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Aviva Romm, MDAviva Romm, MD

Bridging Traditional Wisdom & Modern Medicine for Women and Children

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Books by Dr. Aviva

Read my bestsellers and classics to help with your lifestyle changes and make a difference that can help you feel like yourself again!

Being a woman is not a diagnosis.

Period Problems • PMS • PCOS • Endometriosis • Fertility Challenges Acne • IBS • Hot Flashes • Vaginal Dryness •  Low Sex Drive • Anxiety and More

Within us is an ancient blueprint meant to orchestrate our hormones – the interconnecting pathways between our brain, ovaries, uterus, and even vagina, with our thyroid and adrenal glands, digestive, detoxification, and immune systems. 

Featuring a six-week program for realigning these pathways & personalized protocols for getting to the root causes of key hormonal and gynecologic problems, while addressing symptoms, Hormone Intelligence is the exhale you've been waiting for. Written by a woman MD and midwife, for women, get your copy and let’s get you started on this groundbreaking action plan, that has already helped thousands of women transform their health and feel at home in their body again.

Preorder + Bonus Gifts
Free Chapter

More Books by Dr. Aviva

The Adrenal Thyroid Revolution

Get out of symptom overwhelm. It’s time to take back your health – and your life!​ The Adrenal Thyroid Revolution teaches you to easily identify your personal root causes of these symptoms and guides you through a natural 5-Step drug-free protocol to reverse them in as little as two weeks!
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Botanical Medicine for Women’s Health

Botanical Medicine for Women’s Health is an evidence-based book that blends the art and science of women’s health, botanical medicine, and conventional medicine from my perspective as an herbalist-midwife-MD, with contributions from expert colleagues.
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Naturally Healthy Babies and Children

I wrote this book in the 1980s when I was in my 20’s and my own children were small. Like my midwifery clients, I wanted my children to enjoy excellent health and didn’t want to expose them to unnecessary medical interventions if and when they did get sick.
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Natural Health
After Birth

I remember well how lovely — and emotionally tumultuous — those first days, weeks, and months as a new momma can be, whether it’s your first baby or your fourth!
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The Natural Pregnancy Book

As a pregnant momma I had so many questions — how to eat naturally and meet my baby’s needs, which herbs and supplements are safe for nausea, restless legs, and other concerns, how to prepare for birth, what about sex during pregnancy….you name it.
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Vaccinations: A Thoughtful Parent’s Guide

Deciding whether or when to vaccinate is one of the most important–and stressful—health-care decisions you have to make. Like many parents you are probably confused and concerned about vaccine safety, whether, when, and how to give vaccines, and don’t know what information to rely on for answers.
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Courses and Pathways

On my website you'll find articles, courses, and a ton that you can do on your own to take back your health. And if you’ve always wanted to have an inner circle of women – full of connection and support – plus the information you’re looking for along your journey, you’re in the right place! Many of my courses have built-in communities – and also stay tuned for the Membership Pathways – coming soon!

Coming Soon!

Women’s Hormones + Health

Join here!

Pregnancy
+ Birth

Not your average childbirth education program. Traditional wisdom meets modern medicine to support you on your most empowered pregnancy-birth-mama journey.
Join here!

Herbal
Medicine

Join here!

Professional
Training

Women's Functional &
Integrative Medicine Training Program. The heart and science of women’s healing, in a revolutionary, Innovative, CME/CE online program.

Let's Connect on Instagram!

