Forum Discussion
Long term chemo side effects
I was diagnosed with Stage 2 Breast Cancer and completed chemo 1 year ago. I have suffered from the time of treatment, ongoing fatigue of various degrees every day. Most days I am fatigued and need to lie down to rest. I also suffer from body aches and pains in my body. I have been unable to return to work even on a part time basis. This is effecting my quality of life and I often feel frustrated. Is there anyone else who still suffers side effects long after chemo has been completed?
I am grateful that I am in remission but I wonder if my body will ever improve.
21 Replies
- Hi @PV123 I had the endoscopy and the interesting thing is, the small hernia I had prior to chemo had disappeared. Prior to chemo, the hernia only caused me mild discomfort. I was taking the mother apple cider vinegar daily but it appeared to make no difference with the heartburn (although four years ago I did have success with it breaking the thrush cycle so I am very PRO natural). My natural oils are keeping the reflux away but the pain in my torso is still there and it does go away with the heartburn tablets. At this stage I am leaning towards taking the tablet once every three days. Seems to cause only minimum depression attacks and reduces the torso pain. A bit of both rather than heaps of one. I am really hoping time will be favourable. Thank you for the response. I love natural therapies and found that pre BC I had no need of any synthetic drugs. I would try anything to avoid putting toxins in my body. Hopefully one day I can do that again.
- Hi @Sabran65, it can take a long time to recover from bc treatments and sometimes we are left with permanent issues.Radiation left me with lung scarring,Tamoxifen left me with a fatty liver and the mastectomy left me with constant discomfort across my chest.
The fatigue and brain fog from chemo can take up to 2yrs to improve(I’ve read) I didn’t have the full course so I recovered in 3mths.It can be so frustrating waiting to get’yourself’ back but I found it helpful to focus on what I COULD do and not what I couldn’t do. - Hi @Blossom1961I used to have a lot of indigestion and heartburn a few years back. I saw a specialist, had an endoscopy but nothing came up. Because of the heartburn, I had a lot of trouble sleeping. The specialist recommended taking Nexium and sleeping tablets. I also tried sleeping with my head raised but that was really hard. Basically nothing worked for long.A friend of mine suggested drinking diluted apple cider vinegar, I asked my GP if I could do that but she said she doesn’t believe in any natural treatments.
Anyway I started taking a small amount of diluted apple cider vinegar once a day out of desperation. I feel my reflux and indigestion have greatly improved with that. I also drink warm water with lemon and honey every morning. Have you had an endoscopy to check the insides?
https://www.everydayhealth.com/diet-nutrition/diet/apple-cider-vinegar-nutrition-facts-health-benefits-risks-more/ - Good quality chocolate works well too. My coffee snobbery extends to my chocolates.
- .... and a cake or two to keep the spirits up ?
- Thanks June but none of the natural things are working. Peppermint, ginger, anise, caraway,coriander, fennel. Herbal teas - heaps of different ones. Special diet. Lots of water. Slow eating and small bites. Nothing spicy. Breathing exercises. Less stress. More rest. More activity, less activity.
- Many years ago we were told to have the "xxxx mints" (Woolies etc.) for heartburn and they are better than any of the drugs like Nexium. Worth a go. Sort of like the old-fashioned nurses' trick of giving patients a mint liquid.
- I didn't want to start a new discussion so thought I would use someone else'. I have heartburn issues since the commencement of chemo. I finished all treatment over a year ago and slowly took myself off the heartburn tablets over six months. However I have since had heartburn and ongoing back issues and put myself back on to the heartburn tablets. Back problems have eased considerably as that tightness is no longer around my torso. Three days after resuming the omeprozale, I started having depression attacks out of the blue much like I had during treatment. I decided to see if there was a link. Yep, not common, but heartburn tablets can cause depression. So, pain or depression? Neither option sounds appealing.
- Thank you for your insights. I used to be so much more active as well as work full time and now I am like an old lady. It does depress me at times. I hope it will improve ♥️
- It has taken me 4 years to come out the other side. I still have side effects but they are manageable. Best thing you can do is keep on trying to exercise as that also helps with the depression of not being able to do certain things. I have adapted. <3
