Fix Your Fatigue: 5 Steps to Regaining Your Energy

Product Information

Ari: I want to just point out something for emphasis. There are cases, quite a lot of cases, I think, where symptoms can actually be a better indication of a problem than a lab test. This neurotransmitter example is a really good one. We know certain symptoms correlate really well with certain neurotransmitter imbalances, whether it’s serotonin or dopamine and things like that. As I said, the actual lab test, which one would think it’s intuitively you think, that’s more accurate, it’s much less crude, Dr. Hirsch: If we’re jumping in here to the deficiencies and we’re looking for adrenal dysfunction, as you know, labs, not so good. We’re looking for what is the normal function of the adrenal gland, we know that it produces aldosterone, which is responsible for salt balance and it’s responsible for regulating blood pressure and we’ve cortisol regulating circadian rhythm and stuff like that. We know what the function of is of these hormones, and so we can look at what the dysfunction is. These are a lot of the symptoms that people will experience. Then there’s some lab tests that can be done. You and I have talked about some of these and they’re not great tests, but they’re part of what we have right now, but they are actually– [crosstalk]

Dr. Hirsch: Well, I can say also that I now stool two to three times a day, and for somebody who was once a day until I was like 22, that’s an amazing accomplishment. Mainstream medicine has a need for certainty, but we’re dealing with nuanced conditions. People are led to believe there’s nothing they can do apart from wait. That’s heartbreaking and, in my experience, not true. And people latch on to the hope of the first thing they come across. If it doesn’t work, they become sceptical to protect themselves from the disappointment of investing in something else in case that doesn’t work.’ Dr. Hirsch: Absolutely. It’s a good point. So then let’s jump into the toxicities, which are really where it’s at because all of the deficiencies that we just talked about, really, for the most part are caused by the toxicities. I tell people that we replace the deficiencies as step two because it helps you feel better faster, you’re actually able to engage more with your life, you’re feeling better, and you’re able to then go into step three and open up the detox pathways, and then go into step four, which is removing all the crap that’s in your body. You have to go through this process even though replacing those deficiencies is really a band-aid approach, even though it is more of a natural band-aid approach. The first thing is constipation because if you’re not pooping, you can’t get stuff out of the body, right? So you have to be able to get stuff out of your stool, out of your intestines. You have to be able to pee out the toxicities that your body accumulates. You want to be able to sweat it out. You want to be able to exhale it out or breathe it out. Those are like our main routes of the natural detoxification. And so if you’re constipated like I was most of my life growing up, I thought pooping once a week was normal. Oh, my gosh. If you’re not pooping every day, at least, ideally twice a day, then all you’re doing is reabsorbing all the toxins that you’re trying to get out of your body, and so you have to make sure. So we talked about constipation, and I list off the symptoms, here are the symptoms of constipation, you may have some of the symptoms, there’s no lab tests to do, there’s no laboratory data to interpret. Then in my experience, it’s likely if you have constipation, if you have the above symptoms, and basically, you’re not having a bowel movement every day. Two is ideal, one is okay as long as it’s a good one. Your fatigue can be a sign of dehydration. Whether you're working out or working a desk job, your body needs water to work well and keep cool. If you're thirsty, you're already dehydrated.

In This Episode

There's some evidence that talking therapies such as counselling or cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) might help to fight fatigue, or tiredness caused by stress, anxiety or low mood. Dr. Hirsch: Forever. So you can be– you could have been exposed at the age of five, and if you weren’t taking binders and glutathione and getting a lot of this stuff out, then it’s just going to stay because it’s just a nice warm, moist environment. If you have persistent fatigue, see your doctor. There are many treatable causes, and fatigue can be a sign of something else that requires medical attention. And believe it or not, it's hardly ever about just finding the right treatment - it's about finding the causes that you have, matching them up to the right treatment, and choosing a guide to help you navigate the bumps along the way to symptom resolution. It's important to know that improvement is usually gradual and that you should expect to be in the program for at least a year to really resolve your symptoms. That's why most of our programs last 12 months. I know you want to feel better as soon as possible, and it might be frustrating to hear this, but going through the process of setting up the body for success (step 1-3) and then removing the toxins slowly, at a rate your body can tolerate (step 4), is what really works. Put in the effort now, and you'll reap the benefits for the rest of your life.

Dr. Hirsch: Then we talk about estrogen deficiency, estrogen dysfunction, same thing again, symptoms, asterix, how to do the laboratory testing, how to interpret the labs, and then the education and the conclusion. Same thing with progesterone. Same thing with testosterone, nutrients. I go through it for all these, I’m trying to get to the toxicities [crosstalk]. Start with a small amount of exercise. Build it up gradually over weeks and months until you reach the recommended goal of 2 hours 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, such as cycling or fast walking, every week. Your body’s like a big barrel. As you fill it up with crap, eventually you get to a tipping point. When that happens, you start to get symptoms, whether that’s fatigue, cancer, or something else.” [6:52]

When will my order arrive?

If you’ve answered yes to some of these, it’s likely that your body is in a maladaptive stress response at least some of the time. Calming this can be a critical step to get the rest and healing you need. Step seven: optimise your digestion Which is why a new book, Decode Your Fatigue, couldn’t be more timely. Author Alex Howard had chronic fatigue from 16 to 21: ‘Two years after diagnosis, I was still suffering muscle pain, dizziness and sleep issues and waiting for somebody to find answers. I realised if I wanted life to be different, I couldn’t keep waiting, so I stepped on this active healing journey.’ Once recovered, he set up the Optimum Health Clinic in London, which has been inundated with long Covid sufferers. One of my first signs of fatigue was when I stopped sleeping well,” Karina said. “That creates quite a spiral as your mental, physical and emotional health takes a battering and you start to make poor food choices.” Proper rest is essential if you want to maintain energy levels throughout the day. Relax before going to bed, possibly doing some gentle stretches. Improve your sleep area by keeping it clean and maintaining an appropriate temperature. In people with diabetes, abnormally high levels of sugar remain in the bloodstream instead of entering the body's cells, where it would be converted into energy. The result is a body that runs out of steam despite having enough to eat. If you have persistent, unexplained fatigue, ask your doctor about being tested for diabetes.