Stupid Question - Rads - How tired is tired or describe fatigue?

Different Ballgame
Different Ballgame Member Posts: 868
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
I am somewhat confused or uncertain when I read posts and I read that you are tired or that you are experiencing fatigue. Can you describe exactly what you are experiencing?

When I was in radiation treatment I was constantly asked if I was tired. If I allowed myself to sit, relax, and watch TV or the movies or a play, then I could fall asleep before bedtime. But...if I kept moving and doing chores, I was fine and not sleepy.

Was your experience the same or different from mine?

Hugs,
Janelle

Comments

  • GrandmaJ
    GrandmaJ Member Posts: 209
    #2
    Radiation
    I am on treatment #23 of radiation, 7 more to go and three boosters. I am okay and working but Friday and Saturday I am extremely fatigued. Not sleepy....just very tired....By Sun I feel good again and Monday its back to radiation !! I also have a rash on my chest above the breast which seems to be getting worse. Did you experience this ? I would say Sat is the only day I can't seem to get enough energy to do anything and I think most of it is just from working a 40 hour week.

    Judy
  • sbmly53
    sbmly53 Member Posts: 1,522
    #3
    Thinking about it, I guess
    Thinking about it, I guess it's more fatigue. No energy or ambition. Love my naps, but I don't get them every day. I have been spoiled, out on leave from work since 12/3 (surgery 12/7), so it's not from anything like that.

    I have difficulty getting motivated - even to fix something eat, shower, do laundry, etc. Maybe a little depression? overwhelmed by this roller coaster ride? Whatever it is, I am hoping that it will pass soon. Doc said 2 weeks to a month after rads I'll be feeling effects.

    Sue
  • Rague
    Rague Member Posts: 3,653 Member
    #4
    I start my 5th and last week
    I start my 5th and last week of rads tomorrow. I have gotten less tired weekly. There have been a couple of days that I got a little tired but a short nap (or just resting/relaxing) took care of it. I started a week after the 12th weekly Taxol which had really beaten me down - absolute utter exhaustion - so rads has been real easy.
  • Different Ballgame
    Different Ballgame Member Posts: 868
    #5
    GrandmaJ said:

    Radiation
    I am on treatment #23 of radiation, 7 more to go and three boosters. I am okay and working but Friday and Saturday I am extremely fatigued. Not sleepy....just very tired....By Sun I feel good again and Monday its back to radiation !! I also have a rash on my chest above the breast which seems to be getting worse. Did you experience this ? I would say Sat is the only day I can't seem to get enough energy to do anything and I think most of it is just from working a 40 hour week.

    Judy

    No Rash
    Hi Judy,

    I did not experience a rash. I had 26 rads with a TOMO Therapy radiation machine and 5 boosts with a linear radiation machine. I had some slight peeling on top of skin. Underneath the breast and on the torso the peeling was somewhat painful because the two bare skins met...nerve met nerve. Luckily this did not last long...a few days.

    I have great skin for normal suntanning. I am curious how my skin will react to the sun this summer.

    I was getting up quite early for me - between 5:00 a.m. - 5:30 a.m. - going for treatment - and then going to work full time. I am an administrative assistant for an industrial brokerage real estate company. I don't know if this is the reason why I was somewhat tired when I relaxed in the evening...probably so.

    Hugs,
    Janelle
  • ppurdin
    ppurdin Member Posts: 1,181 Member
    #6
    radiation
    I had a 100 mile drive every day.so I did get really tired.I needed to rest when I got the chance.By the time I was getting the boost treatments,I was really tired.I found myself falling asleep easy.Even setting in a chair Id fall asleep.Now I wish I could go to sleep easy.I am taking the Cancer pill and I have the side effect of insomia.Good Luck.
  • jbug
    jbug Member Posts: 285
    #7
    I was just plain drained!
    I worked at the same hospital where I got my treatments, so not like I had to drive somewhere else each day for my treatment...but live far away...almost an hour commute. So, my days typically start at -430, the few days i could get on the treadmill in the a.m. i would walk for 10 -15 min, but I have to say that was the exception. My breast was burned, so couldn't wear my workout bra, even for the short period of time. By the time I hit week 3 and 4, I just totally ran out of energy at about 1230...felt like a car running out of gas. Couldn't concentrate on work or anything...i started doing half days. I don't nap well in the daytime anymore, but i would go home and curl up in bed and just rest. I was so amazed at how exhuasted I was, i think i've mentioned before that i felt like a radiation failure! It seemed like others posted that they had basically breezed thru, worked full time etc. Anyway, i've read that others have had significant fatigue and that everyone is different.

