Extreme fatigue

[Jansverr]

I just had my 4th. PSMA PET scan and also took bloodsamples. The results are not in yet, I am seeing my oncologist on April 11th. . I am castration resistant, last PSA on Jan.31th was 6.9 with 3 months doubling time. They also give me a Zoladex shot every 3 months.

I am not sure if I should hope for findings this time, if not, it is just the waiting game.

The reason I am writing to the forum now is that my fatigue seems to get worse, specially early in the day. I can sleep 8 - 10 hrs. at night and then fall asleep for another 2 hrs. after breakfast. I try to get out of the house in the morning. but it does not help. The other day I went out to do some shopping. Fell asleep several times while driving and had to take a 30 min. nap in the car outside the market. Physical activity is out of the question, I don't have the energy.

It gets a little bit better after about 2pm and I manage to do some chores. My appetite is great and I sleep good at night apart from having to go to the bathroom 2 - 3 times.

What is the point in continuing the Zoladex and Nubeqa as I am already castration resistant? Right now this is severely affecting my QOL as I am moving house and have a lot of things to do.

I switched to Nubeqa from Xtandi about a year ago due the sideffects from Xtandi, but it did not seem to do any good.

[Tall_Allen]

It would be worse and painful without the hormone therapy. Exercise is the only thing that fights fatigue.

[Benkaymel]

As TA says, exercise is the best thing to combat fatigue but it's also important to stay hydrated - drink lots of water. There's nothing in your profile so we don't know what treatment you've had but since you're CRPC, you should consider other treatments such as chemo, radium 223 or Lutetium-177 depending on the stage of your PCa.

[Carlosbach]

In the beginning my fatigue was severe. I kept lawn chairs scattered around my property so I could collapse when a wave of intense fatigue would hit. The fatigue also impacted my cognition, and I wouldn't trust myself to use a saw, etc when it was bad.

I was already walking at that point, but I resumed weight lifting and the fatigue lessened tremendously (thanks to all of you on this forum that recommended I add in the weights). In the beginning it seemed counter-intuitive to feel exhausted and go, "I need to exercise". But it worked for me.

Best of luck with your journey

[London441]

You say that ‘physical activity is out of the question, I don't have the energy’, but you are well advised not to default to that. It’s misery. If you’re this tired now, continuing this on ADT will take away what little energy you do have and worse, quickly. Exercise is the solution, both cardiovascular and weight bearing.

Starting small brings dramatic results early when one has been doing so little.

It’s hard, but it is the solution, and profoundly worth it.