Post Radio-surgery treatment and fatigue: Important Survey

[GM]

I am a GK patient   (November of 2003)

How many of you have run into fatigue post radio-surgery?  I did have fatigue but it didn't last long...I felt as if I just finished doing a bunch of yard work and helped someone move in the same day.

Has the fatigue been severe, temporary, eased over time, etc.    Temporary

Are there certain times that it enhances (ie: certain situations that would bring it on and enhance it).
No not really.  I felt like myself in about 2 days.

GM

[Windsong]

a thought occurred to me while reading the responses.... and that is that in reading the responses in this thread, there seem to be those who do not have fatigue issues beyond what most consider normal prior to having an An.... in wondering about that i tossed around my reading about fatigue generally for any brain tumour patient  regardless of whetehr it was major surgery or radiation of various modalities.... then i wondered well why is it  that some regardless of treatment  don't seem to experience unusual fatigue? from what I have read not having it is more unusual you see...

from those thoughts came the question that maybe there is something different about  the Ans for the people who have little or no fatigue issuse.. and then it popped into my mind that some Ans "pop" out ( recalling the picture of that An  that someone posted yuck btw)... from which thought i thought well, if it popped out is that because it had a nice capsule around it closing it off to the rest of the head and if so, does that mean it's maybe a bit insulated from the rest of the brain and its functions? and does that mean sticky type Ans may have a diffrent effect on the brain or fatigue?

and finally, where does the feeling of fatigue come from? in the brain essentially as does sleep? in the muscles? in some other place? all of those? and what is the common factor?

if you've read this far, i guess i should add that i thought these things while waiting for my dinner to cook... and hope the fatigue thread hasn't been skewed off with my questions/thoughts....

basically thought i'd share what i was thinking...


Windsong

[justafactoflife]

Thank you Dr Clinton Medbery, III

I was one of your newest patients and I couldn't have asked for a better Doctor and Staff.  I highly recommend Him to anyone considering CK, GK.  He has been listed in the Yearly Redbook MagazineTop Doctors of the Year, for over 6 years straight in the USA.  If you live near Oklahoma City, I would definitely recommend him.  You will be treated as a person and then a patient.  I had a prior Micro-surgery in ST Louis, MO July 2003 and was told it had been removed entirely.  So,... to my surprise I was one of the lucky patients (less than 5%) who had a regrowth that was discovered June 2006.  This time, due to the risks of a second surgery, I chose CK.  Best choice I ever made and I wish I had done so the first time.  Recovery time is very much quicker it seems and symptoms are about the same but with no pain or intensive care.

My CK was performed with 3 treatments, 3 days in a row Oct 30, 31st, and Nov 1 2006.  I noticed after the 2nd treatment an increase in headaches, dizziness, ringing of the ear, loss of hearing, some eyelid droop, and extreme Fatigue.  The headaches were severe for about 1 week.  Dr Medbery prescribed a medication for 6 days to treat the headaches which I have forgotten the name, 2mg of Valium 3 times daily and this helped the dizziness but it has never completely gone.  I have forgot to take the Valium several times and immediately noticed more dizziness and fatigue.  Moral of the story is to stay on your medications!! 

As of this week, the headaches are far and few between now and can be controlled with 2 Tylenol 500mg when they occur.  The ringing of the ears is louder and quite annoying but as we all know it just has to be put up with.  I work in an office setting but I do occasionally get disorientated when I get up to walk.  Fatigue seems to occur for me at home in the afternoons after trying to do a little, if any exercise, chores, etc.  I get tired very easily and if I set down to rest a minute or two, I find myself waking up several hours later wondering how that happened and where the time went. 

Sometimes I find it hard to go to sleep, because of the naps but when I do finally sleep, I am in a deeper sleep than before CK was performed.  I use to get by on 6 hours of sleep but now, I have to have 7 or 8 to feel rested.  I remember I had an increase in fatigue from the Micro-surgery too, but thought it was related to the Decadron steroid I was on.  It has a side effect of increasing blood sugar levels and I remember a lot of fatigue during my recovery period. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Steroids and high blood sugar levels can cause fatigue, isn't that right?  I don't know if this is a correlation with CK or not.

[ppearl214]

I have the survey and will post a new thread for those interested in participating in the survey... thank you all so very much!

Phyl

[okiesandy]

I am almost 1 year post CK with Dr. Medbery. 3 sessions. When my treatment was completed I was in a state of survivor euphoria, I think. I had more energy than two people should have. After a week or so the fatugue took over. I would come home from work and go to bed at 6:30 or 7:00. Sleep until the alarm went off the next morning. I found I would fall asleep during my lunch hour. This lasted on and off for about 7 months. On rare days I still do this.

I also think very highly of Dr. Medbery and his team. Worth a trip to Oklahoma City in my opinion.

Sandy

[pearchica]

PHYL: day one, no fatigue- in fact I am buzzing- but this is the steroid and the post exuburance of not going under the surgical knife!  Will fill out survey for you in a few weeks... thanks, Annie