Dr. Maura

Board Certified Naturopathic Doctors

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  • The Practice
    • Dr. Maura
    • Dr. Galina
    • Work With Us
    • FAQs
  • Services
    • Digestive Wellness
    • Women’s Health & Hormones
    • Fertility & Preconception Care
    • All Conditions Treated
    • Labs & Testing
    • Craniosacral Therapy
  • Testimonials
  • Blog/Videos
  • Contact

Working With Us: The Process

Initial Visit:

At your first consultation, you will have a conversation with Dr. Maura or Dr. Galina about your health concerns. Your doctor will discuss all facets of your health as related to your current issues: physical symptoms, past medical history, diet, lifestyle and mental/emotional factors such as stress. At this visit, your doctor will review any lab work you’ve already had done and determine if any further testing is necessary. She will explain the self-healing process of naturopathic medicine and her role as your teacher and guide to returning your body to balance. This visit is one hour.

At the end of the visit, your doctor will compile a list of initial recommendations based on your goals and health priorities.

These recommendations might include:

  • Lab work: The goal of naturopathic medicine is always to identify the cause of your health issue. Lab work is essential to uncovering where exactly that imbalance lies. For a complete list of the cutting edge, functional lab testing the Dr. Maura Practice uses, click here.
  • Nutritional modifications: There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all diet. The doctors tailor their dietary recommendations specifically to your biochemical makeup. If there is a specific approach you would benefit from—whether related to gut, autoimmune, hormone or the like—your doctor will thoroughly explain what changes need to be made.
  • Supplement recommendations: The Dr. Maura Practice uses a variety of supplements including herbal medicine, nutrients, enzymes, amino acids, probiotics and homeopathy. Your doctor will make recommendations based both on your symptoms and your lab results; some natural therapies will be implemented at the first visit and others might be started after your doctor has been able to see lab results.
  • Lifestyle changes: Because healing involves the entire body, your doctor might make movement and exercise suggestions, as well as mind/body approaches to reduce stress and enhance the body’s ability to heal.
  • Referrals: If your doctor feels you would benefit from the evaluation of a specialist, she will make a recommendation during the course of treatment. She has a wide network of acupuncturists, massage therapists, chiropractors and other healers whose modality might provide adjunctive healing.

First Followup:

The first followup can be considered the second half of the initial visit. Your doctor will go through your initial set of lab work, explaining thoroughly what each result means and its impact on your health. This visit is 45 minutes.

Subsequent Visits:

Dr. Maura and Dr. Galina typically see their patients every 4-6 weeks until symptoms are resolved, modifying your treatment plan according to symptoms and possible lab work. Your doctor will determine which interval is appropriate for you, always with an eye toward fine-tuning your health journey for optimal results. These visits are either 15 or 30 minutes.

Ongoing Care:

After your immediate concerns have resolved, we suggest periodic check-in visits to maintain the success you’ve achieved and address any new concerns. Your doctor might periodically recommend re-checking certain lab parameters.

Craniosacral Sessions: In these sessions, the doctor will focus only on Craniosacral Therapy to address your health needs. For an explanation of what craniosacral therapy is and how you might benefit from it, click here.

Remote Consultations: Dr. Maura and Dr. Galina works with patients all over the United States and around the world. These visits will be conducted similarly to an in-person consultation, over the phone or by video. Currently all visits are done remotely due to COVID-19.

Home Visits: For those wishing to receive naturopathic care in the comfort of their home, Dr. Maura is available to consult this way. Please call the office to arrange.

Practice Policies

Scheduling, Payment and Cancellations

We reserve scheduled appointments specifically for you. Because appointments with Dr. Maura last much longer than standard doctor visits, cancellations/no-shows cause significant scheduling interruption. We appreciate a minimum of 48 hours’ notice for the cancellation of New Patient Visits and Established Patient Visits.

Please be aware that there appointments canceled less than 24 hours in advance will be charged at the full appointment fee. We will always attempt to contact you first prior to collecting fees to discuss any extenuating circumstances leading to the cancellation/no-show.

Payment is expected at the time of service in the form of cash, check or credit card.

We do require a credit card on file to book an appointment and will charge the card accordingly in the event of a late cancellation/no-show.

In addition, Intake Forms must also be received prior to your visit via our Charm Health patient portal.

