continued fatique

 

I had RP surgery on sept 18 2008. Its been almost four months and I have tryed to go back to work, but am having some heavy fatigue times during the day, where I just completely run out of energy. I have been taking Vitamins and greens to try and improve the energy flow, but with not much success. Have many people had the same kind of problems as myself, and has  anyone found anything that has helped them out

Fred

Fred,

Your signature says you might have started radiation. Of course that would be a big factor.

I'm only 5 weeks past my robotic. Although I've been going to work a couple weeks, there have certainly been ups and downs. Yesterday I felt pretty good except for dozing off for a few minutes after lunch. (Well, that gives you an idea what "good" is.) Seemed to be correlated with having chicken soup for breakfast. However, today wasn't so great, and I dragged all afternoon. Fortunately I have a desk job, no major exertions. You may not be so lucky. I still feel odd inside. Often when I'm walking, I'll go at the pace I was used to before surgery, then a few seconds later, weariness hits, and I realize I have to slow down. Going slower in fact helps a lot.

Other thing I notice is that I'm a lot more sensitive to cold. So I wear a jacket or sweater more, and drink more hot drinks--cocoa, soup. Not a coffee guy. And lots of foods I used to like are no longer appetizing.

I think like this--it didn't take too long to recover to around 75% or so. But that last 25% takes a long time. Still, progress is slow but steady. I think divo is right. A previous surgery I had did take me a year to get completely back, and I was a lot younger then.

You are not alone..... I often feel so tired I do not know how I can keep going. I take vitamins and iron, eat very healthy, and try to do the exercises the doctor reccommended. I do think sunshine helps me a lot. I take some vitamin D3 (what you get from sunshine) but that needs to be controlled so you should watch that with blood tests.

Some days I sort of feel like I am numb I feel so tired. Somedays I have sat and cried because I had to go to work and was too tired to go. (yes I did go to work anyway....)

It has been 6 months since surgery and I am starting to feel a little better. I wound up being off work 3 months (what the doc considered a normal legal time off) although he didn't think in the beginning I would be off more than 6 weeks or so.

I went thru this being tired after hernia surgery also six years ago and it gradually went away somewhat. So give it some time!

Thankyou everyone for your replies. Sometimes its just nice to feel that you are not alone and that there are others going through the same struggles.  I am a salesman at an automotive dealership which is a bit of a high pressure job and has its stresses. I have been my dealership top sales person for 20 years and been able in the past to push myself by running on the adreniline of making the sale, but now I find that I don`t have that edge or energy, that my body used to give me before the surgery. I told myself that when I went back to work, that I was going to take it slow for a while, but I think I have been caught up it my work again of trying to be at the top and my body is dictating otherwise.

 maybe I`ll talk to my doctor about the B12 shots as well, as and taking the D3 Vitamin D now.

Fred

Again Fred, listen to your body, my dr's say that all the time to me. If you push too hard too soon for too long, then you get into setbacks. the setback depresses you, and kind of set a chain in motion. In my two month plus recovery so far, everytime I did something either too much or foolish for the circumstances, I paid for it later and perhaps for a couple of days after. It's not worth it when my real goal is too heal properly and get my life back to some semblence of normal. Keep up the good fight brother, you are still winning.

David in SC

Fred, thanks for beginning this thread. It really made me realize how important it will be for Pete to take it very slow and easy. He had the major hip replacement surgery last friday. He was in the hospital for four days, and then went to a rehab. We thought it would be better, but they didnt have a bed for him in the rehab section, and put him in the nursing home section. His roommate kept the TV on until 2am and the woman across the hall died yesterday. The food was inedible. I brought him home yesterday, and now I feel more confident that I know how to help him. The therapists will come to the house to help in with his hip rehab. That is much better, but remembering that major surgery takes a long time to regain strength is important for me to keep in mind... Di

Fred, I am hardly a pro at this, but what I describe is the pattern I have been through with 5 major surgeries in my life so far, even when I was much younger, like in my upper 20s, I thought I was so tough and returned to work after a big surgery too soon, refused to take pain pills, and ended up losing my job because I couldn't do it anymore. So now with my open rp recovery, I set daily goals to get certain chores and errands done, respect serious weight limits, and take my reg. meds on a very schedued basis. It helps me get through the long days while my wife is at work.

David in sc

Fred,

I'm lucky too--it helps that I helped my wife through her cancer before she helped me with mine. But, anyway, you've got us here on the HW forum. I will offer a thought, maybe it's not just the look of the scar or the feel of the skin. These can be startling at first, but one can get used to it. Maybe it's that these are reminders of a very scary experience. A counselor or therapist (whom you see both together and separately) might be a good idea.

Fred, that was so much to go through in one year, I hope 2009 is much kinder to you.

Fred,

Have to admit, I'm a big fan of counseling therapy, having been an student counselor way back when, and that's likely why I married a therapist. Insurance will very likely cover it. Ours covers counseling therapy related to major medical procedures, and you've had plenty of that!