Yes, cancer is a scary topic. Most primary care doctors, this one at least, know that when a patient comes in for evaluation of a symptom she can’t figure out, a symptom that isn’t going away (like chronic fatigue), a symptom for which she’s been told, “We can’t find anything wrong with you,” at least […]
Tag: chronic fatigue syndrome
Root Causes of Chronic Fatigue, Part 15: Long Covid
Doctors who work with patients who have chronic fatigue, chronic Lyme, and fibromyalgia have remarked on the similarity between people with these conditions and those suffering the frequently disabling symptoms of long Covid. Like chronic Lyme, in which many patients don’t remember either a tick bite or Lyme disease, patients with all the features of […]
Root Causes of Chronic Fatigue, Part 14: Sugar (Yep, Sugar)
Picture a bowl filled with granulated sugar and a can of Coke next to it. How many rounded teaspoonfuls of sugar do you need to scoop from that bowl to equal the sugar in your Coke? Five? Ten? It’s 16. Yes, 16 teaspoonfuls of sugar in a single can. But, you think to yourself, I […]
Root Causes of Chronic Fatigue, Part 13: Multiple Chemical Sensitivity
Most often, even before patients realize they’ve developed multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), its very first manifestation is fatigue, the sense of feeling deeply tired all the time. MCS is yet another condition I learned nothing about during my internal medicine residency, and when I asked the then-chief of allergy at Northwestern about it, he dismissed […]
Root Causes of Chronic Fatigue, Part 12: Candida (Yeast) Overgrowth
Back in 1993, several weeks before the opening of what would come to be called WholeHealth Chicago, I was summoned to the office of the chief of medicine at the hospital where I was a staff member. The chief had heard rumors I was opening a center that would combine conventional and alternative practitioners. Seeing […]
Root Causes of Chronic Fatigue, Part 11: Your Sluggish Liver
Spread your left hand across your upper abdomen. Beneath it lies your liver, the largest organ in your body. Liver metabolism is so complex that the late medical essayist Lewis Thomas, MD, wrote “Nothing would save me and my liver if I were in charge…for I am considerably less intelligent than my liver.” And yet […]
Root Causes of Chronic Fatigue, Part 10: The Tick Bite You Don’t Remember
You’re 11 years old. Or 16. Or 30. Like most Chicagoans, you regard Wisconsin and Michigan as places that exist to rent us cabins for fishing, swimming, and hiking in the woods. But after a weekend breathing the fresh air, you return home and find yourself feeling sick: headache, fever, achy. Also, you’ve got a […]
Root Causes of Chronic Fatigue, Part 9: Mold-Related Illness
Mold-related illness was first described almost 50 years ago when it was labeled sick building syndrome. It was met with incredible hostility from the medical profession (because there were no positive test results to verify any diagnosis) and from employers and building owners (who thought affected people were seeking financial gain or special favors). What […]
Root Causes of Chronic Fatigue, Part 8: Prescription Drugs
When new or even long-established patients arrive at WholeHealth Chicago (in person or via telemedicine), our practitioners walk them through what we call the medication ritual. We ask, “What are you taking, both prescription meds and supplements?” These days, people often see a range of health care providers and take many supplements, so it’s important […]
Root Causes of Chronic Fatigue, Part 7: Sleep Disorders
The past few weeks we’ve been making our way through the overlooked causes of chronic fatigue, a symptom that can range from nagging to debilitating. If you’ve told doctor after doctor that you’re tired all the time and all you hear in response is that your tests are normal or “maybe you’re depressed,” click these […]
Root Causes of Chronic Fatigue, Part 6: Low Magnesium
George Lundberg, MD, former editor of JAMA and now editor-at-large of Medscape, refers to low levels of magnesium as “the emperor of all maladies.” Magnesium is largely ignored by doctors, despite the fact that having an insufficient amount of this mineral has been linked to: Heart arrhythmias and heart attacks High blood pressure Attention deficit […]
Root Causes of Chronic Fatigue, Part 5: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
I’ve been working on this chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) series in large part because here at WholeHealth Chicago our practitioners see so many patients who say right up front, “I’ve been diagnosed with CFS and all my tests are normal.” If you’re one of those patients, you might add that you’ve been to X number […]
Root Causes of Chronic Fatigue, Part 4: Vitamin Deficiencies
You might be surprised how many of the health and medical facts we accept unquestioningly today are exactly the opposite of what my chosen profession recommended to the public back when I began my training. For example, most doctors (as well as the AMA) did not believe smoking caused lung cancer and the doctors lounge […]
Root Causes of Chronic Fatigue, Part 3: Your Adrenal Glands
Patricia is 33, happily married as far as marriages go, one daughter, steadily employed in a less-than-satisfying corporate job, good eating habits, and, until recently, a health club goer a couple/three times a week. Then the lockdown came and it’s been hard to restart her workouts. After a long day working at her computer, aerobics […]
Root Causes of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Part 1: Chronic Mono/Epstein-Barr Infection
First, a bit of background into chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Regular Health Tip readers know I write a great deal about people who come to us with chronic fatigue, especially those who’ve been told “We can’t find anything wrong with you” or “There’s nothing we can do.” What we usually find is not all paths […]
WELCOME TO WHOLEHEALTH CHICAGO! ANNGELA LEONE, LAc.
Anngela Leone, LAc. Is a licensed and board certified acupuncturist and herbalist in the state of Illinois. Anngela offers minimally invasive healing modalities that allow your body to heal itself. Chinese Medicine looks at each person through a broader lens where we see you as a whole person, not just a set of symptoms. As […]
Breakthroughs in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
To me, the greatest advance for the estimated 2.5 million adults, adolescents, and children with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) has been the slow but steady acceptance of its very existence by the conventional medical community. This has been a real uphill battle and we’re encouraged to finally see some (guarded) victories. The first description of […]
Healing Adrenal Fatigue
In last week’s Health Tip I described the exhausted state of Patricia, dragging herself through the day and crashing completely in the afternoon. At first, Patricia was oddly supercharged in the evening, unable to relax or sleep. Later, this energy burst vanished and she simply couldn’t sleep. She was tired all the time. Before her visit with […]
Controversial Diagnosis #2: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
In the mid-1980s, two outbreaks of what appeared to be infectious mononucleosis appeared in the US. Unlike typical mono, which caused exhaustion for a few weeks, people with this type were left in a permanent state of fatigue, with low-grade fevers, swollen lymph glands, muscle aches, and poor focus/concentration. In some cases, the fever and […]
A Medical Flip Flop for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Initially I thought I’d misread the conclusion of the re-analysis of the standard treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). “The claim that patients can recover as a result of (cognitive behavior therapy) and (graded exercise therapy) is not justified by the data, and is highly misleading to clinicians and patients considering these treatments.” Damning words. […]