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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Our bodies often tell us what we need to know — if we’re willing to listen

It’s taken me three months to have enough distance and perspective to tell you about my once-in-a-lifetime trip that didn’t happen. I was all set to visit a favorite relative in Rome, with plans to stay in the dormitory of a 17th-century church with nuns. It was my first trip…

Susan Payrovi

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The importance of play in both parenting and living with MS

“The Longest Shortest Time.” The title of this parenting podcast says it all. How can it feel like your kids will never outgrow a stage, while simultaneously being way bigger than you remember them being just yesterday? Living with a chronic disease like multiple sclerosis (MS) reminds me…

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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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