Good Days and Bad Days in Cancer Fatigue

[poetinsf]

“On those bad days you feel weak, tired and you have to give in to your body resting,” the princess said. “But on the good days, when you feel stronger, you want to make the most of feeling well.”

I wonder if cancer/chemo fatigue has anything in common with ME/CFS. Maybe Walitt could tell her it's an effort preference, not a real fatigue?

‘Good Days and Bad Days’: Princess of Wales Gives Update on Cancer

 

[Trish]

I thought cancer fatigue didn't involve PEM or other ME/CFS symptoms, that it really is the symptom fatigue on its own.

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

I thought cancer fatigue didn't involve PEM or other ME/CFS symptoms, that it really is the symptom fatigue on its own.

I have never asked in detail but my memory of patients on chemotherapy is that they would say 'I can handle it and I know it's worth it but I just feel so tired all the time.' I cannot imagine them 'crashing', just going to bed a bit early and saying no thanks to watching a film.

 

[Wits_End]

Of course it does - at the home visit for my caree's PIP application, the healthcare professional came in and announced that he was a cancer nurse (or some such) and so understood all about fatigue

 

[Kitty]

I've been close to three people going through gruelling treatment, and none of them reported a PEM-like response. If they really overdid it one day, they just needed extra rest for the next couple.

I asked on of them about PEM specifically, and they had a think about it. A couple of weeks later they said they did have the sense of being more ill, because the nausea, everything tasting vile, the bone ache, etc, was harder to cope with when they were shattered. They didn't think it objectively got a lot worse, and they didn't get new symptoms.

 

[Snow Leopard]

I thought cancer fatigue didn't involve PEM or other ME/CFS symptoms, that it really is the symptom fatigue on its own.

I think it can, but it is a matter of severity, people with cancer might not want to hear it but cancer fatigue is usually on the mild end when compared to ME/CFS

 

[Tia]

I think it can. It depends on the patient and the treatment. (Based on my observing a relative go through it. But then she is a relative of me who has ME so maybe that's not a fair test.)