Florham Park, New Jersey chronic fatigue doctor, Natasha Fuksina, M.D. of AstraMDhealth treats chronic fatigue syndrome using a functional medicine approach that is tailored to each individual and focuses on hormone balance, optimizing overall health and achieving whole body wellness.

Chronic fatigue syndrome is a condition that challenges your immune system and presents symptoms that often mimic flu-like indicators. Factors that may contribute to chronic fatigue include overwork, high stress, poor nutrition, long term exhaustion, or a weakened immune system. People that have chronic fatigue are often unable to carry out daily activities, such as going to school or working, and the fatigue is often both mental and physical. Usually, chronic fatigue syndrome is only diagnosed if four or five of the indicating symptoms are present, and only after more serious conditions are ruled out.

Chronic fatigue doctor, Natasha Fuksina, M.D. of AstraMDhealth treats men and women in and around Morris County, New Jersey that are dealing with the effects of chronic fatigue syndrome. Natasha Fuksina, M.D. utilizes functional medicine therapies that have helped patients to improve the symptoms of chronic fatigue by getting to the root cause of their health issues. Many Florham Park, New Jersey chronic fatigue patients that have come to Dr. Fuksina seeking help have been able to increase their energy and improve their overall quality of life.

Natasha Fuksina, M.D. uses safe and natural functional medicine therapies to relieve you of the symptoms associated with chronic fatigue syndrome. Call (862) 281-6587 to speak with Dr. Fuksina and schedule your chronic fatigue consultation today!

Symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic fatigue can be tricky to recognize because it shares symptoms in common with several sleep, mental, or physical conditions. In fact, many people who are diagnosed with chronic fatigue have also had a history of health conditions. Usually, chronic fatigue syndrome is only diagnosed if four or five of the indicating symptoms are present, and only after more serious conditions are ruled out. Some of the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome include:

If you have been pushing your cognitive function to the absolute limit for longer than you can remember (because memory is also negatively affected by unrelenting and high levels of stress), you may have noticed that your mental and emotional bandwidth has experienced a tremendous decrease. You may now be battling with inability to sleep or focus on tasks or maintain your interest in people and activities, the constant nagging of irritation, apathy, cravings for unhealthy foods or substances, and you may just feel like you’re on autopilot, zoned out from the moment you wake to the moment your head hits the pillows.

Motivation is separate from discipline: discipline is getting up and going to work or the gym because you have trained yourself to do it, even when your mind and body are working against you. Motivation is the excitement and purpose that propels you forward and can make discipline (and working towards your goals) easy and enjoyable. Even the most determined workers and athletes have days where they lack motivation, but go anyway, and even the rare days where the lack of motivation prevents them from accomplishing their task.

But if you notice that your lack of motivation is keeping you from seeing your goal, and more often than not you are not accomplishing your to do lists, then you may benefit from changing things up.

Some days we wake up and just know that something is off, we can’t always put our finger on it, but we’ve lived in our body long enough to know when we feel unwell or sick, even if there are no other indicators. That general discomfort is known as malaise, and it’s your whole being sending you signal that it needs something.

Lymph nodes are the little clusters of cells behind your ears, around your neck, and in your armpits, chest, abdomen, and groin. Chances are, you have a relationship with one or more of these areas due to a past experience: maybe the back of your ear was swollen, or under your chin, letting you know that you were about to be sick.

If you are experiencing this familiar swelling but it isn’t followed up by the usual illness, your lymph nodes may be trying to tell you something else is wrong.

You know what a sore throat feels like: the itch, the burn, the constant need to cough or the awful scratch when you speak up, and swallowing simultaneously makes it better and worse. If you are experiencing a chronic sore throat and don’t feel the usual cold or flu symptoms, it might just be chronic fatigue.

It should come as no shock that force-feeding your brain constant stimuli and stressors may cause your mind to physically ache in lieu of relaxation and relief. Meditation can be a wonderful tool for quelling that pain, but trying to force yourself to think about nothing may also contribute to your headache.

Theoretically, it’s simple: we wake, we live, we sleep. But what if that sleep isn’t restful, and we keep waking up at night, or are only lightly asleep, unable to delve into the healing bliss of a deep slumber? Then we wake up tired, and living isn’t quite as easy or fun, and then we have to try to sleep again, but once we enter that vicious circle, it can be hard to get out.

Maybe some people wake up puffy, but get their first cup of coffee and are up and running until the night comes. Others may be complete rays of sunshine in the morning, then hit a slump around lunch or maybe they’re good until after dinner. With chronic fatigue, it may feel more like waking up tired, dragging yourself through the day, dragging yourself through the afternoon, and barely scraping by in the evening, and any ideas of going out with friends or family? Forget it. Don’t let chronic fatigue keep you from living a full day.

There is a feeling of accomplishment when you’re sore after a hard workout, it can be an indicator that you trained well and your muscles are ready to grow. But if you’re waking up and your muscles ache like they would after a heavy workout that you didn’t do, that is not only uncomfortable but a major indicator that something else is wrong.

Are your fingers aching when you flex and bend them? Do your knees and hips experience bouts of stiffness and you’re constantly rolling your wrists and elbows around, looking for a pop or some relief? Chronic fatigue can cause your joints to throb and ache without the redness or swelling you would normally look for in a joint condition, leaving people stumped and wondering what exactly is causing them to feel this way.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Explained

While physicians are unsure as to what the primary causes of chronic fatigue syndrome are, they do agree that it is related to a dysfunction of the immune system. Hormones work to improve the endocrine system and immune function, so supplying the body with hormones that are equivalent to human hormones can help women to boost their energy and immunity in a safe and non-invasive way. High levels of stress for an extended period of time can weaken both the immune and endocrine system, and this is because high stress forces the adrenals to pump out adrenaline, overstimulating the sympathetic nervous system, which is the body’s fight or flight system.

