How do you cope with Fatigue?

Hi all

I never thought I would be asking this question but what works for you? I just seem to be struggling to pace myself since I finished chemo in March. THis was my second lot of chemo, first lot for secondaries, and I have thrown myself back into ‘living’ like each day is my last! If I have an empty day I find something to do, and so it goes on. Then when I feel like I am walking through fog again I wonder why and start imagining the worst. I am up and down like ‘a bride’s nightie’ as the saying goes.

A new friend I was talking to last night was given some advice when she was suffering with post viral fatigue/ME to have 1hr 30 mins activity followed by 30 mins rest and that worked for her, she slowly got back to ‘normal’ but was off work for 10 months in total.

I have taken early retirement so I am not working now, just trying to get on with living normally. Any advice girls?

Thanks in anticipation

Sue x

Hi Sue,

The only way to cope is to make sure you break up the jobs you are doing. Plan your day around work and play. When I was first diagnosed in November 2008 I went to the paper shop and ordered the Daily Mail. Inside are a whole lot of puzzles which I have to say kept me sane and which I still do. I have just finished a year on Herceptin and am waiting, rather impatiently, for my energy levels to rise. I still have to pace myself so each morning I work out a routine for the day. It may be boring but it does work. I also plan lots of breaks away from home to give me something to look forward to.

Hope this helps,

E

Hi Sue, I am not great in the morning. I don’t get up early, then when I do it takes me a while to get moving. I need time to take my tablets, to let them work, to have breakfast, then my late morning shower, get dressed and usually feel worn out so need a rest again bofore I can dry my hair. However as the day progresses I feel much more “normal”. I have always had more energy in the evening so often do more then as it suits me. I have days when I have more energy than others. But mostly I do a chore, then have a sit down at my computer or read or just watch TV. I AM inclined to overdo it…especially when I loose myself in my head in the garden…but it is worth it…and you cannot be sensible all of the time!.. I do need to get out for a while most days but if I have a particularly busy day or day out I try to have a lazier day the following day. Also if I know I am going out to something I try to take it a bit easier the day before. When I am not having such a good spell I do find that I need to go to my bed for a rest in the afternoon but (fingers crossed) I have been doing OK recently. My OH is in a plastercast and using crutches, so my carer is needing cared for now! I am sure that I am going to crumble when he gets back on his feet again. My elderly parents ( I have no siblings) also need help and I have been visiting today to try out new trousers I got for Mum as some of hers have disappeared from the nursing home, so had to buy 3 pairs, try them on her today, then label them…sewing was never my best forte! So you see energy is like the tide it comes and it goes!. I am making spelt bread tonight as haven’t made bread for ages…smells good…want some? Keep well. Sorry you are fatigued. Love Val

Hi all,
Unlike Val, I am more of morning person and get up at the same time as OH when he goes to work. I usually go swimming as it seems to help with my stiff joints and also helps my energy levels. However I tend to fade after lunch and allow myself an hour or 2 sitting reading and even a snooze. Its not so much the physical fatigue that gets me down, more the mental. I might have 3 weeks when I keep busy and don’t think too much about bc and then I feel a fog descend and its difficult to shake it off.

hope today is a good day for you all
Louise

Hi Louise, Isn’t it strange how we all have different energy levels. I can get up early in the morning if need be. But usually it means I need to go to bed for 2/3 hours later in the afternoon, which then mucks up getting off to sleep at night. So everything is not set in stone.
My mental state has been all over the place over the years too but more recently I find I do not think about it all the time which is good. I do find that when things are ticking over as usual I cope fine. But even simple things which crop up and are out of my normal routine can throw me. I had to take my new car in for a tow bar at 9am ( OH usually does this but he couldn’t this because cannot drive with plastercast!) I had to get the bus back home as it was going to take 3/4 hours to do job. Unknown to me my bus pass had run out of date. I seldom use it as the bumps on the road just don’t do my poor back and bones, any favours. But I had no coins. So trying to work out what to do, while on my own, took a bit of thought process. Sounds stupid now but my brain is just so slow now. I find such difficulty remembering names etc. I can still do my crptic crosswords so not totally doolally!
Oh the bread is great ( according to OH). I am sitting upright for my usual hour before I can have breakfast! I am going over to a lovely friend’s house today as another ex workmate who now lives in Cyprus is over and about a dozen of us are having afternoon tea. It is usually the besy afternoon of the year for me as we all worked together in the Blood Transfusion Service. A nicer bunch of ladies you couldn’t find. Love to you all. Hope to hear how Sue is doing today. XX Val

