What Causes Cancer Related Fatigue?

What Is Fatigue?

Everyone has experienced tiredness and expects it to go away after a good night's sleep. Fatigue is a much greater degree of tiredness. It is an unusual or excessive feeling of tiredness that is not easily relieved by sleep. Fatigue occurs when you feel more tired than usual or tire more quickly after completing usual activities. It also may occur when you are not doing anything.

Fatigue can be more than just a feeling of being constantly tired. You also may experience difficulty performing everyday activities such as housework, showering and cooking. Difficulty in walking, talking, concentrating and making decisions all may be symptoms of fatigue. Sometimes, you just do not feel like yourself. Often, it is difficult trying to deal with family members or other people who may be trying to help you.

What Causes Fatigue?

Fatigue is one of the most common symptoms associated with cancer and cancer therapies. Chemotherapy kills RBCs and lessens the bone marrow's ability to make more. This lack of RBCs, or anemia, can cause you to feel extremely tired. Adding to this might be such factors as emotional stress, coping with anxiety, conflict, sadness, even tension among loved ones, which require extra energy. Changes in your daily routine also contribute to fatigue. As a result of your cancer treatment, your sleeping, eating and working patterns may change.

The fact is, your entire life is being turned upside down and yet so much is still expected of you. You still have to travel to and from treatments. You still have to function. You still have to cope. You have to call upon your body to do so much more than it may want to do or be able to do.

If you are overly tired, you might be anemic. Be sure to take the Brief Fatigue Inventory and discuss the result with your doctor.

Keeping track of your fatigue levels with the Monthly Energy Calendar is another good way to discuss with your doctor whether you might have anemia. Every day, check off the level of energy you had regarding normal activities.