There are many causes of fatigue individuals I see within my practice. Fatigue can be caused by an underactive thyroid, chronic Epstein Barr Infection ( especially when reactivated due to COVID in the past three years) food allergies, heavy metal intoxication and even food allergies. There are many integrative treatments for fatigue once you find out the underlying cause. There are one group of herbs called adaptogens which I use regularly. In the American Botanical Council HerbalGram an article appeared which I found interesting
“Disease-related fatigue is a primary feeling of fatigue caused by a disease itself or its treatment. For fatigue reduction, many patients are given alternative and complementary treatments. A widely used therapy for fatigue is ginseng (Panax spp., Araliaceae), which has two major subgroups — Asian ginseng (P. ginseng) and American ginseng (P. quinquefolius). Around 40 compounds have been identified from ginseng that offer antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, antitumor, and antiaging effects. Recently, the efficacy of ginseng supplements on disease-related fatigue have been published but with conflicting results. As such, this systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to summarize and pool the available data to determine the overall effects of ginseng supplements on disease-related fatigue.
I found the results interesting to read At the conclusion, based on the results, the authors conclude that ginseng supplementation has a moderate benefit for reducing disease-related fatigue among patients with various diseases, especially cancer. The authors suggest that the associated mechanisms may relate to ginseng’s role in enhancing energy metabolism and reducing lactic acid accumulation. The authors suggest that lactic acid leads to fatigue, but lactate is not actually the cause of muscle fatigue and is instead a preferred energy source. “ Reprinted from ABC’s Herbalgram I use many adaptogenic herbs for fatigue I usually test for cortisol salivary levels and then determine the treatment options
Zhu J, Xu X, Zhang X, et al. Efficacy of ginseng supplements on disease-related fatigue: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Medicine (Baltimore). July 1, 2022;101(26):e29767. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000029767.