I finished chemo at the beginning of September and rads mid November. I am constantly tired, no energy at all And every time I have a blood test my white cells stay at 3 and lymphocytes 0.8. My g.p says its after effects of chemo but I would have thought/hoped I would be feeling much better and I’m really not. I’ve also got constant hip pain both sides which keeps me awake at night, and I can’t lie on either side. My g.p says its bursitiis and is sending me for ultrasound to confirm diagnosis. I can’t help worrying its something more sinister. Has anyone else taken a long time to recover, any words of advice gratefully received. Sorry for moaning, just having bad day. Michelle x
sorry you ar feeling so low but think you probably need to give it a bit more time as this journey really does batter us. Perhaps ask GP if there is anything to help boost your blood have heard beet root juice is good. What chemo did you have ? I don’t think the worry really ever stops but just need to listen to your body and if it is tired it needs rest.
Hope you feel a little better soon bu it may not happen overnight
Hugs
Hi Mickey, still partway through chemo so can’t comment, but am sure one of he other forum members will be able to help.
at least your GP sounds sympathetic, keeping fingers crossed for you
kay x
Hi Michelle I finshed all my cancer treatment exactly 2yrs ago and thought that I would be alright after a few months.Boy how wrong was I. I joined a gym as soon as I finished my last Radiotherapy session in the hope of losing some of the 4 and half stone I’d put on and just about had enough energy to walk let alone do any exercise. I tried for months but I was still suffering with constant fatigue so I went to see my oncologist.She told me that it would take at least 18-24mths before I would start to feel better again and she was right.I’ve only just started to feel more energetic the last 6mths.
I would wait until you have the results from your GP and then tell him how you feel.
Be gentle with yourself and take things slowly.Your body has been bombarded with very strong drugs, and it will take time for your good cells to replenish themselves before you start to feel any better.
Best Wishes
Franca
xxx
Hi Michelle sending you hugs my lovely. Chemo is pants. Cancer is pants. Got stupid hip pain too so feeling your pain. Just wanted to send u a hug x em. X
Hi Michelle. I feel exactly the same. I am just knackered all the time. My body hurts all over and wont keep up with my brain! I finished chemo in sept had surg in oct and finished rads 17th Dec. I really thought i would be ok by now. My maturnity pay ran out in dec so i had to let the cleaner go and i had a dog walker 2 days a week but walking 2 beagles with a small baby is tough everyday! Roll on spring. My hair is growing back and everyone thinks im better so i have to keep going. Think it might be easier to go back to work!!! I so hope we get stronger soon xxx
Hi Michelle, I finished treatment in early December and i feel really tired alot of the time and I ache really badly - are you on Tamoxifen? I think we just have to be more patient and give ourselves time to heal and recover. Harry Duck - it’s so nice to hear from you!! Hope you and Elizabeth are doing ok. em x
Thankyou everyone for your posts, it’s so hard to know what’s normal and what’s not! Guess I need to be more patient and also get ultrasound out of the way on Monday! Emylou yes I am on tamoxifen and also post menopausal caused by chemo, Michelle xx
Hi Girls
I think you’re expecting too much! Your bodies have been through a battering and need time to recover.
Like you, I expected to feel ‘back to normal’ after a few months, but it didn’t happen. I was seriously ‘down’ when I didn’t feel significantly better. It was a very gradual process and probably took 18 - 24 months before I was really feeling back to ‘normal’. You will feel better every month but it is gradual.
I’m now over 4 years from finishing chemo & rads and feel great.
You’ll get there, but be kind to yourself.
I know exactly how you feel. I finished chemo (TAC) in July and rads in Sept but still get extremely tired and lacking in energy. I’m sleeping better at night than I have done for a very long time so get frustrated when I’m constantly knackered - all I ever seem to say when people ask how I am is “tired”. I’m fed up with saying it and friends and family must be fed up of hearing it!
I went back to work full time in November, following a gradual increase on part-time hours, and am trying to get a bit of gentle exercise, increase my fluid intake and eat more healthily. I is working, bu not as quickly as I’d like - I hink we just need to resign ourselves to he fact that it’s going to take time. We’e been through so much already so it’s not very realistic to expec things to return to normal immediately but it is frustrating when all you want is to feel well and healthy again.
As maltomlin says (and what my occupational health nurse kept telling me) be kind to yourself - we’ll get there in the end!
I am now 3 years post treatment and i can tell you it took me a very long time to recover. I was told various things such as it can up to a year but it took much longer for me - in fact 2.5 years to really start to feel better.
I had a horrendous time on chemo and it really took its toll on my body. I lost a lot of muscle because I could barely walk or do anything. Muscle is quick to go but takes a long time to build up again.
There are various other factors that can make you feel exhausted such as going through menopause following chemo, and drugs such as tamoxifen. I felt so much better when I switched to letrozole.
It’s easy to keep thinking something is wrong as many women seem to recover quickly. Don’t give up hope! Everyone is saying now 3 years down the line that I’m suddenly a different person - more energy, looking really well, able to do lots more. I was beginning to think I’d never recover but now my energy level goes up with each passing day.
