Lack of Energy, Grade 3 oligodendroglioma

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Hello everyone,

I was diagnosed with a brain tumour back in 2015, had surgery in 2016, and the tumour was a grade 3 oligodendroglioma. Then I had radiotherapy and chemotherapy from 2018 to 2019. These all happened in my late 20s. I never smoke, never a heavy drinker, never misuse drugs. Didn't really know why I had this tumour.

I lack energy for day-to-day tasks after the surgery, and cannot go back to work full-time, and I am struggling to find a job and live a normal life. I want to know if this fatigue is normal, or is it just for me?

  • I have a GBM so I am not in the exact same situation but similar.  I definitely do not have the energy levels as before my surgery 8 months ago.  I have started going to the gym and that has been helping with energy levels.  At this point I can stay awake the full day without a nap.  However I'm still not able to be active, the equivalent of working, for a full day and I am not sure if that's going to be an option in my case.

  • Thank you for your reply. I am so sorry to hear that you have a GBM. Where is the tumour located? How are you coping?

    I only have 4-5 hours of energy to spend each day, and I find going to the gym or exercising depletes my energy. I am not sure whether it is because of the tumour is located at the left frontal lobe.

  • PKC, I definitely would ask the doctor for solutions.  There might not be any but I would try different things, even to get some small improvement.  While I am no doctor it is almost certainly the location of your tumor, the specific areas of the brain affected that are causing this.

    My tumor is in the left parietal as I recall, the back of my brain.  It was fairly large, about 140 cubic centimeters.  However, it was a relatively straight forward removal and they removed everything they could see.  I have fairly mild side effects post surgery, I lost some of my peripheral vision on my right side and have some memory issues.  I am able to manage that just fine.  For me, it's more a concern of what comes next.  I cope by focusing on my treatments, I do a lot of research into treatments and take a number of medicines, supplements and just healthy lifestyle to try to maximize my chances.  I also just try to stay calm and enjoy this life..