Insurance

Insurance does not cover naturopathic medicine in New York. We can provide a form for you to self submit to your insurer’s Health Savings Account (HSA) or Flexible Spending Account (FSA) upon request. We do not accept insurance as a form of payment.

Patient Communication

We encourage patients to call the office or message (via the Charm Health Patient Portal) with questions regarding their treatment plan. We want to ensure your success, which relies on open lines of communication. Phone calls are returned by the end of the business day on which your call is received. Messages are usually responded to within 24-48 hours. We do not provide after hours or urgent care.

Email Policy

Please be aware that electronic communication is only for brief clarification questions. New, detailed or urgent concerns that require discussion and case management will arise. If there is a need for longer discussion regarding new symptoms or new concerns, we will reply to a phone inquiry or message to recommend that you schedule a follow-up appointment, and fees will be applied accordingly at the appointment.

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No one knows more about your body than you do.⁠ No one knows more about your body than you do.⁠ ⁠ Trust what your body is telling you even if a doctor tells you that everything looks "normal." ⁠ ⁠ Keep digging until you find out where the issue lies, keep looking for helpful guides on your journey.⁠ ⁠ My patients' bodies and symptoms and histories tell their stories...and this is what leads us to healing. ⁠ ⁠ I often use the incredible @dramybethrothenberg 's analogy of the lighthouse: you're the lighthouse, a good doctor is always looking for you to lead the way to healing. ⁠ ⁠ Trust your light.☀️
As naturopaths, we see huge numbers of patients wi As naturopaths, we see huge numbers of patients with PCOS. So much so that I brought in the talented Dr. Galina Mahlis who specializes in its treatment. I love her approach because she’s a firm believer in looking beyond the basic hormone workup.⁠ ⁠ That means looking under the surface and understanding the various factors that have led to the hormone imbalance. That means making connections between seemingly unrelated concerns. And that means looking at all the patient’s symptoms through the lens of functional medicine, which includes assessing for optimal lab results, addressing root causes, and looking at each individual as unique. ⁠ ⁠ Dr. Galina’s Top 5 PCOS Tips:⁠ ⁠ 1️⃣Truly understand your hormone imbalances. It’s not enough just to know if some hormones are high or low. It’s important to understand how they relate to each other and what has gone wrong in the various hormone pathways. Certain specialty tests do just that.⁠ ⁠ 2️⃣Manage Stress! This is probably the single most important lifestyle choice you can make when it comes to managing PCOS. When the stress hormone cortisol is out of control, it can wreak havoc on the rest of your hormones. Consider yoga, meditation, moderate exercise, acupuncture, and make sure to get enough sleep!⁠ ⁠ 3️⃣Reduce Inflammation through diet, lifestyle, and supplementation. Inflammation has emerged as one of the key factors in the development of PCOS. There are certain markers that a doctor can use to evaluate if you have inflammation. ⁠ ⁠ 4️⃣Avoid Hormone Disruptors in your food, skincare products, and environment. This may seem like a daunting task, but the fact is that the various chemicals, additives, and pesticides found in these products can negatively affect your hormones. ⁠ ⁠ 5️⃣Include some great hormone-balancing supplements in your daily regimen. These include: Inositol, DIM, Vitex, and Saw Palmetto.⁠ ⁠ Just remember that there is no “one-size-fits-all” as hormone imbalances can look very different from woman to woman and ideally you get properly tested and assessed in order to understand which supplements are right for you!
I spend a lot of my days deep-diving into cases of I spend a lot of my days deep-diving into cases of patients who come to me with hormone imbalance. For every person I work with, there’s a whole new and different picture. No one is the same, even if they have the same problem: painful periods, amenorrhea, PCOS, fibroids, hormonal acne, to name a few. It’s hormonal detective work: I’m always looking for clues, causes, and conditions, finding the very particular way back to restored function. But there are some basic tenets that go for everyone. Here are my current top 5 that I work on with each and every hormone patient: 1️⃣Sleep. It’s one of the first things we talk about in a patient visit. If you’re chronically under-sleeping, it’s impossible to maintain hormone balance. Aim for at least 8 hours/night. 2️⃣Eat protein. Low protein diets are linked to decreased estrogen, growth hormone, and thyroid hormone. Not eating enough protein also leads to carb cravings which set you up for overeating and insulin resistance: two of the enemies of happy hormones. 