Video summarized in article below
Dr. Jeremy: So, we all do live with fatigue, and some of us with kind of heavy fatigue. We grab coffee for a short burst of energy, and sometimes we drink energy drinks to kind of give us energy as well, but this is really just a patching solution. It’s not a long-term solution, and it doesn’t get to the root cause of "Why are you feeling fatigued?"
So, we need to really try and listen to our bodies and understand what the fatigue and these symptoms are really telling us.
Dr. Carrie: Well, what are some of the common reasons that people might feel this fatigue?
Dr. Jeremy: Some of the reasons that you might feel fatigued are if you’re having sleep issues. Obviously, if you don’t get good sleep, then you’re going to feel tired the next day. If you have a thyroid imbalance, you might be having some fatigue. If your liver is very congested and having some detox issues, you might have fatigue issues as well. Then inflammation, blood sugar imbalance, and if you have poor circulation. All this can really lead to the common symptoms of fatigue.
Dr. Michael: Oftentimes, the fatigue that people complain of a lot is when, some people, they just wake up and already feel lethargic. Some of them actually feel better after they eat a little bit of food, and then they start going down.
A lot of them do quite well during the morning, but then they kind of run out of steam in the afternoon, and they have what we call an afternoon slump.
Interestingly, the fatigue actually goes down in the evening time. It’s what we call a “second wind,” and that’s a very classic tell-tale sign of adrenal issues, because when the body’s adrenal system loses its reserve, the cortisol kicks in and you have a second chance.
That’s also part of the fatigue picture, but also—very interestingly—some of the people that come to us, they actually don’t have fatigue. They have other symptoms. So, you don’t necessarily have to have fatigue although that’s very common.
Now, we use the word fatigue, but it's also lack of energy, reduced exercise capacity--all kind of in the same ballpark. If you take a step back, it’s really the body that’s running low on reserves, and it’s whispering to you that it doesn’t like it. Therefore, the body slows you down in order to conserve energy. That’s really the mechanism of what fatigue is all about. It’s something that is the natural consequence of a body in trouble.
Dr. Carrie: The NEM Stress Response, which is the NeuroEndoMetabolic Stress Response, is how our body deals with stress. So, all the symptoms that we listed off before, like the sleep issues or the thyroid, they correlate with different circuits.
For example, we have six circuits in our NeuroEndoMetabolic Stress Response. If you’re having sleep issues, it could relate to more of a Neuroaffect circuit issue. If you have thyroid balance, hormone imbalance, that correlates with the Hormone circuit being off. If you have liver congestion, that’s more of a Detox circuit issue. Inflammation or gut issues, that’s like the Inflammation circuit. And blood sugar issues correlate with the Bioenergetic circuit, and poor circulation with the Cardionomic circuit.
Dr. Michael: Yes, and fatigue really belongs to the Bioenergetic circuit, because every cell of your body has a little organelle called mitochondria. A mitochondrion is responsible for making ATP, which is the fuel to drive the body. So, if the mitochondrion is not performing as well as it should, or you don’t have the raw material to supply the body—it’s just like you don’t put enough gasoline in the car. How do you expect the car to go? So this is a tell-tale sign of fatigue.
Dr. Jeremy: So, it’s actually very important to kind of determine which dominant circuits are affected in you. So, even if you do have adrenal fatigue, you might also have liver congestion, and your Detoxification circuit might be affected as well. So, that’s why it’s really important to identify which circuit is stressed, and then we can develop a plan of action to address these circuits.
Dr. Michael: One of the most common mistakes that practitioners and laypeople alike make is, when you’re faced with fatigue, the intrinsic kickstart reaction is, “Well, let me put something in my body to get rid of it.” So, they use stimulants--whether it’s herbs, glandulars, medications, donuts, or sugary food.
The mindset is all about, “Well, I don’t want fatigue.” But it’s not necessarily the best approach, because fatigue is really a sign. It’s really not a problem in itself.
So, you really want to understand what the body’s leading you to, and that’s what we do. We don’t take these symptoms lightly. We use a natural, systematic approach to see which of the circuits are really affected, and to what degree in real-time.
Once you are able to identify these circuits and you give the body the raw material, then the fatigue tends to improve. So, that is a more long-term solution rather than just patching the system with a variety of external methods.
Dr. Jeremy: That’s right. So, if you actually have fatigue and liver congestion, then you might need detox protocols and supplements. Measures such as juicing, enemas, charcoal patches are very good for detox. Glutathione and dandelion tea are also very good for detox.
Dr. Michael: These are some of the things you do concurrently. You have to plan it out. It’s not just about, “Let’s rush to get that fatigue.” Then the liver gets congested, and then you rush to fix the liver. Then when the liver gets fixed, then it backfires on the adrenals.
So, you don’t want to be in that situation. It’s almost like riding a bicycle. You have to have the right foot, left foot, right foot, in sync. That way, you move forward smoothly.
Dr. Carrie: Right. So, like you said, concurrently. If you’re working on a liver, you want to work on the adrenals. What do the adrenals usually require? The cofactors that the adrenals need to make all of its hormones are vitamin C, vitamin B5 like pantothenic acid, even the use of some adaptogenic herbs depending on what stage of adrenal fatigue you’re at, and a good adrenal fatigue diet and lifestyle. Doing the adrenal breathing is very important, adrenal breathing and some adrenal yoga exercises. That will also help with adrenal repair.
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