January 30, 2024 • 11 mins
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Feeling utterly drained and powerless isn't just a symptom of a bad day; it's a daily reality for those battling cancer fatigue.
Join me, Bettina Brown, as we unpack the exhausting journey that often accompanies cancer treatment.
But it's not all about the fight; it's about finding ways to rise again, stronger and more informed.
In this latest episode, I share the power of movement over rest and the silent victories charted in a journal that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Thank you for your time and interest in this podcast! I invite you to leave a heartfelt review on whichever podcast platform you listen to. It does so much to bring exposure to the podcast and helps lift others up!
Connect with me!
Website: In the Rising Podcast Website
Check out the Website: Fit after Breast Cancer
Email: Bettina@intherising.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Bettina M Brown (00:04):
Hello and welcome to In the Rising
Health and Wellness podcast forthose going through and those
supporting those going throughcancer.
My name is Bettina Brown andI'm board certified in physical
therapy, wound care andlymphedema, and you know, for me
, cancer is very personal.
It's affected my friends, myimmediate and my not so
(00:24):
immediate family, and thereforeI created this podcast and FitA
fter BreastCancer.
com to address the multipledimensions of our lives during
and after recovery.
Welcome to this episode wherewe're going to talk about
something super invigoratingcancer fatigue.
(00:45):
Why does it occur and how arewe going to cope with this?
So, with my own clients, thisis something that we talked
about, I would say 50 to 60% ofthe time, and it was often a
comment of wow, I did not know Icould be this tired and still
have so much of my day left.
(01:07):
Or you know what, Bettina?
I don't understand how I havean entire day of activities and
I only have energy till about1130 in the morning.
You know, Bettina, I feel likethere's this monkey or elephant
some days just on my back and mymuscles don't have energy.
I'm mentally fatigued and I'mjust tapped out.
(01:29):
And so it did not matter whatkind of cancer any of these
individuals had cancer itself.
Just the diagnosis theemotional toll and the actual
mental toll that this can takeon your body is real.
So a lot of us, when we'regiven this diagnosis, we're like
(01:51):
going to power on through this.
We're going to go intotreatments, we're going to
overcome this, we're going tofight this and yes, there's a
lot of research that says if youhave more of a fighting
attitude you will actually dobetter.
Actually, a lot of researchjust says your attitude itself
will help you improve and youhave a higher quality of life.
(02:12):
But the reality is that havingemotions still wrapped up in
processing not only thediagnosis but emotions dealing
with the grief of what you wereexpecting from your life,
expecting to do in two weeks,expecting to go on that vacation
(02:32):
, expecting to do X, y and Z andnow you have weeks or maybe
months worth of treatment.
Also the emotion of fear.
How am I going to pay for someof my bills?
That was a huge one for a lotof my clients.
How am I going to pay for allof these co-pays?
How am I going to stillmaintain my job?
(02:55):
How am I going to help my child?
What if something happens andI'm not there to do A, b and C.
Fear is also a strong emotionthat can be motivating, but it
is just as strong as emotionthat can be depleting.
Having an ability to talk withsomeone.
In a lot of cancer treatmentcenters have someone that will
(03:18):
talk about your distress levelwith you and what are your
resources, and having anavigator through your journey
to make sure that you don't haveto have everything in your mind
all the time, but we know itoften is the case.
Let's talk about hormonechanges.
So for many cancers, hormonetherapy is a type of treatment
(03:42):
and changing the hormone levelsin your body can lead to some
significant fatigue.
Our hormones are our cycle thatthat cortisol in the morning
that we are feeling and issupposed to wake us up, and that
melatonin at night that issupposed to calm us back down to
go to sleep.
Well, those are hormones.
A lot of us don't evenrecognize that that melatonin
(04:07):
supplement we take is hormonetherapy.
It's not just another vitaminor supplement.
We use our hormones to regulateour day and we don't have to be
aware of it.
So when those hormones have adysregulation, we can feel out
of touch with our own body.