@dr.avivaromm

Reposting this piece from @nyt_well, which explore Reposting this piece from @nyt_well, which explores new research suggesting that chronic low-grade inflammation—often called “inflammaging”—may not be an inevitable part of getting older, but rather a reflection of how we live, eat, move, & connect. The study, based on an Indigenous population in the Bolivian Amazon, challenges assumptions that inflammation is simply a natural byproduct of aging.⁠
⁠
From my integrative medicine lens, this isn’t new—it’s what many of us have been seeing in our clinical practices for decades. In fact, the MacArthur Study on Aging in the 1980s, found that inflammatory lab and physical markers were some of the most predictive factors for disease. ⁠
⁠
Inflammation is the body’s natural, ancient defense mechanism—but in our modern world, it’s gone rogue. What was once a protective internal “fireplace” has become, for many, a smoldering blaze that’s burning down the house.⁠
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This hidden, chronic inflammation—driven by stress, poor diet, sleep disruption, environmental toxins, & gut imbalances—is now recognized as the mother of root causes in conditions ranging from hormone imbalances to autoimmune disease, heart disease, dementia, & depression. And it starts long before a diagnosis—with signs we’ve normalized, like fatigue, brain fog, period pain, chronic pain, digestive issues, and trouble sleeping.⁠
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I talk extensively about this in The Adrenal Thyroid Revolution, Hormone Intelligence, in my course, The Women's Integrative Functional Medicine Training Program and in my podcast episode A Silent Fire: Understanding Hidden Inflammation w/ @ShilpaRavella MD.⁠
⁠
The most empowering truth is this: chronic inflammation is not inevitable, and it is reversible.⁠
⁠
We can cool the internal fire. We can reclaim our vitality. And we don’t need perfection—we need small, sustainable shifts rooted in nourishment, movement, sleep, community, and yes, the deep wisdom of plant medicine.⁠
⁠
This conversation is growing, and I’m so encouraged to see more mainstream attention to what we’ve known all along: when we heal the root, the whole body benefits.⁠
⁠
📷: @raminrahimian
Motherhood is often painted in pastels.⁠ “Natu Motherhood is often painted in pastels.⁠ “Natural.” “Joyful.” “Intuitive.”⁠
 ⁠
But for so many women, especially in the weeks and months after birth, it’s not soft or easy. It’s raw. Lonely. Overwhelming.⁠⁠
⁠
And here’s the truth we’re not told:⁠⁠ 1 in 5 mothers will experience a PMAD—a Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorder.⁠
⁠
 It’s the most common complication of pregnancy and birth.⁠
 And the second leading cause of maternal death (suicide a scary, leading cause).⁠
⁠
Yet PMADs are too often missed, minimized, or dismissed. Mothers are told to be grateful. To push through. To smile for the baby.⁠
⁠
 But PMADs aren’t just “baby blues.”⁠
⁠
 They include:⁠ ⁠
⁠
 • Depression (during or after pregnancy)⁠
 • Anxiety that hijacks your thoughts⁠
 • Intrusive thoughts and OCD⁠
 • PTSD, often from traumatic birth⁠
 • Postpartum psychosis (rare but real)⁠
⁠
 This is The Hidden Motherhood Struggle.⁠ And it’s time we name it.⁠
⁠
 If you're in it right now, please know:⁠
⁠
 🌀 You are not broken.⁠
 🌀 You are not alone.⁠
 🌀 And you can feel better.⁠
⁠
⁠You deserve support. And care that sees *you.*⁠
⁠
Join me for the On Health podcast, where I sit down with @drcatherinebirndorf + @paigebellenbaum from @themotherhoodcenter to talk about PMADs—why they’re missed, how to get help, and what recovery looks like.⁠ 🎧 Link in bio to listen.⁠
⁠
And come talk to other new mamas in the Mama Pathway -- my upcoming postpartum course.⁠
⁠
A warm, real-world guide to healing—physically, emotionally, hormonally, and spiritually. ⁠ ✨ 

