More people than ever started vital treatment for cancer over the past year compared to before the pandemic, says the NHS. The Daily Mirror reports that more than 320,000 patients received potentially lifesaving treatment from November 2021 to October 2022 - the highest year on record, and up by over 8,000 in the same period pre-pandemic.
There was also the highest number of cancer checks, with more than 2.8 million people seen, over 10,000 checked every day and around six per cent resulting in cancer diagnosis. NHS chiefs have labelled this “important progress” as more people getting checked and treated could increase chances of survival.
Early detection of the disease greatly increases the chances for successful treatment, but failure to report symptoms significantly worsens the prognosis of cancer. Reports state that most patients diagnosed in the advanced stages report the same debilitating symptom.
The American Cancer Society explains: “Fatigue is the feeling of being tired and not being able to do things at your usual pace. This tiredness can affect you physically, mentally and emotionally."
Patients experiencing this symptom often describe an ongoing sense of extreme tiredness that does not get better with rest. “Almost everyone with advanced cancer has this symptom,” adds the health body.
When advanced cancer is diagnosed it is unlikely to be cured or controlled efficiently with treatment. This is because the tumour will have invaded nearby tissue, lymph nodes and other distant parts of the body.
Treatment may still be administered in a bid to shrink the tumour, but sometimes doctors decide the risks of treatment outweigh the benefits. Patients with advanced cancer are more likely to experience fatigue than people in the earlier stages of the disease.
The cause of fatigue is linked to disruptions to the body’s hormone levels, which is commonly seen in diseases like breast and prostate cancer. Once there is a higher number of cancer cells in the body, fatigue may lead to decreased eating, and decreased activity.
Cancer Research UK adds: “Some cancers make substances called cytokines. Cytokines are a group of proteins in the body that play an important part in boosting the immune system. These can cause fatigue.”
A report published in the medical journal BMC Primary Care characterised the type of fatigue in patients with terminal cancer as an ‘unbearable weakness’. The report states that “weakness was the more frequent unbearable symptom”, seen in 57 percent of patients receiving palliative care.
The Cleveland Clinic describes cancer fatigue as “paralysing”, as it can come on suddenly and “no amount of rest or sleep helps”. The health body adds: "You feel physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted most of the time.”
According to the American Cancer Society, patients often report the fatigue as feeling “listless, drained or washed out”, that may decrease for a while but then comes back. Alongside weakness, patients frequently report "unbearable pain", as per the report in BMC Primary Care.
Pain in terminally ill patients is often characterised as chronic because it tends to last longer than the pain caused by other problems. In cancer patients, pain often leads to several other complications such as:
Feeling irritable
Sleeping poorly
Decreasing appetite
Decreasing concentration.
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