The cause of chronic fatigue may be in your gut, not in your head
(Originally published on 10 October 2016)
Chronic fatigue is a state of exaggerated fatigue that does not go away with rest. Many doctors attributed the cause to psychological issues and the case is usually unresolved.
Thegut has long been evaluated in the light of functional medicine to see if something may be compromising the body's balance, but now a Cornell University study has emerged that has identified gut and inflammatory parameters that may be related to chronic fatigue.
The work showed that the intestinal flora of people with chronic fatigue was not normal, which can lead to gastrointestinal and inflammatory symptoms in many patients. This ends the excuse that the issue is "psychological", an excuse that many patients can no longer hear.
The evaluations showed that of the bacteria detected, overall bacterial diversity was lower in the patients and bacteria with known anti-inflammatory effect were also lower in number. In addition,inflammatory markers were detected in the blood which shows that due to the fragility of the intestine and increased leaky gut permeability, the presence of bacteria in the blood leads to increased inflammation. This only makes the symptoms worse because of the immune response that is generated.
The researchers could not define if the alterations are cause or consequence, but in any case they have already given good clues for the intestinal flora to be evaluated and corrected.
For this and many other reasons, we use in our clinical practice, the assessment of the intestinal flora.