I had a mastectomy in Dec '05, chemo which finished in April '06 and now I am taking tamoxifen. I don’t know if it is just me, or if it’s all that I have been through, or if it is the Tamoxifen… or what…but I just seem to be tired all of the time. Sometimes I feel like I could just put my head on the table and have a snooze !!! Does anyone else feel like this? What can I do to get my “get up and go” back ???
Jude x
Hi Jude
Whilst you are waiting for your fellow forum users to reply with their experiences I thought I’d mention the cancer backup site to you. It has a specific section related to coping with fatigue, which you may find useful. This information can be found by using the following web address:-
cancerbackup.org.uk/Resourcessupport/Symptomssideeffects/Fatigue
I hope you find this helpful.
Kind regards
Lucy
Moderator
Breast Cancer Care
Hey Jude (sorry couldn’t resist !)
I’ve been taking Tamoxifen since October 22nd - I do feel tired around 4pm most days but have put it down to the broken nights with hot sweats and toilet trips - strangely I have also begun to be more keen to do housework !!!
I have a fridge magnet which has always reassuringly stated “Boring women have immaculate homes” - now suddenly, after 32 years of marriage, I’m beginning to feel like a Stepford Wife. I don’t think it’s due to the fact that I’ve had to face my mortality with this disease but I am worried that during the op they changed my chip and reprogrammed my homemaking skills!
Good Luck
Maddy xxx
Oh Maddy that’s so funny. Not the tiredness because I too have the nightly sweats and toilet trips. I have a full time job but have been off work for 5 months now. Originally all my main housework was reserved for week-ends, but now I have all this time on my hands!! I don’t know if it’s a case of WANTING to do all these domestic chores OR feel like I SHOULD be doing
them. The Stepford Wives comment is sooo good. We talk about BC changing our lives but hey if I start being a domestic goddess, i.e. exotic meals served by an immaculately dressed wife who smiles sweetly and panders to his every desire, my OH will think he’s come to the wrong house!!
Norma xx
That’s really funny as I have just refferred to Stepford wives on another thread. Spooky
Debbie
xxx
Hi Girls,
Yep its the Tamoxifen I was on it for 5yrs and could’nt shake the tiredness, I’m now on Femara and feeling just as tired. Wish I could get my "chip changed "as I have less interest in house work than ever.maybe its just that I have learned to sit down and relax more,anyway any of you girls with extra energy are welcome to come round to mine and clean, Ha Ha !!!
Lilley xx
Girls, you may want to consider getting your thyroids checked. The overlap of symptoms is amazing and both under and over active thyroid can produce fatigue. After recent diagnosis of my over active thyroid, I’ve learnt it’s very common for cancer treatment to upset the thyroid either way.
Good advice Alloway
I had a blood test recently because I was bruising so easily. I rang bc nurse for results and was told all was well and thyroid was functioning fine as well as liver. I was flabbergasted. I thought they were just checking platelet count. Am tons better after coming off anti depressants though. Prob still need them as everything is making me weepy. Everyone just hands me a tissue now and ignores me which is the best thing as I ususally don’t know why I am crying anyway
Love to all
Debbie
xxx
I am bushed…try to do the things I used to and am tired out for the rest of the day. Trouble is I don’t like sitting still and resting…I am not sick. LOL
I’m tired as well. I think mine is a combination of hot sweats, broken nights and toilet trips plus Aromasin and Herceptin. I never have done much housework and these days I seem to do even less. It doesn’t seem too important somehow. But I am getting a lot of pleasure from doing nice things - hobbies, social life, friends etc. and I try to save my energy for those.
Take care everyone
Anthi x
Hiya
I’ve just done a bit of housework this afternoon and I am knackered. (Only 'cos its christmas !)
Take care
Diane x
Morning ladies,
I’ve discovered a design flaw in the programming of my chip - it’s generally around 1.30 that I begin to feel like doing anything -after a morning spent on the computer or in front of daytime television ! - “unfortunately” they have booked all my radiotherapy appointments for around 4 so I have to begin getting ready just when I begin to feel the urge to get up and do something !
Ah well - back to the sofa !
Maddy xxxxx
Me too Maddy
Crappy a.m tv, computer, more tv, Doctors and Neighbours then, oh dear, it’s time for a sleep. I have found that eating a lot at lunchtime makes me much worse. I feel better if I just have some home made soup and stay off bread.
Off to tackle the daily scrum called driving along the tees road to pick up hubbie from other side of Transporter…if it’s running
Debbie
xxx
i feel tired on tamoxifen too.About the fridge magnet thing, I have got a good one that hopefully will cheer someone up , it says I am still hot… it just comes in flushes now…tee hee x
debbi x
Debbie - know what you mean about the daily scrum - the timing of my radiotherapy appointments means I’m driving back from Leicester through rush hour traffic - YAWN !
Debbi - love it ! My other fridge magnet says ‘I’m not a complete idiot - parts of me are missing!’
Maddy xxx
I am very reassured by all the above comments about tiredness.Does it get any better or will this go on for five years? I feel chronically tired and instead of feeling on the mend(constructive surgery was end January) I was going backwards. It has also been discovered that I have too much thyroxine in my body. I was diagnosed with under active many years ago and have had to increase thyroxine with each blood test but now I have been told to decrease it by 25mcgs. It was suggested by my Doctor that taking Tamoxifen may have upset the balance but cannot be specific.
Thanks for all help
Shirley
Just a short interruption - yesterday I was talking to a lady at the hospital and she got onto the subject of tiredness - she was woken yesterday by a knocking on her bedroom window but by the time she got there the person had gone.
She decided to get up and have breakfast.
Having made her porridge and noticed how light it seemed she glanced at the clock and saw it was 2 in the afternoon!
As she relies on hospital transport and has to be at the hospital for 4 you can imagine the state she was in!
Yes - some people do get tired on Tamoxifen!
Maddy xxx
Hi Maddy,
Just spotted your reference to driving back from Leicester. I had my rads there Oct/Nov, my appointments were usually 3.30 but they were often running an hour late. Upperton Road was shut, roadworks everywhere, it was awful getting home! Very frustrating.
Hi Roadrunner -
I just caught your comment about Leicester on another post - and I totally understand about the traffic problems. I don’t think we’re likely to meet at the mo 'cos you’re in chemo - but stranger things have happened. I have seen lots of ladies standing outside attached to drip stands enjoying the ‘fresh’ air…
So far my sessions have been roughly to time - the longest wait I had was 40 minutes - they were suggesting it could be much longer.
Everyone is so kind - but I find it slightly unsettling that they are all so young! Very friendly, calm, considerate and good at their jobs - but young!
I had a fit of the giggles yesterday - they were trying to get me in the correct position and it felt as if they were attempting to pin jelly to a wall (I’m not fat !) - the movements were infinitesimal and I knew that every time I breathed the part they’d moved returned to its original position - now I understand how the delays begin !!!
Maddy xxxx