Radiation Fatigue possible right away?

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3bmom
3bmom Member Posts: 4
edited June 2014 in Radiation Therapy - Before, During, and After

 I just had my second rad session today and feel really tired and am a little pink...Is this probably my imagination or can radiation start effecting you right away?

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  • linn56
    linn56 Member Posts: 210
    edited November 2009

    Pink, yes. Tired this fast, no. It take a while before you are depleted enough to feel tired. Like 2 weeks or so. Maybe faster if you were tired from chemo going in. The stress of strating rads can make you tired.

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  • jancie
    jancie Member Posts: 2,631
    edited November 2009

    3bmom - I started getting radiation fatigue within 5 days after starting treatment.  I started radiation 8 weeks after surgery so my body was pretty much healed up by then.  I had also experienced extreme fatigue during chemo.  With radiation, I wanted to do things, my body felt well enough (unlike chemo) but I just couldn't.  It wasn't physically possible for me to walk more than 3/4 mile when I had been walking 2 miles a day prior to starting rads.  I think I must just be one of those very "tired" people. 

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  • linn56
    linn56 Member Posts: 210
    edited November 2009

    From what I have read here people who have had chemo get tired much faster. 2 stresses back to back.

    I was 8 weeks out from surgery too...kept putting it off! I was healing well and was afraid the rads would stop that.

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  • 3bmom
    3bmom Member Posts: 4
    edited November 2009

    thanks for the input.  I'm not doing chemo.  I think it's probably just stress or depression.  there's a bunch of other stuff going on besides health issues.

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  • LoveMyLife
    LoveMyLife Member Posts: 2
    edited November 2009

    Just had surgery on Wednesday, and had the mammosite balloon put in.  Actually am feeling pretty good.  Nothing in the nodes, stage 1, grade 2. (Not really sure what any of those mean).  How soon does the 5 day mammosite radiation begin.  I have read all about the cysts and soreness, but wonder if I will feel ill, or what type of fatigue to expect?  Any one know?

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  • Sparrow
    Sparrow Member Posts: 262
    edited November 2009

    3bmom, I have had 3 radiation treatments so far.  The last one was friday and today I am exhausted.  I don't know why but I don't feel like I'm getting sick, I'm just wiped out.  I just got up from a 3 hour nap.  Very unusual for me.

    I didn't have chemo either. 

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  • linn56
    linn56 Member Posts: 210
    edited November 2009

    Sparrow, aren't you taking xanax? That would make you tired too. Plus the stress.

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  • Sparrow
    Sparrow Member Posts: 262
    edited November 2009

    linn56, quite possibly.  I'll see my rad onc on tuesday and ask her about it.  It might be plain old emotional exhaustion too.  

    I started on Xanax & Klonopin after my DX and took it until surgery and for about a month after that. They never made me tired before.

    I can't handle rads without the Xanax & Klonopin...  and the sleep mask and ear plugs.  ;)  Maybe I'll just have to learn to handle being tired for 5 weeks.

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  • blondie45
    blondie45 Member Posts: 580
    edited November 2009

    Yes I was very tired right away but I started rads 2-1/2 weeks after I finished chemo and my doctor said that is probably why. I was told the fatigue would be progressive but for me it has pretty much been the same throughout. I have 9 sessions to go.

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  • LoveMyLife
    LoveMyLife Member Posts: 2
    edited November 2009

    Sparrow, are you doing the mammosite radiation (the 5 day/2 times a day) type?  I am totally in the dark as to what to expect as far as energy.  Also, is there any nausea that goes along with this.  Love My Life!

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  • poetjanet
    poetjanet Member Posts: 41
    edited November 2009

    hello 3bmom,

     I got tired too on day two, I did not have chemo.  But that fatigue went away and didn't come back again until treatment # 12, and then I felt really whiped out in the evening, and then in the morning before i had to be there for treatment .  Hopefully it will go away for you too, and not come back for awhile. 

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  • Sparrow
    Sparrow Member Posts: 262
    edited November 2009

    Hi, LoveMyLife!  I'm just doing the regular external beam radiation.  I hope the mammosite works well for you!  The shortened treatment time sounds good to me.  :)   Good luck!

    I have more of my energy back now, but I am a teeny bit more tired than usual.  I think it's just stress at this point.

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