Do You Have An Infection?

fatigue and infections

A lot of patients come to me and ask me about fatigue and infections, so I want to share some information with you.  It may not be what you expect.

There are 3 infections I see in my clinic that cause fatigue and not the type of fatigue that makes you skip cleaning your bathroom, the type of fatigue that makes you skip your life!

Here are the 3 little buggers that can mess your life up royally:

  1. Lyme Disease
  2. Mono or Epstein Barr Virus
  3. Mycoplasma infections

Over the next few weeks, we are going to cover each of these infections in detail.  Here is a quick overview of each, but I am telling you, the rest of the info may blow your mind!

Lyme Disease – AKA  “The Great Pretender”:

Lyme is likely the trickiest infection one can have.  The symptoms range from rashes to aches and pain and even memory loss.  This condition is often missed because it has so many faces. There is misdiagnosis all the time for other health-related issues such as fibromyalgia, depression and even chronic fatigue. You can see why it’s called the great pretender when it can present in so many different ways right?

Mono (Epstein Barr Virus) “AKA The Kissing Disease”:
You get Mono from saliva that is where it gets its name.  Mono has a tendency to linger. It has even been thought to trigger autoimmune conditions such as Hashimoto’s and Grave’s disease.   

While we don’t have 100% proof, the evidence makes it really interesting. Now, Mono is more common in teenagers and young adults however it is contagious and anyone can catch it. Typical symptoms may take four to six weeks to show up after you’ve been exposed. Some of these symptoms include extreme fatigue, fever, sore throat, swollen lymph nodes, a rash and more. If you have any of these symptoms you need to get checked.

Mycoplasma species:

This common bug is seen in a good majority of chronic fatigue patients.  So many that it is hard to ignore the correlation. While there are many species of mycoplasma that can be seen in chronic fatigue patients, the more common is Mycoplasma pneumonia.  This infection is often the cause of ‘walking pneumonia’ because it can be a more mild infection and people carry on with day to day activities. This, in turn, can cause the spread of-of this infection because at first, you may not know that you even have it.  Symptoms can be like the common cold virus and can go missing. Often times this comes with a dry cough, low-grade fever, and fatigue. It’s definitely one of those infections to look at when any of these symptoms show up so that they don’t progress and get worse.  

I have been testing patients regularly for infections and am shocked at the number of patients that have been to doctor after doctor and have not been diagnosed.  If you are suffering from fatigue it could be an infection. Finding out and treating them is key to living a long quality life!

Treating infections takes a true artist.  In our clinic we design an individualized plan they may contain some or all of the following:

  1. Diet plan specific to reduce inflammation and boost the immune system
  2. Herbal protocol to boost immunity.
  3. Nutritional supplements to get your body in tip-top shape to run optimally
  4. Advanced nutritional IV therapy to blast those jerks to the moon!
  5. Lastly, our doctors can and do prescribe medication.  As much as we like to “Do It Naturally” Sometimes you just need a little help.  I think about this like hair coloring. My lovely grays (thanks Mom) require chemicals to keep those sparkles hidden… shhh! ☺

To learn more about IV therapy click here

Testing and treating the right way can help you get back to your life.  If your system feels off – consider infection as the underlying cause.

Remember that there is no ‘one solution fits all’; each individual has varying health issues and lifestyles and may need different types of treatment.  Get a plan that fits you!