Still have the fatigue after 2 years.

  I am still in treatment but I feel because we don't have a cast or something our family just thinks we should be able to do all the stuff we normally do. NOT!!! I have 18 more RADS and Herceptin until may. They have a long way to go!!! I really think their should be a class where family members who are close to you and are your caregivers to teach them that what we go thru and how long these side effects can last in our bodies. Just because we are through with treatments does not mean we still are not feeling the effects. I have a very good nurse practioner at my onc. And she has stated I will at the very least be battling some side effects for at least a year. I love her much perfer to see her than onc. And I agree the Hypothroidism is a key factor. I have been battling mine for 6yrs, and it goes up and down which they have to adjust your meds. Unfournatley we have to ask for it. I had a miscarriage and after wards asked them to check my thyroid do to that and the se of thyroid disease. Sure enough I was a high 18.  Since my diagnoises of cancer this is the weird part it has not gone up and down like it has. But I know it is not right when my hair thins or I am really tired even though I have had a good sleep. I wish you all luck and hopefully this fog will lift!!!

                                                                   Bridget

Hi sisters, I have been around so long, I have moss on my computer forearms!  But I have a couple of suggestions that maybe you have not thought of, no magical cures, but a couple of ideas.

People have found, by accident, that the Anti-Depressive, Effexor, helps some women a lot with menopausal symptoms.  So this might be worth a try.

I take vitamins:  Believe me, no magic bullet here, but remember, your immune system, your mental health and your poor body have taken a huge hit.  And it might need some help getting back to more normal.

I take, have taken for many, many years:  1000mg of C, a very good B Complex, Co-Enzyme 10, 1000units of D, folic Acid, Fish oil, and a bunch of stuff that may or not have any use.  Green Tea capsules, Cranberry capsules, Grapeseed capsules, a multiple for the trace elements (they do not contain enough of the C, B or D to do any good.

So, I have a little box, for me and my husband and I fill it once a week and just chug these down.  I have never had fatigue (but, of course, who knows why?) and I hardly ever get colds, any opportunistic little infections.

So while this is surely not a cure, it can't hurt and might help.  At least you feel that you are doing something to get back to normal.

Gentle hugs, Shirlann

PS:  Don't ask your doc, unless you want to get slammed!!!!!

 

I had neuropathy and still have some days when the fatigue seems to come out of nowhere, and I can hardly do anything.

It has been almost a year since I finished chemo, and I am still battling fatigue.  I felt the fatigue during my last 2 txs, and I was still very tired for about 3 weeks post chemo.  I did start to feel better for awhile, but in May I started a little p/t job, and  8/13, I had a D & C for uterine polyps, caused by Tamoxifen.  I have been taking Tamoxifen since last Nov.  Anyway, I just saw my pcp dr. and told him that for the past week, especially, I have been feeling so very tired!  He ran some bloodwork, and gave me a B-12 shot. 

The jury is still out, but I DO seem to feel a little bit better.  I know someone, a former co-worker, who told me that she used to get B-12 shots, and they worked magic for her!  She said that she would go in to the dr. office feeling very tired, and she was also very moody, and within a half hour, she was feeling so much better!  I am not sure, but maybe due to the Tamoxifen, I am still not sleeping too well, and I wonder if that isn't part of my problem with fatigue. 

Anyway, I am going to try to add some more supplements to my vitamin regimen, to see if that helps any.  The only problem with that is I do not always take the vitamins every day... I know, very stupid of me.

Hope you all are feeling better soon.  I also exercise when I have time, but with this p/t job, it's hard to try to fit it in. 

Edited to add: 

Nicki,

a thyroid disorder isn't always so easily treated.  I have been taking Levotyroxine for the past 10 years, and I still have problems with fatigue alot...  My drs. think it is just a matter of taking a pill every day, and you are all better, but it isn't.  I think it may be that for me, at least, I have Hashimotos thyroiditis, which is an auto immune disorder, and my body thinks that my thyroid is a foreign invader, so it is always trying to fight it.  That is just my two cents worth...

