My journey

Elvira Gjini

BSc, MSc, DipCNM, AFMCP, mBANT, rCNHC, mIFM

However, my life changed completly  when my now 12 year old daughter was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at just 2 weeks old. From that point on, my life would never be the same again. It took me quite a while to accept and adjust to my new life reality. Meanwhile, the emotional trauma coupled with chronic stress slowly and silently took its toll. It took over six years for the symptoms to start interfering with my everyday life activities until I reached a point when I was struggling to care for my daughter.

After numerous doctor visits and testings, I was eventually diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, but unfortunately, the mainstream healthcare system had no options for treating me. I felt alone and disempowered. The thought of not been able to care for my daughter for long was terrifying.

I knew I had to do something to get my health back, but I had no idea what and how. At that moment, I turned my attention to the one thing I trust most for information, medical literature. I started intensively reading books and papers related to my diagnoses, and the more I read, the more I wanted to know. I started to make nutritional and lifestyle changes, and only then I could see gradual improvements of my health, however the improvements were not sustainable.

Clearly, something very fundamental was missing! Realising my potential to healing myself I was determined to let no stone unturned and search for the missing piece of my health puzzle at a diferent level of education in order not only to fully heal myself, but also to help others, who like me need advice and support on their journey to health recovery.

Since at a very young age, following my grandmother around while she was creating natural remedies to help people with health aliments in our small community, I have been amazed by the healing power of nature, so intuitively I knew, the path that would enable me to find the answers of my questions was Natural  Medicine.  

During my studies at the College of Naturopathic Medicine (CNM), I learned why illness occur and how to restore health by addressing the root causes of disease via individualised, science-based approach. While studying, I also started to apply my knowledge to further refine my own food and lifestyle choices, and with the support of a nutritional therapist I started using Functional Testing, analysing a range of biomarkers which revealed imbalances in nutritional cofactors, digestion, cellular energy production and detoxification. The results of my tests not only shed light on the root causes of my debilitating symptoms, but also were a great tool to help formulate the right plan to target the imbalances and restore my health.  

After graduating as a Nutritional Therapist through CNM, I embarked on a further training with the Institute for Function Medicine – the global leader in providing gold standard science based clinical education, and learned all the incredible tools about Applying Functional Medicine to my Clinical Practice (AFMCP).  

Now, as a fully qualified Functional Medicine Trained Nutritional Therapist, my goal is to use my knowledge and help you restore your health.