breast cancer patients.

You can use this opportunity to build a rich life, be the therapist you always wanted to be. Perhaps helping others with your new insight is part of your purpose.

Everyone feels fear. I'm afraid that the message of healing in LoveDance may not be received due to it's controversial nature, but that doesn't stop me from putting it out there. I consciously try to release my fear by asking the Divine to lift it from my heart and fill me with Love. Try it and see how much lighter you feel :)

LoveDance is a trilogy... the three major steps on the path to enlightenment. So far what I have written about Mary has become manifest in my life. As she awakened in my story so did I. I'm anxious to begin the next phase, but also a little afraid...it's normal, being human :)

Take Care,

Deborah

2007-03-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

Is it possible to keep hormones in harmony with nutritional supplementation alone?

In most cases, yes. The human body strives for homeostasis. Given the proper nutrients, the body can maintain optimal functioning of hormones, brain chemistry, immunity, assimilation, and detoxification. Without the full spectrum of micronutrients, the body must use its internal resources. If you have not been feeding your body properly, it will take time for a full spectrum nutritional product to fill in all the holes created by environmental stressors and long term nutritional deprivation. If the symptoms of hormonal imbalance are intolerable, therapeutic remedies may be necessary.

Most people seek care halfway on the continuum ranging from optimal wellness to death.Therapies may relieve symptoms but rarely address root causes. Dis-ease is multifactoral, stemming from imbalanced biochemistry, abnormal structure, environmental stressors, and unhealthy beliefs. Mind-body medicine addresses how thought manifests dis-ease. Environmental medicine addresses toxicity, while osteopathic medicine addresses structural imbalances. Although the body can heal itself, it may need nutritional support to reach bio-chemical homeostasis.

When the four facets of the pyramid of health --anatomy, physiology, environment, and belief--are addressed and balanced then the foundational energy can flow freely. Energy therapies can help release unconscious blocks to optimal health, when past trauma (physical or psychological) is so ingrained in cellular memory to adversely affect function. Bio-energetic healing through body work and acupuncture may be necessary.

I find treating the whole person requires a multi-level approach. Often patients come to me seeking a cure...yet leave knowing their body, mind, and soul more intimately to begin self-healing. There is not enough transdermal hormones to dip patients in when the dis-ease is rooted in psycho-spiritual beliefs of unworthiness and vulnerability. Helping patients become conscious of that which they were formally unaware opens doorways to healing.

Although highly trained in biological diagnosis and therapies, as an intuitive healer, I often perceive the roots of dis-ease as unresolved emotional conflict. Inability to speak one's truth often leads to a dysfunctional thyroid. Cancer often stems from self-rejection. Even injuries like a sprained ankle can be the body's way of slowing you down to learn a spiritual lesson.

In November 2001, I was working as a medic for my daughter's gymnastic team. Getting up from sitting on the hard gymnasium floor, I felt a sharp pain in my right gluteus. The pain progressed into a sciatica which lasted five months. Weeks of therapy, yoga stretches, anti-inflammatory supplements did nothing to relieve the pain. After an unsuccessful ultrasound therapy, my chiropractor finally threw in the towel, claiming he could find nothing physically wrong. I admitted that it was spiritual. Only once before had I experienced such excruciating sciatic pain--while in labor with my daughter. That day in the gymnasium I had been filling out the parental portion of college applications for my son. I was birthing my son into the world and my sciatic heralded in the transformation. The moment we arrived at new student orientation the following April, I knew the energy of the university fit my son perfectly. Emotionally relieved, my sciatic pain ceased.

Perhaps I might have figured out the psychospiritual roots of my sciatica and been able to heal it sooner with a balanced nutritional support. Since then I have had to face other "births" but the accompanying sciatica is short-lived. The realization of the energetic roots of my personal ailments hastens the healing supported by a full spectrum nutritional supplement like Genesis Gold. With my biochemical pathways functioning optimally, most illness is avoided, but when encountered recovery is rapid.

I am blessed to have patients open to wholistic healing, ready to face all imbalances in their lives to truly heal themselves.
May you be optimally well.

