30 ways fatigue shows up in the repertory
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I hear the words “I’m tired” so often in practice that it almost loses meaning. So many people say it. So many feel it. Yet when I open the repertory, I’m reminded that fatigue isn’t one symptom at all - it’s dozens of patterns waiting to be noticed.
That’s what makes our work as homeopaths so interesting. We don’t stop at “tired.” We have to be curious and ask more.
Fatigue is Not One-Size-Fits-All
Here’s the difference:
A patient who wakes already exhausted who is rarely refreshed by sleep.
Another who’s fine until they eat lunch, and then crashes into post-meal drowsiness.
Someone else who pushes through their workday but collapses after the slightest exertion.
All three say the same words: “I’m tired.” But in repertory language, those are three very different rubrics and therefore, potentially three very different remedies.
A Moment From My Own Life
I was working in a hospital during Covid-19 putting in the hours, while also juggling homeopathy school, a new baby and family life. It wasn't just my body, but also my brain that was tired. So when I finally got the symptoms of Covid-19 myself, I’d sit down to work and suddenly feel like I was swimming through fog.
That experience taught me something important: fatigue isn’t just physical. The repertory has pathways for mental collapse as well as physical, for sluggishness, for restlessness and knowing how to separate them can completely change the remedies you consider.
Why This Matters
The repertory gives us a framework for precision. When we ask better questions, we pull out rubrics that capture not just what the person is experiencing, but how it feels and when it strikes. That’s when case analysis starts to sharpen.
Think about it:
Generals, weakness, morning feels different from Generals, weakness, exertion from.
Mind, prostration of mind paints another layer entirely — the mental burnout, not just physical collapse.
Sleep, need of sleep, great points to remedies where drowsiness is overwhelming, not just a little “afternoon slump.”
Why I Made This Graphic
I decided to put together a visual with 30 different ways fatigue shows up in the repertory as a starting point, because although some of these rubrics are large, seeing it all at once helps us realize just how nuanced these “ordinary” symptoms really are and it will push you towards sub-rubrics that come from some of these larger representations.
Fatigue in Real Life
Ongoing fatigue can wreak havoc on circadian rhythm, post-viral fatigue can linger for months. The mental exhaustion of juggling too many roles and not enough rest can easily deplete you.
Homeopathy doesn’t ignore those observations - we translate them into rubrics and look for remedies that mirror those experiences.
A Remedy That Always Comes to Mind
When I think of overpowering drowsiness, I can’t help but mention Nux moschata.
It shows up under rubrics like:
Sleep, comatose
Sleep, deep
Sleep, sleepiness, diet, errors in
This isn’t just “a little tired.” It’s the patient who can barely keep their eyes open, whose fatigue feels heavy and inescapable.
Of course, it’s only one example of a remedy. Many remedies cover chronic and acute fatigue. What matters is learning to see which flavor of fatigue is in front of us and trusting the repertory to help us separate “ordinary tiredness” from the peculiar details that point toward a remedy.
Final Thought
Fatigue may be experienced by so many, but it’s never boring. Every patient describes it differently, and every rubric opens a door to remedies you might not otherwise consider.
So next time you hear “I’m tired,” pause. Ask when, ask how, ask when it started, what makes it better or worse. Then head back to the repertory, and see which of those 30 rubrics can start a rubric trail to help you represent the case.
💤
Follow along in the Rubric Wise Weekly Newsletter and Instagram page for more and happy napping!
