She sustained injuries from a long labour and forceps delivery, and was left with a torn bowel and a dysfunctional bladder and was forced to live with a catheter for the next three months, with many trips in and out of hospital for various infections.

But it was more than just the physical injuries from birth that plagued her.

“I was trying to look after a colicky baby that never stopped screaming – unless she was asleep,’’ says Filipa, who is now 40.

“Over time I started developing more issues – fatigue, depression, anxiety, heartburn, low-immunity, skin issues, chronic sciatica pain, muscle weakness and chemical sensitivities.’’

She achieved some relief through a major diet overhaul, studying nutrition, and visiting naturopaths, remedial therapists and energy healers. Then Filipa had her second child, Elsie, three years later, and despite a better birthing experience, things again went downhill quickly.

“It reared its ugly head up with vengeance,’’ she says of her anxiety and other health issues.

“I was angry, irritable and on edge, I was the Dragon Mum. Screaming at my newborn baby and toddler (and hubby) all the time. I even started experiencing panic attacks. I’d completely lost the plot. It scared me. I was deeply scaring myself. What type of mother had I become? If I didn’t get a grip, I feared I’d end up psychologically damaging the kids, and getting a divorce.’’

The GPs she saw over the years had been no help – all her blood test results were “fine”. She was a new mum, and apparently it was “normal” to feel exhausted.

But Filipa knew it was more than that. Because while her mum friends slowly recovered from the brain fog and lack of sleep that comes with having a newborn baby, Filipa’s symptoms grew worse – rather than better – as the months ticked by.

Looking back, she says the five years before having children had been a particularly intense time, as she had been completing her PhD, while also working in academia, and helping her husband, Chris, build a fitness business.

“Let’s just say I was ‘juggling all the things’ and ‘burning the candle at both ends’ and this was before chucking kids into the mix,’’ Filipa says.

Add to this the stress and relentless demands of having two young kids to care for, and Filipa’s health suffered as a result, leading to what is commonly known as burnout.

Burnout is recognised as a medical condition by the World Health Organisation and is typically defined as a state of complete mental, physical and emotional exhaustion. Things like high-stress jobs, unmanageable workloads, deadline pressure, lack of sleep, lack of family support, and chronic stress related to caregiving demands often come together to create a perfect storm of exhaustion and overwhelm, leading to increased anger and frustration, loss of enjoyment in everyday life, brain fog, insomnia, anxiety, depression, digestive issues, body aches, increased susceptibility to viruses and infections, and a host of other burnout symptoms.

Traditionally considered a workplace-related condition – numerous studies show Australian workers experience some of the highest rates of stress and burnout in the world – burnout is now recognised as more widespread, with women, and particularly mums, most susceptible.

“While it is more commonly known that one in every five mothers develop postnatal depression in the first two years after childbirth, more recent data reveals that mothers juggling work and home life face prolonged pressures and poor mental health, in particular anxiety, and physical burnout – regardless of a child’s age or a women’s socio-economic background,’’ Filipa says.

She says not only do many women care for their children, but they also work, and typically do the bulk of household chores as well as carrying the mental load of the family, doing everything for everyone else, often to the detriment of their own health and wellbeing.

Add to that our increased access to technology – which means we’re always connected and always switched on – along with the unrealistic ideals many of us try to live up to based on what we see on social media, then add the stress, uncertainty and financial pressure of a global pandemic and the rising cost of living and it’s hardly surprising that so many of us are feeling burnt out.

“With technology, we have access to so much, so quickly now,’’ Filipa says.

“I remember, growing up, my mum was still talking to her best friend on the phone that was connected to the wall. Because technology and our access to it has sped up so fast, there’s not those natural rhythms of rest and recharge that were there more so in the past.

“We’re over-connected, and that massive dopamine hit becomes very addictive. That’s partly why there’s a lot of burnout as well. We’re just bombarded with notifications, and bright lights, and colourful things and Zoom calls. And we weren’t created like that, we weren’t created to be bombarded with so much information.’’

Although the height of the pandemic has passed, Filipa believes it had – and continues to have – a big impact on many people.

“I feel like people are still carrying trauma from Covid and they don’t know it,’ she says.

“Just the whole uncertainty of that time is just constantly triggering our nervous systems … we’ve got all this baggage from the past.’’

And rising interest rates and other financial pressures haven’t helped.

“It’s almost like a pressure cooker over time,’’ Filipa says.

“Things build up and build up.’’

And then eventually, people get to a point where their bodies and minds can no longer function effectively.

She says in the modern world, being busy is often seen as a “badge of honour”.

“It’s really programming, or continuing to program, this need that we always have to be ‘doing’ to be a worthwhile human being, which I think is essentially causing burnout,’’ she says. “As opposed to ‘you’re good enough exactly as you are’.

“While busyness, addictive-doing, perfectionism and people-pleasing might be the ‘norm’ (and even a badge of honour) – it’s NOT ‘normal’. And it’s a major contributor to health issues. Without the right tools or capacity, body burnout quickly follows.’’

Filipa hails from Tasmania, having grown up in Deloraine, while Chris is from Townsville.

The pair met in Brisbane in October 2007 and a whirlwind romance followed – they quickly fell in love, were engaged for only a few weeks and got married at the beginning of February in 2008. In hindsight Filipa laughs at how quickly everything happened, but the fact she and Chris are still living – and working – together happily, 17 years later, speaks volumes.

They were living in Sydney but moved to Tasmania almost 12 years ago.