3️⃣Exercise (but not too much). Excessive exercise means high cortisol which throws off hormone balance in a big way. It can also deplete your progesterone (the all-important fertility hormone) which can lead to estrogen dominance—think weight gain, sluggishness, bad skin, and PMS. 4️⃣Learn ways to manage stress and use them every day. This might be the most important one on the list. Chronic stress (cortisol) will lower your important sex hormone progesterone and estrogen. I see it over and over again. If this is you, check in with your relationship with stress and start to build some intentional stress relief into your day, every day: meditate, breathwork, more time with loved ones & animals, more time in nature. 5️⃣Don’t eat sugar. Hormone imbalance patients always ask me what’s the most important food to cut out and this is it. High sugar = high insulin = excess estrogen and testosterone = acne, fibroids, missed periods, pronounced PMS, infertility. Yikes. If you’re craving sugar, replace it with protein and fats and make sure you’re taking a good multi, some fish oil and the mineral chromium which will help with sugar balances.
Mental health issues are largely treated as a neur Mental health issues are largely treated as a neurochemical imbalance: depression and anxiety will magically lift if you take a medication to alter your serotonin, dopamine, GABA, etc. Comprehensive studies have shown that they have mostly modest effects, if any, on most people. ⁠ ⁠ Why? ⁠ ⁠ Depression is clearly far more nuanced and complicated. A huge area of focus right now is how the gut affects mental health…and the findings are astonishing.⁠ ⁠ I love when mainstream media does great reporting on this and the Wall Street Journal reported last month on a number of the super relevant findings coming out one after another. ⁠ ⁠ Here are two standouts: ⁠ ⁠ 🧠 Gastrointestinal disorders alter nerve signaling to the brain, which alters brain chemistry and gives rise to depression and anxiety (most of my GI patients don’t need a study to attest to this). ⁠ 🧠 Researchers were able to actually give mice depression by putting certain microbes into their guts.⁠ ⁠ Research is continuing at a crazy fast pace, which will show us how specific species of flora affect various brain disease. ⁠ ⁠ In the meantime, mind your gut. ⁠
Symptoms. What are they really? I’ve been reflec Symptoms. What are they really? I’ve been reflecting a lot on this lately in my work with my patients because so many people come to see me truly at their wits’ end, believing that they are broken and cannot be fixed. ⁠ ⁠ We’ve been conditioned to think that symptoms are “bad” — that it means there’s something wrong with our bodies and that we have to “feel better” as quickly as possible, by whatever means possible. ⁠ ⁠ This isn’t true.⁠ ⁠ Symptoms are our bodies’ way of communicating with us. And, really, this is part of the design. Sickness or illness is really just a state of imbalance (there are many forms of this) and if we read symptoms correctly and apply proper treatment/remove the barriers to healing…our bodies know exactly what to do to heal themselves. I can tell you this because I’ve seen it now in thousands of people I’ve worked with over many years. ⁠ ⁠ This means: if you’re “sick” your body isn’t broken. It's not your lot in life to be [insert your diagnosis or symptom here]. ⁠ ⁠ Trust your body. Listen to your symptoms. Find a healthcare provider who can help you understand them and heal. It’s possible. ❤️⁠
I’m excited to be featured in this incredible Ma I’m excited to be featured in this incredible Masterclass put together by health researchers Sarah Otto and Matt Potts over at @goodnesslover called ‘The Gut-Brain Solution.’⁠ ⁠ Matt and Sarah put together an amazing group of experts taking the latest discoveries in this field.⁠ ⁠ What this series drives home: you’re struggling to stabilize your mental health—despite medications and therapies—then you’re probably missing one crucial element.⁠ ⁠ Your gut health.⁠ ⁠ For the past several years, researchers have been investigating the power of the gut microbiome to help treat anxiety, depression, and other mental health disorders.⁠ ⁠ Unfortunately, this information has yet to reach the general public.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ You’ll learn proven and practical remedies to overcome stubborn digestive problems like constipation, SIBO, IBS, reflux, bloating, and weight gain...⁠ ⁠ As well as mental health challenges like depression, anxiety, brain fog, and mood disorders.⁠ ⁠ Note: This is free only for a limited time.⁠ ⁠ Register to watch The Gut-Brain Solution: Link above in bio!☝️⁠

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Locations

New York
1133 Broadway, Suite 1023
New York, NY 10010
T (646) 876-9986
F 212-731-0270

Connecticut
5 Sylvan Road South
Westport, CT 06880
T (888) 745-3372

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