Nicole Silva, ND
Pronouns: She/Her
Exciting News!
After 3 years working with and learning from Ginevra Liptan, MD at The Frida Center for Fibromyalgia, I have started my own practice, One Song Medicine. It has been such a privilege and a pleasure to work with Dr. Liptan and we will continue our friendship as well as our professional collaboration well into the future.
What I Am Passionate About and Specialize in Treating:
- Fibromyalgia
- ME/CFS (Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome)
- POTS (positional orthostatic tachycardia syndrome)
- Hypermobility Disorders (Including ruling in/out Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome)
- MCAS (mast cell activation syndrome)
- Post Infectious Syndromes (this includes Lyme disease, “Long Covid”, EBV reactivation, and many other post microbe issues)
- Mold mycotoxin illness
- While I don’t specialize in the treatment of autoimmune disorders, much of the work I do is very supportive of those with autoimmune activity. There is frequently a connection between autoimmune disorders and post infectious syndromes.
My Approach:
All of the above could be summed up as Complex Chronic Illness. There is often considerable overlap in the conditions mentioned above, and I believe one day we will have a better way of explaining all of the above in the terms of conventional medicine. I believe many traditional systems (Chinese Medicine, Ayurvedic Medicine, and the traditional medicine of many places in the world) that are based in pattern recognition already have a better grasp of how all the above are connected. I live to investigate, I have always loved pattern recognition.
From my current understanding Fibromyalgia is a descriptive diagnosis, which means it is a name for a collection of symptoms. Different people end up in the Fibromyalgia box for different reasons and I think it is important to examine those reasons. This is why I don’t think Fibromyalgia should be viewed as a wastebasket diagnosis. It only becomes that when it is used as a reason to look the other way, explain any symptom away as part of the diagnosis (thus missing other important diagnoses), and fail to investigate the causes or contributing factors.
Some details you might be interested in because I am an Naturopathic Doctor: I do prescribe and know how to use pharmaceuticals, however they are not frequently my first go to for treatment due to side effects, the gut flora disruption they cause, and the many issues associated with polypharmacy. I still have many patients on polypharmacy and have no judgements to push on anyone. I am here to support you in what works for you. I no longer prescribe controlled substances, however I do have experience prescribing them and can make recommendations to you and your PCP. I have many talents to offer outside the world of pharmaceuticals, and my patients seem to have no shortage of conventional physicians offering them access to pharmaceutical therapies. My patients seem to have very few issues accessing all possible treatments. In fact, my approach is usually an advantage because I have more options for those who don’t respond well to pharmaceuticals, or I can help people make more informed decisions about the pharmaceuticals they do want to try.
My approach to Complex Chronic Illness is to first fortify the foundations of health, which is at the root of Naturopathic Medicine. This includes generally helping the patient feel better by getting them sleeping well, improving fatigue, and symptom management. Then later we can focus on the other pieces that might need our attention. I find that helping someone to find a better state of health allows them more freedom to make the healthy lifestyle choices they have been longing to make, further supporting their healing journey. Feeling better also enables a person to have more agency in their health, which I feel is crucial. I don’t think of myself as a healer or a guru that is here to save you, but a companion and a guide to help you find the healing power within yourself. The co-creation of health and wellness happen at any level, including physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. I am prepared to meet you where you are and focus on what is important to you.
My Personal Health Journey:
My health journey is long and started as a child growing up in Texas. It was not until I started practicing as a Naturopathic Physician that I was finally able to put all the pieces together into a coherent whole. Immediately after graduation, I found myself within a community of Naturopathic Physicians learning about all of the conditions that I have lived with for my whole life, most of which where not mentioned or only got an honorable mention during medical school.
In elementary school I was bitten by a tick, had a rash, but was never tested or treated for Lyme disease. Shortly after that I started having severe daily headaches which were misdiagnosed as childhood migraines. I was told they likely wouldn’t continue into adulthood, but they did. A year later I developed POTS and started having difficulty breathing with exertion which was misdiagnosed as asthma (none of the asthma treatment helped but a proper diagnosis was never pursued). During high school I was sick all the time, getting sinus infections and pneumonia among other illnesses many times per year. And I found out later on that my childhood house which I had lived in from birth to age 17 had black mold.
I still felt relatively healthy and robust until 2007 (age 26) when I injured my knee, this ended up being my tipping point. I started having significant wandering pain, worsening fatigue, sleep disturbance, POTS symptoms worsened, and headaches continued. This is the classic Fibromyalgia onset picture a defining tipping point resulting in a significant change in health, although some folks never notice/experience a tipping point. I had no health insurance and was very low income so I did the best I could to manage my condition on my own. My conditions taught me the importance of many things like how to get enough sleep (I now required more than the average person just to function), how to eat better, how to learn to manage stress, and other forms of self care.
When I moved to Oregon in 2010 to finish my bachelors at PSU, I still was not doing well, but I now had health insurance for the first time since I was a teenager! There was a clinic down the street from me with a Naturopathic Doctor, I didn’t know what that was, but I felt like it was exactly what I needed. She introduced me to a few supplements that helped me feel better. When she told me there was a Naturopathic School here in Portland, I knew this was what I was being called to do. During school, I found a few more supplements and botanical medicines that helped me feel better, but it wasn’t until after school when I learned more about why I ended in the Fibromyalgia box that I saw the most significant improvement. When I started to see a colleague that specializes in the treatment of complex chronic illness. We started actively treating post infectious lyme syndrome and I began to see the daily headaches reduce, fatigue reduce, and many other symptoms reduce or resolve. I now feel better than I ever have and continue to improve.
My illness has been a gift for me, but this doesn’t negate the hard times, the anguish, and the difficulties of my journey. It has brought me to my calling in life. It has been an integral part of my soul’s journey to spiritual awakening. It has shaken me awake and brought me home to myself.
My Professional and Academic History:
- Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine from the National University of Natural Medicine
- Licensed by the Oregon Board of Naturopathic Medicine
- Licensed by the Washington Board of Naturopathic Medicine
- Bachelor of Science from Portland State University (Psychology major with a focus in behavioral science).
- 3 year mentorship with Ginevra Liptan, MD at The Frida Center for Fibromyalgia.
- Additional Training in botanical medicine, homeopathy, biotherapeutic drainage, whole-body nutrition, therapeutic tremoring, as well as a Chinese 5 element emotional healing system based on the teachings of Wang Fengyi.