The holistic approach to evaluating fatigue involves considering what I believe are three major domains of possible dysfunction. They are the biochemical, the energetic and the mental/emotional domains.

The biochemical domain is meant to represent many of the standard medical reasons a person may have fatigue, such as due to infections, inflammatory conditions, metabolic derangements, hematologic reasons, etc.

These are investigated using standard medical methods such as lab analysis, history and physical and imaging studies. What is also included though are ideas and biochemical evaluations into areas not typically considered in standard medical practice. This might include investigating for hormonal imbalances such as sub clinical thyroid disorder, sex hormone imbalances (progesterone, estrogen, testosterone), adrenal glandular dysfunction, nutritional imbalances, heavy metal and other toxicity, etc.

The energetic domain represents ideas based on the broad family of energy medicine techniques and methods. Concepts taken from diverse disciplines such as Homeopathy, Chinese medicine, Applied Kinesiology and others have the common thread of understanding of an energy “system” which is inherent to our being.

Just as standard medicine recognizes various organ systems such as the gastrointestinal system, the nervous system, the immunological system, etc., energy medicine proponents recognize the existence of an “energy system” which may be dysfunctional and ultimately interface with any one or several of our other organ systems and thereby cause symptoms of disease, such as fatigue.

Finally, the realm of the mind and emotions must be considered. Past traumas, fixed dysfunctional ways of thinking and believing, anxieties, phobias, and self sabotaging thought patters are just a few of the many ways one may unintentionally be channeling away energy in order to compensate for a problem. A common end result is fatigue.

The holistic approach to evaluating fatigue, or any other complex problem for that matter, can be time intensive but is a necessary path in order to discover its underlying causes and thereby effectively treat it.