What are the symptoms of Cancer-related fatigue?
In the previous post Causes of fatigue we came across various causes.
We can divide cancer-fatigue symptoms into two categories namely- Cancer fatigue symptoms before treatment and after.
When we talk about cancer fatigue symptoms before treatment, we are talking about unexplained and unexpected fatigue that lasts for quite some time.This fatigue is mostly not debilitating and is not a major obstacle in the daily activities, but is present to an extent that is noticeable.
However, the intensity will vary from person to person and also with various cancers and their stages.It may be totally absent in some cases.
This fatigue is present as a result of a myriad of changes going on inside the body because of cancer.
When we talk about cancer-related fatigue after the treatment has begun, like a cycle of chemotherapy, radiotherapy or a surgery for diagnosis or removal of tumor, this fatigue is present because of all the external changes mentioned above.
The causes of fatigue are mentioned in the previous article.
Now, lets talk about various symptoms of cancer fatigue and related to cancer fatigue.
Fatigue is totally a self-perceived state.It's like pain, only the person experiencing it will know it's presence, its intensity, it's character, etc.It is not quite possible for a health professional to know the level of fatigue very accurately but there are ways of measuring fatigue using various scales which will be discussed in further articles.
Hence, the health professional will have to rely on the way patient describes his/her fatigue for making a diagnosis of Cancer-related fatigue.
image courtesy: cancernetwork.com
The patient may describe fatigue as or related to :
- feeling tired
- feeling very weak
- experiencing lack of energy
- feeling worn out
- feeling clumsy
- feeling washed out
- feeling irritable
- feeling sleepy all the time
- lack of concentration
- feeling drained
- have difficulty doing usual activities
- feeling sluggish
- feeling drowsy in the day
- feeling angry at everyone/about everything around
- feeling exhausted, etc
The health professional may describe fatigue as or related to:
- cachexia
- asthenia
- malaise
- lassitute
- weakness
- exhaustion
- exercise intolerence, etc.
Lets see how we can diagnose cancer-related fatigue using proposed criteria for Cancer -related fatigue as a diagnostic tool.
Also read
5 reasons why you should study oncology.
Cancer and people.
What is Cancer-related fatigue?
What causes fatigue?
How to evaluate Cancer-related Fatigue using multi-dimensional tools?
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