Feeling tired and lacking energy (fatigue) is the most common side effect of chemotherapy. Fatigue can include feeling exhausted, drowsy, confused or impatient. You may have a heavy feeling in your limbs, get worn out quickly, or find it difficult to do daily activities.
To be honest the day after chemo wasn't too bad either...just a little fatigue and nausea, but for the most part the anti-nausea meds did their job, and I even managed to sleep for five solid hours that night. Not too shabby all things considered. Days 2-4 following treatment, however, have been super rough.
You may be feeling tired, relieved, anxious, and happy all at the same time after your first treatment. Once you are home, follow all instructions given to you. Take your medications on time, rest, hydrate, and eat. Keep track of any side effects or new feelings you have, and report these to your care team.
A return to normalcy is typical, but it takes a while – usually six months or so. “All who have done chemo do finally get back to normal,” Patricia said. “Treatment for breast cancer can take a whole year, but six months after it ends, life comes back – incisions heal, hair grows back, chemo brain fog lifts.”
One week post-chemo! "They" say that's one of the toughest weeks. The one right after chemo, especially your first round. It's a week of figuring out how your body will respond after the infusions, and it's different for every person.
Short, planned delays in chemotherapy for good-risk GCT patients (less than or equal to 7 days per cycle) appear to be acceptable since they may prevent serious toxicity in this curable patient population. Delays of longer than 7 days are strongly discouraged except in extraordinary life-threatening circumstances.
Feeling and being sick
Sometimes sickness doesn't start until you have had your first few cycles of chemotherapy. It all depends on the chemotherapy drugs you have and how you react to them. This can vary from person to person. If you are being sick with chemotherapy, do tell your doctor or chemotherapy nurse.
Acute nausea and vomiting usually happens within minutes to hours after treatment is given, and usually within the first 24 hours. This is more common when treatment is given by IV infusion or when taken by mouth.
There Will Be First Chemo Treatment Side Effects
Fatigue: You may feel tired or very fatigued the day after your first treatment. This differs from tiredness that can be cured with sleep. It may feel like profound lack of energy you can't seem to shake.
Chemotherapy drugs target cancer cells which stop or slow their growth. A person undergoing chemotherapy should avoid eating undercooked or raw food, interacting with actively infectious people, overexerting themselves, and consuming too much alcohol.
The effects of chemo are cumulative. They get worse with each cycle. My doctors warned me: Each infusion will get harder. Each cycle, expect to feel weaker.
It can take 6 to 12 months for symptoms to get better after chemotherapy ends. Some side effects can be permanent. Learn more about managing nervous system side effects. Changes in thinking and memory.
Nearly everyone who has chemotherapy has some tiredness. It can be due to the direct effect of chemotherapy on the body. But anaemia may also cause tiredness. This is because chemotherapy can stop your bone marrow from making red blood cells for a while.
The length of time for chemotherapy regimens can range from 5 minutes to 8 or more hours. It all depends on the chemotherapy. Throughout the chemotherapy, your nurse will come in and check your vitals and make sure you aren't reacting to the medications.
Some chemo drugs can damage cells in the heart, kidneys, bladder, lungs, and nervous system. Sometimes, you can take medicines with the chemo to help protect your body's normal cells. There are also treatments to help relieve side effects.
Whether it's due to pain from a growing tumor, swallowing difficulties caused by radiation therapy, or the nausea, loss of appetite or mouth sores that are sometimes caused by chemotherapy, involuntary weight loss is a serious side effect of cancer and its treatment for many patients.
Water, water, water: we know it can be difficult, but please drink plenty of water before, during and after chemo treatment. Drinking lots of water will help to flush the chemo through your system, and can also help to keep your bladder from becoming irritated.
During a course of treatment, you usually have around 4 to 8 cycles of treatment. A cycle is the time between one round of treatment until the start of the next. After each round of treatment you have a break, to allow your body to recover.
Good night's rest
A full night's sleep is vital for anyone who has had chemotherapy. Patients should get at least eight hours of sleep if possible.
Chemotherapy. You may feel most worn out for a few days after each chemo treatment. Your fatigue may get worse with each treatment. For some people, fatigue is worst about halfway through the full course of chemo.
Wait 3 days after chemotherapy before having sex. Seventy-two hours is the average amount of time that it takes the medicine to leave the body. During that time, chemotherapy medicine is present in bodily fluids. Having sex (vaginal, oral, or anal) within 72 hours of chemo treatment may expose a partner to these drugs.
They may say they feel tired, weak, exhausted, weary, worn-out, or slow. They may say they have no energy and can't concentrate. They also talk about having heavy arms and legs, little drive to do anything, being unable to sleep or sleeping too much.
#5: Pain. Why it happens: Chemotherapy may cause painful side effects like burning, numbness and tingling or shooting pains in your hands and feet, as well as mouth sores, headaches, muscle and stomach pain. Pain can be caused by the cancer itself or by the chemo.