Cynthia Li on personal health
From Brave New Medicine With Cynthia Li, MD · · GLOWbyMarlowe
“It was really a breakdown, complete breakdown of my body. I developed postpartum thyroiditis and then, during my second pregnancy, a sudden onset of chronic fatigue syndrome and dysautonomia — I had profound exhaustion and literally could not get off the couch.”
On , Cynthia Li, Chief External Affairs & Communications Officer at Albemarle Corporation, spoke about personal health during Brave New Medicine With Cynthia Li, MD on GLOWbyMarlowe.
About Cynthia Li
Cynthia Li, a traditionally trained internist who later shifted to functional and integrative medicine, appeared on the "Happier and Healthier Podcast" in April 2020 to discuss her memoir, "Brave New Medicine." Li described experiencing a "complete breakdown" of her body after developing postpartum thyroiditis and chronic fatigue syndrome, noting that her standard lab results appeared normal despite her debilitating symptoms. She said that modalities outside the classical Western paradigm approach the body as a "whole ecosystem" and that trauma, particularly childhood trauma, can prime the stress and immune systems to contribute to chronic illness. Li discussed her use of Qigong, a mind-body practice involving movement, meditation, and sound vibrations, which she said rewired neural patterns and improved symptoms like vertigo and fatigue. She expressed skepticism about the autoimmune paleo protocol as a long-term diet, stating it can diminish dietary diversity and that prolonged restrictive regimens often indicate unaddressed root causes. Li advised that inhabiting the body and believing healing is possible are crucial to recovery, and she described developing intuition by quieting her analytical mind, pairing that intuition with analysis in her practice.