About

Expert in chronic problems in kids and adults

I was a healthy kid. My brothers and my friends were healthy kids. None of the kids in my school went to the nurse’s office daily for medicine for asthma, allergies, ADHD, diabetes, anxiety or depression. Fast forward to the present. Now, our kids have many more health issues than just a few decades ago. What happened?

In my 35+ years as a pediatrician and pediatric endocrinologist, I have watched the numbers of sick kids and adults rise dramatically. I routinely see young people with many diseases that used to be found only in adults, like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol. I am shocked and saddened by these changes, especially as I know that diet and lifestyle changes can not only prevent, and in many cases, reverse these problems.

I have faced some of my own health challenges, the most frightening of which was the diagnosis of breast cancer when I was 43. I am sure that my stressful medical career played a role, but I know now that there are other risk factors like what I ate back then (a lot of junk and fast food!), environmental toxins and endocrine disruptors, my digestive system, a very challenging first marriage…. I wonder if I could have avoided cancer if I had known then what I know now. I am happy to report that I have had no recurrence and am over 20 years out from that life-changing diagnosis.

I married again in my late 30’s, and it gradually became apparent that my husband was struggling with a significant mental disease: huge mood swings, dark days of depression, long nights of no sleep. He was eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

We struggled with a less than wonderful response to prescription medications but his doctors had no other answers for us. I am sad to say he took his own life in 2010.  Now that I know about the tremendous impact of nutrition, digestion, an alcoholic father and toxins on mental health, I can’t help but wonder if there might have been a different outcome for him if we had known this information earlier.

I had always been interested in alternative medicine, vitamins and supplements. After my husband died, I began to look deeper, to understand the many reasons why people get sick, and how to get them better. Functional Medicine was initially helpful, but involved so many lab tests and so many supplements.

Now I realize that symptoms are clues to the root causes. including  problems like structural malalignments, toxicity (heavy metals, glyphosate, endocrine disrupting chemicals, mold, electromagnetic radiation), nutritional deficiencies , and our emotional states (unresolved emotional traumas, unforgiveness, our belief systems).  

My views on chronic infections like Lyme and the coinfections, viruses, parasites, and bacteria have changed also.  I believe these infections occur in a sick and traumatized person.  My goal is to build up the person so that his/her own body can do the healing work it was designed to do.

We are tripartite beings with a body, a soul, and a spirit. Healing the whole person involves looking at all these parts and a willingness to be curious about yourself, because stored emotional or physical trauma can manifest as problems in the body.

Most people come to me with a variety of complex, chronic medical dis-eases like fatigue, IBS, weight gain, diabetes, chronic pain, anxiety, depression, brain fog, autoimmunity or endocrine dysfunction.

These days, I don’t order many lab tests and I don’t prescribe very many medications.  I rely on good food, a few food-based supplements, herbal remedies, movement, structural evaluation, sunshine, grounding, and limbic system work.  

I find myself fascinated by the power of light and energy therapies. I offer the PhotonWave ocular light stimulator, the Cyma Technologies AMI 850 sound therapy machine, the coMra system (Magneto-Infrared-Laser) therapy, the Juvent Microvibration Platform, and the AO scanner (a bioresonance device).

Years ago I learned of chromotherapy, the use of color as a therapeutic tool. Funny that I now use color in my practice via the PhotonWave. Outside of work, I use art (and color) as a way to relax: in my spare hours, I make fiber art and art quilts (quilts that hang on the wall). I also dabble in paint and mixed media. Making art was an especially welcome refuge in first few years after my husband’s death, a healing balm to my sad heart.

I wish I had known about all these amazing tools earlier in my career, but I trust God’s timing in leading me down this road. I wonder how these concepts might have made a difference for my husband and many others in my circle of family and friends. But, we cannot go back, we can only go forward - and my heart’s desire is to help people learn that there are so many causes of disease and so many things that they can do to get well.   I want to help people of all ages get well so that they can focus on developing into vibrant, resilient adults who can explore their full potentials.

Patty Powers, MD, COL, US Army (retired)

Credentials

  • B.S., Biology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
  • MD, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD
  • Pediatric Internship & Residency, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC
  • Pediatric Endocrinology Fellowship, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC
  • American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine: multiple training modules & webinars, 2011-present
  • Kalish Institute: 6 mo Functional Medicine program, March 2015-Sept 2015
  • Member, International Association of Environmentally Acquired Illness
  • Member, National Association of Environmental Medicine
  • Trained in Autonomic Response Testing by Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt and Dr. Marc Schwartz
  • And I am a life-long learner!