Not feeling in touch with ourbody leads to lack of sleep, and
(04:31):
so if you're sleeping less atnight or you're feeling very
interrupted you're always wakingup at two or three in the
morning you have fatigue.
There's all the cycles that wegot to go in and out of
different brainwaves, differentthe REM sleep and then the not.
We need that, we need that.
We need that to actuallyrecover, not only mentally, but
(04:55):
to put the pieces of the daytogether.
A lot of our processing, ourmental processing, happens when
we sleep, and so sleeplessnessfor an extended amount of time
makes us feel a little less incontrol over the things we still
have control over, and thatcertainly does not help us feel
(05:17):
like we're doing anything.
Well.
And let's not forget nutrition.
When we're really stressed out,some of us kind of go to one
pendulum and or the other likewe're eating a whole lot or
we're not eating at all.
But the reality is just havingcancer, just undergoing
(05:40):
treatment, means your body needsdifferent energy requirements
than it would normally if thatwas not what you were going
through.
But how do you take in enoughnutrients and not just
supplements from pills, butliterally nutrients from food
when you have nausea andvomiting, making it difficult to
eat and, depending on thecancer in the site, sometimes
(06:04):
you're not even able tomechanically take in food.
So nutrition has the way ofwearing you down if you don't
have enough of it.
Some of our medications canalso lead to extra fatigue or
indifference.
(06:24):
So I'm going to take a pin righthere and talk about one thing
that I know the most about, andthat's the lack of exercise.
That's that E word that a lotof people don't like to talk
(06:49):
about, and I myself am notalways a fan of exercising.
I like to move.
I don't always necessarily wantto exercise, but I love the
idea and the concept that thelack of movement can also make
you feel tired, and it almostseems counterintuitive that
moving more will give you moreenergy.
(07:10):
But if you think of it like thespokes on a on a bicycle, what
you put in will continue torotate around and kind of spew
back out at some point in time.
What does that really mean?
Do we even have all of theanswers to support exercise?
Nope, no, we don't.
They're still doing a greatdeal of research on this.
(07:34):
The University of BritishColumbia is looking into this
right now and really diving intoall of the different cascades,
but what we do know on asuperficial level is that
movement helps improve yourfatigue.
Now there are all sorts ofdifferent movements that you can
do.
We all know about yoga.
(07:55):
You do not have to do goat yoga.
You can do regular yoga,especially for the meditative
properties.
Again back to attitude.
But just strength training isvery important.
Cardiovascular activity they'reshowing that hit workouts are
great, high intensity for a veryshort amount of time.
But we even know that someresistive strength training is
(08:20):
helpful as well.
So what does all of that mean?
When you're looking through, Ithink some of us have more of a
propensity or a desire to do oneover another.
Some will love a treadmill overan elliptical or the other way
around.
Others absolutely love weighttraining.
But if you get them on anelliptical or a treadmill, good
(08:43):
luck.
I think, ultimately it's which.
Which of these do you reallythink you can do on a regular
basis?
And regular can be 15 minutes,20 minutes, three times a week
or higher.
But that little bit of movementreally does add up into your
body, and I would not say add up, but become exponentially
(09:05):
important for you to help reduceyour fatigue.
When we are fatigued, we tend tobecome a little more sedentary.
And when we're more sedentarywe're weaker, and when we're
weaker we legitimately cannot doas much as we could before,
which does affect us, which doesaffect us.
So if we can commit to actuallymoving our bodies, working on
(09:30):
some good sleep and addressingour emotions, that will do so
much to start to slowly work onour fatigue.
And since slow is really thekey here, it may not be a bad
idea to journal it.
Write down what you've doneevery day and at the end of the
week or the end of the month,how do you really feel?
(09:51):
Because when we feel thesesmall incremental changes, it's
so easy to give up and say it'snot making a difference.
But when you have it there inblack and white, in your own
handwriting, legitimately notlying to yourself, you can see
the difference and when you seethat spark of change that gives
(10:11):
you that energy to continue on,to continue to work and address
your fatigue.
