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My mom has breast cancer and is having chemotherapy. She is so tired all the time and hasn't been able to work. I keep bugging her to tell her doctor how tired she is but she says that she doesn't want to bug him. Does anyone have any suggestions of things she might do to help her deal with this draining fatigue?
Exercise Cancer Surgery Counseling Breast cancer Anemia Chemotherapy Pain Depression Acupuncture Chiropractic Stress
Fatigue has so many different causes and patterns and it may require the use of many strategies for effective treatment. For these reasons, it is important that you discuss your symptoms with your nurse or physician in order to devise an individual plan that will work. While there are no standard medical treatments for fatigue, new tools exist for evaluating and coping with fatigue. The following suggestions may also help you to cope with fatigue and have more energy:
Treat anemia: Anemia is the most common cause of fatigue in cancer patients. It is also very treatable with drugs such as Aranesp know as an ESP
Maintain good nutrition: Maintaining good nutritional intake during treatment is especially important because cancer treatments increase the nutritional demands of the body. However, treatments may also cause you to lose your appetite, or feel full early (Early satiety). Work with a dietician or nutritional specialist to ensure that you are getting proper nutrition.
Conserve energy: Try to be realistic about how much energy you have and what you can and can’t do. Only do the things that are most important and ask friends or family for help. It is important to recognize which activities create the most fatigue and also note the frequency, degree, and duration of fatigue so that you can report these to your doctor. If you’re having difficulty managing fatigue, you may wish to ask your nurse or doctor to help family members understand how they can help.
Maintaining normal rest and sleep patterns is important for ensuring quality rest. Plan your daily activities carefully, and schedule rest times between activities throughout your day. Try to rest when you feel the worst and do your activities when you feel better.
Evaluate medications: Review your medications with your doctor, pharmacist, or nurse to ensure that the medications are not causing or contributing to your symptoms.
Exercise: While conserving energy is important, it is equally important to understand that too much rest or inactivity can actually decrease the body’s ability to produce energy and can worsen fatigue. Moderate daily exercise, such as walking, may help to increase your energy level.
Manage stress: Counseling, support services, and medications can all play a role in reducing stress and thereby alleviating fatigue.
Anna,
Read everything that Falcon posted. He is so right. One thing he probably only hinted at is depression. That one can be debilitating! Suddenly dealing with the possibility that one will not live to see grandchildren graduating from college or that trip to walk the Great Wall or whatever one's ambition, is suddenly thought to be ripped away.
The fatigue itself is hard to deal with and can (not will but can) last for months after treatments end, but be sure and get your mother to walk a little bit everyday or, if she's bedridden, to at least do stretching excercises daily. The last thing she wants to do is lose muscle tone. It takes twice as much work to get it back as to not lose much in the first place.
Also, tell her to take all the naps she feels like as long as there's nothing else going on, like depression. Chemo takes a lot out of a person not to mention recouperating from surgery and/or the constant appointments.
As far as not telling her doctor, he can't help her if he doesn't know there's a problem! The worst question is the one left unasked. This one drives doctors up the wall! If something is bothering her either physically or mentally, pain or plain fear, he needs to know!!! He's trying to help her get better and if she won't talk to him and tell him what's wrong, he's fighting the battle with only half the arms he needs.
Please talk to her and get her to understand. If possible, go with her. Talk to the doctor in front of her and when he knows something is going on he'll ask enough questions to determine what to do to help her or refer her to someone that can.
My best to you both and please come back and keep us posted.
The fatigue was the hardest of the side effects for me to deal with during the last stage of my chemotherapy. I kept my Dr. and nurses informed each visit and inbetween visits. They were very consistent with adivce that I listen to my body and not push beyond my limits. I found I had more energy in the morning, so that is when I got most of my chores done and saved the ones that could be done sitting for the afternoon. I was not able to work the last 8 weeks of my therapy due to my inability to concentrate and focus on one subject. This is in addition to being able to get ready for work and get there. When I could, I would just walk down the hall from our living room to the bedroom and back which is not a very long distance. Prior to treatment I worked out at Curves and to keep from loosing my muscle mass, I tried to be as active as I could while still listening to my body. I know it sounds like a juggling act, and it is, just like life without chemotherapy!!! If you can get your mother to tell her doctor about the fatigue he may choose to treat it and/or give her additional suggestions to help her. The oncologist and nurses are her best friend during this trying time. Good news is she will get through it with your help!!!
Fatigue is a normal side effect to chemotherapy. I also feel it would be a good idea to accompany your mother to her doctor visits. If her red blood counts are down, I am sure they are giving her shots to help the anemia.
I just finished my third battle with cancer this past summer. Each time fatigue was at the top of my list of side effects. Is your mom eating? I found it helpful to have home made chicken soup on hand during chemo. Even when I had no appetite, I could sip it to keep up my strength. The walks are also a good idea, or even light yoga. It seems like such an effort to the person in chemo, but after a little exercise, I did feel better.
The other thing that helped me a lot was acupuncture. I know alternative therapies are not widely accepted, but I have included them in my survival plan. Acupuncture helped me deal with the nausea, pain and fatigue more than any drug the doctors could give me. I found one that even came to my home on my bad days. Many insurance plans now cover alternative therapies such as chiropractic, massage and acupuncture. They have all helped me both physically and mentally. The chemo beats you up so bad, it feels good to do something comforting for your body.
Hope this helps.
Angela
Anna,
Its very important that you encourage your mother to communicate with her Doctor as much as possible. As many people have already commented, there are many ways to help her deal with the fatigue. The flip side to this is that her Dr. needs to know she is suffering fatigue to make sure that she is getting the proper care.
Maybe accompanying her on her next visit would be a good idea. It might give you an opportunity to find out if she is not talking to the Dr, or worse the Dr is not making her feel like she can ask questions.
I can tell you that I am in the middle of my first cycle of chemo and even though I see my Oncologist weekly, I still call her office or send her emails with questions. She has always been very helpful and her attitude has been that she wants to make sure that I am telling her things otherwise, we could miss somehting and I might end up in the ER because of low blood counts or infection...
Hope this helps...
- john
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