Once upon a time, you got sick, felt awful, then got over it. Now it seems, you get sick, feel more than awful and then it lingers – the fatigue, the cough, the brain fog, the malaise – it just doesn’t go away. Why is that?
What we are seeing more often is something called post-viral fatigue or post-infection fatigue. Instead of bouncing back after an infection, viral or bacterial, some people are left with lasting exhaustion, mental cloudiness, poor sleep, and even a flare-up of symptoms with the slightest exertion. This isn’t “just in your head” — infections can trigger long-lasting changes in the immune system, nervous system, and energy metabolism. Fortunately, there are answers, there is hope.
While recovery may be gradual, there are ways to support healing. What we put in our mouths can either help us or hurt us. While we are trying desperately to reclaim our health is the time to be super cognizant of what we eat. Processed foods, sugary foods, coffee, alcohol, bad oils in ingredients or cooked with, and snack foods can hand-cuff the body’s ability to heal. Whereas healthy foods like fresh raw and cooked vegetables, preferably organic, meats raised without being fed GMO grains, given antibiotics or growth hormones, but instead raised eating from a real pasture, and dairy from the same, support our ability to recover the way the body innately knows how.
Exercise can be a real deal-breaker when it comes to healing. With post-viral or post-infectious fatigue, the right amount of exercise trumps the type. Exercise is good, and needed during recovery. However, the body only has so much energy. At every moment of every day, even during sleep, the body has to decide where to allocate its energy resources. If you don’t have enough energy for basic physiological needs, exercise will rob you. It’s like a bank account. If you withdraw more than you have in your account, you’ll be in trouble – eventually, you’ll be bankrupt. No different with your body. Not a good scenario.
Acupuncture helps to regulate your immune system, draw down inflammation, support healthy hormones (such as the “happy hormones” in your brain), increase your immune system, support the organ systems involved in normal function, as well as the healing mechanism, and is calming for anxiety.
Important organs or systems for reversing post-viral/post-infectious fatigue include the bone marrow, lymph nodes, spleen, thymus, adrenals and liver. Taking the load off these systems is helpful. Eating right, taking the right herbal remedies or exercises and acupuncture can support each of these systems. They can’t do their job correctly if the proper nutrients aren’t available, or garbage accumulation is damming up their ability to resolve chronic immune challenges.
Recovery from post-viral /post-infectious fatigue is possible with the right nourishment, gentle activity, and supportive therapies like acupuncture, allowing the body to gradually restore its strength. With patience and consistent care, healing is not only possible — it’s within reach.
Want to hear more from Dr. Carling? Check out our podcast. Search for VitalHealth4You on your favorite podcast listening app or go to vitalhealthcda.com/podcasts/
©2025 Holly A. Carling, O.M.D., L.Ac., Ph.D.
