Fatigue/low energy is not an illness in itself; it is a deep exhaustion that affects our daily joy and our ability to accomplish our goals and purpose in life. Temporary fatigue is usually a message from the body requiring us to take notice and make some lifestyle changes to our general health. Persistent fatigue is the body’s way of signaling us that our energy system needs treatment.

Symptoms and Signs

In Chinese Medicine a collection of symptoms and signs are diagnosed together. The Chinese doctor would never put a label on or call an illness a “syndrome” that has a complicated name and becomes a thing that the patient is suffering from. Instead the TCM practitioner would always be mindful that the illness is a dynamic process, seeing it as a pattern of disharmony in the whole person and not just in one organ or system. By treating all the symptoms and signs and not just one, a more balanced natural healing effect is allowed to take place. Generally speaking, in Western medicine the physician treats the presenting symptoms, not necessarily, the underlying cause. A Western physician will try to give a ‘disease name’ to a collection of signs and symptoms. If the physician has difficulty giving a name to signs and symptoms, or if they are not obvious, one or more medical tests will normally be carried out. If the test(s) come out negative, the patient is pronounced free of any medically perceived ‘disease’ even though they still insist that they are unwell, some doctors at this stage may even believe that it is all in the patient’s head! A TCM health practitioner, however, considers all patterns, with or without a Western diagnosis, as potential signs of a health imbalance that require attention. That is why TCM is particularly useful with those persons with symptoms defined as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME), Fybromyalgia or long-lasting lack of energy or other difficulties that western medicine has no useful response to. Read the rest of this entry »