Chronic fatigue · Cairns & Australia-wide
Chronic fatigue in Cairns.
You sleep a full night and wake up tired, and your blood tests came back normal. If it has gone on for months, the first appointment is long enough to go through it properly. In the clinic in Manunda, or Australia-wide by telehealth.
Free, 10–15 minutes by phone, for anyone new to Sohma. It helps you choose an appointment; it isn’t a clinical assessment.
Normal results
Why normal blood tests don’t settle it.
A standard blood panel answers a narrow question: has a marker crossed into clear disease? A result can sit inside the normal range while you still don’t feel like yourself, and tests read one at a time can miss how things interact.
If you’ve seen your GP about tiredness, you’ve probably had the usual first round: a full blood count, iron studies, thyroid function, vitamin B12 and folate, blood sugar, kidney and liver function, inflammation markers and a coeliac screen. Bring those results. They show what has been ruled out, so you don’t pay for the same tests twice.
Tiredness that lasts is usually several things pulling on each other: sleep, stress, iron and other stores, hormonal change, the gut, or the tail of an old infection.
Telling them apart
Tiredness, burnout, chronic fatigue and ME/CFS.
- Tiredness
- Eases with rest, a good week or a holiday.
- Burnout
- Long-running stress that rest no longer fixes. The World Health Organization describes it as exhaustion, mental distance from work and reduced effectiveness, after chronic workplace stress that hasn’t been managed.
- Chronic fatigue
- Tiredness that has lasted six months or more and that rest doesn’t reliably fix.
- ME/CFS
- Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome. Its hallmark is post-exertional malaise: a crash a day or two after activity that felt manageable at the time, lasting days or longer. Unrefreshing sleep, trouble thinking and feeling worse when upright are common.
- Post-viral fatigue
- Exhaustion that lingers long after an infection has cleared, such as glandular fever or COVID-19. When it follows COVID-19 and is still there three months later, it’s called long COVID.
Your first appointment
What we go through in your first appointment.
When it started
When the tiredness began, what changed around then, and how your body has responded to exertion since.
The pieces together
Sleep, stress, iron and other stores, hormones and the gut, read together rather than one at a time.
Tests only when they’re useful
Bring the results you already have. Any further test is explained and priced before it’s ordered, and only suggested when it could change your plan.
Worth knowing
When to see a doctor first.
Fatigue that has lasted six months or more, or keeps coming back, is worth a proper look. Some things need prompt attention first, through your GP or, if it’s urgent, emergency care.
- Unexplained weight loss
- Drenching night sweats
- New or severe breathlessness
- Chest pain
- Fainting
- A marked change in mood or thinking
In an emergency, call 000.
Your first appointment
The 60-minute initial consultation.
Time to see how the pieces fit. Your history, your results and the life around them, brought together into a prioritised plan. In person is preferred; phone and video are available too.
- $379 60 minutes, initial consultation
- $349 60 minutes, results and care plan, once results are in
Before you book
Cost, Medicare and telehealth.
- Cost
- The initial consultation is $379 for 60 minutes. If tests are ordered, the results and care plan follows once they’re in: $349 for 60 minutes. Any test is explained and priced before it’s ordered.
- Medicare
- Medicare rebates may apply, and they’re generally better face to face. Cameron’s consultations don’t attract a Medicare rebate. Reception can confirm your expected rebate and out-of-pocket cost before you book.
- Telehealth
- Anywhere in Australia, by phone or video, at the same fee. Medicare telehealth rebates usually need one face-to-face visit with us in the past 12 months.
- Referral
- You don’t need one. Book yourself, or start with the free nurse call.
- Where
- 17 Anderson St, Manunda QLD 4870. Open Mon–Fri 9am–5pm, Sat 9am–1pm. Free, secure parking on site, with accessible bays.
Questions
Chronic fatigue questions.
- Why am I tired even after a full night’s sleep?
- Because the amount of sleep isn’t the same as its quality. Lasting tiredness is usually several things at once: a sleep problem such as sleep apnoea, stress, low iron or other stores, hormonal change, blood sugar, or the tail of an old infection.
- Should I push through and exercise more?
- Not if activity is followed by a crash a day or two later. That is post-exertional malaise, and pushing through tends to make it worse. Current guidance for ME/CFS, such as the UK’s NICE guideline (2021), advises against graded exercise therapy and recommends pacing: keeping activity within the energy you have. Talk it through with us or your GP before you change what you do.
- How long should fatigue last before I see a doctor?
- As a rough guide, tiredness that has lasted six months or more, or keeps coming back, is worth a proper look. Sooner if it comes with unexplained weight loss, night sweats, new breathlessness, chest pain, fainting or a marked change in mood or thinking: see your GP or urgent care first.
- What should I bring to my first appointment?
- The reports and blood results you already have, a list of your medicines and supplements, and the concerns you most want to address. A rough timeline helps too: when the tiredness started, and what has made it better or worse since.
The next step
Book your first appointment.
Face to face in Cairns, or Australia‑wide by telehealth, and no referral needed.
Book a free nurse call Free, 10–15 minutes by phone, for anyone new to Sohma. It helps you choose an appointment; it isn’t a clinical assessment.