By Dr. DV, Dushyant Viswanathan, MD, ABIM, ABOIM Medical Director, The Columbia Center for Integrative Medicine (CCIM)

As an integrative internal medicine specialist, it is indeed an honor and a
privilege to be of service to my female patients. Approximately 90% of my patients are women, and as a result of working closely with them to optimize their health, what we witness routinely are beautiful stories of healing, wellness, reversal of illness, and proactive approaches to health and life in general. An alarming number of women over fifty in this country have hypothyroidism, and I am so impressed that my female patients are very interested to learn how they can heal, improve their physiology and health, and get to the underlying cause of hormone, gastrointestinal, psychospiritual, autonomic, and neurologic imbalances. The thyroid is just the beginning of the story. Our Hormone Balancing program starts with a comprehensive assessment including an initial encounter which may range from 2-4 hours, and close follow up thereafter. When indicated we pursue specialized hormone diagnostic testing using blood, saliva, urine, and stool samples which provide an abundance of data that can be used to articulate the underlying physiologic causes of symptoms. Simply put, we specialize in understanding the root causes of symptoms.
Although we start typically by assessing physiology, what ends up happening is an unfoldment of the true entirety of the person; we put together psychospiritual, nutritional, and emotional health assessments to fully round out the picture. As a result, our patients feel that we truly understand what they are going through and that we can help them achieve their goals. Once the assessment is complete, we make use of our specialized therapies and programs to be of service to our patients. All therapies are customized to the particular nuances and goals of each patient.

Therapies include:

• Bioidentical Plant-based Hormone therapies prepared by the most experienced
  compounding pharmacists in the country
• Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade Essential Oil therapies with customized
  protocols
• Integrative Alchemy and Perception Reframing Strategies
• Customized Clinical Yogatherapy
• YogaSCULPT (healthy weight loss and muscle toning)
• Micronutrient Therapies (isotonic, injected, bioavailable, pill)
• Compounded Pharmaceutical therapies (if necessary)
• Customized Nutritional Meal Planning featuring functional food
  based/phytohormone rich foods.
• Medical Grade Naturopathic Herbal formulas
• Lifestyle, Hormone, and Micronutrient therapies to reverse diabetes and insulin
  resistance
• Gastrointestinal Detox & Restoration

Our weight loss program is called CCIM SCULPT and involves high-quality burst-type interval physical training, micronutrient-dense, YogaSCULPT, high-fiber variation of the ketogenic eating strategy, growth hormone or HCG therapy, amino acid therapies. However we only accept patients into this program after they have optimized their physiology, balanced hormones, optimized their food intake, optimized cellular health, resolved fatigue (and therefore started exercising), optimized sleep, and resolved adrenal fatigue (hypocortisolism / hypercortisolism). So as the reader can see, we get very deep with patients, and stay right with them throughout their healing journey. Our Integrative Alchemy program works with patients to create customized self-care and wellness plans which are inherently proactive and useful for day-to-day life. Strategies in this program include the use of essential oils for topical, aromatic, and internal use, mindfulness practices, customized clinical Yogatherapy protocols, and strategies to optimize both connection and belonging (two essential components of our Adrenal Restoration Program). As a result of optimizing physiology, emotional health, psychospiritual health, and social connection/belonging, our patients enter a state of optimal alignment, something we call Coherent Harmony. They are at their goal weight, have glowing skin and hair, have satisfying sexual lives, have excellent relationships; they honor their truth and authenticity; they accept the past, and embrace the totality of life. They are amazing grace. And the truth is that they get the credit- they did the work, they moved towards empowerment, unfoldment, and upliftment. They are what we all can be- superstars. I see my own mother, sister, wife, and daughter in each of them. Truly it is an honor to be of service to the goddess within each woman.