Driving through your fatigue

PAID CONTENT

No one, to my knowledge, has ever walked into a car dealer and asked for the slowest car they have. That their preferred model was slow to start, slow to get up and go, and just moseys along. No, we want fast! That is no truer than with our own personal get up and go. No one wants to be tired, have a hard time getting up in the morning, have to consume coffee or do something to get their engines roaring every day. But for many (it seems for most) that is the case today.

Addiction to coffee, sugar and other substances to get moving and feel alive seems to be the American way. We are typically so tired that we no longer even realize we’re tired, and most don’t realize that they are using foods, drinks and other substances to keep them up. I’m amazed at how many people, having been treated at our clinic, tell me that until they started to feel so much better and they didn’t realize how far down they had gone in energy levels. Others come in for seemingly unrelated symptoms and report their energy is “fine.” As we treat the underlying cause of their primary symptom, they find their energy is up and that they hadn’t even realized how low it actually was. We can adapt amazingly well when we have to.

But at some point the engine gets so sluggish you can barely eek performance out of it.

I remember one patient who came in with chronic fatigue. She was so tired all the time that even her car was tired! I know that sounds funny, but it would appear to be so. In a six-month period of time, she was involved in an industrial injury followed by six car accidents, all rear-end collisions! Try sorting that one out between insurance companies! She hadn’t been able to work in years, was unable to have children, she was having relationship issues as a result of her fatigue and was just unable to participate in life. It took time, but we were able to get her back to life again. She became the lively, intelligent woman her husband married her for and was able to work again. We put measures in place to make sure that when followed, she’d never get herself into that kind of a jalopy again.

There are many reasons why fatigue may be hindering a quality life for you. Like your car, there are vital components that, if not working properly, are going to run pretty sluggishly. You may be chortling, glugging, sputtering and just creeping along, just trying to get through your daily destinations.

Life doesn’t have to be that way. You need a health mechanic —one with the proper diagnostic tools to assess where the breakdowns are, and know how to get you first off the starting line!

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Holly Carling is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Licensed Acupuncturist, Doctor of Naturopathy, Clinical Nutritionist and Master Herbologist with nearly four decades of experience. Carling is a “Health Detective,” she looks beyond your symptom picture and investigates WHY you are experiencing your symptoms in the first place. Carling is currently accepting new patients and offers natural health care services and whole food nutritional supplements in her Coeur d’ Alene clinic. Visit Carling’s website at www.vitalhealthcda.com to learn more about Holly Carling, view a list of upcoming health classes and read other informative articles. Carling can be reached at 208-765-1994 and would be happy to answer any questions regarding this topic.