By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND “Unhappiness does not kill you, it’s what we do to ‘get happy’ that does.” I attended a great conference on the weekend, and wanted to share some inspiring content from a lecture by Dr. Robert Lustig, MD. He talked largely about the difference between pleasure and happiness, the brain chemistry differences, and how …
Are EMF’s Affecting Your Health?
By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND This article starts with a personal story first. Out of curiosity, being a downtown household we purchased an EMF meter (TriField meter) to check out our home and exposures. What we found was entirely shocking at the time, although the more I read about EMF's (electromagnetic fields), I think our findings are extremely …
Metabolic stress: why your hormone imbalance may be caused by over-exercising and under-fueling
By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND I’m writing this article because it’s a pattern I see quite regularly, where exercise or nutrition habits are taken too far, and then some type of hormone imbalance develops. This is usually more subtle than an overt eating disorder, where the imbalance of caloric intake and energy burned is more extreme. There can be too …
10 Common Mistakes in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Hormone Issues
By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND The majority of my practice focuses on hormonal health - ranging from issues at puberty, with fertility, thyroid disorders, PCOS, endometriosis, irregular periods, perimenopause and menopause. I wanted to explain some of the common pitfalls in treating hormonal issues which can save a lot of time in assessment and …
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Do you still have thyroid symptoms while on medication?
By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND Were you diagnosed with hypothyroidism, put on medication and expected to feel so much better and still don’t? This is something I hear all the time - my thyroid is underactive, that’s why I’m tired, overweight and my hair is falling out. Really, if your thyroid is optimally treated there should no longer be lingering …
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Ask questions, do your research, advocate for your own health
By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND I really love my job, and especially all of the wonderful people I get to work with every day. When I’m asked about who my patients are, one thing that stands out is that you come in prepared for your appointments - you’ve done research, have questions, want to understand your lab results, and are ready to take action. I …
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Building Your Resilience
By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND In challenging times, we rely on our resilience to get us through. The past months have been one of these times for many of us, and now that the acute anxiety has eased up, it’s time to refocus on wellness again. “The definition of resilient is someone or something that bounces back into shape or recovers quickly.” (1) …
Your period is trying to tell you something
This article is inspired by a colleague, Lara Briden, ND in New Zealand. The quote above is from Lara, and I really love the idea of looking at the period as a way to learn about your overall health. What is your period trying to tell you? What is a normal period? Let's begin with what is considered normal for periods. Here are some useful …
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10 steps you can take for Balanced Hormones
By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND I have had many conversations over the past weeks with women noticing more changes and imbalances in their hormones. This is partly because life is different right now - the days look very similar so we notice how different we are through the month, and also because stress turns up the volume on all hormonal symptoms. …
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