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CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, Vol 49, Issue 3 178-189, Copyright © 1999 by American Cancer Society

ARTICLES

Resolving the frustration of fatigue

W. S. Harpham
Department of Internal Medicine, Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas, TX, USA.

Fatigue is a ubiquitous side effect of many cancer therapies. Nevertheless, after treatment is complete, many survivors continue to feel a profound tiredness that affects almost all aspects of life. Even after recovery, patients are often frustrated by their continuing need for extra rest. In this deeply personal, first-person account, a physician relates the various ways that cancer-related fatigue can affect family dynamics, job responsibilities, social interactions, finances, and intimacy. Clinicians can help by searching for treatable medical conditions, but also by taking cancer-related fatigue, and the frustrations it causes, seriously. Patients should be reassured that the fatigue they feel is real, and that by learning personal energy conservation, they should be able to improve their abilities to function, to socialize, to interact with others, and ultimately to adjust to a "new normal" baseline.