2007-03-05T19:34:00.000-08:00

Already March and we've barely recovered from winter's freezing vestiges even here in "sunny" California. With daylight saving springing ahead three weeks early, we will be rising before the sun, slaves to our alarm clocks rather than our natural rhythms. Shall we expect prolonged depression from SAD (seasonal affective disorder)? Perhaps.
Before using Genesis Gold, I suffered from the winter blues, craving carbs, craving sunlight. For the past three years, I have not bemoaned the shortening days winter, but do follow my body's cravings for orange vegies (pumpkin, sweet potatoes, butternut squash) and be sure I spend an hour a day outside in the sun. Full spectrum lights can also help soothe the winter blues when sunlight is scarce.
Just before taking the dogs out for our evening walk, I noticed five creamy blossoms on the otherwise bare apricot tree. Perhaps spring will arrive sooner than expected. Be well.

2007-02-02T18:44:00.000-08:00

Thank goodness, the full moon has finally released the congested energies of January. I hope you are all well recovered after the holidays. Many of my patients had a rough time this season enduring much loss. Even my new year began with three deaths in a week. Even healers must take time to heal themselves,so I took more of special formula but grief weakens the immune system making me vulnerable to a pediatric patient’s virulent bug. Sick, tired, and sad, premenstrual tension rose her petulant head. Since childhood I have found writing to be therapeutic, so I share with you, my sisters, my humble attempt to deal with feelings through verse...

PMS

I cannot take his silence
Or the edge in my voice
The pain in my back
The void in my heart

I cannot bear waiting
One more moment for relief
Promises still unfulfilled
Wispy patience worn thin

I cannot endure his worry
Or my erratic frustration
The steely set of his jaw
Or the tide of unshed tears

I cannot help but want to cry
That’s not me I see in your eyes
It’s a monster of my truth
I'm lost behind the fear

May you enjoy an abundance of health, wealth and happiness!

2006-11-30T19:09:00.000-08:00

The WHI study researched the effects of Premarin and Provera on cardiovascular disease in menopausal women and closed down because they erroneously determined that using hormone replacement therapy over five years increased the risk of cardiovascular disease and breast cancer. Why is this an erroneous assumption? Because lumping all HRT including bio-identical estrogen and progesterone with Premarin and Provera use is like saying that to eating fruit causes cavities because it has “sugar” in it!

Most of what we know about hormones is based on the oldest pharmaceutical—Premarin.
Which is in fact equine estrones—the bio-waste of pregnant mare estrogen metabolism and humans convert Premarin primarily into 4OH estrone, one of the most toxic forms of estrogen.

I will illustrate estrogen types and their metabolism in detail, but first let’s examine the “progesterone” used in the WHI study. They used Provera a synthetically derived progestin. Yes, its chemical name is medroxyprogesterone named by its inventor—not natural, but man-made. What’s the problem with Provera? Well, progesterone is a 21 carbon molecule, one of the largest steroid hormones. Don’t let the word steroid alarm you. All hormones that are made up by sterols (cholesterol) are called steroids. That includes naturally occurring 21 carbon pregnenelone, 19 carbon DHEA and testosterone, and 17 carbon estrogen and cortisol.

19 carbon medroxyprogesterone is more closely related to testosterone than 21 carbon progesterone. In fact the side effects of medroxyprogesterone (Provera) are androgen related (male hormone)….elevated cholesterol and mid-line weight gain. Yes, Provera reverses estrogenic effects on the uterine lining proven to prevent hyperplasia or uterine cancer, but guess what? So does natural progesterone!

What man-made Provera cannot do, that progesterone was created by nature to do, is protect against estrogen fed cancers. Think of estrogen as fertilizer feeding both the roses and the weeds. If estrogen fertilizes or promotes cell growth, than progesterone is like the gardener which picks the weeds and leaves the flowers. Progesterone turns on a very handy gene called P53 which is the cell death gene. It tells the cells when they have out lived their welcome, like breast cells or uterine cells that grow in preparation for a potential pregnancy. At the end of a menstrual cycle if the woman is not pregnant those cells under the influence of progesterone deteriorate (in the breast) or slough off (menstruation).

You see mother nature has it all figured out.

Now let’s go back to Premarin. Why would our bodies convert equine estrones into the most dangerous kind of estrogen? Because Premarin is the waste product of horse estrogen metabolism and our human livers can do nothing else with it. Garbage in, garbage out.

