Wellness Blog

How to Overcome Chronic Illness

When you were diagnosed with chronic illness, were you told by your doctor that you would have to take medication for the rest of your life? Did you believe that this would be your fate and you would have to suffer through pain and misery because of an illness you "couldn't" get rid of? Through the lens of a Functional Medicine doctor, this is not true. Over 80 percent of Americans are taking at least one prescription medication and 60 percent are taking two or more. Often, these medications are just trying to make symptoms more bearable and don't actually help towards defeating the illness. The biggest factors that can lead to chronic illness and disease is environment, diet, lifestyle, sleep, etc.

Chronic illness and disease does not affect just one part of the body and instead affect the body as a whole. What makes integrative medicine different from traditional medicine is that integrative medicine doctors address your illness or disease as something that is affecting the entire body. Some common chronic illnesses like Type 2 diabetes and heart disease can be caused by smoking, stress, overuse of alcohol, etc. Detoxifying your body and correcting nutrient deficiencies are some ways to get started on overcoming your chronic illness. Remember, you are not alone on this journey to recovery!