So thanks so much for listeningto this podcast episode.
And since we talked a littlebit about nutrition, I wanted to
share with you that I have alink down below to some
wonderful Mediterranean recipes.
Mediterranean because it hasthe most research to support
(10:34):
that it helps reduce your riskof cancer and helps reduce your
risk of recurrence.
It's never too late to starteating well and moving your body
.
Until next time, let's keepbuilding one another up!
Hello and welcome to In the Rising
Health and Wellness podcast forthose going through and those
supporting those going throughcancer.
My name is Bettina Brown andI'm board certified in physical
therapy, wound care andlymphedema, and you know, for me
, cancer is very personal.
It's affected my friends, myimmediate and my not so
(00:24):
immediate family, and thereforeI created this podcast and FitA
fter BreastCancer.
com to address the multipledimensions of our lives during
and after recovery.
Welcome to this episode wherewe're going to talk about
something super invigoratingcancer fatigue.
(00:45):
Why does it occur and how arewe going to cope with this?
So, with my own clients, thisis something that we talked
about, I would say 50 to 60% ofthe time, and it was often a
comment of wow, I did not know Icould be this tired and still
have so much of my day left.
(01:07):
Or you know what, Bettina?
I don't understand how I havean entire day of activities and
I only have energy till about1130 in the morning.
You know, Bettina, I feel likethere's this monkey or elephant
some days just on my back and mymuscles don't have energy.
I'm mentally fatigued and I'mjust tapped out.
(01:29):
And so it did not matter whatkind of cancer any of these
individuals had cancer itself.
Just the diagnosis theemotional toll and the actual
mental toll that this can takeon your body is real.
So a lot of us, when we'regiven this diagnosis, we're like
(01:51):
going to power on through this.
We're going to go intotreatments, we're going to
overcome this, we're going tofight this and yes, there's a
lot of research that says if youhave more of a fighting
attitude you will actually dobetter.
Actually, a lot of researchjust says your attitude itself
will help you improve and youhave a higher quality of life.
(02:12):
But the reality is that havingemotions still wrapped up in
processing not only thediagnosis but emotions dealing
with the grief of what you wereexpecting from your life,
expecting to do in two weeks,expecting to go on that vacation
(02:32):
, expecting to do X, y and Z andnow you have weeks or maybe
months worth of treatment.
Also the emotion of fear.
How am I going to pay for someof my bills?
That was a huge one for a lotof my clients.
How am I going to pay for allof these co-pays?
How am I going to stillmaintain my job?
(02:55):
How am I going to help my child?
What if something happens andI'm not there to do A, b and C.
Fear is also a strong emotionthat can be motivating, but it
is just as strong as emotionthat can be depleting.
Having an ability to talk withsomeone.
In a lot of cancer treatmentcenters have someone that will
(03:18):
talk about your distress levelwith you and what are your
resources, and having anavigator through your journey
to make sure that you don't haveto have everything in your mind
all the time, but we know itoften is the case.
Let's talk about hormonechanges.
So for many cancers, hormonetherapy is a type of treatment
(03:42):
and changing the hormone levelsin your body can lead to some
significant fatigue.
Our hormones are our cycle thatthat cortisol in the morning
that we are feeling and issupposed to wake us up, and that
melatonin at night that issupposed to calm us back down to
go to sleep.
Well, those are hormones.
A lot of us don't evenrecognize that that melatonin
(04:07):
supplement we take is hormonetherapy.
It's not just another vitaminor supplement.
We use our hormones to regulateour day and we don't have to be
aware of it.
So when those hormones have adysregulation, we can feel out
of touch with our own body.
Not feeling in touch with ourbody leads to lack of sleep, and
(04:31):
so if you're sleeping less atnight or you're feeling very
interrupted you're always wakingup at two or three in the
morning you have fatigue.
There's all the cycles that wegot to go in and out of
different brainwaves, differentthe REM sleep and then the not.
We need that, we need that.
We need that to actuallyrecover, not only mentally, but
(04:55):
to put the pieces of the daytogether.
