integrated healthcare practitions cover story on erika schwartz, md march 2013

7/28/2019 Integrated Healthcare Practitions Cover Story on Erika Schwartz, MD March 2013

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ContinuingEducationN-Acetyl Cysteine: a versatile intervention

By Colin MacLeod, ND

Dr Erika

Schwartz, MDBioidentical Hormone Therapyprovider and educator ContinuingEducation

MCTs and Alzheimers DiseaseBy William R Ware, PhD

DHEA in FertilityBy Heidi Fritz, MA, ND

Molecular chaperones Part IBy Jovana Lubarda, PhD, et al.


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Dr. Erikas career path is as unique as the life path that brought her to her current position.Born in Bucharest, Romania, she graduated from an American high school in Rome, then offto the Big Apple to attend college and medical school in New York City. Graduating frommedical school in 1975, Dr. Erikas internship, residency and fellowship focused on internalmedicine and critical care, all disease centered practices. Twenty years into the practice of thisconventional type of medicine, Dr. Erika found herself asking more questions than the system

had answers for... By the early 1990s, her interest in prevention was firmly established.

Dr. Erika researched physicians in New York and California that were engaged in the practiceof integrative medicine and found few credible resources and no formal training available in thearea. Dr.Erika found herself spending countless hours researching available data and trainingin the practices of integrative medicine. Her role today as a leading educator in prevention andbioidentical hormones for clinical practitioners stems from Dr. Erikas personal frustration withthe lack of quality education and training in areas considered outside conventional medicine.

Erika has written a highly successful series of books aimed at educating the general public onprinciples of wellness and disease prevention. Her first book, entitledNatural Energy (From Tiredto Terrific in 10 Days) (1999) reviewed and highlighted the importance of CoEnzyme Q10 and L-

carnitine in fighting fatigue. We at IHP are in total agreement that these two agents are crucialin maintaining healthy mitochondrial function, an area receiving more and more attention as thefocus of care shifts to health maintenance rather that disease treatment.

Dr. Erika attributes tremendous importance to hormone balance as a means of preventingchronic diseases in the 21st century. Running out of hormones is unhealthy. Using humanidentical hormones as replacement opens the door to true disease prevention. Preventionstrategies are likely to fail if people feel drained, exhausted, depressed, and generally unwell.Using human identical hormones to create much needed hormone balance leads to improvedmood, energy, and general well being allowing a person to be able to address the multiple lifestylefactors (diet, exercise, sleep) responsible for disease prevention.

Dr. Erikas second book was published in 2002, and we feel it important to point out it waspublished three months before the results of the Womens Health Initiative study demonstratedthe use of synthetic (pregnant horse urine) estrogen as a source of higher risk for heart disease,strokes and cancer. In her book, The Hormone Solution, Dr. Erika raised concerns aboutsynthetic hormone replacement therapies (estrogen derived from pregnant mares urine), whilehighlighting the advantages of human identical hormone therapy (also known as bioidenticalor natural hormones) and discussed the impact on overall health when individualized hormonetherapies are provided for each patient. In 2004 Dr Erika authored her next book The 30Day Natural Hormone Plan, reinforcing the importance of hormone health and simultaneouslyproviding useful tools for implementing health sustaining plans for diet, exercise, relationships,and sleep. In 2007 Erika publishedHormone Solution for your Daughter, which showcased the roleof hormones in balancing the health of teenagers, and reviewed important skills for parenting,

diet, exercise, relationships and sleep.

Treatment with bioidentical hormones has witnessed various methods of usage. Dr. Erikaapplies a concept of therapy we found incredibly unique; unlike the conventional approach oftreat to a target blood level, Dr.Erika adopts the approach of treat until the person feelswell and then assess blood levels. Those are then the target blood levels for the individual inquestion. It is an approach that may result in higher than typically used in compounding levels of hormones being prescribed, yet is an approach that is truly individualized, and inherentlyidentifies each patients particular optimum hormone levels. The approach may be applied to abroad array of treatment plans, not isolated to the application of bioidentical hormones.

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The book is intended for thepublic, yet delivers an importantmessage to physicians as well;physicians need to change theirattitudes. They have to becomepatient partners and serve the

patient rather than their ownegos. The book teaches patientsto take responsibility for theirown care, to trust themselvesand not allow others to dictatetheir path to wellness. Ultimately,

there is no reason to be sick!


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Dr. Erika has emerged as a leading authority inthe education of healthcare providers. In 2007, alongwith a few other key opinion leaders in the field ofprevention she founded the not for profit organizationBioidentical Hormone Initiative www.bhionline.orgwww.bioidenticalhormoneinitiative.org Through this

organization and its affiliation with a New York medicalschool, Dr. Erika is able to offer practitioners clinical inoffice and seminar format training on the use of bioidenticalhormone therapy. The seminars Dr. Erika teaches arenot just about how to use bioidentical hormones in yourpractice; they are powerful examples of patient advocacy,and a tremendous and effective tool in bridging the gapbetween conventional and integrative healthcare providers.The seminars attract practitioners from all disciplinesleading to successful much needed inter-professionalrelationships that result in truly integrative care for thepatients and mutual respect and information sharing.

Dr. Erika has a new book in the works. The bookfocuses on helping patients take responsibility for theirown healthcare by giving them the tools and confidencenecessary to avoid bad medical decisions. The bookis intended for the public, yet delivers an importantmessage to physicians as well; physicians need to changetheir attitudes. They have to become patient partners andserve the patient rather than their own egos. The bookteaches patients to take responsibility for their own care,to trust themselves and not allow others to dictate theirpath to wellness. Ultimately, there is no reason to be sick!

she affirms.

IHP is grateful to Dr. Schwartz for taking the timeto allow us to showcase her work to you. Dr. Erika is anincredible, energized, brilliant physician whose presencemotivates you to ask yourself what else can I do to helpothers... Her parting words for me seem an ideal way toend this story: you are only as good as the last past patientyou helped make well.

integrated healthcare practitions cover story on erika schwartz, md march 2013

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