Fatigue & Chemo Brain

ladybug626

Hi,

I finished 5 rounds of chemo (Taxol + Carboplatin) 5 weeks ago. My oncologist is concerned I still feel lousy. My complaints are fatigue, depression/anxiety, constant burning in my stomach, loss of appetite, and cognitive difficulties. He is running a test on my thyroid. Did chemo effect anyone else's thyroid? How long does it take for the side effects of chemo to wear off? I am in remission and hope to feel better soon. Your advice/support is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Many Blessings,
JAshe2350

AuthorUnknown

Hi JAshe2350

I had my last Chemo 6/19/03 and still having fatigue problems from the Chemo & my operation. It took 6 months before I really could do the checking book with some accuracy. I still have problems with remembering verbal things. I have a girl friend that went through this 7 years ago and she claims she still has problems, but this is with tongue in cheek. Also I was 58 years old when I had the operation. Age does have some play in this.

I'm still on pain pills and they sometimes mess-up my thinking, too.
I had extensive surgery, had to have all my lower intestines completely removed along with my female organs. So I've been told that my recovery will be much longer than the average person. Hopefully yours won

grannyfranny

AuthorUnknown said:

Hi JAshe2350

I had my last Chemo 6/19/03 and still having fatigue problems from the Chemo & my operation. It took 6 months before I really could do the checking book with some accuracy. I still have problems with remembering verbal things. I have a girl friend that went through this 7 years ago and she claims she still has problems, but this is with tongue in cheek. Also I was 58 years old when I had the operation. Age does have some play in this.

I'm still on pain pills and they sometimes mess-up my thinking, too.
I had extensive surgery, had to have all my lower intestines completely removed along with my female organs. So I've been told that my recovery will be much longer than the average person. Hopefully yours won

Ye gods, Sharon, no wonder you aren't up to snuff yet! Why didn't they take your liver & a lung or two while they were at it? As for pain meds and brain power, I remember trying to knit while on pain meds after my hysterectomy. I kept trying to wrap the yarn around the needle and missing. (The good part was that I thought it was hilarious.)

I already had a physical therapist for some back problems when I got cancer. So now she works on post-surgical stuff, too, and that helps. Fortunately I found a really fine therapist with her own business; I don't know how well I'd have done in the kind of therapy factory where the treatment tables are lined up along the wall and each therapist has at least two patients at once.

I hope your pain goes away, and SOON. Not being in pain and not being on pain killers, either, should make a big difference in fatigue and memory. The pain does linger, even for people with much less drastic surgery (like anything short of being sawed in half). I had a "mere" radical hysterectomy 8 months ago. I declared myself to be healthy Jan. 1 - I got tired of being pitied, so I said, "I'm OK now. Stop worrying about me." But I'm still reminded of the surgery every time I close a kitchen drawer with my stomach. WHY did ever I develop that dumb habit?!

By the way, if you get very deeply depressed or stay depressed more than a couple of weeks, you should see your doc about it. I was on anti-depressants long before my cancer, but I badly needed them adjusted after my surgery. I cried over everything, including a very mediocre fake painting of a swimming pool. It was pathetic. I'm feeling good now, unless I have a run-in with someone really mean and awful.

Good healing, Sharon. Good pain relief. Good spirits.

Fran