Working with CLL

[stitcher66]

Hi all I was diagnosed in October 23, and have continued working ever since as a health care worker, but now I am feeling the effects of fatigue, and feeling sick in the mornings, and extremely weak, is anyone else the same and what do you do to cope with this

[scryer99]

Having some similar symptoms during W&W, my hematologist recommended B12 supplements. They did not entirely eliminate the fatigue but they did help.

Light exercise works too, surprisingly. Just long walks, light cycling etc.

[Gampo]

Hi, exhaustion and tiredness are a common side effect of CLL, sad to say. It doesn’t affect everyone and Doctors find it hard to quantify so it’s not seen as a reason to consider starting treatment (or not in my experience) which isn’t a bad thing as we want to delay treatment for as long as possible/practical. I agree with scryer99 that vitamins can help, especially the Bs. If you’re able to get a blood test to check what you’re low in that can help. I agree about the light exercise too, even if you feel rubbish it’s worth trying a bit if yoga/pilates/walk and see what happens. Sometimes you’ll find you’ve really got nothing left and have to stop, other times you’ll feel better for it and lighter in yourself.

It’s not easy to juggle work with increasing tiredness. Trying to carve a tiny bit of ‘you’ time and making a few small adjustments where possible can really help.

Good luck

[thompsonellen2]

Are you W&W or on treatment? If the former, it might be worth getting blood work done. I felt like you did right before I started treatment and felt better almost immediately.

[stitcher66 in reply to thompsonellen2]

W&W I have had two lots of blood work done, I received the first results back with in 2 days,in return asked me to have more bloods done, haven't received the other results back yet and that was about two weeks ago ,and still not feeling right