Skip to main content

Chemotherapy Fatigue

 


One of the major side effects of Chemotherapy treatment is fatigue. Initially, I thought a bit of fatigue will be ok. A few extra naps on the couch won’t hurt. That won’t be a major side effect for me. Self-discovery through triple negative cancer has shown me otherwise.

How do I explain fatigue? Fatigue is not a simple tiredness and with a rest you feel better. It does not resemble a hangover or a night of insomnia. It is not a simple physical reaction to the chemotherapy. 

This is my explanation of fatigue…

Fatigue is an all encompassing black cloud that engulfs you on Day 6 and 7 of chemotherapy drawing every last molecule of energy out of your body so that you are simply left with a human frame lying horizontally on something soft. You are unable to move from the position of horizontal because there is nothing that is willing to work to hold your body upright. A simple hand under my head allows me to at least hold my head up to take a look around. My brain is working in slow motion and can’t even begin to think about watching something on tv to get through the day as that would be too taxing for my mind. So I simply lie and sleep. I lie and sleep, I lie and sleep. When I awake do I feel any better?? Nope. It is the longest two days to get through and life is so arduous. It is at the lowest point in the treatment that those sad, niggly thoughts begin to appear. The thoughts you keep down so deep desperately hoping they don’t surface as you need to stay strong throughout this ordeal. For me the fatigue is that little bit worse each round of treatment. As the cloud begins to lift halfway through day 7 and you get the glimpse of some sun rays shining in on your soul, you take a deep breath, exhale and pull yourself together ready to take that next step in the right direction. 

I took the image above just to show that there are definitely days where I am good and also days where I am not. And although I have a positive attitude and am fighting this thing head on I am only human and have some pretty crappy days. 

My advice to anyone going through this is be at peace with any emotion you feel; know that some days are going to be really rough but then the sun comes out and you will feel better; you will hear people say just listen to your body and rest but let me tell you that won’t be an option as your body will simply give up on you and all you will be able to do is rest (Be ok with that); let your loved ones know when you are having a bad day as they can support you to get through it.

Labels:

Comments

  1. VixApril 1, 2022 at 9:06 AM

    I’m coming out of my first dose of AC, 3 more at 3 weekly intervals to go, followed by 12 weekly treatments.
    Since day 2 I’ve been bed ridden, nauseous and no stength- glued to the bed apart from trips to the toilet. My son brings me soup, I have water by my bed but I’m like a shell of myself- no petrol .
    How am I going to manage the next 4 months?
    I’m scared

    ReplyDelete
  2. EnriqueApril 1, 2022 at 10:36 AM

    I started my mom on it 3 weeks before where AC treatment because it takes 2 weeks to kick in the effects it’s a immune booster and digestive mushroom supplement the brand I got her was real mushroom she didn’t get sick the whole time other then brain fog for about 5 days but she was able to work out eat and do daily things and her oncologist didn’t understand how we feel that those supplements are a big part of recovery her mass went from 12cm to 2cm good luck I hope you can feel better

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anh TramApril 20, 2022 at 6:40 AM

    Im 42 years old, from Perth, tripple negative BC , had just finished 4 rounds of AC ... need to finish another 4 rounds of Taxol every 2weeks then surgery... just want to send some ❤❤❤ to you , i hope you can feel better soon

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Taxol Dose Dense Treatment

My first experience with Taxol dose dense treatment follows two months of AC dose dense treatment and was certainly something to write about. Obviously everyone’s experience is different and I can only reflect on my experience with the drug.  Dose dense basically means that I receive the chemotherapy drugs with less time between treatments than standard chemotherapy which allows the drugs to interrupt the rapid growth phase of the tumour cells.  There has been a fair bit of research completed on the benefits of dose dense and one article in particular grabbed my attention. It is called ‘Dose Dense-Intensive Chemotherapy Improves Survival in Early Stage Breast Cancer.’ (Cancerconnect, 2020).  A couple of stats within this article state that: Overall survival was improved by nearly 30% among the women treated with dose-dense chemotherapy. At 10 years, survival for women with hormone-negative breast cancer (cancer that is not stimulated to grow from exposure to female hormon...
Post a Comment
Read more

2 years from diagnosis

Today is my two year anniversary from my triple negative breast cancer diagnosis and one year from the end of treatment. I am so grateful that I am here and able to write this blog. The hardship, that has been the last two years, has made me so much stronger.  It has not been all rainbows and butterflies since fighting the terrible disease. The after effects of chemotherapy have left me with long term issues such as weak bones, osteoarthritis, neuropathy and plantar fasciitis in my feet, lack of fitness and the inability to lose weight and then the mental side of things which is all to do with the fear of the disease coming back.  On top of that, the day I was told that my margins were clear from my lumpectomy was the day my mum went in to have a mass looked at in her pancreas which turned out to be pancreatic cancer which is terminal. The timing of this was ironic as I couldn’t celebrate the feeling of surviving this horrible disease when mum was at the beginning of her cance...
Post a Comment
Read more

A year long fight against Triple Negative Breast Cancer

It has been over a year of fighting this horrible cancer. What a year it has been.  I was diagnosed on the 27th January 2022 with Triple Negative Breast Cancer after turning 40 and having a routine mammogram. I had no signs or symptoms but was just being precautionary. So I was in a bit of shock when the news was broken to me. I was 40 and couldn’t believe I had the most aggressive type of breast cancer.  The next six months was the hardest six months I had experienced. It started with dose dense red devil which was the harshest treatment to experience. It took my hair, energy, and zest for life. The fatigue was the hardest but I managed to push through each day. Scans at the end of the 4 dose dense treatments showed that this drug had shrunk my cancer significantly which was a motivator to keep going.  The next stage was dose dense Taxol. I was meant to have 12 doses but because I had managed the dose dense regime with the red devil drug they decided to go dose dense wit...
Post a Comment
Read more