Letrozole and fatigue

Gosh glad i stumbled on this one. Two weeks post surgery and just been prescribed letrozole.  I started with chemo then radiation then surgery so perhaps i will have bad fatigue...who knows. I am going to wait a couple of weeks before starting it to recover more from surgery. 

Thanks Soffiel will have a look at it. I've been having one day a week since this started. 

@Cyclo Something many forget is the insurance you may have through your super. If you have been off work for more than three months you should be able to claim and give yourself more time to recover. Marg.

@primek thanks Kath for sharing with me I think I'm starting to get the hang of how this cancer business works, i think you have confirmed what I suspected that going back to work FT may take its toll and Its likely my exercise will suffer and  fatigue may well increase, so back to square one, I've got used to working 4 days which means I've been able to increase my exercise on the three days off.  This morning  got on the scales and have finally lost some weight which has made me feel really happy so I'm keen to hang on to my exercise regime. I guess I need to bite the bullet and see what happens. Luckily I've been using accumulated sick leave but that won't last forever. My plan is to return to work 9 day fortnight for a few months as a way of pacing myself. Like many of us I've lived a flat out busy life and pacing takes a bit of getting used to. Thanks Kath for all your contributions on this site I always find your information and many other people's story /information really informative Lyn 

@Cyclo I found returning to full time work really hard. I must say I enjoyed my Wednesdays off. I first started at 4 hours a day then slowly inxteased but foubd tbe day off in tbe middle worked better for rest. I was managing all that and exercising on weekends. I had periods of extreme fatigue and would take a few days off exercise . Pacing yourself is the key. When I started back at full time I got really really tired again. I stopped exercising as  my job at least involved some walking and needed the weekends to just do nothing. Trouble is as time went on I got more tired....so back to the beginning. I started with just the 10 minutes etc and building. Well 4 weeks on now up to 10000 steps most days and sleeping better. Once I'm finding that eady gym work will start again.  I also try to at least do pool walking on weekends and aquafit. Hopefully my lap swimming will come back soon. I am fearful of being overtired again so I am doing it all slowly. When the tiredness hits it is overwhelming. I just go with it and put netflex on. Kath x

I did not start on Letrozole until 2 1/2 years after my initial treatment. I was on Tamoxifen until I had my ovaries removed and switched to Letrozole. I found I was fatigued for a good 12 months or more after my chemo and radio treatment. Then I came good and did not notice a return of fatigue when I switched to Letrozole 2 years ago.

However, I will say that I do not handle stress very easily anymore. That leaves me feeling overwhelmed and sort of fatigued really quickly. Like the others have said exercise helps the energy levels. I think just being diagnosed with cancer gives you a type of Trauma stress reaction which can have a big effect on your energy levels, let alone what physical effects various treatment also have on us!

My family know that I need my walk every morning or life is not good!
 :) 

Thanks everyone thought I'd add this to the mix in case you haven't seen it and it helps
http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/side_effects/fatigue

I too go to the gym and do yoga - not really good at any of it but I enjoy it and it's also a great balance to working. One keeps my mind on the ball and the other helps me tune out! 

@afraser I think you might be right that chemo/ radiotherapy seems to exacerbate side effects from what I read on this blog these past couple of months . Exercise helps me so time to get off the blog , put on my sneakers and walk in the fog

It's so hard to work out what affects what, especially as some side effects linger after treatment. I have been on letrozole for over 4 years with no fatigue symptoms but then I did not have fatigue with chemo and no radiotherapy either. Maybe one makes the other more likely?