ME/CFS after a virus is the usual way...what about after cancer?

[Fuschia]

Thoughts please...I've heard of fatigue after cancer. Sometimes it's long term. Are any of those CFS cases? And what causes cancer fatigue? Just thought its funny that I've never heard of cancer triggered CFS, yet surely it would tax the immune system similar to viral illness, surgery, physical trauma.

 

[Esther12]

Possibly some of the people suffering fatigue post cancer do so for the same reason that people do so after certain infections... of it could be largely different reasons. So long as our understanding of both is so poor, it's difficult to say much imo.

One thing is that there's probably less quackery/prejudice around post-cancer fatigue, so this might mean that people with this problem have more room to respond as they see best.

 

[Raindrop]

In many types of cancer they talk about "chemo brain" which represents fatigue and brain fog
and memory issues. Also, the cancers themselves can have tremendous fatigue, especially in
the cancers, such as blood/immune cancers (Lymphoma and Multiple Myeloma) where there is
*anemia* as a major symptom.

There is actually a very real connection between the blood cancers
and ME/CFS . Some people go on from having ME to then also getting these types of cancers.
(Witness the Rituximab crew.....the patients who were treating their Lymphoma and ended up
having ME remissions on that drug.....then now the major study in Britain I think it is.....
with treating regular (non cancer) pts with Rituximab. My belief is that the immune abnormalities
CAN very much so, relate to cancers.

 

[taniaaust1]

As any serious trauma can trigger off ME/CFS as it weakens the immune system so I'd think that there would have to be more of this after an incident like cancer, where the cancer treatments are also damaging to the body (thou maybe in the case of Rituximab there could be a preventive affect).

post cancer fatigue thou is common and isnt ME/CFS.

 

[Insomniac]

I know of one person who got CFS 4 years after treatment for a benign tumour on the adrenal gland. The cancer treatment was a success, the adrenal glands and all her tests are "fine". She is housebound.

 

[Raindrop]

I know of one person who got CFS 4 years after treatment for a benign tumour on the adrenal gland. The cancer treatment was a success, the adrenal glands and all her tests are "fine". She is housebound.

That's really interesting. I wonder if there is a strong connection in her case. As we know, our
adrenals are way involved for us. What is her thinking on this?

 

[Insomniac]

She was too ill to write. Her mother wrote to me that they are certain that the weakness started after the tumour, but it only became bad now.

All her blood tests are "fine".
They said that they also don't think adrenal fatigue has any cause in her illness.

 

[Fuschia]

That's interesting. Did the M.E. start with the cancer itself or after the surgery?