Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic fatigue is a mystery even to modern medicine due to its complexity in determining the correct diagnosis and treatment. This is partially because the process of western medicine treats by diagnosis according to laboratory findings, followed by the “one size fits all” treatment. In the field of alternative medicine we ask, “what individual systems have broken down to allow the present symptoms?” The emergence of the root causes of dis-ease then leads to effective healing. This holistic approach prevents the masking of symptoms which, left untreated, worsen.

There is a crucial difference between Chronic Fatigue Immune Deficiency Syndrome (CFIDS) and chronic fatigue. Extensive, and expensive, laboratory testing is appropriate to rule out immune deficiency as the primary source of illness. Experience has taught the alternative practitioner that many, if not all, of the patient’s symptoms can be eliminated with fewer tests, and frequently without any laboratory testing (with the exception of ruling out serious pathologies such as cancer, lupus, multiple sclerosis, etc.) Accurate assessment of blood sugar imbalances, endocrine and hormone function, and recent or accumulated toxicity are essential, and easily assessed in the office, usually on your first visit.

The importance of laboratory testing in western medicine is to rule out pathology, as an abnormal value on a lab test signifies disease at a pathological, and perhaps serious, level. But there is a window between total wellness and an abnormal lab value in which patients may experience symptoms great enough to disrupt one’s normal daily living. This is likely due to the accumulative effect of the disruption of numerous systems of the body which are functioning sub-optimally though, individually, may not be pathological. This is why your doctor may be telling you that your lab results are normal so your dis-ease must be all in your head.

At our clinic, the dysfunction of each individual system is carefully evaluated and addressed in search of the CAUSES of the dis-ease presentation, producing effective and desirable results.