Larisa Sharipova | When Doctors Say 'We don't know' Podcast | Episode 103

Welcome to the show. My name is Eva Vennari. I'm founder of the Elevate Institute, and I'll be your host for today's podcast. When Doctors Say We Don't Know is an inclusive conversation. So many are craving to share their stories and experiences, and today's guest is no exception. Today's honored guest is Larissa Sharapova. She is trained as a medical doctor and practices as a certified holistic health practitioner. She's been serving women for over 20 years and she's an Amazon bestselling author of Listen to Your Body and Regain Your Health. Welcome, Larissa, to the show.

Thank you, Eva. I'm glad to be here with you.

You are such an important part of this conversation. A lot of people heard the title of the show, When Doctors Say We Don't Know, and immediately thought, oh, you're disrespecting doctors. Not at all. I think there's frustrations on both sides that need to be heard and we need to create a better conversation. So I'm so glad you're here. And I'm so— I'm curious to know, was it difficult? You're trained medical doctor. When you're going through medical school, did you have the holistic mindset already, or did you have a hard time with that prospect at the time?

Interesting question. I was trained as a medical doctor in Europe, and medical education in Europe is a little bit different from American medical education. So we were trained in different modalities and alternative medicine, as they call it here, but actually we practice integrative medicine. I learned about botanicals, about herbal therapy, about acupuncture, and all other modalities So, and when I practice as an OB-GYN, I use all those modalities in my practice and I had no problem to prescribe it to my patients.

That is so— you're right, that is an interesting question for me to ask because I'm assuming that when you go to medical school, you're going to medical school like you would here in the States where it's all about how to use medicine, you know, the prescriptions. So tell us what other— I mean, you listed a few of the modalities. What other modalities are part of the practice that you have today?

I also learned homeopathy when I was in medical school. So when I came to America, I wanted to become a doctor, and because I dedicate all my life to women's health and I loved what I did, so I took all my boards and And while I was studying for my medical boards, I worked in American medical system and learned about how it's done here. And I did not like the system, the medical system.

Detail.

Because, and what I realized, to make money or to survive as a doctor, you have to keep in a chronic disease state. And doctors, most of the doctors are not interested to heal the patient. So maybe because of a different medical system in Europe, we are interested to heal a patient so patient does not come back to the doctor. In America, it's completely opposite. And when I learned about the system, I decided to take a different road. To help women. So I went to Institute for Integrative Nutrition and become holistic health practitioner. So with my background as a doctor, but particularly specializing in endocrinology, I wanted to treat women with lifestyle, nutrition, and other different modalities like herbs and supplements and acupuncture, essential oils. I learned everything That women need for health and well-being.

That sounds very inclusive to me, and you're right, that is a much different approach than what we're used to here in the States. And I'm, you know, as part of this conversation, it really is important to bring in other countries' perspectives. But you practice in the United States, right? You're here?

Yes, but I don't practice as a medical doctor, so because I went to Institute for Integrative Nutrition and become holistic health practitioner. So I do not prescribe medication. I use a lifestyle and nutrition and holistic approach to women's health. And holistic, I mean whole mind, body, and spirit. And I believe that to heal, you have to approach all that healing process through different perspective, like from biology, from energy, from mental health, biochemistry, and all other things that we need to correct to heal the body. So I practice holistic approach— mind, body, spirit, and all other.

There's a— the term holistic tends to be It's used, but people don't necessarily understand what it really means. You mentioned mind, body, spirit. So how could we weave a picture together so that people listening can understand how you operate as holistic? How do you put mind, body, and spirit all together in your practice?

For example, if women come to me with some menopausal problem, like menopausal symptoms, hot flashes or night sweats or moodiness or other symptoms. So I look at her not only from her blood work that she might have, or hormonal disbalance that can be found or not found on the labs, but also what is her mental status, what is her emotional well-being at this point in her life, what kind of stresses she has that can lead to different disbalances in the body, particularly hormonal. Also, the food she eats, that can also affect how she operates, how she sings, and also microbiome, how it works. So I look from a different perspective. And also how she was raised, what kind of childhood she experienced, what emotional turmoil she had in the childhood and also throughout her life. So I take in consideration all of this and how it can affect later on in life. Also, exposure to different toxins throughout life, so like filling a bucket with different— I call them stressors— and evaluate all these stressors. Can be environmental stressors, emotional stressors, physical stressors. And I discuss all this with women and we work on different aspects of her life. So if I cannot help women on some, for example, emotional level, so I could recommend her to see some of my other practitioners who I work with. So it's all approach from different perspective to one body that we have. It's It's not like your brain separate from your body or from your uterus separate from your mind or something like that. But that's how we've been taught to think of it.