Now estrogens are not all created equally. The human ovary produces estradiol (known as E2 because it was discovered after estrone or E1). Estradiol is a powerful growth promoting hormone. It nourishes blood vessels, nerves, skin, hair, nails, lining of the gut as well as promotes female secondary sexual characteristics like breast development and wider hips than men, and enriches the uterine lining for potential pregnancy. Studies have shown that estradiol stimulates the thymus to promote proper immune programming so that reproductive women produce sufficient antibodies to pass on to their offspring.

Since estradiol is short-lived, the body has a back up system of enzymes in the fat cells that can convert estradiol to long acting estrone. Now there are three main types of estrone named by which carbon molecule carries a hydroxyl molecule.
• 2OH estrone is the safest form made in great quantities in young women of healthy body weight. The enzyme that promotes 2OH estrone conversion uses the micronutrients found in flax, soy, fatty fish, and cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts).
• 16OH estrone is inflammatory and has been associated with breast and gynecological cancers. Overweight women, sedentary women, women who drink too much alcohol or who have been exposed to xenoestrogens (man-made estrogenic toxins like DDT) and certain drugs like cimetidine make too much of this dangerous estrogen. 16Oh estrone can be converted to estriol.
• 4OH estrone is the most volatile of the three associated with the most aggressive forms of breast and ovarian cancer. All the factors that influence 16OH conversion affect 4OH as well as age.

Estriol—the pregnancy hormone is the third estrogen and seems to be the least inflammatory and the most nourishing to vaginal and urethral tissues. Estriol is my favorite bio-identical used topically to make an atrophic dry vagina lush.

Unfortunately, getting older increases poor estrogen metabolism, which is why I do not agree with high dose hormone replacement. The levels of hormones produced by young women are safe for them because they have the means to safely metabolize the hormones. Most older women do not have the means to metabolism the hormones safely. Although they can take lots of Dim or IC3 indoles (the active ingredient in cruciferous vegetables) and lots of EPA (fish oils), keep their weight down and drink alcohol in moderation, but I believe reversing age related metabolic enzyme activity takes a multi-pronged approach.

A holistic approach to hormone replacement therapy includes complete neuro-immune-endocrine and metabolic evaluation. Functional medicine testing is available to assess genetic and metabolic capabilities of an individual. There is no one size fit all prescription for hormone replacement or anti-aging therapies.

2006-11-29T15:03:00.000-08:00

After stopping her bio-identical hormone therapy a few years back and now on the verge of menopausal crisis, a former patient returned to my care. Why did she stop her HRT? Because of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study which reported an increase risk of cancer in those subjects using “progesterone” with “estrogen”.

First of all let’s make it very clear, comparing the hormones used in the WHI study with botanically-derived bio-identical hormones is like comparing apples to oranges.

The WHI used Premarin derived from pregnant mare’s urine as the “estrogen” and Provera, synthetic medroxyprogesterone, as the “progesterone”.

Years ago when WHI first began to study HRT’s effectiveness in preventing heart disease, I was asked to by the American Heart Association to be part of a panel of local experts to answer women’s questions on the hormones. As a nurse practitioner who had been treating menopausal women for years with natural hormones, I was honored to be part of the medical panel which included cardiologists and endocrinologists, but the WHI researcher was not too thrilled when I began questioning her terminology. I argued that WHI was not using “progesterone” but a synthetic derivative and that the study would show an increase in cardiovascular disease for two reasons:
1. the hormones were oral which would create havoc in the liver’s production of clotting factors (just as oral contraceptives increase the incidence of blood clots)
2. and not using real progesterone would put the subjects at risk for breast cancer.

Now what I had to say was not well received, but the cardiologist covertly asked about what I knew. Although I explained, the doctors, too fearful to break away from protocol, continued following the pharmaceutical sponsored protocols until…the study was stopped. Why? Because the subjects had significant increases in…
1. blood clots leading to stroke and heart attack
2. and breast cancer especially in the subjects that were given Provera

Guess what? The endocrinologist on that panel is now using natural hormones.
How many women must suffer before health care providers make the switch to alternative therapies?

Needless to say, my former patient gladly went back on bio-identical hormones. I also recommended Genesis Gold® to help metabolize the hormones as safely as possible and to balance adrenal, thyroid, and hypothalamic function as well as glucose metabolism. Finally I counseled her on nutritional and lifestyle changes to encourage healthier body composition and promote safer estrogen metabolism.

