Rhythms and Routines – Susan Payrovi

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Susan Payrovi, MD, is a triple board-certified physician in anesthesiology, hospice and palliative medicine, and integrative medicine. Payrovi is also certified in functional medicine and medical acupuncture. She is a clinical assistant professor at Stanford University, where her clinical practice focuses on non-pharmaceutical lifestyle treatments of chronic disease. As part of her commitment to support the MS community, she has created an online wellness program called “TRUE Medicine” to ensure everyone has access to the lifestyle treatments that reliably improve immune health from the root cause.

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Ironically, cutting out coffee gave me a boost of energy

I wasn’t addicted to coffee. But my body was. As someone living well with multiple sclerosis, how I fuel my body matters to me — more than I sometimes realize. I didn’t fully appreciate how caffeine was affecting me until, by chance, I skipped it for two days. That…

Susan Payrovi

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I thought it was just stress — until I learned about trauma

Trauma is not stress, and you can’t meditate your way out of it. I’d never considered this before. Of all the talks I attended last month at the Institute for Functional Medicine’s annual conference in San Diego, the one that has stayed with me most as someone living…

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Estrogen, aging, and MS: Notes from the front lines of midlife

It’s official: This is the year I aged — physically, emotionally, visibly. With menopause on the horizon and multiple sclerosis (MS) quietly lurking in the background, I’ve been thinking a lot about how best to care for my brain, body, and beyond. Aside from the 3 a.m. hot flash…

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Overcoming shame and finding my new normal after an MS diagnosis

Last week, something unexpected happened during one of my shared medical visits with patients. I wasn’t expecting shame to show up. We were deep in conversation about how a diagnosis can unravel a person’s identity and how grief often follows when our sense of self begins to slip away.

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Why, oh why, did I go on this roller coaster ride?

I despise theme parks, and I feel zero guilt about depriving my kids of Disneyland, Six Flags, and the general horror of standing in long lines to be terrorized. Why do I hate theme parks? It’s not the shameless commercialism, the overpriced food, or the fact that the tickets for…

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Embracing the helper’s high: How I learned to thrive with MS

I was driving home the other day when something in my rearview mirror caught my attention: A giant pickup truck had flipped over in the fast lane of the highway. It did not look good. I pulled over on the left shoulder and ran to help, completely forgetting the back…

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How setting an intention helps me live well with MS

If it weren’t for multiple sclerosis (MS) and my practice as a lifestyle medicine physician, I’m not sure I’d be chasing after better health so vigorously. There simply wouldn’t be enough momentum to push me into action. But as there are silver linings to everything, MS has positioned me…


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