Nutritional Therapies for Immune System,
Inflammatory, Digestive and Related Disorders
INFLAMMATION & CHRONIC FATIGUE, ANXIETY, AND DEPRESSION
Chronic fatigue with chronic inflammation is a given. These two states go hand in hand together. Also chronic fatigue isn't a stand alone condition. It's a SYMPTOM of another problem or problems.
If you look through any pathology textbook, you will see fatigue as a symptom in the vast majority of chronic conditions listed. But yet when we have chronic fatigue, we go to google "What causes chronic fatigue?" or "What can I take to help with chronic fatigue? We consider and treat it as a singular state or condition.
Chronic fatigue is usually a compounded effect of several different conditions in each who suffer with it. The conditions leading to the chronic fatigue state are completely different for each person suffering with chronic fatigue.
If we consider all the clinical (apparent on clinical testing) and sub-clinical (not apparent on clinical testing) conditions which can cause FATIGUE in people, it becomes very obvious why it is poorly diagnosed and poorly treated.
In the diagram above, there is one factor that can easily be correlated to all the other factors... Inflammation.
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Inflammation in the stomach causing gastritis can lead to nutritional deficiencies (B12, Iron, Folate)
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Inflammation of the Thyroid (Hashimotos, Graves) can cause low thyroid function and fatigue
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Inflammation can lead to various medications which can often have fatigue as a side effect
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Inflammation can lead to strain on the Immune system and Adrenal system causing a weakened Adrenal and subsequent fatigue
There are literally hundreds of other examples of this correlation. A weakened Adrenal system can also worsen a chronic inflammatory condition as various forms of adrenaline (cortisol, epinephrine, estrogen, testosterone, others) are major parts of your bodies innate anti-inflammatory system.
If this system is in chronic "fire fighting" mode, it can become burned out, and less able to fight inflammation. This creates a negative feedback loop that leads to ever worsening inflammation and ever worsening fatigue.
Imagine the fatigue that follows a flu virus. It can take a few weeks to resolve after one viral exposure and infection. The same part of the immune system that fights off the virus (the adaptive or cell mediated immune system) , can react in a similar manner to allergenic and sensitive foods. If this food is eaten on a regular basis then the adrenal system never has a chance to fully recover, leading to fatigue that doesn't resolve. A state of perpetual adrenal fatigue or exhaustion is created.
Another way to think of it would be to imagine an adrenaline rush and how that feels. (energetic, antsy, hyper focused, ready to get up and go) Now imagine feeling the EXACT opposite of an adrenaline rush... Fatigue and exhaustion, lack of get up and go, poor focus, concentration, etc.
Addressing any and all sources of Inflammation is critical for successful treatment of all chronic fatigue states.