Chronic Fatigue Specialist Columbus, Ohio
Real Answers for Exhaustion That “Good Sleep” Alone Can’t Fix
Persistent exhaustion that sleep can’t fix is a clinical signal worth taking seriously. Functional medicine investigates the hormonal, gut-related and nutritional factors that standard labs routinely miss. If you have been told everything looks normal but still feel anything but, our chronic fatigue specialists in Columbus, Ohio, are here to help you get real answers.
Clinical Insights About Chronic Fatigue
- What It Is: Chronic fatigue is a complex, often misunderstood condition characterized by persistent, debilitating exhaustion that does not improve with rest and has no clear underlying medical cause.
- Common Symptoms: Beyond severe tiredness, chronic fatigue frequently co-occurs with brain fog, unrefreshing sleep, joint pain, headaches and post-exertional malaise; these symptoms often fluctuate in intensity
- Who It Affects: Chronic fatigue affects an estimated 2.5 million Americans, is significantly more common in women, and is frequently underdiagnosed because standard lab panels often return within “normal” ranges.
- Functional Medicine Care: Rather than managing symptoms in isolation, functional medicine investigates and addresses the root causes driving fatigue, including hormonal dysregulation, gut dysfunction, mitochondrial stress, nutrient deficiencies and more.
A More Personalized Plan
What Your Chronic Fatigue Treatment Plan May Consist Of
Diagnostic Health Testing Tailored to You
We identify the specific drivers of your fatigue through advanced panels that some conventional providers may never order. This often includes hormone assessment, cortisol mapping, gut health analysis, food sensitivity testing and nutritional marker evaluation.
Nutrition Therapy & Supplementation
Food is one of the most powerful tools for managing chronic fatigue. Our functional dietitian works with you to identify dietary patterns that reduce inflammation, support mitochondrial function and stabilize energy. When diet alone cannot address deficiencies, we employ targeted supplementation where clinical evidence supports it.
Hormone Optimization & Balancing
Low cortisol. Thyroid irregularities. Estrogen or progesterone disruption. Hormonal imbalances are among the most common and overlooked contributors to chronic fatigue. We evaluate and address the full hormonal picture.
Gut Health Repair & Microbiome Support
Emerging research continues to strengthen the connection between gut dysfunction and systemic fatigue. We assess gut permeability, bacterial balance and inflammatory load — then build a targeted protocol to repair the gut-energy axis.
No Guesswork
What You Can Expect As A Patient
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01
Your First Conversation
Your chronic fatigue journey at Donaldson begins with a comprehensive intake. This involves a real conversation about your symptoms, your history and what has or hasn’t worked before. We listen before we recommend.
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02
Curated, Advanced Testing
We run the labs that actually matter for chronic fatigue, often including cortisol and hormone panels, gut assessments, food sensitivity testing and nutritional markers. Your care plan is built on a complete picture of what is driving your symptoms.
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03
Your Personalized Care Plan
Your provider uses these results to build a plan tailored to your biology, lifestyle and goals. They explain the “why” behind each modality so you understand what to expect. No generic protocols. No one-size-fits-all prescriptions.
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04
Ongoing Support & Optimization
Chronic fatigue management is not a one-time appointment. We monitor your progress, adjust your plan as your health evolves and stay engaged with your care to ensure long-term wellness.
Understanding Your Health With Advanced Chronic Fatigue Testing
Diagnosing the root causes of chronic fatigue requires looking well beyond standard bloodwork. However, ordering panels indiscriminately and barraging you with tests wastes time while obscuring the picture we’re actually trying to build.
That is why we only order tests that are most relevant to your specific symptom profile and history.
Depending on your intake conversation and presenting symptoms, your testing may include DUTCH hormone and cortisol testing, a GI-MAP gut health assessment, food sensitivity panels, trace element analysis and nutritional markers. These tests allow us to go substantially deeper into what is causing your symptoms and how to dynamically address the root cause.
Meet Your Team
Chronic Fatigue Specialists, Dedicated to Your Health & Confidence
Marguerite Weston, MD, IFMCP
Director of Functional Medicine
As a double board-certified functional medicine physician and IFM Certified Practitioner, Dr. Weston specializes in root-cause care for complex, chronic conditions for each patient she works with. She has more than 20 years of clinical experience and a personal background as a functional medicine patient herself.
