Tired even before diagnosis

I was tired. I also gained about 30 pounds the year before my diagnoses. I was too busy to get it checked out, until I found the mass in my breast.

I was very tired before my diagnosis of idc as well. I thought it had to with my existing conditions of panhypopituitary and having no adrenal glands and could not figure out what changed

it was a bolt from the blue for me. I felt perfectly fine before my annual mammo turned up the tumor

Tikkasmom, When I think back on the time period before my diagnosis, the one and only "symptom" I can put my finger on is fatigue. I remember feeling tired all the time. So often I thought how good it would feel to just lay down for a while. I knew something was wrong, just didn't think it would end up being cancer. Hoping your path results are the best.

Kaya

I know I was tired--more tired than usual. Though, I thought it was because I had transitioned from being a full time pre-med college student to working 40 hours a week, helping take care of sibling with special needs, and training for a half marathon. Not sure if it was the cancer that made me super exhausted or I just had a lot of things going on.

Yes. I was tired and it wasn't a tired that would go away with sleep

I was unusually tired off and on for a few years before diagnosis. I noticed it the most when I exercised and just didn't have the same endurance or energy level as previously. Also sometimes just felt super exhausted and wanted to lay down and felt a little ill. Because my mom had had breast cancer I even googled if fatigue was a symptom of cancer! I couldn't find any website that said it was, so I delayed getting fully checked out. I've mentioned this fatigue to doctors and no one seemed interested. Hard to know if its the fatigue causing the cancer or vice versa! My guess is that the fatigue might have been from other untreated factors, and was symptomatic of a struggling immune system and inflammation within the body.

When I was first diagnosed in September 2010, the only symptom I had was tiredness. In the summer months proceeding my diagnosis I was nodding off every time I sat down. The tiredness reminded me of how I felt in early months of my first pregnancy. It was a tiredness (exhaustion) that sleep did not satisfy. I told my doctors of this only symptomwhen I was first diagnosed. But like my surgeon and oncologist they all agreed that tiredness alone was too subjective to consider as a symptom, as we can be tired for many reasons and therefore it was not objective enough in considering cancer.

I have been tired my whole life so I wouldn't know whether exhaustion was a symptom for me.  My cousin was diagnosed with breast cancer the year before I was diagnosed.  I asked her about fatigue and radiation.  Her response to me was, "How would I know whether radiation caused me to be tired?  I am always exhausted.  I can't tell."  I am still tired now.  I am a single parent and I constantly worry about finances.  I work about 10 hours per day in addition to a 2 and 1/2 hour commute round trip to/from work every day.  I'm sure that this response doesn't help.  Good luck.

Weird thing is that when I was notified of the anomaly on my annual mammo I was feeling better and stronger (especially after getting new knees and losing weight) than ever before. But for some soreness in my SNB incision, I still feel healthy. (Get back to me after radiation and I’ll let you know if that changes). Didn’t even have the fatigue they warned me I’d have after lumpectomy, although I was incredibly charley-horsed, as if I’d done every Nautilus machine in the gym at full resistance, for several days due to the succinylcholine they administered as a muscle relaxant (apparently, every muscle in the body goes into spasm before they relax).Still feels very, very surreal.

I felt and looked the best in my entire life before dx. It floored me. It felt like my body was keeping an evil secret

I was very, very tired. In fact, I went to see my chair and told him that I didn't think I could handle teaching the number of courses I was scheduled to teach the next semester. I almost started crying as I spoke with him (not at all like me) but I was just really, REALLY wiped out. Just a couple of weeks later I was diagnosed with cancer. AND, I have to say that I do not feel that way anymore. I am feeling much MUCH better (better rested, less stressed) these days (one year from my diagnosis) than I did before it.

Yes, I think from fear. Fear can exhaust you. I just wanted to curl up in a ball! Now that I know I have IDC I'm actually feeling more rested. Knowing is so much better than wondering--doing that mental see-sawing between:"Oh, I'm just imagining it, it keeps slipping away,it's not painful,no family history, I eat a lot of broccoli..." to "God, it's firm and RIGHT THERE under my fingers..."

Hang in, sweetie.