Prolonged fatigue can have a profound impact on our quality of life. It can affect our ability to perform well at work, to take care of our families and to enjoy our lives. Fatigue compromises our safety in situations requiring focus and quick reaction time, and often affects our mood and psychological state.
Fatigue can be caused by many different factors and the key to successful treatment is correctly identifying and addressing the underlying causes. We treat many patients with fatigue each year and almost all of them experience a substantial improvement in energy. Some of the underlying factors we commonly find include:
- Quantity and quality of sleep: many Americans are suffering from chronic sleep deprivation, even when they believe they are getting adequate sleep. Do you feel rested and refreshed when you wake up in the morning? If not, there is a good chance you are either not getting enough hours of sleep, or are getting poor quality sleep. The purpose of sleep is to restore and reset the brain and body for optimum function the following day. We assess both the quantity and quality of sleep of every patient with fatigue and provide therapies that not only restore the body’s ability to get adequate sleep, but to get high quality, restorative sleep as well.
- Hormone imbalances: hormonal disturbances are far more common than generally accepted and are often missed in assessments of fatigue. Hormones such as thyroid, cortisol, epinephrine (adrenaline), estrogen, progesterone and insulin are often involved in chronic fatigue. We perform a thorough assessment of hormone function that goes well beyond most conventional evaluations and provide natural methods to restore balance.
- Undiagnosed chronic infections: hidden viral, fungal and bacterial infections can lead to chronic fatigue and are often missed in standard screening. We utilize special methods for identifying the presence of infections even when prior assessment has failed to do so.
- Food sensitivities: Food sensitivities are adverse reactions to foods that are not caused by classical allergies. They can cause a wide variety of symptoms, often including fatigue. We use a detailed patient interview and advanced testing to identify foods that may be contributing to fatigue.
- Nutritional imbalances: our bodies are built from the foods we eat, the air we breathe and the fluids we drink. Imbalances in nutrition can have a profound effect on sleep, energy and mental functioning. We recognize that there are many competing nutritional theories out there and that it can be very confusing for people who are looking for answers to their health challenges. We don’t take a rigid approach to nutrition. Our approach is to identify the unique needs of each patient and build a dietary program that addresses those needs.