It is always the basic premise of holistic medicine to try to ascertain the underlying cause of the problem presented to us. Both a low mood and fatigue can have so many causes. Our energy can be dramatically affected by adrenal fatigue, an excessive viral load, a compromised immune system, heavy metal toxicity, gut parasites, or deep dental infection, to name just a few. Hormonal imbalances can make us angry or low. Equally, a low mood may be due to fatigue, or fatigue may cause a low mood. Mild to moderate depression may also be the result of burn-out, grief, loss or fear, even a congested colon.
As a medical herbalist, I am lucky enough to be able to give my patients the time they need to explain how they feel, and to talk about how this might have occurred. We can go over the history of the problem, and explore ways that s/he can be brought back to a place where they feel strong, resilient and able to turn their face towards life with joy and enthusiasm once again. There really is never a “one size fits all,” so I am not even able to list herbs which may help, because the arena is so wide, and must be tailored to the individual’s needs at that particular time, with the understanding that those needs will change, and thus so will the prescription. A long time ago I wrote a book called Stress, Burnout and Fatigue. I am going to revisit this subject and enlarge upon it by adding new relevant subjects like long COVID, and looking more deeply into our gut microbiota.