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Spring/Summer, 2022: Time to celebrate new beginnings

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Creating a New Adventure!

...a beautiful Persian Pepper Tree

I found the pandemic to be a time to go within and away from the crisis all around that required my attention. During this time of reflection, meditation, being in nature, and personal growth, I decided it is time for me to follow my heart, simplify my life, and prepare to help teach the next generation of naturopathic doctors. These insights directed me to the decision that it is time to leave Pacific Pearl and begin a practice with time and space to write and teach. The process of letting go of my many attachments has been life changing and I have learned the experience and value of surrender at a level that I could not have imagined. I am so grateful to the support team around me who held the space for this deep healing.

Where am I going? I have found an office space in Encinitas with a beautiful Persian pepper tree that spoke to me the moment I looked at that space. My plan is to leave Pacific Pearl May 31^st. I will take the month of June to rest, refresh and be in nature. I will open July 5^th at the following location.

El Camino Medical Dental

317 N El Camino Real Suite 206

Encinitas, California 92024

I know that many of you will continue your care with me in Encinitas. Others will decide not to continue with me and remain at the Pearl or go elsewhere. I honor all your decisions. I am grateful for the opportunity to have traveled this path with you.

To all my patients continuing, please get your prescriptions filled to get you through June. You all know how to reach me via cell and email. I will be less available during June and refreshed to meet you anew in July.

My website is being updated now and will have more logistics on it. It is my hope that this transition will be smooth for all of us. www.drmoirafitzpatrick.com

With love and appreciation,

Dr. Moira

Honoring the Divine Feminine

During the month of May, let us take time to honor women, the divine feminine. We are coming to a time in history, when women will step into their power and create a heart centered world. The Divine feminine is love, compassionate action, and wisdom. It is women empowering women.

Women are cyclical beings. We are attuned to the cycles of nature, the tides, the seasons, and the moon. Attunement to the menstrual cycle is the source of our power as it connects us to ourselves. When a girl transitions to being a young woman at menarche (first menses), we, mothers, aunts, grandmothers need to honor her and teach her to listen to her body, the temple of her soul. We can support her during her time of the month, to relax, go within, love, nurture, and care for herself.

May you honor your menses as your sacred time to rest and replenish.

PMS or premenstrual syndrome is the body telling us something is out of balance. It is time to listen to what is triggering you. Is it stress, the change of seasons, excessive caffeine, lack of exercise, trauma, consuming foods to which you are sensitive, coming off birth control pills? Listen…

Let us honor our mothers and support all mothers and mothers to be. Preparing for pregnancy and carrying a baby enhances each mother’s awareness of her body. It is time to listen, bond with your baby and receive support from family and friends. After giving birth, each mother transitions on a body, mind, and soul level. It is a time to recover from giving birth, supporting your body as it rebalances hormones and learning to cope with interrupted sleep as you fall in love with your newborn. This is an important time to receive support, nourish and nurture your body.

The perimenopausal transition begins with variation in your menstrual cycle of greater than 7 days. It is a time of fluctuating hormones and can seem like perpetual PMS. It can also be a time of emotional turmoil, a time to mother ourselves and to re-evaluate our lives. The hormonal swings of perimenopause are most challenging for those who struggled with PMS. There are many phytoestrogens to help support hormonal balance. You may want to look at the risks and benefits of bio-identical hormones during the end of perimenopause as you transition into menopause. This is window of greatest benefit from hormones.

The perimenopause transition is a time to reconnect with our creativity. Creativity is an act of giving life. It is nourishing and enhancing life in a way that feeds your soul. What does your soul want to express? Reflect, be in nature, what moves you? Is it art, music, gardening, writing, business, your grandchildren, community? It is a time when we have the opportunity to step back into ourselves, our power and rise up like a beautiful tree, rooted deep in mother earth.

Menopause and post menopause is a time to teach what we have learned. It is a time to nurture and nourish the body, to live in balance and allow your light to shine. This is also a time to reassess your bone health. I support you in creating a bone-building program. The key element in addition to a healthy food program is an exercise program that includes stretching, mobility exercises, aerobic exercise, and weight training. Bone building nutrients include calcium, magnesium, vitamin K, Boron, and vitamin D. We can stay strong as long as we incorporate exercise into our daily routine. Remember you are exercising for the next 10 years of your life.

At this time more than ever, the earth needs wise women to guide us into a new time to bring balance on mother earth and to bring light and love into the world.

I am emphasizing receiving because we as women focus on giving. We are programmed culturally to believe we never do enough. Begin today to give to yourself. Know you can receive support through all the seasons of change. Support takes the form of nutrition, learning to love, be in and move your body, reaching out to friends and family, play. Emotionally, the body will remind you of feelings stored, ready to be expressed. It is an opportunity to change your beliefs, your paradigm of living in the world. The plants are here to support you as you transition from one life phase to another in your quest for balance. Bio-identical hormones are available if you need or want to use them.

Any transition is an opportune time to see how your body is functioning. How are you digesting food, digesting your life? How are the stressors of life affecting your immune system? That interacting web of hormones? How does your heart feel – physically, emotionally, in relationship to yourself? Do you love who you are? Love enables us to be who we are. Let us joyously give our gifts and talents to this world, while we marvel at the beauty of mother nature.

