Chronic Fatigue is a debilitating long-term condition characterized by extreme fatigue or tiredness that doesn’t go away with rest.

The exact causes of the syndrome remain poorly understood, but it seems to be related to stress, overwork, depression, and various malfunctions in the major systems of the body. Hypotheses put forward by researchers include endocrine and immunological abnormalities, autonomic nervous system dysfunction, abnormal pain processing and certain infectious diseases.  Due largely to this lack of understanding of the roots of the condition, western medicine is lacking in safe and effective treatment options.

Treatment with Traditional Japanese Medicine

Traditional Japanese Medicine (TJM) takes a holistic approach to health and regards illness as a sign that the body is out of balance. According to TJM, the majority of patients who complain of Chronic Fatigue suffer from a deficiency of “Qi” – the body / mind’s vital energy, which creates optimal physiological and neurological functions. The TJM approach is to identify a pattern of disharmony in each patient and provide treatment modalities that reduce fatigue levels and the associated symptoms and improve their quality of life.

Based on this TJM philosophy, Traditional Japanese Acupuncture (TJA) is used to tonify the meridians involved in the patient’s energy blockage or imbalance, bring energy to deficient organs, and stimulate the flow of fresh Qi throughout the body.

From a western biomedical viewpoint, acupuncture is believed to stimulate the nervous system, which influences the production of hormones and neurotransmitters. The resulting biochemical changes activate the body’s self-regulating homeostatic systems, stimulating its natural healing abilities and promoting overall physical and emotional health.

The case of Madame A

A 50-year-old woman visited me for treatment complaining of severe and persisting fatigue that had lasted more than a year. She reported that three months before her first visit, her fatigue-associated symptoms had become quite serious.

Her symptoms included fatigue, stiffness around the neck, tightness in her middle back and chest and the need to drink more coffee than usual.

By palpating various energy nodes, I got a sense of stagnation at a specific neck point.  In my experience, stagnation at this point often indicates Vagus nerve inflammation.  The Vagus nerve is the longest in the autonomic nervous system.  It is responsible for regulating the immune and autonomic nervous systems. The extensive network it forms – the largest neural network in the body – provides a pathway through which information is sent to the brain regarding the status of our organs.  For this reason, Vagus nerve modulation has been garnering attention recently as a potential treatment of Chronic Fatigue. Based on the latest scientific research^[1][2][3], acupuncture may be an effective therapeutic treatment modality for Chronic Fatigue through the mediation of the Vagus nerve’s inflammatory responses.

Using a combination of TJA and Vibrational Medicine modalities, I devoted her initial sessions to the regulation of her Vagus nerve and the rebalancing of her overall Yin / Yang balance.  After two sessions, her symptoms were in mostly in remission.  Since then, she continues to have regular treatments with me once every two months and she has maintained good physical and emotional condition.

Conclusion

The efficacy of TJA lies in its ability to allow the practitioner to identify the precise nature of the underlying disharmony and select the most effective specific treatment, customized to meet the needs of the whole patient. It can also be used as a preventive measure to strengthen the patient’s constitution and promote general wellbeing.

If you suffer from Chronic Fatigue, but have not tried this type of therapy, this might be a good time for you to consider Traditional Japanese Acupuncture.

– References –

1. Hee-Don Lim, Min-Hee Kim, Chan-Yong Lee and Uk Namgung; 2016 March “Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Acupuncture Stimulation via the Vagus Nerve” PLOS ONE
2. Haifeng Jin, Jie Guo, Jiemin Liu, Bin Lyu, Robert D. Foreman, Jieyun Yin, Zhaohong Shi and Jiande D. Z. Chen; 2017 May “Anti-inflammatory effects and mechanisms of vagal nerve stimulation combined with electroacupuncture in a rodent model of TNBS-induced colitis” American Journal of Physiology :Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology
3. Liu CH, Yang MH, Zhang GZ, Wang XX, Li B, Li M, Woelfer M, Walter M, Wang L; 2020 February “Neural networks and the anti-inflammatory effect of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation in depression” Journal of Neuroinflammation

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