Is anyone else BONE tired? How long will this last?

I'm wondering the same thing myself! I'm still sleeping an average of 10+ hours a night ...

Hi Ladies,

Hands up here for being tired, especially by the end of the week!!  I need a nap during the week and go to my mom's if even for 10-15 minutes to get going again, on weekends I may nap for about a 1/2 hour but not always now.

I am 2 years out of treatment in August.  It does take a long time to build your stamina up unfortunately, but you will get there baby steps at a time.

I tell my dh all the time how frustrating it is some days when I have no energy to do anything and miss my pre-bc energizer bunny self.

I just recently started back at the gym a month ago and some of my fatigue is starting to disapate finally... but some days I wake up full of energy and 1/2 way through the day I'm done....

We will all get there slowly....

Your bc sister

Michele 

I finished chemo July of 06 and herceptin March 07. I always seemed to be dog tired. Two things helped a lot. The first one came from a book about health after cancer treatment. (I don't remember the exact name or author but can look it up.) It said to try not to nap. Sounds weird but it said that napping during the day decreases the amount of "restorative sleep" we get at night and that restorative sleep is what the body needs to heal. I wasn't always successful at not napping, but I think less napping did help. I slept 9.5 hours a night for quite a few months.

Shortly after I finished herceptin and despite being a couch potato, I decided I wanted to try to walk a marathon. So I started walking with friends at the local high school track. I was unsuccessful in completing the marathon (bad feet) but I have walked 10 and 12 miles while training and walked a bit over 8 miles in a Relay for Life. I'm trying to keep up the walking by signing up to walk 10K's. Going for a walk when you're flat out tired is a really hard thing to convince yourself to do.

Hang in there,

Nancy

Some people manifest depression as either cognitive dysfunction or physical fatigue. After all you've been through, perhaps a chemical imbalance in the brain is to blame? It can be hard to ferret out.

Anne

I had my treatment in '05 and I've just recently come to realize that my thyroid is out of balance.  I suspect it's been out of balance since radiation and now that it has come to light I have medical professionals who are not helping with my hypothyroid condition.  That's yet another hurdle to navigate in this road to recovery. 

Fatigue can be a culprit in so many things, but unexplained weight gain, difficulty getting rid of the weight gain, elevated cholesterol, dry itchy skin, constipation are also signs of hypothyroid.  I've also learned that standards for testing and screening were revised in 2002 and everyone I go to is using the older information.  I'm also getting the impression that doctors get very little training about thyroids.  It appears to very common for people, women mostly, to suffer for a long time before thyroid disease is diagnosed and treated.