 Fatigue isn’t part of aging it’s a sign of inflammation. It’s also not tied to just the adrenal glands and cortisol. Low cortisol is often linked to fatigue. The term “adrenal fatigue” is thrown around as the main cause. While cortisol may go low when one is fatigued it’s often a sign of a bigger issue at play. This is why coffee, B vitamins and energy drinks work temporarily, or you need more to get an effect over time. To get to the root of what really causes fatigue it’s key to look at all the factors that hijack your energy:toxic water, air and foodenvironmental toxinsprocessed foodsfake sugarsartificial flavors and dyeschronic bacterial, viral, parasitic and fungal infectionsmycotoxins from moldlipopolysaccharides from bacterialeaky gutpoor cell detoxautoimmune conditionsleptin and hormone imbalancesinsulin resistancemagnesium, selenium, vitamin D and other nutrient deficienciesmental or physical stress and trauma How do you know what’s most impacting you? Great question. Chances are there’s a few things. Eliminating the factors that you can control is a great place to start…filter the air in your homefilter the water that you drinkevaluate the processed foods that you consumeassess the amount of stress you put on yourself and the situations you find yourself in Testing the most likely cause of your fatigue can be done while you’re working on controllable factors. Here’s a list of the tests I use to evaluate fatigue:Comprehensive Metabolic Panel (CMP)Complete Blood Count (CBC)Organic Acids Testing (OAT) with micronutrient testingStool Testing – GI Effects or GI MapChronic Infections (Cyrex Array 12)How do you know what to test? Connect the onset of your fatigue with…What you were doing in that time of your life?Where did you live?What was life like for you, right before & after?Work, stress, relationships?Did you have exposures to chemicals, mold, other hazards as a part of your work or environment?Were you on a certain “kick” or did you have a vice going when things started?Did you remember food poisoning, getting sick, hospitalizations, vaccines?Injuries? Create a life and symptom timeline and see if you can connect the onset with something that may have provoked it. This same process can be applied more than just fatigue. These timelines are awesome for you and your doctor to see the evolution of your current health status. I recommend trying this to see if you can make some connections. What you learn from your timeline can help you to hone in on what testing will be most useful in your case. Rhonda, a client of mine, had worsening of fatigue over the course of the last 3 years. When she looked back at her timeline she noticed her fatigue started after a food poisoning incident in May of 2020. This was an especially stressful time in her life as she’s a nurse and the pandemic was ramping up. She felt like everything she ate caused instant bloating and wasn’t sure what really was bothering her. Digestive enzymes with betaine hydrochloric acid, various probiotics and the avoidance of dairy and gluten didn’t seem to help. Bio-identical estradiol didn’t touch it. Not sure what to do next, she consulted with me and we decided to run a Small Intestine Bowel Overgrowth (SIBO) breath test and a GI Map. Her GI Map stool test showed she had elevated gut lining inflammation, elevated markers for leaky gut and chronic clostridia difficile infection. She’s a nurse who works in a hospital. It’s common for me to see clostridia present in the stool of those in the medical field. Her breath test was positive for SIBO as well, adding another overgrowth situation to her case. The treatment plan consisted of… …a combination of Metronidazole, Biocidin, BPC 157 (the peptide) and Tributyrin X while maintaining her estradiol dosage helped restore her energy levels. Her energy is now back and she’s feeling better than ever. She’s using probiotics, sitting down to eat, chewing her food well and eating as closest to nature as possible to keep her microbiome in balance. An evaluation 6 months later showed her gut microbiome was balanced and no signs of infections. While I’m not a fan of using medications to address bacterial overgrowth situations, I do use them when certain bacteria, like clostridia, are present as they need a stronger punch. Clostridia is one of the major gut infections that cause fatigue and mood changes, most commonly toward depression. Fatigue is not normal and it’s certainly not something that just happens with age. There’s a cause and an answer to fatigue if you are open to a little sleuthing with a bit of connecting the dots. Speaking of sleuthing and dot connecting… Book a call and let’s see how I can help you. |
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