Fatigue

A few months ago I was given a booklet called 'Coping with fatigue' printed by cancerbackup, what a useful book this is! My treatment finished in April 2007 and it was a surprise to me when I started to feel like I had no energy, unable to concentrate, experienced sleepless nights and had difficulty remembering things and so on. I spoke to my GP and occupational health doctor about these feelings and physical symptons, they simply gave a blanket response 'after all you have been through it will take time', which is a supportive comment on the one hand but conversely it is rather non-specific. After several months of trying to manage and telling myself to 'get a grip' I discovered the cancerbackup booklet. What a relief it was to read about the specific issues and effects. I felt normal and ordinary....... in terms of how I was feeling and the things I was experiencing. Having information in black and white and written by people in 'the know' was reassuring and a real comfort to me. I would urge people to get hold of a copy, it may not help everyone but it could help some survivors and their families. Visit cancerbackup at http://www.cancerbackup.org/