Yeah.

So anyways, yeah. And also on energetic level, there is a lot of stagnation on energetic level. And so I even use some chakra balancing techniques and meridians from Chinese medicine and all that. So this is all very This all contributes to the overall health. So yes.

Amazing. So I mean, this now brings me to even more curiosity, and I'm spending a lot of time here because I'm really wanting to dig in. But it's like, of all of those different areas, what do you find to be the most common reason people come to you?

Because probably I specialize in women's health and also hormonal imbalances, so Particularly lately, a lot of women with menopausal symptoms, but it's end result of their life that they had that bring them to this point. So as I said about toxic bucket that accumulated, but also if they use any hormones during their lifetime, so if they use oral contraceptive, that can lead later on in life with these balances. Or say if they use some hormonal stimulation for ovulation or any other problem. So even if you use oral contraceptives in your early life, it can have a cumulative effect and show up in menopause or perimenopause period in your life. So most of the women I have It's with hormonal disbalances.

Okay. That makes a lot of sense. So your focus might be with women's health, but it sounds to me like you really could help anybody.

Yes, because hormonal disbalances can happen in reproductive age when women cannot get pregnant and also in puberty when they start establishing their menses. So It's all a whole life because women go through the hormonal changes throughout their lives. So it can be any woman in any stage of their life with any hormonal disbalances. Yeah. Yeah.

So, well, these are all wonderful opportunities for people to reach out without having to commit to the typical you know, Western medicine style of healthcare because it leaves out all of the stuff you just said. It's like the complementary is not complementary. That is medicine in other parts of the world. And it's like, why are we so far behind? And I feel like the more conversations we have, the closer, you know, the smaller that gap we can create together. So that's really the purpose of these conversations. I want to really shorten that gap and start including the alternative therapies so that I mean, you're, you're, you're a doctor, but you're not allowed to have the license and say, I'm a licensed physician, but maybe you don't want to.

Yes. And that's true. That's true. Because if you are a licensed physician, you have to follow the rules and regulations, what the medical society put on you and also insurance companies. So I won't be able to practice what I know just because it won't be acceptable to my colleagues and also insurance. It would create a lot of problems. Because I don't have a license, I don't have to report to anybody, and I, I can include much more, uh, in my practice and can help many women on a different level without following the protocols, so not to be restricted.

Yeah, and I mean, I understand the reason why, you know, licenses were created. There's a lot of charlatans and snake oil practitioners out there.

Sure.

But when you have somebody with your background and the proven record and the years of time you've been helping women, I would imagine that that's proof in and of itself. At least that's my logic. So I'm curious to know now, have you always wanted to be in the healthcare, you know, profession, or is there something that brought you to it?

I grew up with this in a family. My mom was a nurse practitioner in obstetrics, and I think she influenced me to choose my profession. When I was in elementary school or even middle school, I always had to go to her job and stay and wait for her when she finished her job. So I was exposed to medicine and women's health since I was a child. And I chose to be an obstetrician-gynecologist, and that's probably her influence on me. And I am very passionate. And also because women also can understand better another woman going through her experiences. So I think it's— It's a gift when women in obstetrics and gynecology can help other women. And I noticed that in America there were so many OB-GYNs who are male. And when you call the office, always I was always asked for female doctors, but sometimes it was hard to find.

Mm-hmm.

And recently I see more and more female doctors in obstetrics and gynecology.

I'm curious why that is because I remember being pregnant. This is more than 20 years ago now for myself. And I too, I would seek out the female doctors in the office because there's always a group, right?

Yes.

And there's 3 or 4 or sometimes 10 doctors and the women did take up less real estate, if you will, on the list. And Here's a— from my experience, I found less empathy with the female physicians.

Mm-hmm.

Though I, I don't know. Oh, I went through that too, honey. Just, you know, sweep it under the rug as opposed to listening. I don't, I don't know. I'm hoping that all of that changes over time. But why do you think women are now finding their way into that profession more now than, than men?

