After beginning this treatment, Marianne returned to competitive cycling. But soon her asthma returned, and so did her chronic fatigue symptoms. Marianne was nearly at her wit’s end. She explains, "I just thought, something, I’ve got to do something differently." Marianne chose to see Dr. Patricia Wales, a naturopathic doctor, after reading that chronic fatigue can be a manifestation of an overactive adrenal gland.

Dr. Wales began by calming Marianne’s adrenal gland. "We used a botanical medicine to work with that," she explains."The second step was to build her adrenal glands and we used a combination of vitamins and minerals and glandular tissue to let that gland rebuild." Marianne was also prescribed homeopathic medicine to support her thyroid gland. She and Dr. Wales redesigned her family’s diet, cutting out wheat, corn and all dairy products except butter. The result has meant healthier eating for both Marianne and her family.

To keep Marianne in peak training form, Dr. Wales worked along with her medical doctor and trainer. She matched Marianne’s treatments with her training program, and worked to keep her medication levels down. Dr. Wales says, "the first goal is not to get them off medication. The first goal is to support their system so that the body doesn’t need medication and then both we and their medical doctor can agree that the medication can be reduced."

Marianne has now returned to competitive cycling, and besides improving her performance on the road, she is also improving her psychological performance. She watches her diet and keeps her life in balance with appropriate rest and relaxation. Marianne says, "I’m optimistic about what I’m doing, which is a tremendous gift to give – to give someone their optimism back . . . how can you do better than that?"