Always Exhausted

You feel tired all the time. You wake up in the morning and can hardly get started. It’s gotten to the point where you come home exhausted, wake up exhausted and even the simplest, most enjoyable tasks have become just too difficult.   Of course you do your best to take care of yourself – though we could all make improvements in that regard.  But nothing seems to help – nothing seems to wipe out this bonecrushing fatigue.

One of the biggest problems with chronic fatigue is that you may not have the energy to research treatment options, and so reach for whatever is familiar or easily at hand – even if it doesn’t work very well for you.  But, in your quest to feel better you may have tried various pharmaceutical options, even including anti-depressants.

You have probably looked into food allergies and over-the-counter herbal and vitamin supplements.  You may have tried monkeying with your diet.  You might have tried acupuncture, homeopathy, naturopathy, body work and other natural treatment options.  Somehow, though, you never quite get out of the grip of that ever present feeling like the drainplug has been pulled on your vitality.

The real problem with most approaches to chronic fatigue is twofold.

• First these approaches tend to work to “make the person feel better” without appropriately addressing the root of the problem.  While making sure that you feel like you have more energy now is certainly a priority – the most important thing is to accurately assess and treat the ROOT of your current problem.  This will not only help address it more effectively, but also help find a solution that keeps you strong and vital well into old age – no more recurrence and no negative side-effects of treatment.  Finding the root in a situation like this isn’t so much about identifying an organism or a gene or a deficiency, but more about finding where the problem began and which part of the body’s system was impacted.

• Second, the above approaches typically focus excessively on giving you more energy.  It may sound a little strange that I would recommend a different approach – but hear me out.  You’re tired, tired, tired – it seems logical that what you need to do is “put more gas in the tank” and “tonify” your energy.  That’s the idea behind all the ginseng drinks, the various amino acid and vitamin supplements, and of course the ultimate idea behind caffeine containing beverages.  Even more interesting though is a simple question – is the gas tank really empty, or is there just a kink in the line somewhere?  You need to find and eliminate any blocks in your system that may be interfering with the normal circulation of the energy you do have.  This is one of the reasons exercise is so important, even if difficult, in fatigue recovery – it helps open up the nooks and crannies of the system.  Even very short periods of gentle exercise like Qigong can help open the hatches and let the energy flow.

Eric Grey graduated from the Natural College of Natural Medicine in 2009.  As a student he learned of several methods that can help to unblock the system so that the energy can flow more freely.  One of the most important methods he uses for this is acupuncture.  He also learned and can teach a method of gentle but deeply opening exercise called Qi Gong.  Eric is trained primarily as an herbalist and likes to help his patients find a herbal formula that combines principles of unblocking and nourishing.  Eric finds that fatigue is one of the quickest conditions to respond to Chinese medicine treatment.