Fatigue usually builds up slowly during the course of treatment, particularly towards the end, and may last for some weeks or months after treatment finishes. Many people find that they cannot do as much as they normally would, but others are able to continue their usual activities.
Many people who get radiation therapy have fatigue. Fatigue is feeling exhausted and worn out. It can happen all at once or come on slowly. People feel fatigue in different ways and you may feel more or less fatigue than someone else who is getting the same amount of radiation therapy to the same part of the body.
The tiredness often reaches its maximum 1 to 2 weeks after the end of treatment.
Drinking lots of fluids and eating well can help keep your energy reserves up. If nausea and vomiting make it hard to eat, talk to your doctor about these side effects. Get moving. Moderate exercise, such as brisk walking, riding a bike and swimming, throughout the week may help you preserve your energy level.
Often the side effects are worse at the end of treatment, or even a week or two afterwards, because it takes time for the healthy cells to recover from radiation. Most side effects are temporary and go away in time, usually within a few weeks of treatment finishing.
You may feel better when your cancer treatments stop, but often fatigue lingers. Bone marrow transplants can cause prolonged fatigue that lasts up to a year. Radiation therapy fatigue often gets worse as treatments progress. Fatigue should lessen a few months after you stop treatment.
The most common early side effects are fatigue (feeling tired) and skin changes. Other early side effects usually are related to the area being treated, such as hair loss and mouth problems when radiation treatment is given to this area.
Engaging in regular exercise may improve fatigue, along with physical and emotional well-being, among women undergoing radiation treatment for breast cancer, a new study suggests. The study, published online Oct. 14, 2022, by the journal Breast Cancer, involved 89 women ages 32 through 78.
Try to get at least 150 to 300 minutes of exercise at a moderate level of intensity every week. You can do this by exercising for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. The table in the “Exercise Intensity Levels” section gives examples of moderate-intensity exercises. Aim for 2 to 3 strength training sessions a week.
Radiation therapy causes fatigue because the body is working so hard to repair the damage that treatment has caused.
After radiation therapy begins, fatigue usually increases until mid-way through the course of treatments and then stays about the same until treatment ends. For many patients, fatigue improves after radiation therapy stops. However, in some patients, fatigue will last months or years after treatment ends.
The general effects of radiation therapy like fatigue, nausea, and headaches resolve fairly quickly after treatment. Your body just needs time to process the radiation but can recover within a few weeks.
In a few people, the tiredness can become very severe a few weeks after treatment has finished. You may also feel drowsy and irritable. This is a rare side effect and is sometimes called hypersomnia. It is extreme tiredness that can make you feel very drowsy and want to sleep a lot.
In this study, among 59 patients who were receiving chemotherapy, only one patient had moderate level of fatigue, while rest all patients experienced severe level of fatigue 98.30%. So the magnitude of fatigue after chemotherapy is more than that of radiotherapy treatment. A study by Donovan et al.
Exposure to very high levels of radiation, such as being close to an atomic blast, can cause acute health effects such as skin burns and acute radiation syndrome (“radiation sickness"). It can also result in long-term health effects such as cancer and cardiovascular disease.
More than 60% of NPC patients receiving curative-intent radiotherapy suffered from a weight loss greater than 5% during the treatment [8], [9].
Radiation resistance is a serious issue in radiotherapy. Increasing evidence indicates that the human gut microbiome plays a role in the development of radiation resistance. Vitamin D is an important supplement for cancer patients treated with radiotherapy.
External radiotherapy does not make you radioactive, as the radiation passes through your body. The radiation from implants or injections can stay in your body for a few days, so you may need to stay in hospital and avoid close contact with other people for a few days as a precaution.
Avoid raw vegetables and fruits, and other hard, dry foods such as chips or pretzels. It's also best to avoid salty, spicy or acidic foods if you are experiencing these symptoms. Your care team can recommend nutrient-based oral care solutions if you are experiencing mucositis or mouth sores caused by cancer treatment.
We know that radiation at high doses can cause cancer, could harm fetuses, and can even lead to death.
Drug Therapies
Antidepressants often prescribed for chronic fatigue include: Tricyclics: amitriptyline (Elavil), desipramine (Norpramin), notriptyline (Pamelor) Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs): citalopram (Celexa), escitalopram (Lexapro), fluoxetine (Prozac), paroxetine (Paxil), sertraline (Zoloft)