Off week

[marianne88]

Hi there. Just wondering if anyone has really bad fatigue the off week of ibrance. Toward the end of the off week the fatigue is so bad all I do is sleep. Anybody have these issues. Thanks. Marianne

[Sister3nkc]

Yes, I do but I'm not sure why. It doesn't seem to make sense.

[nstonerocks]

I often do. This whole month I was tired. I wind up sleeping a lot of the weekend away. Also more stress this month. It's certainly a rollercoaster.

[Livinthedream]

Yes!! After two cycles of ibrance last week and this week are absolute hell! I feel my quality of life is absolute shit! My house is a mess, i can barely even have the energy to shower. Im hoping my oncologist will lower my ibrance dose, otherwise I doubt I can or want to continue this crap. This has gone on for the entire month of February, I feel like an absolute wussy.

[mariootsi]

I have much more fatigue on my week off too!

[Kathyquilts]

Yes. I think our bodies are very busy rebuilding blood cells, etc, that have fallen off during the cycle.

[Presence1]

Hi

I was diagnosed with stage IV metastatic breast cancer in January after a year of pain that no one could figure out. I just kept going back until a psychiatrist ordered a nuclear scan that revealed fractured ribs and lesions. Funnily I have no evidence of breast cancer but the biopsy showed estrogen so, after more tests, it was decided that it was MBC. Also my blood work was all within range so they didn’t know what was going on for sure until the biopsy and then it was stage IV!

I am on Ibrance, Xgeva and Femara with supplements of Vitamin D3 and calcium.

I have tolerationed meds well (after first week), and lately I realized that my memory is not as good as it once was and my thinking seems blurry sometimes. I find that my “off” week makes me feel different. Not especially fatigued but it’s like I feel “off” (some odd little things that I can’t necessarily attribute to cessation of meds...some nausea and little aches and pains), not bad just a “reminder” of how painful the whole year of 2018 was.

I turn 68 this week, just retired, and it’s good I didn’t have any great plans for retirement bc I no longer have extra $$$ or energy to do anything much.

Also, my husband suffered a stroke in 2018 and while he is doing pretty well he did lose some hearing, can’t walk too far due to fatigue and imbalance issues, and only has sight in one eye.

What a pair we make!

I try to live one day at a time. Still new to all this but hoping that the fact that my pain is almost gone means the meds are working.

Glad to have found this site.

[Teddielottie in reply to Presence1]

Hello ! Just reading your first few posts and we do have a few similarities, so I wanted to welcome you here and tell you to hang in there! I , like you found I had bone mets ( in 2 areas of my pelvis) soon after discovering I had bc following a routine screening mammogram . Looking back now , as recalled too by girlsptz below, I may have missed the occasional slight ache in my hip , when walking uphill , which I now realise was the start of bone mets to my pelvis ...

But luckily my mets were discovered early on and I was put on ibrance / femara Dec 2017 . Within a few months I had no pain at all and the bone mets had healed over by my first , much later scan . I did have side effects , more so , in the first 4 months , but gradually these have eased . I am now on my 15th cycle and have tolerated ibrance well so far . Tumour markers don’t work for me ( I have always been 18-23 tumour marker level throughout the 15 cycles) so I have to rely on how I feel , any pain and my now 6 monthly ct scan , due mid March .

I hope you have a similar journey and if I can help with my experiences , do let me know .

And best wishes to your husband too xx

[Presence1 in reply to Teddielottie]

Thanks, good to know you have tolerated Ibrance for long. That encourages me a great deal. Thanks for your response.

[Presence1]

Thank you. It does take some time to realize that this is really happening. I had been the caretaker and now we help each other. We are adjusting very well.

Sometimes it is so good just to be able to talk with someone who knows what I am facing.

Thanks