“We moved to Tasmania after our first baby was born, as that’s really when my first body burnout experience happened,’’ Filipa explains.

“And I needed to be near my mum.’’

During her path to recovery Filipa not only trained – and worked – as a clinical nutritionist, but also trained as a functional medicine practitioner. And now, together with husband Chris, a mindset coach, they run a functional medicine practice – Chris and Filly Functional Medicine – from Latrobe, in Tasmania’s North-West.

Functional medicine combines evidence-based functional lab testing with natural therapies to address body system imbalances and root causes.

“I was fascinated that I could test the health of my gut microbiome, my brain chemicals, hormones, mitochondria and detox pathways – body systems that go beyond what regular medical doctors test,’’ Filipa says of why she decided to train as a health practitioner.

‘’I did a mentorship with world-renowned USA-based functional medicine doctor, Dr Daniel Kalish, who first helped me to heal my body, then to heal others. It was a game changer!’’

Filipa had been practising functional medicine since 2016. Then, after the pandemic hit, she and Chris – a former athlete and army reservist who has a degree in human movement and also has a burnout story of his own – decided to join forces, launching Chris and Filly Functional Medicine in 2020.

“We pivoted and really intentionally wanted to practice virtually so we could work with people all over the world,’’ she says.

As well as seeing plenty of Tassie clients in their brick and mortar business in Latrobe, and via telehealth in other parts of the state, Filipa and Chris have patients interstate and overseas. They have built a strong public profile across social media platforms, their weekly podcast continues to thrive, and together they have helped thousands of people to overcome energy, mood and gut issues and beat body burnout.

Filipa has recently released her first book – written with vital input from Chris – called Ending Body Burnout.

The book is aimed largely at women – although Filipa says about 90 per cent of the information would be applicable to men as well – and aims to help readers recover from burnout and get their spark back.

“I really feel like I’m living my purpose for being on this planet,’’ Filipa says of being able to help others through writing the book.

She says the vast majority of her clients – 80-90 per cent – are women. They’re usually in their late 30s, 40s and 50s, and sometimes their 60s and 70s. And they mostly present with the same story.

They have energy issues: they’re exhausted, they wake up tired, they live with brain fog and low motivation, they suffer from insomnia, they have body aches.

They also have mood issues: anxiety, depression, irritability, snappiness, mood swings, premenstrual syndrome or perimenopause symptoms, post-traumatic stress disorder, an inability to cope with stressors they used to be able to cope with, and sensory overload.

They often have gut issues: bloating, gas, heartburn, reflux, indigestion, cramps, diarrhoea, constipation, nausea, food sensitivities, irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, skin issues, autoimmunity, and are prone to infections.

Many are in perimenopause, which starts to exacerbate their underlying health issues. Others have spent decades living with unexplained symptoms and become increasingly determined to find an explanation so they can finally start to feel better.

They have usually been to a GP – or multiple GPs – and have had a barrage of blood tests and scans done in a bid to try and explain their symptoms, but all results come back as normal. Some have previously experimented with diet changes or supplements, without much success. And all are desperate to feel better.

“We end up with clients who have tried lots things but haven’t been able to get any solutions,’’ Filipa explains.

She says there is always some sort of body system out of balance, whether that’s the neuroendocrine system (incorporating things like the adrenals, brain, mitochondria and sex hormones), the gastrointestinal system (covering the digestive organs, microbiome and vaginal ecosystem) or the detoxification system (including the liver, kidneys, lymphatic system and the elimination pathways for getting toxins and inflammation out of the body).

So Filipa typically runs some lab tests – usually saliva, stool, urine or blood tests – to identify what those imbalances are, and then looks at why they might be happening.

What are her patients eating? How are they sleeping? How are they moving their body? What is their environment like in terms of mould or other toxins?

Then at a deeper level, she looks at how people are wired. Perhaps they are perfectionists or people pleasers, for example, which could be fuelling their burnout.

“We’re not just a physical body, we are also a mental and emotional body,” Filipa says.

She says while conventional medicine is great for diagnosing big things like cancer and heart disease and diabetes, it’s “not so great at offering solutions for auto-immunity type stuff, fatigue, gut issues and a lot of symptoms people present with … they just fall into the gaps of the traditional medical system’’.

She says there is a lot of research to support functional medicine testing, and lab tests are TGA approved and produce good results.

Filipa believes her own burnout related to “dysfunctional beliefs I had about myself” and “unprocessed trauma” from the past, despite having “a lovely upbringing and a normal life”.

“My very high over-achieving perfectionist patterns led to my burnout,’’ she explains.

After working through her own trauma, Filipa trained as a trauma therapist, a skill she uses to help clients work through their past.

Another part of her work is helping clients to get clear on what they want in life – what they want their future and their health to be like, and helping to reprogram and regulate their nervous systems, as many of her patients are constantly stuck in a state of fight or flight.

Filipa, who turned 40 earlier this month, says her own health is now “probably the best it has ever been, since I was teenager”.

She says having been on both sides of burnout she understands the challenges, and feels well-equipped to help others navigate their way to a happier and healthy life.

“Burnout is real’’ Filipa says.

“It may sound like ‘exhaustion’ is the norm for ‘busy’ women juggling all the things – but it’s not normal and it doesn’t have to be this way.’’

Ending Body Burnout by Filipa Bellette (with Chris Bellette) is available now, $29.95. For more information about Chris and Filly, including podcasts, visit chrisandfilly.fm