Side Effects of MBC Treatments: Fatigue

MBC treatment aims to extend life but also comes with side effects that can impact quality of life. There are ways to manage the different types of side effects so that you can live the best life possible.

This month, we continue our series about the different kinds of side effects and advice from experts about how they can be managed. We focus on fatigue, which is a feeling of tiredness and lack of energy that is often not relieved by rest. Side effect management is an active area of study in clinical trials. Enrolling in a clinical trial that is studying better ways to prevent or reduce side effects may help you have a higher quality of life and may help people in the future.  

Visit the links below to read expert suggestions of ways to manage fatigue and for clinical trials that are studying ways to manage side effects.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

• Cleveland Clinic: Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a type of psychotherapy that helps you accept your feelings about your situation
• Northwestern Medicine: A trial run by Dr. Elizabeth Addington showed that ACT can reduce fatigue in people with MBC
• Regenstrief Institute: ACT reduces fatigue for people with metastatic breast cancer

Exercise

• World Cancer Research Fund International: Dr. Anouk Hiensch reports that exercise helps alleviate cancer-related fatigue in people with MBC, and her ongoing study is investigating why

Additional Options

• Health Central: Dr. Hope Rugo provides suggestions for addressing fatigue including talking to your doctor about taking a stimulant or changing how you take your medications, exercising, and getting your thyroid checked

MBC Clinical Trials

• Metastatic Trial Search: Trials for Fatigue
• Metastatic Trial Search: Trials for Managing Side Effects

• Category: From the Experts
• Tag: From the Experts, Living With MBC, Navigating Cancer Care, Side Effects