{"id":80345,"date":"2025-12-08T14:13:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T14:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/80345\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T14:13:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T14:13:09","slug":"fatigue-3-things-to-know-about-this-cancer-treatment-side-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/80345\/","title":{"rendered":"Fatigue: 3 things to know about this cancer treatment side effect"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re always feeling exhausted, you\u2019re not alone. This is especially true if you just finished or are still undergoing cancer treatment<\/a>.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFatigue<\/a>\u202fis the most common\u202fside effect<\/a>\u202fexperienced by patients both during and after cancer treatment,\u201d says internal medicine specialist Carmen Escalante, M.D.<\/a><\/p>\n

But cancer-related fatigue tends to go undiagnosed, both because many patients are reluctant to discuss it and there\u2019s no real way to test for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no imaging studies<\/a> or blood tests<\/a> available to quantify fatigue,\u201d explains Escalante. \u201cSo, when we evaluate patients for cancer-related fatigue, we have to consider many factors.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The good news is that it\u2019s still possible to reduce cancer-related fatigue. Escalante explored this topic in a recent Cancerwise podcast with internal medicine specialist Lucy Potter, M.D.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here are three highlights from their discussion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t just have to accept cancer-related fatigue\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some patients don\u2019t want to talk about cancer-related fatigue because they don\u2019t want to complain. Others worry that if they tell their care teams about their fatigue, it could result in a change of medication<\/a>, making their cancer treatment less effective.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut don\u2019t believe that fatigue is just a part of the package, and you have to accept it if you want optimal cancer treatment,\u201d says Escalante. \u201cBecause that is not true. Fatigue is a legitimate side effect, and there are several things we can do to improve it. So, patients should definitely bring it up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cancer-related fatigue can be treated<\/p>\n

Physicians tend to focus on three main strategies when treating patients for cancer-related fatigue.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Exercise<\/p>\n

This may sound counterintuitive, because the last thing we usually want to hear is that we need to get moving<\/a> when we\u2019re really tired.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the best data we have shows that both fatigue and quality of life improve significantly when people exercise<\/a> regularly,\u201d Escalante says. \u201cIt can also help with weight control<\/a>, depression<\/a> and anxiety<\/a>. So, there are many benefits to exercising, even if you\u2019re receiving cancer treatment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re able, aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week. But start with what you can<\/a>, as even small amounts of physical activity are beneficial during treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prioritizing tasks and activities<\/p>\n

This means reviewing your daily or weekly activities and defining which ones are the most important to you. Which tasks must you absolutely complete, for example, and which ones can you delegate or put off indefinitely<\/a>?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPrioritization also means knowing what time of day you have the most energy, so you can take on your hardest tasks then,\u201d adds Escalante.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Saving your energy for the most important activities\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

This means saving up your strength for the activities you really value. It also means finding ways to make them less strenuous.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of my patients enjoy gardening,\u201d explains Escalante. \u201cBut getting up and down from the ground can be very tiring. So, can you work on a raised garden, instead, or sit at a table and pot plants?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Cancerwise<\/p>\n

\"Cancerwise<\/p>\n

Managing cancer side effects: Fatigue<\/p>\n

Medications may also be an option<\/p>\n

If nothing else works to relieve your cancer-related fatigue, your care team may consider stimulants. These are drugs that activate your central nervous system to make you feel more awake and alert.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNo stimulants have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) specifically to treat cancer-related fatigue,\u201d notes Escalante. \u201cBut for some patients, they can be very helpful. So, we sometimes use those off-label.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Resources are available even after cancer treatment ends<\/p>\n

Fatigue can last for months \u2014 or even years \u2014 after cancer treatment is finished. But if you\u2019re still struggling with it, don\u2019t despair. Help is available.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t guarantee that your fatigue will go away completely, but we can certainly get it to a more manageable level,\u201d says Escalante. \u201cWe want patients to have the best quality of life possible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re an\u202fMD Anderson\u202fpatient, any member of your care team can refer you to our\u202fCancer-Related Fatigue Clinic<\/a>. You can also sign up for\u00a0Active Living After Cancer<\/a>, a no-cost, 12-week program designed for cancer survivors that involves physical activity, nutritional advice, and other activities that overlap with the recommendations our doctors often make to deal with cancer-related fatigue.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

To hear the full discussion between Escalante and Potter,\u00a0listen to the podcast<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Request an appointment at MD Anderson online<\/a>\u00a0or call 1-877-632-6789.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019re always feeling exhausted, you\u2019re not alone. This is especially true if you just finished or are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[39163,13197,39165,39162,56,58,57,39161,39164,1148,2822],"class_list":{"0":"post-80345","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-cancer-topics","9":"tag-chemotherapy","10":"tag-fatigue","11":"tag-fatigue-clinic","12":"tag-houston","13":"tag-houston-headlines","14":"tag-houston-news","15":"tag-in-treatment","16":"tag-newly-diagnosed","17":"tag-patients","18":"tag-survivors"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}