Normal Labs but Still Tired? What "You're Fine" Costs Women at Work

Oct 15

12 min read

Updated: 5 days ago

Woman at her desk looking tired while reviewing lab results that came back normal.

Erica Anderson Rooney is an ex-CPO turned executive coach and AI educator on a mission to get more women into positions of power and keep them there. She is the author of The AI Gap (2026), host of the Glass Ceilings & Sticky Floors and AI Voice or Victim podcasts, and NC Chapter Lead for Women Applying AI. Her SNAP and AI Continuum frameworks are taught to thousands of women through CHIEF, WICT, and Fortune 500 leadership programs. She is the sought-after speaker at the intersection of women, AI, and leadership.

I spent thousands of dollars on hormone testing with a traditional doctor. The answer that came back was, "You're fine." My answer was, "No, I'm not fine. I'm telling you these things."

Normal labs but still tired. If that is your chart and your body right now, stay with me.

I want to show you what the newest data says, what this is costing women in energy, promotions and pay, and what you can do as a patient and as a professional while you get real answers.

One thing first. I am an ex-Chief People Officer and an executive coach. I am not a clinician, and nothing in this post is medical advice. Please talk with your own licensed clinician about your symptoms and any treatment.

You Did Everything Right and You Are Still Exhausted

You cleaned up your diet. You exercise. You sleep seven, maybe eight hours a night.

Then you wake up tired anyway. You lose your focus by 2:00 PM. You snap at the people you love the most.

When I read that list out loud at the top of a recent podcast episode, I had to stop and admit it sounded a little bit like me.

I also know what I do next, because I can see it from my desk. A Peloton treadmill. A Peloton bike. A red light therapy mat filled with crystals. (Crystals. On my floor.) And yes, I own the essential oil too.

I have been a personal trainer for more than 20 years, and I have one client I have trained for 17 of them. I know this world. I still bought all of it, because buying the thing gives me a false sense of productivity. It feels like I am moving toward the goal.

Meanwhile, the one step that could give me real information sat on my list for over a year. I put off my hormone testing that long because I did not have time to make the call.

And when another woman says the word cortisol, I am the first one nodding. "Oh, yep, it's definitely my cortisol." (I don't know sh*t about cortisol.)

If you see yourself in any of that, you are in very large company. The numbers below will show you how large.

Where This Conversation Started

This post grew out of my conversation with Jessica Van Antoine on Glass Ceilings & Sticky Floors. Jessica is the founder of Phoenix Functional Health, a performance health practice built for high-achieving female founders. She told me her background is in massage therapy and that she spent 10 years teaching Chinese medicine and shiatsu.

Her own story is the reason I wanted her on the show. In 2012, in her late 20s, she was working 90-hour weeks at a wellness center in her first real leadership role. She was running on caffeine and snapping at people. Then, in the middle of a meeting, in her words, "something just snapped inside me." She excused herself, went to her office, and cried on the floor under her desk.

Jessica's view is that the ranges used in standard lab work are too broad, and that the functional lab testing she uses looks at a narrower range to find what is driving a woman's symptoms. That is her perspective and her practice. I am sharing it as her view. I am not a clinician, and I am not telling you which test to pay for.

What I am here to do is go deeper on the part that belongs to my lane: what happens to a woman's career while she is exhausted and being told everything looks normal. You can listen to the full episode here: Hormones, Fatigue, and Why Your Labs Say You're Fine, with Jessica Van Antoine.

Why Am I Still Tired If My Labs Are Normal?

Here is the plain answer I found when I went to the medical sources myself. A normal result answers a narrow question.

MedlinePlus, the patient site of the National Library of Medicine, explains (in a page updated in September 2025) that reference ranges are based on test results from large groups of healthy people. The same page says, "A test result that is within a reference range isn't always a guarantee of good health." It adds that some people with health problems can have results that are considered normal. (On the episode, Jessica described those ranges as an average of everyone who has ever taken the test. The National Library of Medicine describes them as based on healthy people, so I am going with the published source.)

Read that twice if you need to. The federal government's own patient guide says a result inside the range does not close the case.

Fatigue also has a very long list of possible causes. Mayo Clinic's fatigue page (dated February 2026) lists anemia, an underactive thyroid, sleep apnea, depression, anxiety disorders, diabetes and certain medicines, along with everyday factors like too little sleep and stress. Mayo Clinic says a doctor is the one to sort out which applies to you. One blood draw does not cover that whole list.

