What’s got you down? FATIGUE!
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Low energy levels or fatigue are one of the most common complaints that we get in patients coming in to primary care physicians.
Unfortunately, fatigue is also one of the most complicated diagnoses to deal with. The reason for that is, there are so many possible things that can cause low energy levels. And this goes from having not enough sleep or not exercising enough, being too stationary to more complicated problems like hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s, anemia, nutritional deficiencies, obstructive sleep apnea and mass. And the list just goes on and on…
The key to diagnosing what the true underlying issue is to get a physical exam and laboratory testing. You can’t really figure out what’s going on in your body without eliminating a lot of those differential diagnosis.
So, if you’re experiencing symptoms of fatigue, I would highly encourage you to go see your physician and get some laboratory tests done and start figuring things out. It’s not always simple. Sometimes it takes more than one blood test, but it’s something that we can figure out pretty quickly.
So, what are the easy things we can do to eliminate fatigue?
One of the most common reasons for fatigue that I see in my practice are nutritional deficiencies. A lot of people these days are deficient in their B vitamins. And this comes from poor diet or Standard American Diet (SAD). It is a pretty sad diet when we tend to not get very nutrient-dense food. So therefore, you develop deficiencies.
As we age, our absorption of B vitamins decreases. So, age is also a contributing factor to B vitamin deficiencies. Numerous medical conditions such as celiac disease and other autoimmune inflammatory conditions of the intestinal tract can decrease absorption of B vitamins.
Leaky gut is really hip right now, and that’s one of the things that can decrease absorption. And then, there are things such as MTHFR mutation which is a genetic mutation that prevents your body from being able to take the B vitamins from the bloodstream into the cells.
And the only way we can figure what the underlying issue, even with a B vitamin deficiency, is once again through blood test. Sometimes those studies are necessary as well.
So, everybody else wants to know, “so can I just go to GNC or CVS and get a regular B vitamin?”. And the answer to that is, it depends. It depends on a couple of things. How good of a quality vitamin is that? Is it an oral vitamin that requires gut absorption or is it a sublingual vitamin that gets absorbed by the veins of your tongue?
Dosing matters. How much do you need as an individual? What barriers do you have to the absorption?
I do put a lot of my patients on IM or IV infusions of B vitamins. And the reason for that is you can get the blood levels up a lot quicker. I can assure you that whatever I put in, doesn’t have to go through the gut. And I don’t have to worry about absorption. And people just feel better a lot quicker.
So, if you are taking an intramuscular injection of B vitamins, sometimes people will say, “How long do I have to stay on that?”. And that also depends on the exact scenario. If you’re B vitamin levels are really low, you’re going to need more injections to bring the levels up and to feel better. And then, depending on what’s actually causing the deficiency, we’ll determine how quickly you’re going to get depleted again, and when you’re going to get the injections again.
Then there’s another easy thing we can do to improve our energy. And that’s sleep.
Sleep hygiene is extremely important. REM sleep is when our body and brain actually regenerates. So, more about sleep hygiene in our next lecture. Stay tuned for that!
The other thing we can do in the meantime for energy is exercise. Everybody says, “well I’m too tired to exercise”. A lot of it is being motivated enough to get out there and get in a routine. Once you get into that routine and start exercising regularly, our body is actually making epinephrine, testosterone, human growth hormone. All good, happy hormones that are made by exercise which will in turn make you feel better.
So, I do encourage you to get out there, start exercising and start sleeping better. And go to your doctor if you are having symptoms to get tested to make sure you know what can be done to prevent the fatigue.
For more information, please send us a message or book an appointment with us today.
