Fatigue can be a warning sign - Part II
In Part I of Fatigue Can Be a Warning Sign, we talked about fatigue as a warning sign that something could be wrong and warrants investigative work to find out the cause. We discussed hormonal imbalance, gut health, autoimmune and other compromised immune system conditions, anemia and medications — all conditions that could be causative factors in fatigue. Let’s review some others:
As healthy blood sugar metabolism is essential for operation of our energy systems, an imbalance in blood sugar can cause fatigue. If your energy crashes between 2 and 4 p.m. it is a good indication that your blood sugar could be crashing. Simply eating enough protein at lunch and avoiding refined carbohydrates could be enough to turn that around. Blood sugar that is either too high or too low could be contributors to fatigue. Blood sugar monitors are cheap on the internet today and easy to test. Blood sugar that is too far out of balance can be downright dangerous and needs to be professionally monitored.
Emotional balance needs to be suspect with fatigue. Anxiety disorders, depression and mental disorders have a common denominator of fatigue and also hormonal imbalance. Although it is currently unclear as to how much “happy hormones” we need, we do have a good enough knowledge to know when it is too low. Chronic inability to let things go and ruminating about things is just plain exhaustive! Learning to let go of the things we don’t have control over is a good exercise for reclaiming energy. Grief and PTSD are also thieves of our energy. But don’t forget, grief is a normal emotional response and shouldn’t be suppressed unless it is interfering with a healthy life for too long. Even boredom is tiring!
Conditions related to the head, such as headaches or migraines, head traumas, concussion or other similar injury will likely cause fatigue.
Many cardiovascular diseases can make one tired: congestive heart failure (which occurs in varying degrees), valvular prolapse (such as Mitral Valve Prolapse), peripheral circulatory diseases, blood pressure that is either too high or too low, poor quality blood (such as anemia), poor oxygenation of blood, weakened heart due to lack of conditioning or neuroendocrine dysfunction, or loss of cardiac output all can cause fatigue.
Many lung disorders can cause fatigue, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), asthma, emphysema, lack of oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood due to iron deficiency, vitamin C deficiency or blood disorder.
Other organ problems such as chronic kidney disease or any organ failure, either functional or cancer, may also be blamed. Any chronic or severe pain can wipe someone’s energy out.
You would think by now, after two weeks of articles, we’d come to the end of causes of fatigue. But we aren’t done yet. We also haven’t looked at remedies. So, stay tuned for Part III of Fatigue Can Be a Warning Sign.
Meanwhile, sign up for our upcoming health class, Adrenals & Thyroid: Answers to Fatigue & Weight Gain, Wednesday, Jan. 16 at 7 p.m. at Vital Health in Cd’A. Fee: $10. RSVP: 208-765-1994 or register here: http://bit.ly/AdrenalThyroidClass
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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 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.