Harley 

Hi all

Marylou, my diagnosis in May 2007 was very similar to your own. I finished treatment in March of this year and along with the dreaded hand and foot neuropathy, there are so many times when i could just crawl under a rock i get so exhausted. What i do find however (this on the advice of a nutritionist) is that when i stay off sugar (difficult i know!) and eat a high protein diet my energy levels are so very much better. It means ensuring i eat protein with every meal, which seems to balance my blood sugar. for what it's worth ....... Louise

Hi ladys I have the same thing.I'm 15 months out and tired all the time.I'm on arimidex and that might be causeing it.I have tried every vitimen energy booster drinks nothing has worked.I have insomnia and I have tried all kinds of sleep aids and nothing works.I have had my thyroid checked and that came back normal.So I know how you feel......godbless roxy

I am almost two years since dx.  I am still VERY tired!  I had 8 rounds of chemo, 6 weeks of rads, 36 weekly transfusions of Herceptin and just had surgery 7 weeks ago to remove port and finish my reconstruction. I talked with Onco this week and he said that it could take up to one year or longer after treatments are finished to feel better.  He is very understanding, says that even though they know what the treatments do, they do not know it all.  I will continue to be tired and just hope for B9 scans.  Tiredness, I can deal with

Yep I still had the fatigue after 2yrs and had been having it investigated

I was told I was more at risk of BC fatigue as I had Glandular Fever as a teenager

was tested for sleep apnoea, thyriod, various blood tests etc nothing came up

went to a clinic for fatigue after BC in australia and they taught me how

to manage the SX  

they are exercise

gentle walking 30 min every day  pluss

build up cardio exercise every 2nd day

starting @ 7min and add a minute each week 

wean yourself off your nana naps and have a regular bedtime

dont try to do to much in one day spread it out over a week

emotional and physical stress can trigger an episode  

this had improve me greatly - it is important to remember 

not to had big bursts of energy as you will get the resultant crash of fatigue

best to keep at an even pace - I am getting so much better if I follow this pattern 

plus my oncologist had me tested for vitiman D deficency

and I had the levels of an old lady in a nursing home who never sees the sun

I now get out and have my 20 minutes of sun time and have Vit D suppliments 

I am now finding I have a better life and I am starting to have days of the old me!

which is fantastic 

love

Cherub 

Well I had my monthly crash this weekend ....things have been really crazy this past month and I could feel it starting to happen so tried to rest more but this weekend was the grand fanale!!!!!!

I woke yesterday morning with a headache and the bugger hung on all day....worked out side thinking I needed some excercise to combat the fatigue....got alot of yard work done so am happy about that but the constant headache was not nice....then about 3 yeaterday afternoon I got so tired I had to just sit on the ground...it was so severe that it felt like my legs were going to crumble beneath me.....I sat there for about 20 mintues before I could get the energy to get myself up right and into the house....slept the rest of the day and all night...I didnt wake until my alarm went off at 5:30 this morning...

I felt pretty good for the first couple of hours of the day but now my headache is back....

Mary-Lou-YES CANCER SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope all you ladies had a nice weekend.

Hugs

Jule

Mary-Lou

Im a grandma too and Ive had those days when Ive had the kids that Im fine one minute then suddenly Im not sure I can make it......thankfully the kids are a little older now as well so that helps....my daughter very rarely asks me to watch the kids so I generally have to instigate a kids night with grandma myself so I try to schedule those right after I start feeling better from a big crash now...so far its worked well. But I will sure be glad when the days come that I wont crash like that...

Im sorry to hear about your kids friend....its always sad to hear things like that...

Hugs

Jule

I am glad I found this thread. I have just made it to 5 years and I am still tired. I think this is a real long term side effect from treatment.

I was treated for Hodgkins Disease in 1993. The radiation from that damaged my thyroid and I have been on synthroid ever since.  I was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer 10 years later and the side effects from the treatment this time have never fully gone away. I am always tired and feel drained. I just don't have the energy I used to. I know my husband thinks I am just lazy and use it as an excuse. I just know having poison pumped inside me has done something to my body. I feel like it is all in my head sometimes and then sometimes I know my body has taken a beating. The medical community needs to acknowledge this as a possible long term side effect. It is not our fault that our bodies no longer feel like they once did.