I think demand. A woman wants to see Wants to be seen by women. And I think because of demand, more women become OB-GYNs. And maybe it's not as popular anymore, so males choose other professions, maybe subspecialties and other things.

Yeah, I can come up with a few jokes about that, but, you know, we'll leave it. We'll keep it in good taste. So I know we kind of touched on your mom, but you and I spoke before And you have a terrific story about how you've turned your pain into your purpose. Will you share more about that with us?

Sure. And also, I want to mention about my mom. My book, I dedicate to my mom because she influenced my life, the way I grown up, and my profession, and my passion. But my story, I also write in my book. From pain to purpose, because even though I was a OB-GYN specializing in infertility and endocrinology, reproductive endocrinology, I became very sick and also couldn't get pregnant myself. So even though I helped so many women when I was practicing as an OB-GYN, I couldn't get pregnant. And of course, as your show say and doctors say, we don't know. We don't know. And I started just investigating on my own other sources. I started reading a lot of books and listening to webinars and just to dig for information. Because when my husband and I were going through the old testing, everything was in normal range, as most of the people when they go to doctors, everything is normal. We don't know what's wrong with you, but let's stimulate your ovaries anyway. And I did not like that. I said, if you do not find what's wrong with me, I'm not opting in for that. So I started investigating myself. And that probably was 15 years ago when I learned about our toxic load, about all toxins around us that can affect your body without showing up on any lab testing and diagnostic studies. And I did detox along with my husband, even though, you know, guys, they don't like to do anything with their bodies. So I told him, if you want to have a child, you have to follow the protocol detox with me. So he agreed on that. And after 1 month of detoxification, I got pregnant next month. So that was a miracle for me.

Wow.

Yes, and that hooked me up for us for until now on the detoxification. And I know if you remove something that your body doesn't need, your body can heal itself. And now I'm very passionate to teach other women and about detoxification and toxins and all that affect our body to operate normally.

Yes. Did you know any particular toxins in specific that were causing your issue with infertility?

Um, there you usually— it's more environmental toxins. Well, interesting also, the food has a lot of toxins that I never knew before. So even when we moved to America, I continued to cook at home. And we rarely eat out because it wasn't our kind of culture tradition. So we usually go to restaurant only for big holiday celebrations. And I cooked at home. We never eat packaged food. But apparently, as I learned later, the food that we buy in the regular grocery stores, supermarkets, are not good enough for the body to stay clean. So, for example, we don't have GMO labeling, and a lot of food conventionally grown and sold in supermarkets from GMO that I learned before. So I never knew about that. That's why I think that's affected my body. Also, organic food wasn't as accessible that time, about 15 years ago. It's much more Variety and more access to organic food now and much cheaper. So I learned about all that and started implementing. That's what helped me to heal. But I think that was my toxic load, mostly from food and environment that we live in. So air, water— water also, I didn't know that they use fluoride.

Oh my gosh, yes.

Chloride, yes.

We are fully medicated.

Even though in Europe we never drank water from the tap, and that's why it was never accustomed to us. We always boiled water, and that's what we drink— boiled water. But I learned about filtration and start using different filter systems. The air around us depends where you live, so sometimes it's very polluted air, particularly in the big cities. And also the viruses, and I think I had a Candida also overgrowth since my childhood, apparently, and I never realized before. So there is a different toxic load that affects your body that you are not aware, and that's what I learned later on and tried to overcome through the detoxification. And that helped me to clean my body. And when body's clean, it starts operating and heal and can produce a baby.

You are speaking my language because this is the exact— I mean, it's very similar to my own story, but this is, this is my belief too. If you give your body what it needs, it heals itself. And it's absolutely— that's, that's what my version of holistic healing, that's what it's all about. So yeah, very cool. And I'm kind of— I'm curious too. I know that you've written this book, Listen to Your Body and Regain Your Health. Tell us more about— I mean, you wrote the one book before, Pain and Purpose, and then you have this other book. Tell us more about that book and why you wrote it.

So I wrote Listen to Your Body and Regain Your Health because I believe that if women learn how to listen to the body that shows a lot of different things. And if we tune in to our body, we can find a lot of reason and we can deal with a lot of different things that our body shows up. But to learn, you have to become intuitive to your body. You have to know the messages that your body sends. So when I work with women, I teach them how to start listening. But sometimes we just ignore what our body shows us. I had experience working in anatomic pathology, and what in our lab We had different specimens, that means the organs and tissues that were removed from the body sent to our lab, and I've seen so many things that people grow in their body.