Because you matter and because you deserve real care, rooted in wisdom. ⁠
⁠
📸 @jerushasutton⁠
⁠
If you've hit midlife and suddenly feel like your If you've hit midlife and suddenly feel like your bladder has its own agenda —or sex feels different, or there's this constant sense of dryness, irritation, or just feeling “off”—you’re not imagining it.⁠
⁠
It could be GSM (Genitourinary Syndrome of Menopause)—a completely normal (yet rarely discussed) consequence of declining estrogen and androgen levels during menopause. GSM can show up in a variety of ways: urinary urgency, frequency, painful sex, recurrent UTIs, vaginal dryness, burning, irritation, and even bleeding during intercourse.⁠
⁠
What’s worse? Most women aren’t talking about it—and most doctors aren’t asking. According to research, only half of women with GSM symptoms ever bring it up with a clinician. And when they do, it’s usually the woman who starts the conversation.⁠
⁠
But that needs to change. And it’s starting to.⁠
⁠
This month, the American Urological Association, in collaboration with leading women’s health organizations, released a new clinical guideline to better diagnose and treat GSM—based on real evidence, with real solutions.⁠
⁠
Here’s what they recommend as options and I concur! ⁠
⁠
 ✔️ Vaginal moisturizers + lubricants, which help relieve discomfort with or without hormones⁠
✔️ Local low-dose vaginal estrogen to improve dryness, irritation, and pain with sex⁠
 ✔️ Vaginal DHEA, which converts to estrogen and testosterone in vaginal tissue⁠
 ✔️ Ospemifene, a non-hormonal oral medication that acts directly on vaginal tissue⁠
⁠
And here’s what’s key: none of these treatments are linked to increased risk of breast or endometrial cancer. In fact, there’s growing evidence they’re both effective and safe—even for women with a history of breast cancer, when used appropriately.⁠
⁠
If you’re peeing like it’s your part-time job, avoiding intimacy, or just not feeling like yourself—it might be GSM. And you don’t have to just live with it.⁠
⁠
It’s time to normalize the conversation, advocate for care, and get the relief you deserve.⁠
⁠
Share this with a friend who needs it and drop your comments like they're hot.💧💬⁠
In every culture, warmth and healing herbs have be In every culture, warmth and healing herbs have been part of the postpartum phase. I’ve brought this tradition into the postpartum healing baths that new mamas in my care have enjoyed for over 40 years, one that I enjoyed after my own babies were born, and one that I’ve shared as my grown children have had babies⁠
⁠
There are many herbs that can be used to soothe tender perineal tissue, heal tears and episiotomies (yes, even with stitches!), reduce inflammation, and even shrink hemorrhoids after vaginal birth.⁠
⁠
Preparing the herb bath is as simple as making a giant pot of very strong tea in this case, called a decoction because it’s boiled. The “tea” can also be made into compresses and peri-rinses.⁠
⁠
Here’s one of my fave herb bath blends.⁠
⁠
All you need are:⁠
🛁1oz dried comfrey leaf⁠
🛁1oz calendula flowers⁠
🛁1oz lavender flowers⁠
🛁1/2oz yarrow blossom and leaf⁠
🛁1/2oz dried sage leaf⁠
🛁1/2 cup sea salt⁠
⁠
Mix the dried herbs and store these in a glass container for use over several days. Keep the sea salt in a separate jar to add to the bath each time.⁠
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To make one bath, bring 2 quarts of water to a boil. Turn off the heat, and place 2 ounces of the above-mixed herbs (not the salt) into the pot. Steep, covered, for 30 minutes. Strain the liquid well and discard the herbs. Add 2 quarts of liquid to the tub, along with 1/2 cup of salt.⁠
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You can take a bath as soon as two hours after the placenta has been born, as long as there are no problems. A fresh bath can also be taken once or twice daily for three to five days after birth. Baby can accompany you, which also promotes drying and healing of the umbilical cord.⁠
⁠
Of course, check with your midwife or doctor before taking a postpartum bath to make sure this is okay for YOU. While a bath isn’t appropriate for a cesarean, a foot bath with relaxing herbs can be lovely for promoting relaxation and rest.⁠
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Enjoy, mama!⁠
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🌿 If you’re eager to learn more about how to support yourself and the women you love with herbal medicine, my course, Herbal Medicine for Women is on sale now! Get 20% off now through June 29th. Details at the link in bio.
 

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Aviva Romm, MD

Bridging Traditional Wisdom & Modern Medicine for Women and Children

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