PeriRosa Health

A loving reminder:

Curiosity heals faster than certainty.

Patients who do best are always the ones that hold their working theory with an open hand, not a closed fist.

Over 20 years studying and working in medicine (did MD and ND studies), and I'm STILL learning — constantly. It's truly humbling how much more complex the human body is than we think we understand.

It's great when patients come in having done their research, in the right context — that curiosity is a gift. But research can only take us so far, and in fact without the background knowledge can even hinder us to an extent.

Sometimes a patient comes in already certain about their diagnosis or how to be treated — and I can see, pretty quickly, that the picture is more complicated than what they found online.

It's a hard moment as a doctor. Very hard.

I don't want to dismiss the work they did to advocate for themselves — that instinct is exactly why they're sitting in front of me instead of suffering in silence. But I also know that holding onto the wrong theory too tightly can delay the right treatment, sometimes for months or years.

So I hold both things at once: deep respect for a patient who showed up informed, and the responsibility to gently say, "let's look a little further."

That tension between honoring what you've learned and making sure it doesn't become the whole story, is one of the most delicate parts of this work.

And it's one I take seriously, every time.

What's pivotal is staying open to what's beyond what we think we know, because that's usually where the answer actually lives.

Your constantly curious and loving doctor,

Dr. Sharhan

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Your thyroid is not just a lab number. It’s the battery of your body.

I see this all the time — “your labs are normal,” but your body is telling a completely different story.

Because numbers can be deceiving.
TSH in range doesn’t always mean optimal.
T4 alone doesn’t tell me how well you’re actually converting and using thyroid hormone.

Sometimes it’s not even the thyroid.
It’s the stress load.
It’s inflammation.

If your battery keeps running low, we have to ask why.

Your body is always communicating — we just have to listen beyond the labs.

Anxiety isn’t just “in your head.” It’s in your environment, your inputs, your pace of life.

But it’s not just that. It’s the daily work demands that don’t shut off, managing kids and schedules, maintaining a home, groceries, cooking, cleaning… on repeat. The random things that break. The mental checklist that never clears.

Something simple like opening Instagram can feel like a hit to the nervous system. Constant ads, noise.

This isn’t a small load. It’s chronic stress.

And it doesn’t show up as just one type of anxiety. It can look like feeling but exhausted, a full on sensation throughout the whole body, everything, tension in the body, or that quiet “I’m but I’m not fine” feeling.

Here’s what gets missed. We keep trying to fix anxiety at the surface.

You’re not reacting to just today. You’re reacting to the accumulation of all the above.

We may not control the world around us, but we can change how the body processes it, recovers, and finds safety again.

That’s where things begin to shift.

You wake up exhausted… even after a full night of sleep.

But it’s not just the fatigue.

It’s the shift in your drive. The quiet loss of motivation.

The things that used to feel or no longer pull you in the same way.

You find yourself doing less, not because you want to—but because the energy and interest just aren’t there.

Your body feels heavier.
Your mind feels slower.
There’s a noticeable loss of spark.

You may still show up to your responsibilities, but it takes more out of you.
And the parts of life that used to bring you joy start to feel distant.

You’ve been told everything looks “normal.”
That it’s stress.
That you just need rest.

But you don’t feel like yourself.

This isn’t just being tired.

It often shows up as a combination of low energy, reduced motivation, and a gradual disconnection from the things that once made you feel like you.

When this becomes persistent, there’s usually more going on beneath the surface.

Often involving the nervous system, hormones, immune activity, and how well your body is able to absorb and use nutrients.

A deeper evaluation matters.

Because this isn’t just about energy—
it’s about restoring your drive, your clarity, and that sense of engagement with your own life.

Dr. Reem Sharhan, ND | Women's Health | California Dr. Reem is a California licensed Naturopathic and Doctor in Pasadena, California. Holistic, integrative and functional medicine approach. Botanical medicine, mental health, hormones, dermatology, chronic fatigue, genomic medicine, herbalism and homeopathy.