Persistent tiredness that sleep doesn't fix usually has a testable cause. The three most common are low vitamin D, low B12 or folate, and low iron stores — and all three are routinely missed, because a result can sit inside the reference range and still be low enough to leave you exhausted.
Three markers answer most of it:
Low vitamin D causes tiredness, low mood and muscle weakness. At Calgary's latitude, levels fall through winter for most people regardless of diet. A result of 52 nmol/L and one of 140 are both reported as normal — they are not the same winter.
B12 deficiency causes fatigue, brain fog, pins and needles, and low mood. It is more common in people over 50, anyone on metformin or long-term acid reducers, and anyone eating little or no animal protein.
Ferritin measures your iron stores, and it drops long before a standard Complete Blood Count shows anaemia. This is the one most often missed: a ferritin of 16 is inside a range that runs from 15 to 200, and it is low enough to explain months of fatigue, hair shedding and poor exercise recovery. If you menstruate, this is usually the first marker worth checking.
The three markers are checked together because they overlap and because one draw answers all of them. The Fatigue & Energy Panel is $299 — $45 less than ordering the three separately — plus one $85 in-home collection fee, charged once per appointment however many tests you order.
No physician requisition is needed. A FloLabs phlebotomist comes to your home, office or wherever suits, anywhere in Calgary, Airdrie, Cochrane, Okotoks or Chestermere. Specimens are analysed by Mayo Clinic Laboratories and results are delivered to your private client portal.
Book an appointment with your physician rather than a test if your tiredness comes with unexplained weight loss, night sweats, shortness of breath, chest pain, or if it began suddenly and severely. Testing is for working out what is behind ongoing, unexplained tiredness — it is not a substitute for assessment when something is clearly wrong.
AvoVita arranges testing and delivers results. We do not diagnose or prescribe, and we recommend reviewing your results with a healthcare provider of your choice.
AvoVita is Calgary's private diagnostic lab for specialty testing and home blood collection. We partner with Mayo Clinic Laboratories, ArminLabs, Precision Epigenomics, ReligenDx, and Dynacare to bring tests unavailable through the public system directly to your door. Serving Calgary, Chestermere, Airdrie, Cochrane, and Okotoks since 2020.
