Tiredness

Hi Paul 

There is a thing called cancer related fatigue 

Its a well known syndrome, so yes, cancer can make you feel tired. 
Here is an extract from The European Journal Of Cancer Care

Fatigue is a major complaint among cancer patients, yet it is unknown whether cancer-related fatigue experienced during the day relates to sleep/wake cycles or to the quality and quantity of sleep obtained at night. Although it is not well defined or well understood at present, cancer-related fatigue is generally regarded as a form of tiredness that does not improve following rest or sleep. Objectively recorded sleep and biological rhythms have not been well investigated in these patients, but it appears that most cancer patients may in fact not be getting a good night’s sleep. Evidence is accumulating that sleep is often disturbed in cancer patients, probably owing to a variety of causes.

Full text here

I got the gold medal in the sleeping Olympics Paul; I've mentioned it here several times before but my "speciality" was sleeping in the bath, so many times I was woken by tepid water. Used to leave the water on full time on the central heating so I could just drain half of it, top up with hot and then nod off again; strangely it was my "safe place" (even though I ended up looking like a wrinkled prune). In bed the little voices in my head doubted me, though when awake I was confident and trusting completely in my team.

Say it so many times, we're all different but at the same time we all have a similar journey. Listen to your body I'd say and sleep whenever you feel the need.

Got you 100% on that. Last year I was a day away from meeting my maker because p.embolisms. the bath was my safe place too. Friends would give me books to read to pass the time and the amount of books that fell in the bath when I would drop off.it got the stage my wife would bring a chair in and keep an eye on me. Lol.

Paul

Hi Danni,

Seems to confirm it then eh? I think maybe any severe illness the body has to repair itself. But I make no apologies for just nodding off when I'm extremely tired. I'll maybe slurp and grunt a bit but who cares eh?

Paul x

Hi Paul

I think the answer is yes.  I often feel exhausted and need to force myself to do things that I need to do - apart from procrastinate!

I think some of that is down to our minds working overtime about everything,   some is down to post operative issues and some is down to our bodies trying to tell us something.

I do manage long walks with the dog, but that exhausts me.  I know from a Dr friend that the current thinking is that for each hour you are down for an operation it takes one month to recover from the drugs.  I don't think they tell you that bit!

My way of dealing with it is to set targets and listen to my wife (not a hope) telling me I need to rest.

Hello there.

I definitely think cancer makes us tired. I’m not in the H&N cancer club (my hubby is) but I’m well and truly in the breast cancer club and am now permanently tired. I wake up tired.

As for hubby......he is sleeping for England! He is 8 weeks post treatment now but I remember he was sleeping lots before his treatment but he did have a few surgeries i.e. tonsillectomy, panendectomy, molar clearance and PEG tube fitted. So I guess that’s why he was tired pre treatment.

We try to have little walks and little jaunts out every day but I have to be the driving force as he is so tired.

I think having cancer entitles you to sleep whenever you want.

Hi Paul

I too felt pretty worn out before my cancer diagnosis.  I didn't feel ill as such, just felt Iike I was permanently about to go down with something and generally under the weather.

Good luck on Tuesday.  

Linda x