I’m “SO TIRED”!

I’m “SO TIRED”!  
Is this something you (or the people in your life) are saying on a daily basis… multiple times a day?

When was the last time you felt vibrant and full of energy?
Do you walk a straight path to the coffee pot every day … and tap into it 3 times more during the day?  Are you too tired to exercise?  Possibly falling asleep during meetings or crashing on the couch while you watch TV?

What would your life look like if you had more energy?? What would you do differently in your life?

Fatigue is one of our top patient complaints.  They wake tired, they can’t concentrate, they have no energy to complete their work and home lists and they worry how this affects their relationships and life.

Traditional approach to fatigue:
Check labs: CBC, CMP, Thyroid, ESR, and occasionally Lyme. Often there is a sleep study done to check for sleep apnea. If normal, there is often an ‘acceptance’ that it’s just part of a busy life and getting older.  Occasionally there may be a trial of medication for depression, sleep and/or fatigue.

What can 4 Better Health do that your local practitioner isn’t or can’t do (besides spend more than 10-15 minutes with you)?

The Functional Medicine approach to fatigue:
Look at the whole person and for complex interrelationships among many diverse variables. After a very detailed history intake form and consultation there will be deeper dive testing:

Testing:

• Lab work as above plus many other detailed lab tests to evaluate nutrients, hormones, glucose metabolism, mitochondria, inflammation and infections
• Functional medicine tests such as food sensitivity testing, gut evaluation, adrenal evaluation and heavy metals testing
• Sleep study if it has not been done

Treatment is then focused on the patient’s unique dis-ease in the body.
Unlike traditional medicine, we do not treat all “I’m so tired” patients the same, nor do we believe getting older is a reason for being tired.  And it is not a one shot ‘check it – fix it” approach, but it is also small changes added together for dramatic shifts in the body.

Functional medicine treatment plan may include some or many of the following:

• Exercise –
  • Every day – start slow and move up
• Lifestyle discussions –
  • Work on life balance and purposeful relaxation
  • As a society our workload and hours of activity have increased. According to the International Labor Org. “Americans work 137 more hours per year than Japanese workers, 260 more hours per year than British workers, and 499 more hours per year than French workers”. And the average American worker has increased 400% since 1950.
• Replenish nutrient deficiencies – Many times one or all of: Iron, B’s, Magnesium, Zinc, Vitamin D and CoQ10
• Remove foods causing inflammation and increase high nutrient anti-inflammatory diet – Top 5: Gluten, Dairy, Soy, Eggs, Corn
  • Low processed, low sugar and High anti-oxidants
• Heal the gut- Often there is a need for probiotics, digestive enzymes, HCL and gut soothing combinations such as L-Glutamine, licorice, curcumin, aloe, slippery elm, etc)
• Treat infections – Antibiotics or herbal antimicrobials
• Calm inflammation
• Balance hormones
• Remove toxins
• Regulate energy – Everything that has ever happened to you in your life has cumulated to bring you a vibrant body or dis-ease.  By treating the energy piece the ‘stuck’ will become unstuck and all of the treatments above will work better.  Examples: Full-Spectrum Healing, Cranio-Sacral, Acupuncture, Reiki, Meditation and Yoga
• Consider counseling and biofeedback to support process of above

In Functional Medicine we look at the entire person including everything that has ever happened to them and we bring the body back to its optimal functioning to remove the symptom.  How cool is that?!