A lot of our processing, ourmental processing, happens when
we sleep, and so sleeplessnessfor an extended amount of time
makes us feel a little less incontrol over the things we still
have control over, and thatcertainly does not help us feel
(05:17):
like we're doing anything.
Well.
And let's not forget nutrition.
When we're really stressed out,some of us kind of go to one
pendulum and or the other likewe're eating a whole lot or
we're not eating at all.
But the reality is just havingcancer, just undergoing
(05:40):
treatment, means your body needsdifferent energy requirements
than it would normally if thatwas not what you were going
through.
But how do you take in enoughnutrients and not just
supplements from pills, butliterally nutrients from food
when you have nausea andvomiting, making it difficult to
eat and, depending on thecancer in the site, sometimes
(06:04):
you're not even able tomechanically take in food.
So nutrition has the way ofwearing you down if you don't
have enough of it.
Some of our medications canalso lead to extra fatigue or
indifference.
(06:24):
So I'm going to take a pin righthere and talk about one thing
that I know the most about, andthat's the lack of exercise.
That's that E word that a lotof people don't like to talk
(06:49):
about, and I myself am notalways a fan of exercising.
I like to move.
I don't always necessarily wantto exercise, but I love the
idea and the concept that thelack of movement can also make
you feel tired, and it almostseems counterintuitive that
moving more will give you moreenergy.
(07:10):
But if you think of it like thespokes on a on a bicycle, what
you put in will continue torotate around and kind of spew
back out at some point in time.
What does that really mean?
Do we even have all of theanswers to support exercise?
Nope, no, we don't.
They're still doing a greatdeal of research on this.
(07:34):
The University of BritishColumbia is looking into this
right now and really diving intoall of the different cascades,
but what we do know on asuperficial level is that
movement helps improve yourfatigue.
Now there are all sorts ofdifferent movements that you can
do.
We all know about yoga.
(07:55):
You do not have to do goat yoga.
You can do regular yoga,especially for the meditative
properties.
Again back to attitude.
But just strength training isvery important.
Cardiovascular activity they'reshowing that hit workouts are
great, high intensity for a veryshort amount of time.
But we even know that someresistive strength training is
(08:20):
helpful as well.
So what does all of that mean?
When you're looking through, Ithink some of us have more of a
propensity or a desire to do oneover another.
Some will love a treadmill overan elliptical or the other way
around.
Others absolutely love weighttraining.
But if you get them on anelliptical or a treadmill, good
(08:43):
luck.
I think, ultimately it's which.
Which of these do you reallythink you can do on a regular
basis?
And regular can be 15 minutes,20 minutes, three times a week
or higher.
But that little bit of movementreally does add up into your
body, and I would not say add up, but become exponentially
(09:05):
important for you to help reduceyour fatigue.
When we are fatigued, we tend tobecome a little more sedentary.
And when we're more sedentarywe're weaker, and when we're
weaker we legitimately cannot doas much as we could before,
which does affect us, which doesaffect us.
So if we can commit to actuallymoving our bodies, working on
(09:30):
some good sleep and addressingour emotions, that will do so
much to start to slowly work onour fatigue.
And since slow is really thekey here, it may not be a bad
idea to journal it.
Write down what you've doneevery day and at the end of the
week or the end of the month,how do you really feel?
(09:51):
Because when we feel thesesmall incremental changes, it's
so easy to give up and say it'snot making a difference.
But when you have it there inblack and white, in your own
handwriting, legitimately notlying to yourself, you can see
the difference and when you seethat spark of change that gives
(10:11):
you that energy to continue on,to continue to work and address
your fatigue.
So thanks so much for listeningto this podcast episode.
And since we talked a littlebit about nutrition, I wanted to
share with you that I have alink down below to some
wonderful Mediterranean recipes.
Mediterranean because it hasthe most research to support
(10:34):
that it helps reduce your riskof cancer and helps reduce your
risk of recurrence.
It's never too late to starteating well and moving your body
.
Until next time, let's keepbuilding one another up!
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