Is fatigue normal

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Kiks1
Kiks1 Member Posts: 254
edited March 2016 in Surgery - Before, During, and After

So now I have a new fear. I am already 3.5 weeks out from a bmx but have been feeling very tired lately. I have not really been doing much, just some light house packing, couple hours a day. Usually by 2 to 3 in the afternoon, I start feeling exhausted. Even climbing stairs make me breathless. I am not on any medication and sleeping ok ( about 7 to 8 hours).

Is this normal? Thanks everyone.

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  • 70charger
    70charger Member Posts: 963
    edited January 2016

    yup, your normal. Your body has been through a lot & is using extra energy to heal. Give it time, ALOT of time. Not just a few weeks, think more in terms of months. They say 2-4 yrs after all active treatment is done. It sucks. Welcome to our new normal. Get lots of rest, drink lots of fluids. Don't overdo it. Good Luck, happy healing.

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  • BethL
    BethL Member Posts: 286
    edited January 2016

    I couldn't go more than 3 or 4 hours without laying down until about the 4 week mark. I'm now at 5 1/2 weeks and can stay up all day. I coukd go to bed around 6pm if my kids would let me though! I've heard it takes a week for every hour you're under anesthesia to clear the meds, and a month for every hour to feel "normal". My surgery was 7 hours, ugh if that is true. I find I forget things all the time, like in mid sentence! It will get better I'm sure....it better!

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  • trailrose
    trailrose Member Posts: 219
    edited January 2016

    You just went through major surgery! It took me almost 5 weeks to have most of my energy come back. I thought I read somewhere that for every hour one is under anesthesia then that's approxiametly how many weeks it takes to get back to feeling like one has more energy. I was under for 4 1/2 hours.

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  • MelissaDallas
    MelissaDallas Member Posts: 7,268
    edited January 2016

    Kiks, I had a huge surgery with omentectomy for ovarian cancer. When I kept saying how exhausted I was (and that I felt like

    i was freezing to death, my nurse navigator told me it takes 6 months to a year for anyone to recover from a major surgery. I was also very anemic after the surgery which contributed and Ithey never really told me that. Pissed me off that they didn't tell me that taking some iron would speed up recovery, which in fact made me geel better almost immediately

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  • Kiks1
    Kiks1 Member Posts: 254
    edited January 2016

    Whew! FINALLY, I have a legit reason to be lazy. Thanks everyone.

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  • MsVeryDenseBreasts
    MsVeryDenseBreasts Member Posts: 100
    edited January 2016

    Ditto what trail rose said. The only real effect I had from surgery was truing to regain stamina. I found I needed an extra 1-2 hrs of sleep a night for about 6 weeks (I also had a 4.5 hr surgery). I just went through exchange (2 hr surgery) and the shorter surgery has made a huge difference. I still need extra sleep but am not as tired as I was after the first surgery. I noticed stamina differences in terms of getting back to my full exercise routine too. That too about 2 mos to get back to full scale.

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  • CC-TigerDragon
    CC-TigerDragon Member Posts: 4
    edited March 2016

    Mar. 17th, 2016

    THANK YOU 70charger for your reassurance!

    I am 6 months post double mastectomy, and see improvements in periodic chunks of time.


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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited March 2016

    CC-TigerDragon, welcome to Breastcancer.org community, and thanks for sharing your experience.


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  • okbecca
    okbecca Member Posts: 106
    edited March 2016

    THANK YOU for bringing this topic. I'm 10 days post bmx, and the exhaustion is unlike anything I've ever felt before. It helps a lot to know that this is part of the ride.

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  • Jacklin
    Jacklin Member Posts: 162
    edited March 2016

    And I'll say thank you for posting this so I know what to expect. I was wondering about this and now I have a better idea. Thank you all for sharing so openly, I so appreciate everyone's honesty and openness.


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  • JCS28
    JCS28 Member Posts: 153
    edited March 2016

    Thanks for bringing this up. I thought I was doing pretty well about a month after surgery, but then I had my first chemo. The first one was the worst and made me the most tired, and now I think that is because I was still recovery from surgery. I can't wait for it to all be over and to have a burst of energy.

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