Tomorrow, I’ll go into detail about hormone metabolism.

2006-11-16T16:32:00.000-08:00

Did Suzanne Somers stir the pot? Absolutely! Unfortunately the AMA will get the FDA involved and that could potentially be disastrous to the use of bio-identical hormones. Why? Because natural hormones cannot be patented, so there is no big pharmaceutical company that will stand behind the research. Rather the big drug companies will be supporting stringent FDA regulation of natural compounds on the erroneous basis that bio-identical hormones can increase cancer risk.

Susan Somer’s interview on Larry King inflamed an already hot topic.
Natural bio-identical hormones have been around for over three decades. They are not new, used by many European physicians to treat menopause for years and in this country by those health care providers willing to think outside of the box. Traditional medicine has been boxed in by the politics of greed, run by the forces of two big industries—the pharmaceutical industry and the insurance industry. Providers fear to try anything new even when patients ask for other options. I applaud my colleagues who have braved the storm and dove into natural therapies including using bio-identical hormones. The FDA is NOT the best watch dog for patient safety for they are skewed by big industry that can afford to support their testing protocols. Following FDA protocol costs a fortune to bring a drug to the market and how many drugs are pulled off the shelf each year for side effects that show up after the testing is completed.

Shouldn’t thirty years of clinical evidence justify continued unhampered use of bio-identical hormones?

There is not a one size fits all protocol for every woman!
Each needs an individualized regime to fit her needs.

If providers would use their scientific training to make justifiable treatment decisions rather than acting like sheep and treating every patient the same, hiding within the flock of doctors who fear to stray from protocol, then there would not be a hormone issue.

Years ago I worked with a physician who complained that I gave the patients too much information! He was afraid that they wouldn’t need us any more. I laughed and told him that there were so many ill patients to be tended, we would be busy for the rest of our lives!

I educate my patients sometimes to ad nauseum. Poor things come so hormonally challenged that they cannot possibly absorb all I have to teach them. Yet there are no stupid questions only reluctant providers who will not take the time to find the answers and instead hide behind what all their colleagues are doing.

If I had a dime for every time a patient said “How come no one else could figure out my problem?” I would be able to retire. I figure out the roots to their dis-ease because I listen to them. I am willing to go where other providers fear to venture. I investigate alternatives and am willing to try new things with my patients. I’ve always pushed the envelope and have found that I am five to seven years ahead of current thinking, current procedure, current practice.

Seven years ago, I too investigated high dose cyclical hormone replacement therapy with patients, actually researchers who desired to be clinically treated with this innovative anti-aging model. I did not find that high dose cyclical therapies worked. Like all new treatments, the patients initially found great relief, but few could follow the demanding protocol which involved heavy duty nutraceuticals to balance the potentially inflammatory hormone metabolism.

I just had a patient come in today reporting that three of her friends have been on the high dose regime for the past three years and seem “addicted” to their hormones. I explained that in our youth, our bodies can tolerate high level of hormone production because we have efficient metabolic pathways to rid ourselves of the dangerous waste. But like any chemical that stimulates cellular receptors, even natural hormones can cause physiological dependency as the patient needs more and more to get the same effect, eventually becoming desensitized or resistant to the hormone. By the way this lovely lady, like most of my patients, is doing very well on moderate dosing of bio-identical hormones. And the best of all, her regime is easy to follow.

While working with the researchers promoting high dose hormone replacement, I began to do some private investigation. They did not believe that the body once through midlife could make its own hormones at a healthy milieu, but I believed otherwise. It didn’t make sense to me to continue to create dependency in patients while promoting natural therapies. There must be a way to activate the body’s potential. After months of investigation, I developed a nutraceutical formula that enhanced and balanced one’s natural hormone production. In the three years since Genesis Gold® has been available, many of my patients have been able to reduce their hormonal dependency, some completely off replacement therapy and showing signs of making their own hormones.

Yesterday one of my patients asked my opinion about the Suzanne Somers’ hormone protocol. While I do not agree with the high dosages recommended in Somer’s books, I do think she has served women by stirring up the pot of bio-identical hormone replacement. Doctors are upset at her touting her own high dose protocol, even her original medical advisors are pulling their support out from under her. Her personal prescription many not be right for every individual woman, but her courage will serve us all. Why? Because the world of medicine needs to be shaken up.