I hope you’ll recover much more quickly than I have.
Elinda x
Thankyou for your post, it makes me feel better knowing its not just me! Every night I go to bed praying I will wake up with more energy, but it never happens which is so frustrating. I do know I’m post menopausal thanks to chemo and am on tamoxifen so perhaps that is contributing to the fatigue. I’m glad to heat that your energy levels have returned and you are doing well. just out of interest how have you been followed up since diagnosis? It frightens me that my oncologist doesn’t want to see me until September (I am being treated at the royal Surrey in Guildford) I just wondered how and if other hospitals are any different . Would be really nice to hear other ladies experiences after treatment has finished. Michelle xxx
Michelle - yes, don’t give up hope! It’s such incredibly early days!!! I would say from what I’ve read on these forums and my own experience that how you are feeling is completely normal - the fatigue and the anxiety. Think what your poor body has been through! Anxiety does lessen over time too mainly I think because you stop thinking about cancer and the treatment so much.
One thing I would say is that I was menopausal following chemo but 18 months later I came out of menopause. I then went back into a permanent menopause another year later. For that reason, I wouldn’t rush to switch from tamoxifen because like me, you might find you come back out of it (I was 45 at time of treatment). Strangely I experienced a lot more joint pain and general aches on tamoxifen then I do nowon letrozole.
I had more follow up than you (every 3 months to start with after treatment, then 6 monthly and now annually) but I’d had a number of different problems during my treatment so was a bit of a complex case. I think it’s hard to say how often you should be followed up as it will vary from person to person. It does though seem a lot wait from November to September at this stage in your recovery. If you are concerned or just want to talk things through with your consultant then ring their secretary and get an earlier appointment.
take care Elinda x
Dear Michelle,
As everyone else says it is early days. Some people sail through but combination of chemo and rads exhausts most people. Anyone who says X had it and they are great probably don’t really know what X feels!
Just thought I would add that I had horrible hip pain at the end of chemo and for a few months after-bone scan negative and hips settled down-could well have been bursitis- nobody checked!
be gentle with yourself and you’ll get there
Lavender
xx
Thankyou Elinda and Lavender for your posts. it’s interesting Elinda to hear that you came out of the menopause, I guess that’s why my surgeon says that he will watch my hormone levels . And also interesting lavender that you had hip pain too. Its so flipping hard to know what’s normal and what’s not! I do know im very anxious because I lost my sister to bc when she was 33. My oncologist has become impatient with me and has made it very clear that I need to get some help to move on, easier said then done ! Michelle xx
I’m sorry to read you’re struggling but it is understandable you feel quite anxious after losing your sister to breast cancer.
I’m giving here the link to BCC page specifically about moving forward after treatment. You might find it helpful as it gives lots of ideas of what may help and information on other women’s experiences.
Michelle - you say your oncologist is impatient with you. Your Onc may mean well by saying to move on but it does make me wonder how much empathy he/she has. My surgeon had a talk with me about moving on but that was a good two years post treatment not a couple of months.
It’s easy to say move on but you have a double whammy. First you’ve experienced the loss of your sister and I am very sorry to hear that. Secondly, you’ve only recently finished your treatment and will still be experiencing all the physical effects of it let alone the emotional ones. I thought that finishing treatment would make me feel elated but instead I felt extremely down - again I don’t think that’s an uncommon experience.
The helpline is great and I hope you do ring them. You may decide you want to think about counselling at some point and could speak to your GP about that (unless you can afford to go privately). May I suggest that you have a look at the website of the Cancer Counselling Trust. Although the trust no longer offers free counselling they do have a list of counsellors who can offer face to face or telephone counselling.
Also they have some really good articles and I’m attaching a link. The first is about the emotional impact of cancer and I’d recommend the one by Peter Harvey about when treatment finishes. http://www.cancercounselling.org.uk/northsouth/extra4.nsf/WebResClient?OpenView&ExpandAll&Count=500
I think that the above might reassure you that what you are feeling is really quite normal. If you have any specific concerns though I wouldn’t shy away from contacting your Onc. after all, that is what they are there for.
A big hug to you
Elinda xx
Hi Michelle,
We seem to be at a fairly similar time scale with our treatments. I finished chemo in October 2012 and Radio at the end of November. I, too, have had incredibly painful hips and knees, which started before I started taking Tamoxifen. I also had the ‘weepy eye syndrome’ that chemotherapy gives you. I have Acupuncture at the Haven Centre in Fulham which is a charity led organisation for women with breast cancer and they offer you 10 hours of complementary therapy for free. The Acupuncture cured the runny eyes withing 48 hours and has made some improvement to the hips and legs (if only to give them more energy).
I’m now back at work - albeit mornings only until mid February. Most of the time I feel fine but recently I am becoming increasingly more and more worried/obsessed about it coming back. Is this a normal way to feel do you think? There is no reason why It should do as the op was a success and it wasn’t in my nodes - but i’m still panicking!
Love Katie xx
