Of all the reasons men and women come to our clinic, fatigue is by far the most common complaint. This is not just an occasional tiredness. This is profound, daily fatigue, punctuated with periods of total exhaustion. Everything seems like a huge effort. Women describe it as if they are constantly dragging around a ball and chain throughout the day. They have a terribly hard time even getting out of bed. What's wrong here?

There are many causes for this profound fatigue, some of which can be caused by the progressive loss of certain hormones in the body. The thyroid gland and the adrenal glands are of particular interest to us here. There are many medications (anti-depressants, birth control pills, anti-anxiety drugs, antibiotics, etc.) that can cause fatigue. But let's say you're not taking any of those.

There are things in your diet that can be causing problems: anything with the word "diet" or "low fat" could be causing problems. The fake sugars (aspartame, Nutrisweet, Splenda, sucralose, acesulfame, sorbitol, sucrose, fructose, high fructose corn sweetener) can all cause fatigue. We have many patients who come in for a consultation who are almost living on diet sodas and protein powders full of the above sweeteners, thinking they are doing themselves a favor, when, in fact, they are causing more fatigue and weight gain in the long run.

Hormonally, we estimate that at least 85% of the patients we see at Wellness Innovations are hypothyroid. The most common symptoms of having a low thyroid are: chronic tiredness (despite plenty of sleep), inability to lose weight (despite dieting and exercising), cold hands and feet, dry skin, mild depression, constipation, brittle finger nails, hair coming out when brushing, inability to concentrate, forgetfulness, mood swings, irritability, anxiety, and "brain fog." Low thyroid levels will also cause higher cholesterol levels.

Your doctor may have checked your thyroid levels and told you, "Everything looks good." 95% of the time, they checked your TSH-a screening test that does not really tell you anything about the active part of the thyroid hormones. You must have a "free T3" test done to determine whether or not your thyroid is functioning properly. Without that test being run, you could spend the rest of your life with a low thyroid and all of the symptoms in the preceding paragraph.

Adrenal fatigue is another very common cause of chronic tiredness. Sometimes we describe it as being "wired but tired": so tired you can't get out of bed in the morning, but can't go to sleep at night. Patients with very little ability to handle stress are prime candidates for adrenal therapy. For low adrenal patients, the best, most sound sleep they get is from about 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. But who can do that? There are many things that can be done to remedy adrenal fatigue. But first, get tested to see if your adrenals are in working order. There are several tests that we use to check the ability of the adrenal glands to support the body.

One our great frustrations is to see patients that have been diagnosed with either Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Fibromyalgia being put on antidepressants as the sole therapy. While that might temporarily alleviate some of the symptoms, it is no long term answer.

All of our patients are put on exercise programs . . . eventually. For most hormonally imbalanced patients, to tell them at the beginning of the program to begin an exercise program is a prescription for disaster. Exercise, at that point, will only make them worse. We begin them on an exercise program only after we bring all their hormone levels up. Otherwise it is like whipping an already tired horse. Of course exercise is a wonderful therapy for everyone, but it needs to be done prudently, at the right time, and in the right way.