Colleen Bush, RDN
Functional Medicine Dietitian
Colleen is an IFNCP-credentialed nutrition specialist whose own experience managing Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis and autoimmune disease informs her food-as-medicine approach. She works with chronic fatigue patients to identify dietary patterns that reduce systemic inflammation, support cellular energy production and create practical lifestyle changes.
Tricia Granchi, MSN
Chronic Fatigue Specialist
Tricia is an IFM-certified care provider with specialized training in nutrition, hormone therapy and performance-based wellness. She is also a passionate CrossFit athlete, which allows her to bring a uniquely practical, movement-as-medicine lens to chronic fatigue care. She helps patients rebuild strength, stamina and vitality.
Courtney Gilbert, PA-C
Hormone Health Expert
Courtney is a hormone health specialist and fertility treatment expert with more than 12 years of clinical experience, including a rich background in urogynecology. She evaluates the full hormonal picture in chronic fatigue patients — including sex hormone imbalances, cortisol dysregulation and thyroid function.
Frequently Asked Questions About Chronic Fatigue
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Chronic fatigue is a clinical condition, not a temporary state. Unlike ordinary tiredness that resolves with rest, chronic fatigue persists regardless of sleep quality or quantity. It is often accompanied by cognitive symptoms, pain and immune irregularities while also frequently worsening with physical or mental exertion.If your exhaustion has lasted six months or more and meaningfully limits your daily function, it most likely warrants a clinical evaluation.
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- Conventional Medicine: Typically addresses chronic fatigue by ruling out other diagnoses and managing symptoms, often without identifying a root cause. While vital to a healthy society, providers may not have the resources available to address the core issues at play.
- Functional Medicine: Digs deeper by investigating what is actually driving your fatigue, which typically consists of some combination of hormonal dysregulation, gut dysfunction, mitochondrial stress, food sensitivities, nutritional deficiencies and immune imbalances.
Many patients find that this broader, systems-level approach reduces symptom burden in ways that symptom management alone has not been able to. -
While there is no universal cure for chronic fatigue, many patients experience significant improvement with a root-cause approach. Functional medicine identifies what is wrong and then corrects it, instead of trying to indefinitely manage symptoms.Some patients see dramatic improvement; others achieve a meaningful reduction in symptom frequency and severity. The goal is always to restore as much function and quality of life as possible.
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Testing is highly individualized based on your intake and symptom profile. Common panels include DUTCH hormone and cortisol testing, a GI-MAP gut health assessment, food sensitivity testing, trace element analysis and nutritional marker evaluation.
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Hormonal imbalances are among the most common and most overlooked contributors to chronic fatigue. Disrupted cortisol patterns, thyroid dysfunction and sex hormone irregularities can all produce or significantly worsen fatigue, brain fog and sleep disruption.Because these imbalances often fall outside the thresholds flagged on standard labs, they may be missed in a traditional healthcare setting.
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Our providers are currently licensed to serve patients in Ohio only. That said, if you are located anywhere in the state, telehealth appointments are available for functional medicine consultations, so you do not need to be in Columbus to get started and live better.For those outside of Ohio, we maintain a trusted network of qualified care providers across the country and are happy to point you in the right direction.
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No – and that is by design. We offer functional medicine services on a self-pay basis, as many of the comprehensive testing panels and personalized care plans we provide fall outside the strict confines of standard insurance coverage.That said, HSA and FSA plans can often be leveraged to cover costs.We encourage patients to check with their benefits provider regarding reimbursement eligibility for specific labs or services. Our team is happy to discuss costs and care options during your initial consultation.
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This is one of the most common remarks we hear from chronic fatigue patients during the initial consultation process, and it is one of the main reasons they seek out functional medicine. Standard lab panels are designed to detect disease. They are critical to the general health of our society, but they do not focus on optimizing function.We look at a more comprehensive set of markers and evaluate them against optimal ranges, not just the wide statistical “normal.” If you have been dismissed before, that is not the end of the road.
Ready to Wake Up Feeling Like You Again?
Your quality of life and daily comfort shouldn’t be defined by this unrelenting tiredness. You deserve more. We invite you to schedule your discovery call with our Chronic Fatigue Specialists in Columbus, Ohio, and start feeling like the best version of yourself again.
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