Cancer-related fatigue is the most common side effect of cancer and its treatment. Research suggests that about 90% of cancer patients receiving treatments such as radiation therapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or bone marrow transplants have fatigue. Thirty percent to 75% of cancer survivors have reported fatigue that continues for months or years after completing active treatment. Cancer survivors or patients who are no longer actively being treated must still be watched for fatigue because it can exist after treatment. Even though fatigue is a very distressing symptom, doctors and nurses seldom focus on it, and patients and caregivers rarely report it. Although it may be difficult to talk about, fatigue is a normal and common occurrence for people with cancer. There are things that can be done to help if the health care team knows about the symptom.
talk about cancer related fatigue
Describing the Fatigue
Managing fatigue is an important part of care for you and your family. In fact, current cancer care emphasizes that symptom management is a patient's right.
Before starting cancer therapy, the health care team must know about your level of fatigue, in other words, how severe your fatigue is. Only you know if you have fatigue and how severe it is. No laboratory tests or x-rays can diagnose or determine the level of fatigue. The best measure for fatigue comes from your own report of your level of fatigue to the health care team.
You can describe your level of fatigue as none, mild, moderate, or severe. Or you can use a scale of 1 to 10, where a 0 means no fatigue, and a 10 means the worst fatigue imaginable. Talk to your doctor or nurse about your fatigue.