If interested in a truly natural alternative, check out www.genesisgold.net

2006-11-10T10:27:00.000-08:00

I must apologize for my absence. I’ve spent the past week focusing my attentions on editing by first book due out this spring. Check it out at www.lovedancebooks.com.

This week, I had a patient come in looking for a miracle. I smiled and explained that there are no magic cures, but she insisted that I would get to the root of her ailment. Well, during the two hour consult, we dove deeply into her life, the history of her problem, the hormonal symptoms that others had attempted to treat. I took her hand and heart to heart, we emerged from the darkness of her despair and into the light of understanding.

I am blessed with a new wave of patients that are open to receive me. The healing begins when they acknowledge their ailments as symbolic representations of their beliefs. Yes, I support them biochemically with natural hormones and nutraceutical supplementation. Yes, I help them see how their lifestyle choices are affecting their health. But I do more, much, much more.

All dis-ease has energetic roots tied to a patient’s belief about herself. If she believes in her vulnerability, she will be susceptible to infectious agents. If she feels unworthy, she will attract toxic relationships and be abused by others. Each dis-ease has its own vibration, its own energy, often cloaked by the disharmonious energies of an imbalanced system. Harmonizing the hormones and balancing the biochemistry is only part of a holistic treatment plan. If the healer does not attend to the patient’s belief system, there will not be enough remedies to prescribe to relieve the patient’s suffering. Perhaps physical symptoms may diminish but the imbalance will rear its ugly head somewhere else in the system. This time of year promises challenging patients who shall present unique opportunities for me.
I anticipate a rich harvest!

2006-10-31T07:04:00.000-08:00

Do you ever yearn for a hamam? You know a place to go once a month? The red tent? The menstrual hut? As modern women, we have lost this tradition of honoring ourselves during our menses. No wonder so many suffer from premenstrual syndrome. Knowing you are going to face life severely challenged by your lack of hormones every month is enough to send you over the edge. What is tolerable on a daily basis—fussy children refusing to get ready for school, your spouse’s dirty clothes tossed on the floor instead of in the hamper, telemarketers calling when you're already running late—becomes absolutely intolerable. Futilely you try to entice the kids from their warm beds, then tripping over your husband’s dirty clothes, your voice rising as you gather his mess up to toss in the garbage, the phone rings and you hurry catching your bare toe on the edge of the door...down for the count.
You need a break from your life.

Well once upon a time women gave each other a respite by taking over for their “sisters” once a month. Our hormones mirror one another so women who live and work closely together start cycling as one, so what happened when all the women were in the hamam at once? The men floundered, the children found their grandmothers’ laps most inviting and the menstruating women were truly appreciated.
Absence does make the heart grow founder.

Years ago, I began wearing a red gypsy skirt during my cycle. Although not getting massaged by my “hamam sisters” while pouring my woes into sympathetic ears and feasting on sweets without a care, I got respect from my family. So much so that my pubescent daughter yearned for a “period skirt” and when that special time finally came, we celebrated heartily, dancing about in our beautiful skirts, eating chocolate, fixing each other’s hair and nails. Ecstatic to be like mom, my daughter appreciated being pampered a few days a month. And I loved reawakening the lost tradition of the hamam. Have a happy moon cycle :)

2006-10-25T10:27:00.002-07:00

Welcome to Hormones in Harmony!

2006-10-25T10:27:00.000-07:00

Why is your brain in a fog? You might be hormonally challenged.
If you ever “lost” something you just put down or entered a room and forgot why you went, you have experienced brain fog. It’s common when the sex steroids—specifically estrogen—decline whether that be briefly in the premenstrual period or permanently at menopause or andropause (the male equivalence and yes, male testosterone is converted to estrogen which enhances memory and mental acquity).
Lush hormones keep young brains bright and juicy— neurotransmitters float through a watery matrix to initiate electrical impulses in the brain. When hormones are properly balanced, you can teach an old dog new tricks.
My hormonally challenged patients are often overwhelmed with information at the first consultation, but once we get their hormones harmonized, they retain the “endocrine 101” lecture material well enough to teach their friends about the importance of balanced hormones. Many of my fifty plus patients return to school to pursue graduate degrees, work on their doctorates, even start new careers once their physiology is optimized with individualized combination of bio-identical hormones and nutritional hypothalamic support.

