3rd:session radiotherapy

Hi feeling tired is one of the side effects of radiotherapy and I suffered from it too.  Like you it kicked in around session 3 maybe session 4 (I had the intensive 5 day session).  Took a good few months to fully recover from the tiredness.  I found that even when walking I was getting out of breath very quickly and I could only walk slowly.

We are all different you are not a wuss.  It's like chemo, and taking the hormone tablets, some people have side effects and some don't.  Listen to what your body is telling you and if you are tired slow down and rest as much as you can.

Thank you, that’s reassuring. I am stuck between feeling I should push on through it and not having the energy to get off the sofa! 

I didn't work through RT.  I was fatigued and I tried to go out every other day.  Sometimes just my hubby taking me for a drive, sometimes a short walk along sea front.  I found being home by 3pm in time for a easy to watch film requiring no effort while I put feet up on sofa best way to deal with it.  I wasn't tired enough to sleep but no energy to cook etc.  

Thank you, it’s odd because I have felt ok for a couple of hours after and then it seemed to hit me this afternoon. Hopefully the weekend off will help.

It’s not just the physical effects it’s the emotional effects too, it wears you down. Don’t feel like a wuss because everyone is different. When I had radiotherapy it left me incredibly tired too, the radiotherapy destroys all cells in its path meaning your body works very hard to mitigate the damage so there’s actually a lot going on you can’t necessarily see. Rest, listen to your body a d do what feels right for you xx

Don't push on through it .  The best thing you can do for yourself is to listen to your body and rest.  It is nothing to be ashamed of or to feel guilty about.  You have nothing to prove to yourself or to anyone else.

Thank You, and you are right - emotionally this has been a huge challenge, I think as this is the final (hopefully) part for me I am underestimating that side of things x

So very true, thank you x

You are not alone but everyone is different 

Radiotherapy affects all the cells in the targeted area.Normal cells have the ability to repair themselves whereas abnormal cells don’t.Your body is putting lots of energy into the repair process.

Rest when you need to and drink lots of fluid . Light exercise even if it’s only a walk round the block for 10 mins can help with that fuzzy feeling.

Don’t be surprised when tiredness persists after treatment ends as the treatment carries on working in the body for a couple of weeks after your last treatment 

take care

Don't feel like a wuss with any treatment you are going through. I worked throughout all treatment (chemo, surgery and rads) with just a few days off for each chemo cycle and surgery and worked full time during radiotherapy. But that doesn't mean I wasn't tired or felt horrendous at times. I found chemo quite tough so radiotherapy didn't seem to make me more tired. But I was still recovering from chemo so that also doesn't mean I wasn't tired. For me, it felt so much easier than chemo so there was a comparison there.

I'm also self-employed so I had to work as much as possible.

Cancer treatment, cancer and all the worry and ups and downs make us all tired out. Physically and mentally. 

I was also able to work from home and still am. Even now, 10 months after chemo and 6 months after rads, I can't imagine travelling into an office and not being completely exhausted. I still get tired out if I don't pace myself and recently I had to take on much more than I should have done for a few weeks and ended up with infections and feeling very low and exhausted.

Let yourself feel whatever you feel. Radiotherapy does make you tired, and the effects peak at 2 weeks post-treatment and you take 6 weeks to heal (according to my oncologist). But you may feel tired for much longer.