Finished Radiotherpy 5 weeks ago. Felt nothing at the time but since about 2 weeks ago am getting more and more tired. No energy for anything. Also on Femara so wonder if that is not helping. Like to hear from others.
sarcath
Hiya
I finished rads end Sept 07 and felt absolutely fine. About 2-3 weeks after I finished, I ‘hit a wall’, I have never been as tired in my life, it was horrible, took a lot of effort to even lift a cup! Pleased to say it only lasted about 3 weeks and now, nearly 6 months later, I’m more or less back to normal - I’ve probably got more energy now than I had before all this c**p started. Hang on in there, it does get better.
Julie x
Thanks Julie, you have lifted my spirits - some days I feel life isn’t worth living - too tired to walk far, too tired to read etc and then I think well it’s better than being dead!
So pleased you have overcome it all!
Sarcath
Hi Sarcath
I finished rads on 11th February and was told it would be worse about 2 weeks after treatment finished. I was tired afterwards but even more so couple of weeks after and still am really.
People think that cos we’ve finished chemo and rads then we’ve finished it and we are fine. They don’t realise how long these things are in our body and expect us to be okay.
Hope you start feeling better soon. I start Herceptin next week. It’s just another round of treatment to go through and hopefully I’ll start to feel better as months go by.
Liz xx
I finished rads this time last year and I was so lucky as I was one of the patients who was fortunate enough to sail through it - I felt as if my life was back to normal as I managed to get on with everything during those 5 weeks. Unfortunately, nothing could have prepared me for the 4 cycles of Taxotere that followed. I was practically bedridden for 4 months and I have never felt such tiredness and fatigue in my life, it was like being someone with ME. It was the only point in my treatment where I looked very ill and people were quite shocked when they saw me.
Hi Sarcath,
I finished 5½ weeks of rads in January and was left with nasty burns, so for a while I wasn’t moving around to know what my energy levels were doing! I thought I was OK when I saw my consultant and went back to work at the end of Feb, but found I became exhausted quickly and spent all my time at home asleep or just flaked out!
I felt it must be just me, but one of my staff had been through this a few years ago and said her consultant warned her it would take up to a year for her to get back to normal after rads. I wish mine had said something like that to me!
I am lucky I haven’t had chemo, and now just have to take tamoxifen, so hopefully I can get though the next few weeks/months and get back to normal. My line manager has been great and I am temporarily working a mix of half and full days to enable me to cope at work.
I know I must still be affected by the rads as my breast is still pink and feels warmer than the other one as well as having a hypersensitive nipple. I guess that when that has all gone back to normal it will indicate the rads have worked their way out of my system.
I do hope that you find your tiredness passes and you get back on top of it soon - hang in there sarcath, we’re all rooting for you.
Lesley x
Hi, I still have a pink breast and slightly tanned nipple a year on. I’m also still a bit swollen on that side and there is a tough density to the breast tissue, although this is getting better. I’ve been told in some women the density never goes away and it could take 2 years for it all to settle right back down again.
I’m so glad I logged onto this theme-I finished rads 3 weeks ago having had wle and chemo-I’ve worked throughout and managed reasonably well,I thought when I finished rads that I was ok and not too tired but the last 3 weeks I’ve got more and more tired and now feel utterly exhausted.Its strange to feel so tired because the minds willing but the body just hasn’t got the stamina.Also I’ve got chronic knee ache which affects all forms of exercise or even general walking.
Hi ladies, I finished rads on 1st Feb, (after also having chemo, mastectomy & lymph node clearance) expected to feel pleased that treatment was finally over but in fact felt suddenly very exhausted, emotional and down. On the up again now, I guess it was partly due to the rads & partly due to the fact that once treatment is over you a) have time to stop & think about whats actually happened and b ) you realise that you are ‘on your own’ as far as treatments is concerned which suddenly feels a bit scarey! although its hard going it will improve- hang on in there!
Kattona, I’m having really achey ankles in the morning, I’m putting it down to Tamoxifen/ menopause symptons - could that be the case with you?
Cheers all
Amanda x
My boss expected me back at work 4 weeks after my rads finished, but occupational health said not to be so hasty…thank goodnesss, I was shattered for weeks, used to sleep through the kids leaving for school and wake up at 11.30. They certainly learnt to make sandwiches! Don’t worry about it, we are all different and our bodies aren’t tired they are repairing, give them time and lots of zzzzzzzzzzzzz’s
Hi all,
I finished my rads December 2005 (for me the last stage of 9 months treatment, surgery x 2, then chemo, then rads). I remember reading at the time that the rads really tired you out and was dreading it.
I must say for a month or so I felt fine, we went on a (well deserved!) holiday the first 2 weeks of January. By the end of January I was shattered.
Then my lovely breast care nurse said to me, ‘stop blaming the rads themselves - you have had 9 months of your body being battered one way or another, the rads came at the end and is intensive, travelling every day. Who wouldn’t be shattered at the end of it all, whatever order it is done in’?
I stopped ‘worrying’ about my tiredness and gave time to me. It does get easier I promise.
