Chronic Illness: The Underlying Cause & How To Overcome  http://learntruehealth.com/chronic-illness Chronic Illness is regarded as a progressive disease. While many aspects remain to be a mystery, there are definitive ways to cope with this condition. Everyone's in for a special treat if you want to know more about chronic illness. Naturopathic Doctor Christine Schaffner can thoroughly educate us regarding this. Dr. Schaffner loves to treat patients who have seen every doctor under the sun. These are patients who have a chronic illness and for some reason, they're not getting better. She loves to help them recover their health naturally through education, lifestyle change, and special testing. It's pretty exciting because Dr. Schaffner got tricks up her sleeve that I've never seen other Naturopathic Doctors do. So uncovering the mystery behind chronic illness is going to be a lot of fun. Runs In The Family Dr. Schaffner grew up on the east coast, outside of Washington, D.C. Her father is an oncologist and her mother trained as a nurse but had a background in education. In addition to that, she was a hospital director so technically, Dr. Schaffner grew up in the world of medicine. "We joke that one of my brother's first words was chemotherapy. Medicine was what I grew up around. With my father being an oncologist, I grew up on antibiotics and food was not even part of the paradigm at that point.," she said. Finding Her Way With Science as her favorite subject in high school, she had an inner knowing that medicine was most likely her calling. But despite that, she wanted something more. "In high school during the 90s, the whole idea of 'mind, body, and spirit' was a new thought. Going through the spiritual section at bookstores then, always triggered more questions," she said. Dr. Schaffner initially did not know Naturopathic Medicine existed until she met one of her mother's friends who had cancer. That friend sought out a lot of alternative medicine. She was also the one who exposed Dr. Schaffner to Bastyr University when she was in high school. However, the idea of attending Bastyr University was initially put on the back burner. Dr. Schaffner went instead to the University of Virgina in Charlottesville. It took her a while to commit to pre-medicine and did not take up the course until her second year. Enrolling in a Psychology course, she felt intimidated by the environment. "I made the decision during my last year to go to Bastyr in 2003. It was a stark contrast since my school on the East Coast was conventional whereas it was the opposite in Bastyr," Dr. Shaffner narrates. She also shares that we were one of the younger people in the batch when she transferred to Bastyr. Hence, because she struggled a bit, Dr. Schaffner took two years off from school. During these gap years, she naturally needed to work. Because she loved skin care and using her hands, she was able to acquire her aesthetic license. Eventually, she even moved to Aspen to explore other options. Trusting The Timing After working in the spa industry in Aspen, she went back to Bastyr with a renewed passion and love for Naturopathic Medicine. Answering an ad after graduation landed her a job as a resident for Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt in 2010. Isn't it amazing how everything falls into place? Sometimes we just need to go with the flow and gain a learning curve. The Sophia Health Institute in Woodinville, WA Klinghardt and Schaffner founded the Sophia Health Institute in 2012. The clinic has become famous for treating chronic illness. I actually first heard of the clinic from my Naturopathic Doctor when we were talking about the geniuses in the holistic world. Four Pillars of Treating Chronic Illness To further illustrate, Dr. Klinghardt expounds on the four pillars of treating chronic illness: Balancing Physiology - hormones, electrolytes, and other related elements have to be balanced first. Detoxification - metabolic enzymes need to be detoxified first befo