Exhaustion and Low Energy: The Key Lab Tests To Determine The Causes

Feeling exhausted all the time isn’t normal, no matter what anyone says!

In this article, we’ll share why most professional working Mummas, and even their doctors, can miss the root cause for exhaustion and low energy. “

When Your Doctor Says: “Everything’s Fine”

When Mums “on-the-go” have low energy or even find themselves in a state of exhaustion, they often try to ignore it.

“Power through” becomes their new mantra and over time they can experience a downward spiral that leaves them feeling flat and fatigued, where work becomes a struggle, and spending time with their kids becomes a chore.

At this point, they may consult their doctor or have tests run on the thyroid or iron levels only to be told that “everything’s fine”. 

But the truth is, feeling exhausted all the time can be a real red flag that something is off - and what most doctors miss is that it’s linked to adrenal issues, cellular health, or even gut health.

2 Key Lab Tests For Fatigue

One of the key lab tests that we do to get to the root cause of fatigue is an adrenal stress hormone lab test because so many women (especially Mumma's!) have issues with their adrenals.

The other lab test we do is an organic acid test, which looks at both the neurotransmitters and the mitochondria.

To go a little bit deeper on why most people are imbalanced at the cellular level you have to understand what's going on with neurotransmitters.

When you have working Mumma’s who are always doing, doing, doing - and have a lot of stress on top of that,  they tend to use up more of their neurotransmitters.  

The more you're using dopamine and noradrenaline and adrenaline (they are your “get up and go” brain chemicals), the more you're actually going to be burning them out, which will then mean you have very little “get up and go”.

In the same way, when you’re stressed the adrenal glands will release cortisol initially at a super high level but eventually, it's going to deplete when you continue “doing doing doing”.

Another underlying imbalance that leads to poor energy is mitochondrial dysfunction. When we look at mitochondrial or cellular health damage, this is usually caused because of toxin overload. The mitochondria often become damaged when your body's not detoxing properly, and so these toxins stay in your body and can damage a variety of areas - not just your mitochondria, but also your brain, gut, and hormones.  But also the mitochondria can be damaged when you're overtraining or even exercising and not recovering properly because you're creating all this ATP energy that also gives off free radicals that need to be processed by antioxidant nutrients in the liver. 

If the liver is sluggish and not working very well, it's not able to come and pick up all the free radicals that are being produced when you're over-exercising.

When it comes to energy issues, exhaustion, and running on empty, it’s very important to test and not guess.  These symptoms, along with things like brain fog, moodiness, and sleep issues can result from a number of imbalances.

Once we test we can get to the real root cause of why you are feeling this way. We can then provide a targeted protocol to get your body and mind back online and also help you manage stress properly to avoid energy drains in the future. And finally, you can have the vitality and the headspace to play with the kids again! The kids will love you for it!

Learn More About Exhaustion & Energy In Our FREE Video Course

To go deeper on the topic of exhaustion & low energy,  and the impact this is having on your family, register at this link for our free video course series on Conquering Hormonal & Gut Burnout & Rebalancing Naturally - https://www.chrisandfilly.fm/minicourse 

Co-Authors: Chris & Filipa Bellette are the Co-Founders of Chris & Filly Functional Medicine, which is best known for turning time-poor, burned-out & frustrated professional working Mums & Dads, into Power Parents who are present, healthy & connected to their family, their passion, and their purpose in this world. They have worked with over 2,000+ burnout clients in the last 10+ years, with their own passion for creating Power Parents coming from their own personal experience of body, mind & family breakdown, after a prolonged period of physical and mental stress.

Filipa is an accredited Clinical Nutritionist, and a Functional Medicine Practitioner, graduating from the Kalish Institute of Functional Medicine. She is also a Ph.D. thought-leader, author, and award-winner writer in Human Rights. Chris is an accredited Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) Master Practitioner, holistic personal trainer, and holds a Bachelor of Human Movement Science, and has won multiple placings in state and national level sporting competitions.

To find out if this is something we can help you with, head over to book in for a - Free Discovery Call