I’ve been there….tired and sick of being tired…
Fatigue has many faces and there are many answers online and in books. Most with one aspect covered. Believe me I’ve read them.
- One book says:
- Thyroid,
- another sugar,
- another genetics,
- another serotonin/and dopamine,
- blocked chi flow,
- another toxins,
- chiropractic subluxations
- breathing,
- sleep,
- childhood trauma,
- caffeine,
- muscle spasm,
- candida,
- food allergy
- lyme,
- pyschological,
- viral, parasite,
- cancer,
- blood sugar,
- obesity,
- mitochondria,
- anemia…….my ultimate favorite is……wait for it……IT’S IN THEIR HEAD!
Several of the pictures below outline the main culprits in these disorders, along with Chronic Fatigue: Fibromyalgia, and Migraine also fall into this category. What most of these involve are a Limbic/Hippocampus Hypothalalmic-pituitary adrenal axis imbalance. A gut, brain imbalance. And possiblu a Hypo pituitary ovarian/testes imbalance. So we now have faulty digestion, blood sugar, nerve signalling, hormone signalling, and poor detoxification pathways.
You get the picture…it will drive a fatigued person to there knees, or to bed!
Doctors always love to claim they are 100% healed form whatever ails them, but I’ll come out and say, I’m only 90% healed of my chronic fatigue.
It was a long, and hard fought battle from 2002 until 2009-10 with different stages and seasons, and I feel it’s my mission in practice to guide others through a better, clearer path to healing. After I finally did the proper testing I was able to implement the proper programs in order to heal.
If we were to imagine a battery pack on the computer, mine wears down just a tad quicker (ex I can’t surf two hours in 60 degree water, treat 15 patients and still hope to run around the yard with my son that night) so I’m normal for a guy my age, but for the foods I eat, and the chiropractic I get, I should have that “next level” energy. But I thank God every day for being “normal” again!
Fatigue is often several of the things I listed above, or all of them! That is why functional testing is so crucial. There is no use guessing if you have adrenal fatigue, or mitochondrial stress, it’s better to know for sure.
It can be a tad costly in the beginning, but if we were to add up all the supplements that you may have bought that had no effect they would easily pay for the tests!
At my office I will test your blood, saliva, and stool for imbalances.
With systematic testing, we then have markers to monitor if the healing is going in the right direction. The other reality is healing takes time. I like to think of it as a rising mountain, with plateaus and valleys, that takes several seasons to fully climb.
There is also some trial and error. Exercising again, and changing our life and foods can often cause “healing crises” but if we can push through the pain and learn from it, we can go to the next level of the mountain.
In summary fatigue is a multi system dysfunction. And needs to be treated as such. It will take sacrifice to heal, but the end result will be worth it!
Wonderful article, Michael. I wish someone had taught this in nursing school. I appreciate the reference to crises created by making changes. We do have to press through. Great article.