2006-10-22T10:16:00.000-07:00

“It’s not a hot flash…It’s a power surge!” Menopause can be the worst of times or the best of times. Why not use this hormonal transition to empower yourself? Although still basking in the joys of perimenopause, on that occasional night I wake up over heated, the dream I just had is profound, sometimes a premonition, but always insightful. Menopausal women are some of my most insightful patients. Their hormonal swings serve to highlight life’s lessons and those who receive the blessings of such a profound transition journey far on their soul path. I love how eloquently hormones color the canvas of our lives. These tiny biochemical messengers have the power to transform us.

One of my dearest patients shared her menopausal moments with me. Time spent tuning her system with transdermal bio-identical hormones highlighted the void in her life. She had shut down the creative energies in her root chakra by refusing to use her gifts—a talented artist who spent most of her life pursuing what she believed to be more stable means of making a living. My goal in providing hormonal support is to use the bio-identicals to “sing” with the patient until her glands remember the tune and can perform a’capello. In that light, I recommended that this patient begin taking the nutraceutical I developed to balance the hypothalamus (the maestro of the entire neuro-immune-endocrine system). Within months of adding Genesis Gold® to her regime, this repressed artist emerged from hibernation with her own well balanced hormones and creative works multiplying in her office. Today she has her own studio and is one of the most beautifully vibrant women in my practice.

2006-10-19T21:47:00.000-07:00

When my mother complained that she’d rather have uterine cancer than suffer with depression induced by synthetic hormones, I searched for natural alternatives. Thus began my coronation as The Hormone Queen. Women began flocking to my practice for botanically derived bio-identical hormones to harmonize their imbalanced systems. Like fine tuning a musical instrument, I experimented with different doses and delivery systems. The transdermal creams made by experienced compounding pharmacists worked like a charm for the majority of my patients and for the rest sublingual troches provided relief.
In the mid-nineties, I got lots of experience helping patients with root chakra issues—ovarian cysts, uterine fibroids, menstrual irregularities, infertility, cervical dysplasia— and became so adept at inserting and removing Norplant contraceptive devices that for a few years I was known as the Contraceptive Queen. Although my practice has expanded to include treating every known hormonal imbalance, root chakra issues are so common that it’s often the first issue that must be addressed. And it isn’t just imbalanced women who come to me for help but men suffering from prostatitis, erectile dysfunction, and more subtle signs of testosterone deficiency. Truth be told, there isn’t enough bio-identical hormones to dip these patients in if they are unwilling to accept the psycho-spiritual nature of their ailment. So I spend a lot of time counseling my patients.
Like the other day a perimenopausal woman recently diagnosed with uterine fibroids came to me for alternative therapies. We discussed her options—natural progesterone to balance the estrogen dominance, Ic3 indoles to enhance less inflammatory estrogen metabolism and healthy doses of Coenzyme Q 10—but only when I suggested that the fibroids mirrored her recent hibernation of creative energies did the true healing begin. She broke down and cried. (Kleenex is a precious commodity in my office)
The recognition of how her beliefs had influenced her health was the first step in releasing the congested energies. We ended the session by expressing gratitude for the wisdom of her body in showing her soul the way towards healing.

2006-10-18T15:00:00.000-07:00

So who is this colorful lady with the funny shapes from her root to her crown?
Meet Princess Chakra.
Chakra is Sanskrit for wheels of energy, each rainbow shape depicts the endocrine system—the glands which produce hormones.
If she is Princess Chakra, then I am the Hormone Queen.
Since giving birth in 1984 to a very hormonally challenged baby, I have been immersed in the intricacies of the endocrine system. Doesn’t it seem like the eye doctors wear the thickest glasses? Well, we all have our impetus to serve the world and mine was my son. Perhaps his story shall be revealed in another blog. (what a funny word…is it short for weblog, like a ship’s log in which the captain records where his vessel has sailed? Hmm!)
But for now I celebrate my initiation having set sail on the sea of blogging.
The time is ripe to share the secrets of health and happiness each foreign port with joy.