Everyone experiences lack of energy (tiredness) at some stage, but most people can recover quickly from it. If you are unable to recover from lack of energy for a period of time, this indicates that it is not a simple tiredness. It may be chronic fatigue syndrome. If you have this experience you may need to read the following.
1. What is chronic fatigue syndrome?
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is a name given to any condition which results in chronic tiredness where the precise cause is often unknown. Common symptoms seen can be muscular pain and aches, generalised fatigue to complete exhaustion, poor memory, lack of concentration, depression, reduced ability to work, poor appetite, sluggish bowel movement.
If the fatigue syndrome cannot be controlled and becomes more chronic, and simple daily tasks become more difficult; it is very important to diagnoses the syndrome and fix it in its early stage.
2. Causes of chronic fatigue syndrome
Chinese medicine believes the important thing is to find the cause of the chronic fatigue syndrome which can solve the problem completely.
i. Liver stress
Long term stress and/or sudden traumatic events, such as a death, divorce, difficult work environments, busy lifestyle etc. Stress strongly affects the flow of Liver energy in the body. The Liver ensures the smooth flow of energy to all parts of the body and organs. For this type of fatigue syndrome, you may have the following symptoms; emotional, depression, stress, lack of quality of sleep, vivid dreams, sighs, stiff neck, headache, PMS, breast fullness before period, premature ejaculation.
If you suffer from this type of fatigue, you should pay attention to the following; rebalance your lifestyle, reduce your workload, avoid emotional issues, do some exercise such as walking, swimming yoga, tai chi, listen to soft gentle music, avoid eating chilli’s, eat more celery, lemon, carrots, green tea, coriander (for more foods you should eat, please see our diet therapy articles).
ii. Spleen and Kidney deficiency
Chinese medicine believes our body Qi and energy is mainly produced by our spleen and kidney. If for certain reasons there is deficiency in the spleen or kidney, it can cause lack of energy or fatigue syndrome. This type of fatigue syndrome should have the following symptoms; poor appetite, stomach bloating, short of breath, sluggish bowel movement, puffy and heavy arms and legs, overweight, lower-back weakness and pain, lower libido, impotence. In our clinic we always find these peoples pulse is deeper and weaker, their tongue is pale and puffy. During our clinic treatment, I always suggest that you pay attention to the following;
a. Avoid eating or drinking frozen or cold foods
b. Eat small amounts more regularly
c. Reduce workload and exercise, while you have fatigue syndrome
d. Reduce sexual activity, overdoing it can damage your kidney Qi
e. Eat more foods which can strengthen your spleen and kidney; Chinese red dates, lotus seeds, goji berries, beef, boiled egg, lamb (for more information about diet therapy, please see our articles).
I remember many years ago I helped a young lady who suffered a serious fatigue syndrome. When she visited me for the first time, she could not walk and eat by herself. She looked very tired, pale with lower back pain, sleeping all the time, no appetite, muscle was very loose and weak, lost weight quickly. When I checked her tongue it was very dark, pale with many cracks. Her pulse was very deep and weak with tightness. I diagnosed her with spleen, kidney and liver stress.
This patient was a student studying law who was studying very hard and was very stressed. One day when she was sitting an exam, she suddenly lost her ability to think or write. This was the start of the fatigue syndrome. After a few months of treatment, her body completely recovered.
I hope you have good energy everyday.
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