Chronic fatigue syndrome is a tricky condition to deal with.
Defined by having prolonged periods of profound fatigue lasting six months or more, often accompanied by other symptoms such as musculoskeletal pain, weak immunity, allergies, or digestive issues, it can be a debilitating condition to suffer from.
Because there are a number of potential triggers or causes of chronic fatigue syndrome, it is sometimes very difficult to treat.
Some potential causes include viral infection, allergies, hypothyroidism, blood sugar issues, toxic exposure or build-up, hormonal imbalance, or adrenal fatigue.
In seeing a physician, you will likely undergo a number of lab tests, which hopefully will reveal the cause and help focus the treatment on what is causing your fatigue.
The truth is however, that oftentimes even after getting tested and finding out a cause, the treatments offer only limited improvement in your symptoms.
That's not so say that there is zero validity in these possible solutions.
You may well have some sort of viral infection, or toxic exposure, but the real question is - why isn't my body recovering from this? Why is my fatigue a chronic state, rather than only temporary? Understanding chronic fatigue syndrome is easier if we break it down into simple physiology.
First, where does your energy come from? Your energy intake is supplied by food.
Your body then converts this food into energy.
Unless you are struggling to get enough food to eat, this is not your problem and not the reason you are fatigued.
You are getting enough energy, but that energy is going somewhere else, and you do not have enough left to deal with the basic aspects of living.
So where is this energy going? This is where it gets tricky.
Often times we are so "locked in" to a particular way of life that it is difficult or even impossible to see just how much our way of life is taxing our energy supply.
Life's pressures and expectations or ways of thinking and feeling may be so deep-seated that they become an assumed component of regular life, when in reality, they are demanding above and beyond what our bodies are capable of dealing with.
In addressing chronic fatigue syndrome, we have to assume that the natural state of the body is to have energy.
Unless you are dealing with a serious health condition, it is not normal or natural for you to not have enough energy to get through the day.
You have the energy, it is just being diverted.
The mind-body connection cannot be overlooked in dealing with chronic fatigue syndrome.
It is like the pink elephant in the room - we all know it is there, but would rather keep discussing other solutions.
The problem is that these other solutions will not completely solve the problem unless you call out that elephant.
Much of the discomfort - and inability - of medicine to effectively deal with the problem of chronic fatigue syndrome is the fact that the cause is unique to each individual, and therefore there is often no one exact prescription that can effectively solve it for you.
We would like to believe that the field of medicine is so powerful that it can offer a solution that can blast our problem away, and that the only reason that hasn't happened yet is you haven't yet found that magic solution, but this is not always the case.
One of the most powerful medicines for chronic fatigue syndrome is already in you, and it involves the innate intelligence and health of your body.
Your body naturally wants to function in a healthy way, in a way that will provide you with the energy you need to live your life.
It is not, but that is only because you are diverting energy away from your body towards something else, and the symptom of your fatigue is a message sent to you from your body, asking you to return some of that energy to your body so it can get healthy.
This may take time, but it is possible.
You have the ability to address the issue of your excess energy expenditure, whether it be through confronting your sources of stress, making adjustments to your lifestyle to conserve energy for your body to heal, talking with people you trust about what you are going through, etc - in essence, learning to give yourself and your body a break.
This is a challenging thing to do, but it is possible.
It is important to be patient and not get down on yourself for not feeling like an Energizer bunny right away.
If you begin to address the root cause of your lack of energy, any medicine you take - whether natural or prescription - will be much more effective in providing support towards getting you back to health.
For example, adaptogens, such as ashwaghanda or rhodiola, can help improve the health of the adrenal glands, which are responsible for distributing energy and dealing with stress.
Other medicines may help you sleep better, improve your immune system to fight off potential infections, improve thyroid function, decrease inflammation, and so on.
What medicines are most effective will vary depending on the person.
A true treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome involves addressing both the mind and the body.
This is important to address whether you decide to see a physician or not for your chronic fatigue.
While seeing a doctor to determine what is going on - for example, hypothyroidism, low adrenal function, viral infection - the solutions you are provided will not be nearly as effective without dealing with the mental/emotional component as well.