Oh my goodness, I'm afraid to ask.

Like, for example, huge uterus that size of the baby or huge ovaries. You have to be very ignorant, just not noticing that something is growing in your body, or even superficial on the skin. The tumor can be, or cyst that smells, that can be so huge that how you can ignore it? So, but people ignore these things and they don't want to know. And this is one of the reasons why people don't listen. And also when you are too toxic, you're not able to hear what your body tells you. So when I work with women, I usually make them aware, make them become in tune with their own body so they can learn and hear the message that the body sends you. For example, pain is one of the messages that the body sends you.

Mm-hmm.

Anxiety, depression, it means that something's going on in your body that your body tries to communicate, and if we ignore it, it can go for a long time and become a disease, sometimes irreversible disease. And it's harder to heal your body when it goes so long without attention.

Yeah, well, and I would imagine too, and I see this in my own practice, is it takes longer to do it the natural way, or am I assuming incorrectly? It takes longer to actually heal the body as opposed to just cover it up with a medicine, for sure. But what kind of time frame are people looking at for recovery depending on what they have? Like, what's, what's a good rule of thumb to go by when, when you're visiting with your clients?

Sometimes, um, it's happening on an energetic level at first, like the sluggishness, the sluggishness of the energy that flows in the body. Maybe we have incorrect posture, or if we have some injury and we don't correct it, it's happening on a functional level. So there is a dysfunction of some organs, but it does not show up on any diagnostics. And later on, it's become morphological Or gross pathology, it means it's already changes in the tissue and organ that is hard to correct. So it all depends how— and it can happen for 5, 10, even 20 years, but it will eventually show up as a disease.

It sounds to me like they're getting used to the symptom and thinking that it's normal and is ignored because it's just common for their own experience. Does that sound about right?

Yes, and they become numb to the pain, for example. There you go. Or also they try to cover up with different things.

Self-medication.

Yeah, self-medication with painkillers or drinking or other different things that people don't want to deal with and cover up with different things. Yes.

Yeah. So where, where all can we find a copy of this book? Because now I want to read it.

Uh, it's available on Amazon and anywhere books sold online. So it's because it's on demand, you order online and you get, uh, it's a physical book and also it's, uh, ebook. So you can—

So I can, I can download it on my Kindle?

Yeah, it's on my Kindle. Yeah.

So yeah, folks, it's Listen to Your Body and Regain Your Health, and we'll have links to Amazon and places where you can get that in our show notes, so look for it afterwards. If you're driving especially, don't look now.

Stay safe.

All right, cool. And, um, do you have anything else for our listeners that you'd like to share with them?

Uh, also, if anybody interested, I have free discovery session. It's 30-minute discovery session, and during the discovery session you, uh, express any concern that you have and We'll go through some— I ask you some questions and we come up with some plan, or at least first step that you can easily implement in your life. And we'll see if we are a good match to work together.

That's beautiful. It's 30 minutes of your personal time. That is very generous. Thank you.

Sure, you're welcome.

Yeah, and we'll also share the link to that so you guys can easily Connect with her, and then my final question to you for today. I really want to hone in on this: What does it mean to listen to our own body?

I would like to tell you with the quote from actually from my book. It's from my mentor Joshua Rosenthal, and I'm gonna read the quote from my book. Our body. Our body talks to us all the time and their messages are too important for us to ignore. And please remember, your body loves you. It loves you unconditionally and does its best to allow you to live the life you have come here to live. The real issue in this relationship is not whether your body loves you, but whether Oh, that's beautiful. Thank you.

Thank you again for being on the show, Larissa. It's been such a pleasure.

Yeah.

So thank you for being our guest on When Doctors Say We Don't Know. This has been an engaging conversation. I'm hopeful that those of you listening will hear a message of hope so you too can turn your experience of pain into triumph. If you're driving and can't click on the links to the show notes, remember you can always hop onto theelevateinstitute.com and follow the podcast links for today's show. There's more to talk about coming in. Tune in next week for our next episode of When Doctors Say We Don't Know. This is Eva Vennari reminding you to question everything.