Love Caz xxx
Hiya Sarcath,
I finished my radiotherapy at the end of January. During the treatment I felt fine but a couple of weeks later I had a burn on my neck and now 2 months on I feel so tired. My oncology nurse said that after all my body had been through with surgery, chemo and radiotherapy it’s no wonder I feel so tired. I’ve been told it will take a while but to be patient with my body as it recovers and to rest when my body tells me to.
I am going back to work on 7th April having been off 11 months. I will only be working 1 hour a day for the first week and building up gradually. Work have been fantastic.
all the best
diddly
Thanks all for your input - very reassuring to know others feel the same. Some time has now elapsed and I do feel much better- nearly normal some days so tend to overdo things and fall back again the following day. Thank goodness I’m retired - there is no way I could work - could never make it out of bed in time! Good luck to all
Sarcath
Hi Sarcath
I wonder now if it has something to do with my age at the time of treatment - I’m 56 now and 5 years down the line from rads (2003)and I can honestly say that I never recovered the energy levels I had pre cancer. I tried to go back to work after treatment but in the end I had to retire and I still have severe fatigue most days of the week. Life is a struggle at times but like you if I have an energy surge I try to get a lot done and then I’m wiped out for days! Lol!
Me too Kate. During and after rads the tiredness would hit me in waves. I blamed it on the daily travel to hospital and sitting around for hours waiting to be seen. ( I had to drive myself each day ). Even shopping became impossible. I would give up half way round Tesco and, if with my husband, would leave him to do checkout on his own while I sat down. It was Xmas too so everything was frantic. People would give me funny looks as I was leaving my husband to do all the work while I sat and watched and I was dying to shout at them that I wasn’t skivving but not well. A year on, I am still exhausted, all my joints ache, I get cramp in my toes and feet and my ankles don’t work. I work 6 hours a week for my parents and can work to how I feel which helps. I also feel very down and lethargic. I am on Tamoxifen and take Citalopram. I had to halve the dose prescribed as I almost ground to a stop and it also affects my eye sight but, if I don’t take it, I feel depressed to the point of suicide, have awful hot flushes and can’t sleep. I will be really glad when the 5 years of Tamoxifen finishes. I feel really angry that the medical profession seem to disregard all the problems this drug causes. At my last check up, I was reminded very bluntly that I have a life threatening illness and I had to take the Tam…as if I could forget.
Debbie
x
Don’t mean to be a pessimist (we are all different after all) but it’s taken me about 3 years to feel anything approaching my normal self again! So a few weeks after ending treatment is nothing.
The exhaustion was debilitating and awful and nobody could understand including my GP. However, it does go. And at different time frames. Younger women may recover quicker. I was 50 when DX.
Love to all
Sue
So I’d say build up with some light exercise. At one time following treatment which consisted of surgery, radiotherapy and tamoxifen I thought I’d never be able to run for a bus again. However, I had surgery in late December 2003, finished radiotherapy on 19 April 2004 and was pretty knackered up to mid June 2004 when I went on holiday for a week to Bologna.
I went with a friend and we walked up several campaniles. It was there that I realised I was on my way to recovery. By September I was cycling the hills of chorley for a long weekend, then off to new zealand for christmas 2004, then to hong kong over new year. I had over twenty four hour flight to get to Auckland and was fine.
I did have a desk job though, and I was able to work through radiotherapy as the hospital was ten minutes walk from my office, I also did not have chemo which from what I hear is pretty bad in comparison to radiotherapy. I felt exhausted after radiotherapy and took two week’s off to recover. So I have a pretty bad sickness record after an exemplary one in the past. Mind you, this is one time to put yourself first, I find my doctor signs me off any time I want now as she knows I’m not a malingerer
Mole
Hi everybody … i have 2 more days of rads left, after reading the comments i am not looking forward to the next couple of weeks or so … i have found the whole 3 weeks quiet tiring and honestly thought that would be it when the treatment finishes, i know i sound quiet naive to think this …or just wish life would go back to normal especially after finishing chemo. i have a 11 month old son and have to pack him and what feel like the whole entire contents of the kitchen sink and drive each day just for 10 mins being zapped … i feel like i have hit a wall after the treatment each day and then have to go home and contend with my son who has a ball of inquisitive energy. my partner works and gets home at 6.30 each night and looks after his son from a previous marriage one day a week so i can see the next couple of weeks to be eventfull with little help and rest… i honestly feel like everybody around me see that the cancer has now gone and the treatment is now nearly over that i am ok and can get on with things and that everythings ok …
i am seeing the plastic surgeon for reconstruction so in some respect feel like i have a mountian still to climb to get back to normallity … i don’t know about you all but i have found all this such a strain on my relationship and feel very low at the moment.
Hi dmkayp
I am sorry to read that you are feeling so low, you may find Breast Cancer Care’s peer support service of help, our Peer Support telephone service aims to quickly put you in touch with one of our trained peer supporters, who has had a personal experience of breast cancer. Our peer supporters are from diverse backgrounds and ages and have experienced different types of breast cancer and treatments. They are ready to listen, offer skilled emotional support and share their experiences and understanding.
For more information about this and our other support services available to you, please telephone our helpline on 0808 800 6000 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm and Sat 9am-2pm) or email:
Best wishes
Lucy