A Debilitating Symptom
Phytotherapists increasingly find that major indication for treatment is a degenerative or debilitating illness. Unlike their forebears, for whom acute diseases were the norm and recuperative support of debility was usually convalescent aftercare, the modern practitioner will be less often involved in first-line treatment. Patients will more often report for help after years of ill health or when conventional medicine has run out of options.
There are many diseases that can lead to such signs of disability as tiredness, inability to rest, weakness, depression, wasting and anorexia. Indeed, any illness of sufficient duration or severity can lead to such symptoms, chronic low-grade infections, especially viral infections, are particular precursors in modern times.
While this course hunkers down on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, the basic principles of treatment will apply to any disabling fatigue and may help in terminal illness to provide quality of life. For more on terminal illness see the Herbal Database: “Terminal Illness & Hospice Care”
In some cases, severe or traumatic diseases from the distant past can lead to a legacy of weaknesses of this type. A few are constitutionally enfeebled and are prone to debilitating responses to a range of stressors. A good practitioner will obviously seek to address current problems as far as possible. However, one of the prominent elements of debilitating condition is that the weakness imposes its own limitations on any treatment. It is often impractical to embark upon the usual treatment strategy while the patient is at a low ebb, as even the gentlest remedies can provoke uncomfortable responses.
Finding a regime of treatment that simply addresses the debility with little consideration of the causes or background factors might be the only strategy feasible if the condition is especially severe. The principals involved in such approaches can best be reviewed for a classic modern syndrome of debility, chronic fatigue.