Hormones add another layer. Mayo Clinic's perimenopause page (dated August 2026) says there is no single test or symptom that tells you perimenopause has started, and that hormone testing usually isn't helpful for that question because hormone levels in perimenopause change unpredictably. On the episode I said my test was "taken at a point in time." I am not a doctor, and it turns out that instinct lines up with what Mayo Clinic publishes.

After my "you're fine" appointment, I met with a different hormone doctor. I loved the way she phrased it: a result labeled normal is not always the best level for me. What I took from that is simple. "Your labs are normal" and "we are done looking" are two separate sentences, and you are allowed to keep asking after the first one.

What the Data Says About Being Dismissed

Woman talking with her doctor about ongoing fatigue.

In September 2026, Gallup and Pivotal released a national survey on women's health. The headline: 51% of U.S. women reported at least one of four negative healthcare experiences in the past five years, compared with 39% of men.

The details are where it gets personal. In that survey, 34% of women said a provider minimized or dismissed their symptoms or pain. Another 33% said they were misdiagnosed or could not get a diagnosis at all.

One in three. Think about the women on your team, in your leadership meeting, in your group chat.

Now add the fatigue numbers. In September 2026, the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics published a report using 2024 national survey data. It found that 20.0% of women felt very tired or exhausted most days or every day, compared with 13.0% of men.

The same CDC report found that 36.0% of adults with that kind of frequent fatigue were limited in the kind or amount of work they could do, compared with 15.3% of adults without it. And 46.1% of adults with frequent fatigue reported difficulty with cognition. (The report shows these things travel together. It does not say which one causes the other.)

So one in five women is exhausted most days, and one in three has had her symptoms minimized. Those two groups overlap in a lot of offices.

Normal Labs but Still Tired Is a Career Problem With a Price Tag

I spent 15+ years in HR, rising to Chief People Officer. I can tell you how exhaustion shows up in a performance review. It reads "less visible this quarter" or "didn't raise her hand for the stretch role."

The Gallup and Pivotal survey put numbers on this. Overall, 42% of women reported at least one health-related impact on their work or career in the past five years.

Among women who experienced menopause symptoms, 28% said those challenges limited their effort at work. Fifteen percent decided not to pursue a promotion or a leadership role. Ten percent took extended leave or did not return.

Sit with the 15% for a second. Every promotion a woman does not go after is a raise she does not get, a title she does not hold, and a seat at the decision table that goes to someone else.

Senior women are carrying this at the highest levels too. The 2025 Women in the Workplace report from LeanIn.Org and McKinsey found that six in 10 senior-level women report frequently feeling burned out, compared with half of men at their level.

This is where my Sticky Floors vs. Glass Ceilings framework earns its keep, because both are at work here.

The glass ceiling is the external barrier. A healthcare experience where half of women report being dismissed, misdiagnosed, left without answers or given conflicting advice is a system problem. You did not create it.

The sticky floor is the internal habit. For so many of us it sounds like, "I'm going to push through this week. I'm going to push through this quarter. I'm going to get the kids through this thing." Pushing through is what made us successful. It is also what keeps our bodies from recovering. On the episode I called it the stickiest floor I have ever heard.

Jessica's answer to that: "You're the asset through which everything else runs."

Your judgment, your presence in the room and your ability to ask for more money all run on your energy. Protecting it is a business decision.

I remember a stretch when I was trying to be everywhere at once. Home, work, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, LinkedIn. I was so worn down that my answer was to invest in an AI tool that was supposed to help me keep up with all of it. Looking back, that was a decision I made on empty.

The tool took me further away from the woman I started my podcast and my business for. Then the exhaustion showed up in my work. I would sit down to write a podcast episode and have nothing. My creativity was zapped, and writing an episode had become a struggle.

That was when I knew how tired I was. I stopped showing up everywhere out of obligation and started showing up only where I had energy and joy.

Five Moves That Protect Your Answers and Your Career

Notebook with a two-week symptom and energy log next to a laptop

None of these are medical advice. They are what you can do as a patient and as a professional so that your next appointment and your next quarter both go better.

1. Track for two weeks before your next appointment

MedlinePlus recommends documenting your symptoms before a visit: what they feel like, when and where they happen, how long you have had them, and whether they have changed.

Add one column a doctor will not ask for and your career needs: what it cost you at work that day. For example: "Tuesday. Slept seven hours. Lost my focus at 2:00 PM. Moved the budget review to Thursday because I could not focus." Two weeks of entries like that turns "I'm tired" into a record.