    Blessings...
    Julie
  • Flakey_Flake
    Flakey_Flake Member Posts: 130
    #8
    Is Tired the Same as Fatigued?
    Janelle, I had the same problem when the nurses would ask me if I were fatigued. I told them I wasn't understanding their definition of what "fatigued" meant. They explained that if you feel too tired to do your "normal" life, you are fatigued. We agreed that we could call it the amount of time durring the day that I spent "horizontal" - lying on the couch, or curled up in bed. Then we finally got down to 75% / 50% / 10% - they would just ask what percent of the day I was resting. There were times when I was 100% resting on A/C. But I don't have a job, so resting is is an easy mode to slip into. Now that I am done with A/c and Taxol, I have to make it a point to stay busy all day. Most of the time I am simply flitting about like a butterfly in a field of daisies, thanks to chemo brain. But once in a while I can get myself into a project that will hold me all day, just not very often. If you feel like you just can't lift that dust rag, or push that broom, and all you really want to do is crawl in a hole and pull it in after you, then you are fatigued. I am not sure if fatigued is different from tired. Some people have more drive to keep going. I do when it is important, but if it just a couple dirty dishes, or a dust bunny of two - I let them go. Dust bunnies have a right to life too, don't they:)
    Sharon
  • Kat11
    Kat11 Member Posts: 1,931 Member
    #9
    Flakey_Flake said:

    Is Tired the Same as Fatigued?
    Janelle, I had the same problem when the nurses would ask me if I were fatigued. I told them I wasn't understanding their definition of what "fatigued" meant. They explained that if you feel too tired to do your "normal" life, you are fatigued. We agreed that we could call it the amount of time durring the day that I spent "horizontal" - lying on the couch, or curled up in bed. Then we finally got down to 75% / 50% / 10% - they would just ask what percent of the day I was resting. There were times when I was 100% resting on A/C. But I don't have a job, so resting is is an easy mode to slip into. Now that I am done with A/c and Taxol, I have to make it a point to stay busy all day. Most of the time I am simply flitting about like a butterfly in a field of daisies, thanks to chemo brain. But once in a while I can get myself into a project that will hold me all day, just not very often. If you feel like you just can't lift that dust rag, or push that broom, and all you really want to do is crawl in a hole and pull it in after you, then you are fatigued. I am not sure if fatigued is different from tired. Some people have more drive to keep going. I do when it is important, but if it just a couple dirty dishes, or a dust bunny of two - I let them go. Dust bunnies have a right to life too, don't they:)
    Sharon

    It was only the last two
    It was only the last two weeks of rads that I felt drained. I don't think I had recoverd from chemo fatigue. I had 34 rad treatments and I burned pretty bad. They said that it can take a lot out of you because its killing cells.
  • sunny_girl
    sunny_girl Member Posts: 33
    #10
    Fatigue
    In my experience, I wasn't tired (as in sleepy) from radiation. I was incredibly fatigued. I can't think of any other time in my life I simply lacked the energy to stand up. I had a six month old puppy, that I usually walked a mile (up hill) to the dog park every day, and by the end of treatments, it was all I could do to drive there and prop myself upright on a bench and hope she'd play with some other dogs.

    About 8 months after my treatments ended, I had another period of about 6 weeks of incredible fatigue. At the time I was worried about a recurrence, but nothing has materialized and I feel much better. I read somewhere that it isn't uncommon to have delayed symptoms 6-8 months later, so I assume it was related.
  • Angie2U
    Angie2U Member Posts: 2,991
    #11
    sunny_girl said:

    Fatigue
    In my experience, I wasn't tired (as in sleepy) from radiation. I was incredibly fatigued. I can't think of any other time in my life I simply lacked the energy to stand up. I had a six month old puppy, that I usually walked a mile (up hill) to the dog park every day, and by the end of treatments, it was all I could do to drive there and prop myself upright on a bench and hope she'd play with some other dogs.

    About 8 months after my treatments ended, I had another period of about 6 weeks of incredible fatigue. At the time I was worried about a recurrence, but nothing has materialized and I feel much better. I read somewhere that it isn't uncommon to have delayed symptoms 6-8 months later, so I assume it was related.

    I was really tired, just had
    I was really tired, just had no energy towards the end. But, my rads oncologist explained why it was happening, so, I wasn't alarmed. I tried to get a lot of rest and even started taking naps, which helped. Some do get more exhausted than others. It varies I am sure like any other part of our treatment.
  • teresa41
    teresa41 Member Posts: 471
    #12
    Angie2U said:

    I was really tired, just had
    I was really tired, just had no energy towards the end. But, my rads oncologist explained why it was happening, so, I wasn't alarmed. I tried to get a lot of rest and even started taking naps, which helped. Some do get more exhausted than others. It varies I am sure like any other part of our treatment.

    rads
    i didnt have a lot of energy i worked that was about it . i took naps everyday and went to bed early everynight.everyone is different.



    teresa

Discussion Boards