Hi Sue, I havnt had chemo so dont know how tired it does make you feel, but I have been on Arimidex for over 4 years and the aches in the bones do make you tired.
Im a bit like scottishlass I am not to good in the morning and like to have a ‘lie in’ as I call it, if I have to get up early then I am in bed at 9.
I enjoy going out with my friends and make sure that I have at least two outings a week, that gives me something to look forward to, I try to plan my week just to try to make life ‘normal’ whatever that is. Think we are all differant and it is whatever works for you. I do find myself getting impatiant with small things that I would have taken in my stride a few years ago, so try to keep that in check,I go to the toilet have a cry and reapear as if nothing has happened.

Hope all you ladies have had a good weekend, Lots of love Roz xxxx

Hi all

Just to let you know the macmillan site has a lot of really good information on cancer and fatigue which you may find useful. If you’re interested in having a look this is the link to follow:-

macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Livingwithandaftercancer/Symptomssideeffects/Fatigue/Fatiguecancer.aspx

I hope you find this helpful.

Best wishes Sam, BCC Facilitator

Hi Roz, ouise, Val & E

Thanks for your advice and I am glad to hear that I am not the only one to feel like everything is an effort at times. I forget to say in my original post that I have been taking Tamoxifen since April (I didn’t take it first time round as was weakly positive for Oestrogen) as my Dr is hoping that it will buy me more time! I read through the SE’s again and fatigue is one of them so it may be a bit to do with that too.

Anyway, Val I too make bread most days but in my wonderful Panasonic breadmaker, a loaf is nearly ready now and it smells great. I am also a ‘mad’ jam maker and blackberry picker so there are jam jars everywhere. I made a large batch of Damson Chutney last week what a mess I was in after I had picked all the stone out of 6LBs of Damsons!

Also, Val, like you I am keeping an eye on my father-in-law who is in a nursing home near us, I delivered 3 new pairs of trousers to him yesterday, coincidence eh?? I have just been to the library for some talking books for him so now need to go and take them to him AND I need to make a birthday cake for my daughter who was 17 yesterday but we are having a celebratory tea today! Yikes…and then I wonder why I am tired…

Sue x

Hi all
What a coinsidence, I’ve also just taken bread out the oven and had some with home made blackberry jam!
Louise

Hi Sue,Louise

What a very busy pair you are with the bread and jam making, Im afraid I am not at all into baking, but I am pleased to say my mum is and when I run out of jam or marmalade off I trot round to her house and low and behold it appears as if by magic, she even makes mine without the peel in it.
Sue, I take Arimidex which has tierdness as a se, so presume all the hormone treatments could have the same se’s.

Keep well all you lovely ladies, lots of love
Roz xxxx

What a lovely lot of ladies are on this thread. I think we will have to keep it going to jolly ourselves along when the fatigue takes over. Love to you all, Val

Hi Susie V,
CRF can be awful as many people don’t really understand. I have good days /bad days. Good days I enjoy myself with my dogs and sheep, bad days I read, watch films, and try to cook …slowly!
I always try to walk somewhere every day sometimes it is not very far, and I also have a plan to do something specific every day, ironing (Yuk), knitting, cooking/baking, seeing friends. I admit that I do have to push myself sometimes, but funny thing is the worse I feel physically when I’m excersing , the better I feel mentally afterwards. My husband always asks what I have planned for the day, which pushes me a bit more!
Hope this helps a little,
Hazelnut