Read an Excerpt: "The Source"

Sept. 30, 2008 — -- Many people complain of feeling tired and drained, and according to Dr. Woodson Merrell's new book, "The Source," the problem could be a loss of connectivity with your inner energy that serves as the source of healing.

Merrill's book tackles the problem of exhaustion and tells readers how they can power up. Find out where you rank by taking this power up quiz and then read an excerpt of "The Source" below. Also, check out more books from the "GMA" library.

June came to me late on a Friday afternoon over twenty years ago at the beginning of my private medical practice. She brought with her a dossier with tests, scans, and results from procedures ­she'd undergone for four years in a quest to regain her wellness and youthful energy, on top of which ­she'd placed a cover sheet summarizing a chronology of her health events. Yet while she clearly ­wasn't well, the tests all showed that she ­wasn't ill, though she obviously felt awful and had no energy. At the bottom of her chronology page she had written, "My goal is to regain my energy, recover my health, and not to have to worry all the time about if I can or ­can't make plans or feel well enough to live my life fully." My heart went out to her.

June's problems were sporadic, but frequent enough to keep her from feeling well much of the time. ­She'd had a series of colds that deteriorated into chronic sinus congestion. After numerous visits to ear, nose and throat specialists, ­she'd had surgery for nasal polyps, which gave her some relief, but she continued to suffer from sinus infections every few months. She subsequently developed intermittent digestive problems with bloating and cramping, and trouble sleeping. For the past year she said ­she'd felt constantly fatigued. Too tired to exercise, June was overeating just to keep herself going.

Trying to make sense of all of the pieces of her puzzling fatigue, I looked for an overarching illness that could explain what had brought her to me with a sense of urgency over wanting better health, and especially more energy. But I, like the many physicians she had seen before me, ­couldn't find anything specifically wrong with her. I took almost every moment of that one-­hour first visit to elicit the details of her medical history, but, looking back, I now see that one of the most important moments was when I asked her what had occurred in her life when the troubles began. Initially, she said everything was fine—successful marriage, two children, thriving real estate career—but it turned out she was not leading the charmed life she tried to present to the world. She became quite emotional as she related to me that ­she'd grown in a different direction from her husband, was relatively estranged from her mother ­who'd recently died from breast cancer, and harbored guilt over not spending enough time with her children.As our time ran out I realized with frustration that I ­didn't have much to add in terms of conventional diagnoses. Wanting to say something positive I told her that over the weekend she needed to think about how to reduce the stress in her life. I asked her to return for a follow-­up Monday to go over the few tests I could think of that had not been done—and I hoped I'd have a diagnostic brainstorm in the interim.

What happened when she came back three days later set my practice on a new course. And ultimately this new direction for treating patients evolved into the program at the heart of this book. On Monday, June walked into my office, dramatically more buoyant. She thanked me profusely for my time Friday, and said she had not felt this good in years. I tried not to let my jaw drop—by medical school standards I'd done virtually nothing. She said that being able to open up about the stressors in her life was the best medicine she had had in four years. She felt as if an energy switch had flipped on inside her. She had felt so much better after admitting that she had these stresses that on Sunday ­she'd even gone out for a light jog. Having named some of the energy-­draining situations in her life, she was now determined to face them and take charge of her life again.I worked with June to overhaul her diet, to help her stick with a regular exercise program, to reduce her stress, and to evaluate her home and office for potential environmental triggers of sinus infections. I also recommended that she use a few nutritional supplements. After two months, the sinus problems and bowel complaints disappeared, her sleep improved markedly, and June had more energy than ever before. Reflecting on the healing experience ­she'd been through, June told me that the most important part of her journey was that this new energy helped her feel connected again—to her family, to herself (with a better lifestyle) and to the world around her.