Chronic Fatigue
Functional medicine support tailored to uncover the root cause of complex symptoms.
Consult with our care team to understand next steps and build a personalized plan.
Serving Denver Metro, Fort Collins, and Colorado Springs.
About This Condition
Chronic fatigue refers to persistent, often disabling tiredness or exhaustion that is not proportional to recent activity, is not relieved by normal rest, and interferes with daily functioning. Patients may describe feeling “drained,” “wiped out,” or “never rested,” even after a full night of sleep. Fatigue can be physical, mental, or both, and often coexists with sleep disturbance, pain, mood symptoms, and cognitive complaints.
In clinical practice, chronic fatigue is a common, non-specific symptom rather than a single disease entity. It may arise in the context of primary sleep disorders, mood and anxiety disorders, endocrine or metabolic disturbances, cardiovascular or pulmonary disease, chronic infections, autoimmune or inflammatory conditions, medication side effects, deconditioning, or post-infectious and post-stress states. A subset of patients meet criteria for specific syndromes such as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) or post-viral fatigue syndromes.
Evaluation focuses on characterizing the pattern and impact of fatigue, identifying red flags for serious underlying illness, and systematically screening for common reversible contributors. Management is individualized and usually multimodal, addressing sleep, activity patterns, comorbid conditions, medications, and psychosocial factors while monitoring for evolution of more specific diagnoses over time.
Common Symptoms
- •Persistent physical and/or mental fatigue that is disproportionate to recent exertion
- •Feeling unrefreshed or “never rested” upon waking, even after adequate time in bed
- •Reduced stamina and worsening fatigue with typical daily activities or exercise
- •Difficulty concentrating, slowed thinking, or “brain fog”
- •Increased effort required to perform routine tasks at work, home, or school
- •Non-restorative sleep, fragmented sleep, or difficulty maintaining sleep
- •Mood changes such as low mood, irritability, or increased emotional sensitivity
- •Subjective weakness, heaviness, or sense of being “run down” without focal neurologic deficits on exam
Conventional Treatment Options
Hormone and nutrient assessment
Sleep optimization
Stress and pacing
Our Functional Medicine Approach
"Your labs look normal" is rarely the end of the story
Patients with chronic fatigue usually arrive at Spire after months — sometimes years — of being told their bloodwork is fine while their actual life has shrunk around the symptoms. Standard panels only catch the most obvious problems. Functional fatigue work looks at the things conventional medicine routinely doesn't: mitochondrial function, micronutrient status, viral reactivation, mold and toxin burden, gut-immune dysregulation, HPA-axis rhythms, and sleep architecture.
How Spire works the root cause
Our Unexplained Symptoms Program is the structured entry point for fatigue. We start with a multi-hour intake and a phased lab strategy — advanced micronutrient panels, organic acids, mycotoxin or viral reactivation testing where appropriate, and HPA-axis markers — then layer interventions in the order most likely to move your specific numbers. A care navigator coordinates the work so you're not stitching together advice from five different sources.
Who this is for
Adults whose energy hasn't recovered after illness, stress, or pregnancy, people whose fatigue affects work and relationships despite "normal" results, and patients who suspect their fatigue is connected to gut, hormone, or environmental factors no one has investigated yet.