She Had Lost Years. Then the Burden Started to Lift.
Dr. John Erickson, DC | Laser & Chiropractic Center of the Rockies | Loveland, CO
Case 006 | Series Post #6
She Slept Through Most of Her Teen Years
Not by choice. Her body demanded it.
She was a teenager who couldn’t go to school. Couldn’t hold a job. Slept most of the day and still woke up exhausted. Memory loss, muscle pain, night sweats, brain fog – these were her daily companions.
She had tried everything. Nothing helped.
A Young Woman Whose Options Had Run Out
She was 18 when she came to my office. She had dealt with the symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) for most of her teenage years.
Exhaustion was her baseline. Not tiredness – the kind of fatigue that doesn’t respond to sleep. She had been under chiropractic care, medical care, and had tried anything and everything available. Nothing had produced lasting change.
She came in as a last resort more than a hopeful beginning. She had simply run out of other options to try.
We began with foundational NAET treatments. Not targeting CFS specifically – that is not how the protocol works. We assessed her sensitivities and began addressing the body’s reactivity systematically, starting with the Basic 17 foundational substances.
Something Started to Shift
During the Basic treatments, she reported noticing a change. Not a dramatic overnight reversal – a gradual shift in the progress of it.
She reported that her energy was beginning to return. That the fog was starting to thin. That her stamina was improving in ways she could actually measure.
She continued her visits. The progress reports continued. Mental clarity. Stamina. The ability to function for longer stretches without collapsing.
A Body Under Extraordinary Immune Load
Assessment revealed sensitivities across multiple categories. In cases like this, what we are looking at is a body that has been in a sustained reactive state – its immune and nervous systems in a constant state of alert that consumes enormous energy resources.
Research on the cell danger response – a concept documented in peer-reviewed mitochondrial biology literature – describes how the body in a persistent threat-response state diverts metabolic resources away from normal function and toward protection.[1] The body in this mode is not broken. It is doing exactly what it’s designed to do. It’s just doing it continuously, when it shouldn’t be.
When the reactive burden is addressed – even partially – the resources that were devoted to that sustained alert become available again. We believe this is part of what this patient was experiencing.
Patient-Reported: She Came Back to Her Life
She reported increased energy and vitality as she continued through her allergy treatments. Mental clarity and stamina reportedly improved over the course of care.
Eventually, she was able to return to school. She was able to hold a job. She reported leading a normal life.
She had not been able to do these things for years.
The Immune-Fatigue Connection Is Not a Fringe Concept
The relationship between immune dysregulation and fatigue is documented. Research published in the Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunology has established that the nervous and immune systems regulate each other reciprocally – and that sustained immune activation, particularly the Th2 pattern associated with allergic reactivity, shifts the body in ways that affect far more than just allergy symptoms.[2] A body in a sustained allergic state is a body under physiological stress.
Research in the Journal of Clinical Investigation confirms that neurons and immune cells are physically colocalized – the nervous system directly regulates immune responses at a cellular level.[3] When the immune system is persistently activated, the nervous system is involved in sustaining that activation. Addressing one without the other leaves part of the problem untouched.
The question worth sitting with: how many people living with unexplained fatigue, brain fog, or chronic low function have never had their immune and nervous system reactivity evaluated as a potential contributing factor?
She Wasn’t Looking for a Miracle. She Was Looking for a Door.
She came in as someone who had tried everything and was out of options. She left with something she could build on.
I want to be careful here: her experience is hers. What I can say is that in 27 years of practice, I have seen the immune load a body is carrying show up in ways that have nothing to do with sneezing or itchy eyes.
If you have been living with unexplained fatigue, brain fog, or persistent low energy – and the conventional approaches have not moved the needle – a sensitivity evaluation may be a door you haven’t tried yet.
— Dr. John Erickson, DC | Laser & Chiropractic Center of the Rockies | Loveland, Colorado
To learn more about NAET at Laser & Chiropractic Center of the Rockies, visit laserchirorockies.com or call 970-412-3212.
Individual results vary. This story is de-identified and shared with permission. It represents a reported patient experience and is not a guarantee of outcome. NAET is a complementary wellness approach and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or medical condition.
[1] Naviaux, R.K. “Metabolic Features of the Cell Danger Response.” Mitochondrion. 2013;16:7-17. PMID: 23981537. DOI: 10.1016/j.mito.2013.08.006
[2] Montoro, J. et al. “Stress and Allergy.” J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol. 2009;19 Suppl 1:40-47. PMID: 19476053.
[3] Veiga-Fernandes, H. & Artis, D. “Neuro-Immune Crosstalk and Allergic Inflammation.” J Clin Invest. 2019;129(4):1475-1482. PMC: PMC6436850. DOI: 10.1172/JCI124609