Tiredness and low energy are extremely common complaints in our culture, and are popular reasons for seeking acupuncture treatment. This short article explains how I approach the problem, it gives you some questions to think about before coming for a consultation, and it hints at lifestyle factors which we might look at together as part of a treatment plan for you.
As usual, we begin by looking at your health and living circumstances overall. With regard to your fatigue, how long has it been going on? Did it creep on gradually, or was there a fairly sudden drop in your energy, perhaps associated with a virus or some other illness? The latter of course can suggest post-viral fatigue or ME.
Are there accompanying signs and symptoms? These could include muscle aches, joint pains, headaches, poor digestion, shortness of breath, changes in your weight, depression etc. What are the characteristics of the tiredness itself: do you feel better in the morning, only to find your energy tailing off by afternoon? Do you wake refreshed? Does your energy fluctuate quite rapidly and unpredictably? Do you feel better or worse for exercise? Is there any annual pattern ie. tiredness aggravated by a particular season? In women, is there a pattern associated with your monthly cycle?
Sometimes patients have already consulted their GP before coming to see me. They may have been tested for things such as low iron levels, an underactive thyroid gland, infections or diabetes, depending on their pattern of symptoms. Quite often however, no abnormality shows up on these tests, but it helps me if you know what your GP has already checked you for, just so that I too can exclude these from the possibilities I come up with after interviewing you.
We next turn to other aspects of your life which can have significant impacts on your energy levels. I will ask about your diet, and will try to ascertain that it is appropriate for your needs, and for the seasons, an important concept in Chinese medicine, and a factor which over time can have more effect on energy than is commonly realised. Do you drink enough water? Two litres a day is recommended. I will also enquire about the quantity and quality of your sleep. Do you have the right balance of work, exercise and relaxation? Too little of either of the last two can contribute to fatigue.
I will be interested too in the overall demands placed on you: this encompasses factors like the nature of your work, having small children, having teenagers (!), chronic medical conditions in the family, having elderly relatives you need to drop in on or shop for etc. Modern society is intrinsically tiring if we do not take firm control of the situation around us. We work the same hours summer and winter, despite many people wishing they could “hibernate” a little in winter. We are surrounded by technological sources of information (emails, texts, television and radio), and have to take a critical look at what is necessary and what is not. The workplace has in the last twenty years, become more intense and stressful, and as companies have recently cut back further, we see the same workload shared across fewer shoulders.
Following on from the above theme, do you feel engaged with life, or are you nowadays lacking enthusiasm for the life you are living? Is there chronic stress, disappointment, sadness, loneliness, or a feeling of inadequacy? It’s easy to think that such feelings have arisen because of your tiredness, but in many people, it turns out to be such feelings which are causing the physical tiredness. Perhaps a re-assessment of your life would be useful, to help you for example, find new purpose in work, relationships etc. With regard to tiredness, we must have certain essential components present in our lives, and these include a sense of purpose, meaningful relationships, and an overall zest for life.
Finally, are you taking any prescribed medication? It is useful for me to know the details so that I can assess whether this contributes to your tiredness to any extent.
I hope this has been a helpful overview of my approach, and that it might have prompted you to consider some issues further. If you would like to talk more about acupuncture treatment, then please do call me.