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Fatigue after Radiation therapy

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Posted 6/29/2010 4:05 PM (GMT 0)
Hello. I am new to the forum but my issue is getting old already. I finished treatments about 6 months ago and am experiencing about the same level of fatigue. Does anybody have this problem? Any clue as to duration?
Posted 6/29/2010 4:31 PM (GMT 0)
Hello and welcome, Sport

I finished salvage radiation 7 full months ago, and still have strong daily bouts of chronic fatigue. Some people seem to recover from it faster and better than others. Have you mentioned it to your doctor? I run out of energy every day around 2-4 pm, no matter even if I have been resting or taking it easy. The fatigue hits me like a wall around that time, and I am basically done for the day. Anything after that is just a struggle for me. My dr. and radiation oncologist are both aware of my situation, not much they can do, but feel that over time it might improve.

Hope you can find a better answer than that for yourself. My situation is complicated that I had extensive mouth/throat radiation 10 years before I had the PC related radiation, so it was a double hitter for me.

Good luck

David in Sc
Posted 6/29/2010 5:47 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks Purgatory. I thought about using "Teetering on The Abyss" as a display name but didn't want to type that much.
Though I am sorry about your dilemma, it is helpful to hear that someone else shares my problem. A lot of things that I read and people that I talk to want to attribute it to depression. I can understand that. Not much can wear you down worse than carrying the weight and worries of the world on your back. Spent some time there. Don't need to go back. I would rather golf. Trouble with that is I am spent by 18 holes and that is in a cart. Can't do 36 any more. I'll get it back I'm thinking.When.....?
I have an appointment with my oncologist this week. Ask him some questions and get a time line. 'Right as rain in a month or two.' Isn't it.
Thanks again,
Dave in CA
Posted 6/29/2010 7:17 PM (GMT 0)
Dave,

Welcome aboard. I am 3 1/2 months out of SRT and run out of energy in the early evening. Just not my old self yet, but hope to be. Glad your seeing your Dr. soon as he might have an answer for you. My own hunch is that I will worry about this if it doesnt get better at the one year mark as I will give it that amount of time due to surgery, SRT and other medical issues. Take care.

Michael

Posted 6/30/2010 1:01 AM (GMT 0)
Michael,
Thanks for your input. It is funny how every little bit helps. This process seems so slow to me. My sis suggested that I keep a journal while undergoing treatment. I did it in video format and when I look at some of them, then I see a difference, slight, but I am progressing from then.
Hang in, it has to get more better.
Dave
Posted 6/30/2010 1:47 AM (GMT 0)
I'm just under two weeks out of IGRT, and take more quick naps than I did in the first grade. about 2pm, if I don't stop, I will stop. Hoping that will improve.
Posted 6/30/2010 1:13 PM (GMT 0)
The napping during treatment was a given after a while. Two or three a day at least. For a week or two after cessation of treatment I went down hard on the "naps"- three and a half hours some times. The naps get shorter in duration and now I am trying to keep them to 45 minutes or less and as few as I can. That way I am better ready for a night of sleeping and peeing.
Posted 6/30/2010 1:36 PM (GMT 0)

Food for thought-> EXERCISE

When you exercise, your brain releases endorphins, adrenaline, serotonin and dopamine. These chemicals all work together to make you feel good. In addition, after exercising you may feel a sense of accomplishment and your muscles will relax deeper because of the workout – easing tension and strain.

I started walking aroung the neighborhood a few months ago. Finally figured out that walking at 5AM works for me compared to 6PM....Few weeks ago I double the distance I walk and got up to a full thirty minutes. I immediately notice the difference in my overall well being.

Posted 6/30/2010 1:55 PM (GMT 0)
I'm a little less than a year out from SRT.  I have to take a nap now for about an hour after I eat lunch.  Feel really fatigued after that meal.  Never had to do that before. I guess the radiation works on you for a long time after treatment.  I just accept it as part of PC.  Other than that, things are okay.
Posted 6/30/2010 4:20 PM (GMT 0)
Sport83, First, some needed qualifiers: Everyone reacts to radiation to different degrees My radiation was combined with seed implants was not salvage RT after surgery That said, I did hit a fatigue wall after the third week of treatments. In my case, it started to get better about 7-10 days after the last treatment. At that point I started walking every day again (which I had stopped during the treatments). Like StevenDallas, I walk in my neighborhood for 30 minutes every morning. I am convinced that it helped me to build back and maintain my stamina. I still find that a power nap also helps but I was doing that before radiation. Try the walking....start easy and build up over time. I also recommend walking outside rather than the treadmill....too boring otherwise. If you do this for a while, I bet you are back to 36 holes of golf pretty soon....with maybe a few yards extra in the driver. Joe  
Posted 6/30/2010 5:27 PM (GMT 0)
I was fatigued, now I'd say I'm just tired, or that I tire easily. (RT finished for me 19 days ago.)

I find that exercise seems to help, but there is a wall to break through. I'd be quite happy to sit in an arm chair reading. So I try to dictate to my body that it takes exercise, but not too much. (steady regular bouts of walking really heloped after surgery.
So, regardless of how little sleep I get, or how many times I had to get up in the night, I don't lie around in bed in the morning, but make myself get up at around 7.30 and I get dressed before breakfast rather than slouch about in boxers and T shirt.
I go out about an hour after breakfast for about half an hours walk or cycle ride. I leave it till then as by 9 I have had a BM and my bladder has got rid of a lot of the fluid I drank at breakfast so I can stay out without needing a WC. Then mid afternoon, again when my tank is empty I go out usually for a bicycle ride and can manage 10km with no bother.
If I feel tired before I go out then somehow I feel less tired when i get back. However, I have to ration it, as if I try and do anything else strenuous in the hour or so immedaitely after these to excursions then I feel twice as tired.
It's a strange fatigue, as I have not had a single day time nap since BEFORE I started RT. I haven't even been and had a lie down.

I am also not about to let myself get caught out though by thinking I've got it sorted and can soon get ready to shift the furniture from my living room to lay new flooring as I have heard all sorts of tales about the time it really takes to sort itself out. (A friend who finisghed RT one year before me reckons it took him a year till he was fireding on all cylinders again.

Alf
Posted 6/30/2010 8:31 PM (GMT 0)
Alf, a year's recovery is not considered unreasonable by any of the radiation oncologists I have spoken with, more or less, depending on the patient
Posted 7/1/2010 1:44 AM (GMT 0)
I am really enjoying and getting a boost from you fellahs input. I just got back from my doc's. He gave me satisfactory input for all of my questions and I left feeling better and more informed. All of my other ailments and the accompanying meds contribute somewhat to the fatigue. 4 for the BP alone. He echoed what many of you (and my wife) have said: exercise, slow at first and increasing. I have never done slow very well. If I walk it has always been to get there, a forced march so to speak. So if the dog and I get out for a few minutes in the morning at a reasonable pace and see what we can smell, I think I can pace myself. The doc had good words and assessment and bottom line told me "Your PSA is great. It will flatline and you will drop dead some day."
Thanks for all of the input. Great.
Posted 7/1/2010 2:06 AM (GMT 0)
Well, I had most of the daily fatigue ease after 6 weeks... But every once in awhile, I will take a long 2hr afternoon snooze at time... and this is at the 4 month mark... On the positive side, I got back on the ol' mountain bike this last weekend... Only went an easy 10 miles on logging roads, but it was the desire that came back... That is a good sign. Although not so much direct fatigue related, my desire to do things was down somewhat... Good to see that turning around...

I figure that as long as those dang PCa cells are in die mode, I am a happy camper...

pasayten
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