Chemo first

Welcome to this site, although I am very sorry that you too have been diagnosed with breast cancer. There are far too many of us! There are a number of ladies on here who have had chemo first. It can work very well and many ladies have a better result with surgery after chemo. I had a mastectomy first, followed by 18 weeks of chemo and 25 radiotherapy sessions last year. I am doing well now. It can be very difficult to get a decent night's sleep when you are facing treatment. The brain does not want to stop even though you feel so tired. I had always been a good sleeper but when you are diagnosed with cancer it's pretty hard to switch off. It does get easier in time (maybe we just get so tired we have to sleep!) as you settle into treatment. There is kind of a routine with chemo that you do settle with. You can try the usual things to help with sleep, doing something relaxing like taking a bath before bed, chamomile tea, playing relaxing music, etc but I think you will find that it is just 'normal' to have trouble with sleep at this stage of things. Some of the drugs they give you for chemo also make it hard to sleep but I found it helpful to just go with it rather than lay there stressing about not sleeping. When you get tired enough you do sleep, meanwhile lots of us spend those early morning hours on here or reading or even cleaning out the pantry! Whatever works for you! This site is often busy during the night. I found it a blessing during my treatment and 'talking' with others who are going through a similar experience is so very helpful. So use this site to help you through your treatment. Let us know if there is anything we can help you with. Take care and I hope that you find that the side effects of chemo are not too bad. Many of us find that it is not as bad as we imagine. Godd luck. Deanne xxx