"Nothing stops me now!"

Ann Louise Gittleman couldn’t figure out why she was so tired. Then she discovered the surprisingly common culprit and the natural remedies that changed everything

- Gina Roberts-Grey

"Shake it off. You can make it through one last session,” Ann Louise Gittleman, Ph.D., CNS, told herself, as she prepared for her next nutritional counseling client. “For four years, I had been wrestling with fatigue that zapped my energy to the point of making my voice raspy and hoarse,” Ann Louise recalls. “But I pride myself on being present for my clients and giving them my best, so I used every ounce of energy I had to power though the last session.

Utterly exhausted

“Four years ago, I began experiencing fatigue that initially felt like I simply didn’t get enough sleep, but gradually progressed to exhaustion that impacted the quality of my voice, and I became very hoarse. I was promoting my book, Radical Longevity, and recording 60 podcasts while maintaining my practice.

“At first, I chalked it up to my schedule, so I pushed through. I’d tell myself, ‘You’re just really busy,’ which was true, but I had been busy before and never found myself so drained of energy. Eventually, my fatigue became so intense that I had to cut back on work commitments, which was worrisome.

“But as my fatigue wore on and worsened, my concern increased because my energy wasn’t rebounding. I consulted several doctors about my tiredness and an inexplicable stiffness and rigidity I was experiencing in my left arm that forced me to limit social activities. Despite seeing chiropractors, physical therapists and massage therapists, the stiffness became unbearable and I kept thinking, Oh no…not again every time my arm forced me to excuse myself early from an otherwise happy celebration.