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The following article was published in Your Health Magazine. Our mission is to empower people to live healthier.
Alan S. Weiss, MD
Get Your Energy Back
Annapolis Integrative Medicine
. http://www.annapolisintegrativemedicine.com/

Get Your Energy Back

Patients see their doctors for life threatening illnesses and acute emergencies. But what is far more common is hearing patients say, “I am so tired, I can barely make it through my day.I need to get my life back.”

Often (but not always) these are men and women in their 40's, 50's or 60's. Often they are people who have gained weight, and/or have chronic sleep issues, and/or have diffuse body pain or gastrointestinal complaints.

An approach to this kind of patient is relatively simple. The first question would be, when did this begin, and was the onset sudden or gradual? Were you under a lot of stress at the time prior to the onset? What changed in your life?

Sometimes job stress, personal or family illness, a divorce or other stressor is in the background and was the trigger for the downturn. Sometimes it is a tick bite suggesting that an infection is at play. Sometimes it is head trauma or the onset of menopause that precipitated the problem. Sometimes none of this is clear.

The next thing to deal with is sleep. Regardless of the underlying problem if people are not sleeping, or are dealing with sleep apnea or that of their partners, they will not get well until they are sleeping deeply and soundly.

An expanded set of lab tests should be done to look at hormone status such as thyroid, adrenal, testosterone in both men and women, and menopausal status in women.

Iron, B12 and Vitamin D levels should be looked at and corrected if not normal. Any evidence of inflammation or infection should be dealt with, including chronic viral and tick borne diseases.

Many patients in this group are dealing with chronic gastrointestinal diseases. The most common issues are gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) or IBS.

Any possible food sensitivities should be looked at (beginning with an elimination diet or food allergy testing), a breath test to detect SIBO, and making sure there is no evidence for pancreatic disease which can cause chronic diarrhea, gall bladder problems, or a chronic infection of the intestinal tract which can cause all kinds of problems.

Focus should then be turned to chronic stress, and strategies must be implemented to help people deal with this. When the fight/flight nervous system is chronically activated, people don't sleep, the GI system is “confused”, they are more likely to have chronic pain, headaches, palpitations, and all kinds of other issues.

Trying to reduce stress, or more importantly to better cope with stress given that stress is a fact of life is key to getting well. Acupuncture, massage, and cognitive behavioral therapy are recommended to address this.

Finally, there are tiny organelles in every cell called mitochondria, which are the energy factories of our bodies. These can malfunction due to toxins, heavy metals, and nutritional deficiencies. Addressing this can make an enormous difference.

Lastly don't give up, there is an answer, you just have to find it.

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