fatigue

Hi Carol,

Fantastic news to read that your husbands PSA is almost undetectable so soon. Long may it last. 

I recently completed 37 sessions of radiotherapy and did find I was fatigued at times. For myself there were occasions when I’d find myself totally washed out. The solution on those occasions was to retire to bed. Darken the room, and sleep. I found that I didn’t sleep long, just enough to become refreshed. The other thing I did was to take a walk on a daily basis. Contrary to what one would think,  exercise is a useful tool to beat fatigue. The important thing is to listen to your body and do what it requests.

I found that the effects of radiotherapy continued on for a while after treatment was completed, so don’t expect the effects to cease once treatment is completed. 

Hope this is of help, and best wishes to you both.

Chris

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your reply and advice. We both like to walk and we have a dog which is a good reason to get out. At the moment fatigue is not too bad ( he is only  5 days into his therapy)  but some people keep saying" oh wait till week two and things will be different ". We know every man is different and just keeping fingers crossed won`t be too bad. So far he is coping quite well. The mood swings from the HT are more hard to deal  with but he now recognises when he is feeling grumpy and we go with it as the following day he has come out of it. 

Thanks again for your reply

Carol

Hi Carol.

I had 20 sessions of RT in February and March this year. The first couple of weeks were no problem but by the third week I was starting to feel quite tired. By the end of the final week I was resting in bed for up to 15 hours a day, although sleep was intermittent. The fatigue carried on for a couple of weeks after the RT finished but gradually began to wear off and I'm now back to full fitness.

As Chris said it's important to keep exercising (walking a couple of miles each day is enough) and the fatigue will eventually go away.

Hi Saemus,

Thanks for your encouragement. It seems a nice walk most days helps with the fatigue which we manage most days (weather permitting)

Regards Carol