Almost every cancer patient will feel fatigue. It mainly occurs before and after cancer diagnosis and treatment, causing fatigue to run throughout the entire treatment period, reducing the patient's quality of life, and even causing cognitive impairment to varying degrees . How to alleviate this problem?
Why do cancer patients easily feel tired?
1. Related to cancer itself
Cancer cells can release cancer-promoting factors, such as interleukin, which can slow down metabolism and easily cause infection, fever and fatigue.
2. Effect of complications
Most cancer patients will experience complications of varying degrees during the treatment process, such as malnutrition, pain, nausea and vomiting, anemia, etc., which will aggravate the feeling of fatigue.
3. Influenced by the treatment method
Whether surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, or new targeted drug treatment, biological treatment, immunotherapy, , will induce adverse reactions and cause the patient to feel tired.
4. Related to social and psychological factors
Bad mood, staying at home for a long time, lack of exercise, etc. can also lead to fatigue, so we can adjust our mentality, give our family enough understanding and care, and provide psychological counseling.
How to relieve cancer fatigue?
1. Drug treatment
Symptom treatment according to the cause and symptomatic treatment. If it is a feeling of fatigue caused by cancer pain, you can choose targeted drugs under the guidance of a doctor. If it is related to a bad mood, you need to use sedative drugs. If it is related to chemotherapy and anemia, it is necessary to use iron agent and erythropoietin to relieve it. If fatigue is associated with sleep disorder , melatonin receptor agonists and antidepressants should be taken; if it is associated with malnutrition, oral nutritional supplements or coenzyme Q10 are required to relieve it. In short, the causes of cancer fatigue are different, and the treatment methods are also very different. You need to consult a professional doctor for specific medication.
2. Non-drug therapy
Use relaxation training , sleep, health education, nutrition support and psychological social intervention to relieve fatigue. At the same time, the amount of exercise should be appropriately increased, and doctors should formulate appropriate exercise plans based on the patient's condition. Generally, moderate aerobic exercises, such as yoga, walking, and Tai Chi , can improve blood circulation throughout the body, relieve fatigue, and improve quality of life.
Faced with cancer fatigue, we cannot treat it blindly, but we must find out the cause and treat it symptomatically. Patients should treat fatigue rationally, accept its existence, face it with a positive and optimistic attitude, and not be overly nervous and anxious.
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