I'm on my 3rd week of hydrea. I'm so tired. Is t... - MPN Voice
I'm on my 3rd week of hydrea. I'm so tired. Is there anything that may help. I'm still working Full time and I try to exercise as much as po
To build up energy you must feed your body well,I know I crack on about my healthy eating ,please try to read the book I recommend ,The Ph.Diet. By .Dr Robert Young..
You do need to eat little and often ,fruit ,salad,tomatoes,strawberries,all coloured vegetables,.cut down on the dairy,use honey .in drinks, and juices,don't eat processed foods ,soon you realise how easy it is, if you can't recognise it don't put it inside you. Mushrooms are fungus,so are shellfish ,,bottom feeders ,you know what they eat??if you starve cancer ,,he can't grow, it's common sense ,so starve him,feed your cells rebuild your body to give you strength,your energy will come back..twinkly s lesson for today ,,xxx
Hi. This is a very long email. Hope you manage to wade through it and that it helps.
Poor you, I remember it well. Hot sweats, headaches, feeling shattered all the time.
I was diagnosed with PV in 2009 and have been on hydroxicarbamide /urea for over 4 years. When I first started to take it I felt absolutely wiped out.
It turned out that I had an under active thyroid - my GP thought it might be connected to the sudden onslaught on my body of the mild chemo drug, so first of all, ask your GP to check your thyroid levels. It isn't a serious thing, I take only 75 mg levothyroxine a day which is a very low dose but helped enormously. That of course may not be your problem, and it didn't solve my fatigue problem altogether.
You don't say much about your age, lifestyle, circumstances, health ( do you sleep well?) before you were diagnosed. I'm 60, I have never smoked, and gave up alcohol when I was diagnosed. I sound like a paragon of virtue - I'm not !
I wasn't hugely overweight but thought it might help the burden on heart and major organs if I lost a stone. I'm 5ft 5ins and weigh 8.5 stone. I lost a stone and a half, and am convinced that my weight loss ( together with healthy diet ) has helped enormously with the fatigue, because it certainly wasn't all down to thyroid.
Like twinkly I've totally changed my lifestyle. When you have a diagnosis of a rare blood cancer it can be hard to find out any information, particularly in coping with symptoms / side effects of which fatigue is one.
I decided from the outset that my body was going to need all the help it could get. If I was going to be filling my body with chemicals in the form of drugs, then it might be an idea not to keep adding the extra burden of chemicals, additives, preservatives, antibiotics and hormones all of which are added/ sprayed onto our foods in the form of pesticides, injections etc.
I cut out all processed / ready made foods. My diet consists of at least 10 pieces of fruit a day, one salad meal, and one veg and potato meal (one accompanied by lean meat, preferably organic ) and one accompanied by fish - anything caught in the ocean and NOT FARMED.
Cut out all dairy produce, pork and derivatives ( bacon, sausage ) chicken and farmed fish all of which are pure poison because they are so heavily treated with chemicals.
Change white refined sugar for Billingtons organic sugar, change cheap processed table salt for sea salt - either Malvern or Halen mon which is jolly expensive but is far better for you! cut down on the amount you have.
DO NOT EAT bought biscuits, cakes, crisps, tinned food, take away food ( muck) etc - all the stuff we love and which is easy to eat, but is total poison.
Drink 3 litres of water/ 24 hours. Build up slowly, you quickly won't find it hard.
Try and take lots of exercise - I know you won't feel like it if you're tired, but try going out for a ten minute brisk walk twice a day increasing to an hour then an hour and a half if you can.
Do you work? Stress is a huge killer.
Make sure you go to bed before eleven, and if you don't work, stay there with a cuppa til 9am. That might help. You'll be resting if not sleeping.
Most of all, stop smoking if you smoke, cut out alcohol, and cut out all caffeine.
Good luck!
Best wishes
Louise
Thanks for all the input. I am overweight and I'm sure that's part of the problem. I am still working and have a lot of stress there. I don't sleep very well either. I am 59 and have also been diagnosed with eosonophilia. I do not smoke but do caffeine. Went for blood work yesterday nothing has changed so increasing hydrea. I feel so crabby also. I will try your suggestions.
. Just to say I too felt very tired when I first started HU (3 yrs ago) but, like the others replying here, changed my diet and increased exercise. Above all, I reduced stress
whenever possible - not easy. All this has helped a great deal.
Remember, you have only just started the drug so you have to allow a bit of time for it to do its work and your body to adjust to it. However, take heart ..... it does get better if you do the things everyone has suggested. Mwalimu
I also changed my diet and it helped I won't repeat what others have said but just second the sentiment. Taking my dose of Hydrea with the evening meal has helped me manage the fatigue so much! That little change made a big difference for me. Best to you!
