Dr. Amy Nett: Okay so the cheap answer is lifestyle. What is she doing in terms of meditation? So because the exhaustion, I would think about how else could we decrease inflammation in the body and improve the immune system. Studies have shown if you measure blood markers before and after twenty minutes of meditation, you’re going to see an improvement in those markers. So you’re going to decrease inflammation just by starting meditation. We’ve talked about this a lot before so I think you have all the resources. I most often start people with the app Headspace. I find pretty good compliance with Headspace and then people may or may not transition into some sort of just a more simple seated practice.
Also swelling in her legs and feet, if she’s not moving that much she’s probably having some degree of lymphedema, like I would want to get that lymph flowing. So I would think about could she do something like a yoga? What if it’s even just like yin yoga or restorative yoga? Something really easy. Maybe a gentle flow or gentle Vinyasa type yoga. But tell her, look I totally get the physical exhaustion, but just move your body. And something like restorative yoga where almost all of the poses are supported yoga poses. There’s you know, a lot of restorative yoga sometimes. You basically go and you put yourself in the world’s most comfortable position you could possibly be with like props, you use bolsters and blocks and blankets. And the whole point of it is to relax every muscle in your body and not have any tension. But at least that would get her body moving in different positions and even if it’s like legs up the wall, just get the lymphatic fluids moving again.
What about taking an easy walk? And I know inertia is like a huge issue, but can she walk on a beach or on a trail? Like get out in nature and just move. So lifestyle is huge. Simple movements, simple mobilization, even legs up the wall. That would be awesome. So think about lifestyle, meditation, movement. The other thing is if fatigue is a huge driving factor, the three tests that I would think about, okay finances are limited. Okay, urine organic acids test. See how much insurance might cover it, oh but you’re also saying all her doctors are conventional. Is there someone who can order a urine organic acids test? That one might be helpful because I’m thinking about mitochondrial function. Would she benefit from something like CoQ10, phosphatidylcholine, maybe some B vitamin support. Methylation is the other thing I’m thinking. So if someone can order just basic labs for her, what is her MCV? What’s her serum B12 level? What’s her MMA? So maybe there are enough markers there. What’s her homocysteine? So maybe there would be enough markers there to say, oh yeah, this is looking like she probably has a B12 and or folate deficiency. And maybe doing some methylation support would help.
And then the other thing would be viral testing. So again, even a conventional doc should be able to order through Quest or LabCorp EBV, HHV-6, mycoplasma, CMV like we were talking about earlier. So I would think about those three next steps in terms of testing treatments so beyond lifestyle. So again number one mitochondrial testing and/or support, number two methylation which is basically active forms of B12, and then number three viral testing. Just because I see like overwhelming fatigue often been associated with elevated viral titers, or sorry, elevated viral antibody titers. Okay. So hope that helps. Yeah, it’s so hard when finances are limited and it’s something we come across. Unfortunately, quite a bit because most of us live in the real world and testing gets expensive. So I completely get it and it’s great that even just Paleo is helping her and I think the next step is going to be getting her, a lot of it especially when people are overweight, I think the inertia of just getting going and getting moving and they often don’t have a positive association with movement. So it’s sort of overcoming that. So hopefully she can find a way to make that work.