Each day I learn more about balance and I have come to realize that balance is about love. For me it is connecting with nature, with the universe, with Source, with an infinity of possibilities and living from purpose. I honor each woman’s path and support you to express who you are.

With Appreciation

Pacific Pearl La Jolla

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work at Pacific Pearl La Jolla for the last 7 years. It has been a time where I have experienced the value of integrative medicine. When conventional medicine and natural medicine are in partnership it is the best medicine. Pacific Pearl has been a place where individuals can get both forms of medicine in one place and where we as practitioners learned to value the gifts and talents of each other.

I so value the opportunity I had to work with Dr. Mimi Guarneri, especially during the comprehensive assessments. Comprehensive assessments are a time to look at your health with the support of both a naturopathic doctor and a conventional/integrative doctor. This type of initial assessment provides a deep look at your health, including mind, body, and spirit, through the eyes and heart of two practitioners who also see the larger picture, the whole of who you are. Thank you, Dr. Guarneri. I think we learned to dance well together.

I am so grateful for the many practitioners who have been and continue to be at Pacific Pearl. The support staff at the Pearl have been amazing. I am especially grateful for my assistant Larissa and Angie who makes sure tinctures and supplements are available. For those of you with children, there is no better phlebotomist than Janett. Thank you all!

I am grateful to Dr. Stone and Dr. Pedi, now two wonderful naturopathic doctors who I had the honor of mentoring in residency. You have inspired me to go forth and impart the art and science of naturopathic medicine to the next generation of naturopathic doctors.

I will miss everyone at the Pearl. I will hold you in my heart. It is now time for me to move to the next chapter of my life. Namaste.

Long Covid

PASC Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2

Long Covid is affecting 25-30% of those who have had SARS Cov-2 Infection. It is also seen in a subset of those who have been vaccinated. It occurs 3 months from the onset of COVID-19 and lasts for at least 2 months. There appears to be no relationship to the severity of Covid and Long Covid. There are innumerable symptoms, and the list seems to grow as we learn more. I have seen primarily individuals with the following symptoms: fatigue, shortness of breath, brain fog, headache, joint pain, cough, loss of smell, changed sense of taste, depression, anxiety, and chest pain. Other symptoms reported in the literature include low vision, red eyes, vertigo, muscle pain, lack of appetite, skin lesions, diarrhea, rhinitis, sore throat… [1]

We know that COVID disrupts the immune system and causes a significant inflammatory response. Antioxidants in the body cannot keep up with the prooxidant state caused by inflammation.

The COVID virus uses its spike protein to bind to ACE2 receptors to enter the cell. ACE2 affects mitochondrial function and a deficiency in ACE2 could affect energy by decreasing the production of ATP. These are a couple of mechanisms to consider. There are many more.

Whether or not you were infected with COVID, your life may have been significantly disrupted during the pandemic. An interesting study coined the term pandemic brain which is your brain adapting to the situation the best way that it could. The outcome of the study showed that stressors associated with the pandemic triggered a neuroimmune response. [2] I suspect cortisol levels were heightened during the pandemic, driving the inflammatory process. Depression rates tripled during the pandemic. Adolescents were particularly affected by isolation and uncertainty.

Each person’s response to COVID, the vaccination if you chose to get it, or the pressure you experienced if you decided not to get the vaccine, and the stress of the pandemic itself is unique to you, hence the treatment must be individualized to resolve your concerns.

I recommend the following baseline and the rest can be individualized.

1)    Keep your vitamin D levels high. Vitamin D is ubiquitous in the immune system, and it inhibits the transcription of viral DNA. If you are exposed to COVID, double your vitamin D for 2-3 weeks.

2)    Keep taking Zinc if you have partial or full loss of smell; have a changed sense of taste.

3)    Quercetin 500 mg two to three times per day.

4)    If you are fatigued, I recommend Rhodiola. It is considered an adaptogen, which means it increases your ability to adapt to stressors. Rhodiola is a stimulating adaptogen, so if you have a tendency to be anxious, this is not the herb for you. Cordyceps mushroom is an immunoadaptogen. This means that if your immune activity is high, it lowers it and if your immune activity is low, it increases it. Cordyceps is protective to the mitochondria, hence an important mushroom post Covid. It is also neuroprotective, antiviral and anti-inflammatory. It is one of my favorite mushrooms. Astragalus is an immune modulator and I have found that it stabilizes the vital force, is tonifying to the lungs, and supports an individual who feels weak following Covid. The energy of Astragalus is warming and nourishing.

5)    Each plant has an energy and affects not only the body, but also the mind and your spirit. If you are struggling with long Covid, I can support you through the plants and mix a tincture that will help to rejuvenate you.

It is my hope that all of us will recognize how important it is to take good care of ourselves. The food you eat matters. I recommend a diversity of fresh, organic vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, beans, and lean, clean protein such as low mercury fish, poultry, and eggs. Get outside and be in nature. Exercise daily, walk, engage in your favorite aerobic activity or sport, stretch, do some weight resistant exercises. Take time to be present or meditate. Stay hydrated. Drink at least 8 glasses of water daily. Sleep 7-8 hours every night. Adolescents need more sleep. Take time each day to play, laugh and enjoy your friends and family. Each moment of life we have is precious.

1.    JAMA 2020; 324(6):603-605.

2.    BMJ, June 2021

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