The sympathetic nervous system causes the pupils to dilate, intestinal contractions to slow down, blood flow to remain constricted, and your heart rate to increase. When the modern person does not physically utilize the adrenaline pumped out into the body, it sits there and must be processed in the liver. Then, the adrenals pump out cortisol, which is the hormone that deals with the inflammation caused from stress to smooth over the damage created in the body from the stress response. As a result, cortisol must utilize B vitamins, Vitamin C, and several minerals to actively do its job, and this leaches nutrition out of the body. Over time, the body will actually convert sex hormones into more cortisol to meet the body’s demands for this anti-inflammatory hormone.

Sex hormones such as DHEA, testosterone, progesterone, estrogen, and pregnenolone all contribute to immune function and the overall health of the body. When they are deficient, women cannot produce enough energy for proper immune function. Hormone imbalances greatly contribute to a strong and healthy immune system, and if the body is dealing with both hormone deficiencies and doing damage control for chronic stress, the immune system may become overactive, which causes it to attack healthy tissues, as in the instance of chronic fatigue syndrome.

Balancing hormones with Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy can help women to overcome the effects of chronic fatigue syndrome and boost their immune function and energy.

Diagnosing Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Due to symptoms mimicking those of copious other health conditions like sleep disorders, mental health disorders, or other medical conditions such as anemia, diabetes, and thyroid imbalances–there is no testing available to directly diagnose chronic fatigue syndrome. Additionally, due to the large number of overlapping symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia–some researchers consider them to be two aspects of the same disease.

Diagnostic criteria proposed by the United States Insitute of Medicine state a person’s level of fatigue must interfere with pre-illness activities, cannot be alleviated by rest, and worsen with physical, emotional, or mental exertion. Additionally, a person must present with at least 1 of 2 of the following symptoms for longer than six months:

  1. Memory and concentration difficulties
  2. Dizziness when transitioning from lying or sitting down to standing

Find Answers To Frequently Asked Questions About BHRT

Beginning a Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT) protocol typically comes with several questions. We’ve gathered some of the most common questions related to starting BHRT and answered them here below. If you have any further questions or need any clarification, please contact Dr. Fuksina at (862) 281-6587.

How Is BHRT Different From Regular HRT?

The main difference between bioidentical HRT and other forms of HRT is the kind of hormones that are used. In regular HRT, the synthetic hormones used contain additional chemical components that allow the drug manufacturers to patent their chemicals. At best, these added components do nothing for you. At worst, your body may recognize them as foreign chemicals and they may cause unpleasant side effects.

In BHRT, the hormones used are bioidentical, which means that they are the exact chemical structure as the hormones naturally produced in your body. This means there is no risk of your body not accepting them. Plus, they are derived from natural plant sources such as yams and soy.

Can I Buy Bioidentical Hormones Online?

While you may find websites claiming to sell bioidentical hormones, there are many risks involved in purchasing hormones online. First, it is often difficult to trace the origin of these products, meaning they may not be regulated for accuracy. This leads into the second problem, which is that it is very hard to be sure of the ingredients of these products. You may not be getting hormones at all!

Even if you find legitimate bioidentical hormones online, without seeing a doctor you can’t know for certain which hormones you need, what dose you need them in and what form of BHRT will work best for you. Here at Dr. Fuksina, you will receive proper care and treatment while experiencing minimal side effects.

What Form Does BHRT Come In?

Bioidentical hormones are prepared by a compounding pharmacy where they are produced into several forms including: pills, patches, subdermal pellets, creams, injections and more. Everyone responds to these various forms differently, and your BHRT doctor can help find the form that will most benefit you and your body.

What Is The Cost Of BHRT?

The cost of BHRT varies by the hormones needed, the doses needed, the form of BHRT, and the length of time that you receive treatment. For a more accurate quote, please call Dr. Fuksina at (862) 281-6587 to schedule a consultation.

Is BHRT Covered By My Insurance?

Because insurance plans and providers vary considerably, there is no way for us to provide a blanket statement. Your plan may cover BHRT under certain circumstances. The best course of action is to call Dr. Fuksina at (862) 281-6587 to discuss whether we accept your current insurance plan and provider. After you call us, we recommend contacting your insurance provider as a follow-up to ensure that your treatment is covered or to discuss how your treatment may be covered.

Are Bioidentical Hormones Safe?

When prescribed and supervised by a BHRT doctor, BHRT is generally safe. Any risks or side effects associated with your particular treatment will be reviewed thoroughly before you begin BHRT.

What Conditions Are Treated With BHRT?

Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy is used to treat a number of conditions caused by hormone imbalance or that result in hormone imbalance. In some cases, BHRT is used to treat the underlying condition while in others it is used to treat the symptoms. You can find some common conditions that BHRT may be used to treat listed above.

What If My Question Is Not Listed Here?

Patients often have a great many questions before beginning BHRT. We will be happy to answer any questions that you may have before, during and after treatment. Contact Dr. Fuksina today with any further questions or to schedule your initial consultation.

Start Feeling Better With A Customized BHRT Plan Today!

New Jersey Chronic Fatigue Care

Reinvigorate Your Life and Feel in Sync with Your Body

Chronic fatigue doctor, Natasha Fuksina, M.D. provides advanced functional medicine treatments to patients struggling with chronic fatigue in and around Florham Park, New Jersey. Call (862) 281-6587 to schedule a consultation today!