Extreme fatigue can be more than just feeling exhausted. Ongoing tiredness that is overwhelming, interrupts your ability to function in your day-to-day life, and an overall feeling of weakness can all be signs of extreme fatigue and potentially other underlying health issues. Extreme fatigue syndrome can be caused by a multitude of issues, challenges, and environmental factors so first identifying the underlying cause will help significantly increase the chance of success of any treatment plan on your path to renewed energy.

What Causes Extreme Fatigue?

Contributing factors may include insomnia, mental health challenges, stress, medical issues and conditions such as anemia, Lyme disease, and even long COVID-19 complications. With so many potential causes, figuring out how to overcome extreme fatigue syndrome can feel a little bit like a wild goose chase, with a side of exhaustion, and that’s why we are here to help.

Oftentimes, we find that outward symptoms come from a variety of underlying causes. Some are external such as stress or interrupted sleep due to work schedules such as working an overnight shift. In other cases, the causes are internal or systemic from autoimmune disorders such as fibromyalgia, diseases such as anemia or cancer, or even mental health disorders. Most often, the root cause is a combination of more than one thing, making identification of the cause and a definitive diagnosis extremely challenging. WebMD even mentions that seasonal allergies in people with extreme sensitivities can cause fatigue.

Extreme fatigue can be caused by auto-immune disorders such as fibromyalgia, making getting through the day extremely difficult.

Overcoming Extreme Fatigue Syndrome

Once you have been diagnosed with extreme fatigue syndrome, you and your medical practitioners can work together to determine the underlying cause. Here at the Integrated Wellness Clinic of Philadephia, we work with all of your doctors and health care professionals to review any and all diagnostic tests you may have had, in conjunction with our own process to better understand you as a human being and the challenges you are facing in your day to day life, presented by this debilitating disorder. Together, we can help determine the best ways to overcome the extreme fatigue you are experiencing.

Eating a healthy, clean diet rich in fruits and vegetables and lean proteins is a great start as food is the literal fuel for our bodies. Regardless of what your cause or causes of extreme fatigue may be, evaluating and adjusting your diet is always a smart start towards overcoming symptoms. Next, it’s important to understand if there are any medical conditions that need to be treated. Lyme disease, for example, can absolutely cause extreme fatigue and exhaustion well beyond just feeling “tired all the time.” If this is one of your underlying issues, simply changing your diet plan won’t cure you of the fatigue all on its own. In a situation such as this, treatment with traditional medicine such as antibiotics may be in order. 

Of course if there are other challenges such as anemia, that would show in your bloodwork and need potentially different treatment than the treatment for fatigue caused by autoimmune issues such as fibromyalgia. Above all, it’s important to have a serious discussion with your doctor about all of the potential and possible causes of extreme fatigue so that you can accurately get to the bottom of things and start on your path to a healthier, more energetic life! 

Once you have been diagnosed with extreme fatigue syndrome, we are here to help. Dr. J. Andre Garabedian MD, is board-certified in Family Practice and is also board-certified in Integrative Medicine. His key focus is helping patients live their best life by working together to treat the root cause of underlying issues such as extreme fatigue. Now that summer is here, we want you to be able to be out there enjoying life in this beautiful weather! Contact us for an appointment or more information today.