2. Walk in with a one-page brief

You prep a brief for every big meeting at work. Your appointment gets one too.

MedlinePlus suggests writing down your questions and concerns ahead of time, listing every medicine you take (vitamins and supplements included), and bringing a friend or family member who can help you remember what was said. Put your number one concern at the top of the page, along with how long it has been going on and what it is doing to your work.

3. Ask questions that keep the case open

The federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality publishes a standing list of questions for patients. Three of them fit here: "What is the test for?" "When will I get the results?" "Are there any alternatives?"

I would add three of my own for the moment you hear "everything looks normal." What else could explain how I feel? What would you look at next? When do you want to see me again if nothing changes?

MedlinePlus says to keep asking until you understand the answers. Take that as permission.

4. Ask for a second opinion without apologizing

I got my second opinion from a different hormone doctor, and I am glad I did.

The MSD Manual, a long-standing medical reference (this page was reviewed in March 2025), says, "Most doctors welcome another opinion." It recommends asking your doctor for a referral, having your records sent ahead so tests do not get repeated, and checking with your insurer about coverage first.

Here is a sentence you can use word for word: "I'd like a second opinion on this. Who would you refer me to, and can your office send my records?"

5. Protect your job while you get answers

This is my home turf, so I will be direct. Know what you are entitled to before you need it.

The U.S. Department of Labor explains that the Family and Medical Leave Act gives eligible employees up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period, including for a serious health condition. You generally need 12 months with a covered employer, 1,250 hours in the past year, and a work location with at least 50 employees within 75 miles. That leave can be taken intermittently or on a reduced schedule when it is medically necessary.

The EEOC explains that employers with 15 or more employees must provide reasonable accommodations for a qualifying disability unless it causes undue hardship. Its examples include schedule changes, telework, and leave for treatment or symptoms. Whether your situation qualifies depends on what your clinician finds, so ask HR what documentation they need.

And while you wait on answers, put your highest-stakes work in the hours when you have the most energy. If your energy drops at 2:00 PM, your salary conversation and your big presentation belong at 9:30 AM.

Where AI Helps and Where It Stops

You know I am all up in the AI, so I will tell you what happened.

I had so much jaw tension one day (I clench my jaw when I am stressed, and it is a signal I like to ignore) that I started talking it through with ChatGPT. It asked me to describe my routine. Then it told me what it saw: I wake up and immediately start working, I go straight into mom mode, and then it is bedtime. No white space. Nothing. It suggested I give myself 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there.

That helped me see my calendar clearly. I treated it as a look at my schedule and nothing more.

Here is where I think AI is worth your time on this topic. Paste in your two weeks of notes and ask it to organize them into a one-page summary with your top three questions. Ask it to help you rehearse how you will open the appointment. Leave out anything you would not want stored.

Then take that page to a licensed clinician, because examining you, ordering tests and deciding on treatment is their job.

What I Want You to Take From This

You're not crazy. One in five women is exhausted most days. One in three has had her symptoms minimized or dismissed. A normal lab result is one data point, and the National Library of Medicine says so in writing.

Keep asking. Bring your record. Get the second opinion. Learn your leave and accommodation rights before you need them.

Your energy is what your authority and your paycheck are built on. Treat it like the asset it is.

If you want a room of women who will ask you the hard questions and back you while you do this, come see what HER Collective is about. We meet live every week for group coaching, and there is hands-on AI training built in. Read through what is included and decide if it is your room.

I am cheering you on.

Erica

Frequently Asked Questions

Why am I still tired if my labs are normal?

A normal result answers a narrow question. MedlinePlus, from the National Library of Medicine, says a result within a reference range isn't always a guarantee of good health, and Mayo Clinic lists many possible causes of fatigue that one test does not cover. Bring a written record of your symptoms to a licensed clinician and ask what they would look at next.

How do I get my doctor to take my fatigue seriously?

Walk in prepared. Track your symptoms for two weeks, write down what they cost you at work, bring a one-page brief with your top concern first, and ask what else could explain how you feel. If you still do not have answers, ask for a referral for a second opinion. You do not need to apologize for asking.

Is exhaustion a sticky floor or a glass ceiling?

In my Sticky Floors vs. Glass Ceilings framework, it can be both. Having your symptoms dismissed is an external barrier, which makes it a glass ceiling. The habit of pushing through week after week is internal, which makes it a sticky floor. You can work on the second one today while you keep pressing on the first.