Chronic fatigue treatment in Greenville, SC. Dr. Hendry identifies and treats the root causes of persistent exhaustion with functional medicine and acupuncture. Call (864) 365-6156.
★★★★★
"I have been going to Dr. Hendry for 2 months now, for Acupuncture and Supplements. After 2 months, this is the best I have felt in over 2 years. My energy is so much better, my gut and digestion is back to normal."
— Danny Pyatt · March 2026 · Google Review
What Is Chronic Fatigue?
The distinction patients always describe is this: it's not that they're tired. Everyone's tired. It's that they sleep eight hours and wake up exactly as exhausted as when they lay down. That rest doesn't work. That after an ordinary day, they're wrecked for two days.
That's post-exertional malaise — the defining feature of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) — and it reflects a problem with cellular energy metabolism, not motivation or mental health. CFS/ME affects up to 2.5 million Americans, is routinely misdiagnosed, and is almost universally undertreated in conventional settings. Many more people have significant fatigue without meeting the formal criteria but still benefit from the same evaluation approach.
Standard medical workups typically find nothing. That's because the relevant dysfunction — mitochondrial impairment, cortisol rhythm disruption, natural killer cell dysfunction, viral persistence, gut dysbiosis — doesn't appear on a standard CBC and metabolic panel.
Common Symptoms
Profound, persistent fatigue not relieved by sleep or rest
Post-exertional malaise (PEM) — symptom worsening 12–48 hours after exertion
Unrefreshing sleep — waking as tired as when you went to bed
Orthostatic intolerance — symptoms worsen when standing
Recurring sore throats, swollen lymph nodes, and flu-like feelings
Muscle and joint pain without swelling
Sensitivity to light, sound, and temperature
Root Causes: A Functional Medicine Perspective
CFS/ME pathophysiology is increasingly understood and includes: mitochondrial dysfunction (impaired cellular energy production), HPA axis dysregulation with low cortisol pattern, natural killer cell dysfunction and immune dysregulation, enteroviral persistence, neuroinflammation and microglial activation, and gut microbiome depletion.
Post-COVID fatigue (Long COVID fatigue) shares many features with CFS/ME and is driven by a combination of neuroinflammation, mitochondrial damage, gut dysbiosis, and autonomic dysfunction. Chronic Epstein-Barr virus reactivation, Lyme disease co-infections, and mold toxicity are other common triggers that functional medicine evaluation can identify. Many fatigue patients have completely normal standard blood work — the relevant dysfunction is missed without functional medicine testing.
How We Treat Chronic Fatigue at IHP
Dr. Hendry's functional medicine approach to chronic fatigue involves comprehensive testing that standard medicine doesn't perform: mitochondrial function markers (organic acids, carnitine levels), adrenal cortisol rhythm (four-point testing), full thyroid panel, EBV/viral titers, heavy metal screen, gut microbiome assessment, and inflammatory markers.
Treatment targets the specific deficiencies and dysfunctions identified: mitochondrial support (CoQ10, carnitine, B vitamins, D-ribose), adrenal restoration (adaptogenic herbs, cortisol rhythm optimization), gut healing protocols, anti-inflammatory dietary changes, and viral immune support. Acupuncture regulates the autonomic nervous system and HPA axis — particularly relevant for CFS — and improves energy metabolism. The key principle in CFS treatment is pacing: avoiding the boom-bust cycle of overexertion followed by crash that perpetuates the illness.
Dr. Hendry's Approach
I've worked with Long COVID patients since 2020 and have extensive clinical experience with Epstein-Barr related fatigue, fibromyalgia-CFS overlap, and post-Lyme fatigue syndromes. These are real, biologically documented conditions. I run mitochondrial function markers, four-point cortisol testing, viral titers, gut microbiome analysis, and nutrient panels that standard workups don't include — because that's where the actual dysfunction is. Telling a CFS patient their labs are normal and sending them home isn't medicine. Systematic investigation is.
Absolutely yes. CFS/ME is a recognized, biologically documented illness with measurable immune abnormalities, metabolic dysfunction, and neurological changes. It is not 'all in your head.' The National Institutes of Health has invested significantly in CFS research, confirming its biological reality.
Yes. Long COVID fatigue and CFS/ME share nearly identical profiles — post-exertional malaise, unrefreshing sleep, brain fog, and orthostatic intolerance. Dr. Hendry has developed specific Long COVID recovery protocols that address the neuroinflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and gut disruption driving post-COVID symptoms.
Beyond standard blood work, Dr. Hendry tests cortisol rhythm, thyroid (comprehensive), B12/folate, iron studies, vitamin D, organic acids (mitochondrial function), inflammatory markers, and viral titers (EBV, CMV). This comprehensive panel identifies the majority of biologically explainable fatigue causes.
This is critical. In true CFS/ME, conventional graded exercise therapy (GET) can cause significant harm by triggering post-exertional malaise. Dr. Hendry uses a pacing-based approach, working within the patient's current energy envelope and gradually extending capacity only as biological markers improve.
Yes. While recovery trajectories vary, many patients achieve significant functional improvement with a systematic, biologically-targeted treatment approach. Early-onset CFS tends to have better recovery potential. Dr. Hendry's individualized protocol gives patients the best chance of meaningful recovery.
Normal tiredness resolves with adequate sleep and rest — it is a physiological response to exertion or insufficient sleep and clears when those demands are reduced. Chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is fundamentally different: the fatigue is unrelenting despite rest, not proportional to exertion, and is accompanied by post-exertional malaise — a hallmark feature where all symptoms worsen 12–48 hours after even mild physical or cognitive effort. Patients describe a 'battery that won't recharge.' Other distinguishing features are cognitive impairment, unrefreshing sleep (waking as tired as when you went to bed), and orthostatic intolerance. If fatigue doesn't respond to rest and is affecting daily function, systematic evaluation is warranted.
Post-exertional malaise (PEM) is the hallmark feature of CFS/ME: a worsening of all symptoms — not just fatigue — that occurs 12–48 hours after physical or cognitive exertion, even mild exertion a healthy person would barely notice. PEM reflects abnormal cellular energy metabolism — the mitochondria cannot meet the energy demand and take days to recover. This has a critical treatment implication: conventional graded exercise therapy that gradually increases activity is actively harmful in true ME/CFS because it repeatedly triggers PEM. Dr. Hendry uses a pacing-based approach that works within the current energy envelope rather than pushing through it.
Lyme disease is one of the documented triggers for a CFS-like syndrome. Post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS) shares nearly the same symptom profile as ME/CFS: profound fatigue, post-exertional malaise, brain fog, sleep disruption, and joint pain. The mechanisms are also similar: neuroinflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and gut microbiome disruption. Dr. Hendry's evaluation of chronic fatigue patients routinely includes assessment for Lyme co-infections, viral titers (EBV, CMV, HHV-6), and mold exposure alongside the standard functional medicine panel.