Why do cancer patients always feel tired and weak, except for tumors, these factors cannot be ignored
I often hear cancer patients say that I have no energy at all, I have absolutely no strength to get out of bed, I can't lift my legs, etc. These uncomfortable symptoms are medically called cancer-related fatigue.
This feeling of tiredness and fatigue makes the patient feel very painful and seriously affects the quality of life of the patient. Adequate sleep and adequate rest cannot relieve cancer fatigue.
Cancerous fatigue belongs to the category of consumptive fatigue in traditional Chinese medicine. It is mostly caused by cancer and other factors acting on the body, causing the deficiency of zang-fu qi, blood, yin and yang, and the lack of nourishment of muscles and bones, resulting in fatigue, mostly involving the lungs and spleen. , The three internal organs of the kidney, with phlegm-dampness, stagnation of qi and blood.
The causes of cancer fatigue generally include the following factors:
- Tumor factors
Tumor cells consume a lot of energy, which leads to a decrease in the patient's activity and physical fitness, which is one of the factors that cause the patient to feel fatigued.
- Drug-induced fatigue
Just like taking medicines for some diseases can make people feel tired, cancer treatment medicines can also make people feel tired. Some targeted drugs, biological immunotherapy drugs and other anti-cancer drugs will cause obvious fatigue and fatigue in cancer patients, and different cancer drugs will also have other different physical symptoms, such as loss of appetite, weight loss, fever, anemia Wait.
- Malnutrition
The food intake of cancer patients is reduced, the utilization rate and absorption of food by the hypofunction of the gastrointestinal tract are decreased, and the tumor cells consume a large amount of nutrients, which can further aggravate fatigue;
- The influence of tumor comorbidities
Cancer patients are often complicated by anemia, cachexia, thyroid dysfunction, infection, electrolyte imbalance, etc., which can cause and promote fatigue.
- Fatigue caused by tumor treatment
Tumor treatment such as surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, etc. will cause certain damage to the patient's body, damage the patient's vitality, and then cause obvious fatigue.
- Mental factors
Cancer patients often suffer from anxiety, fear, depression, etc., which lead to poor mental state, and even cause poor sleep quality or dare not to sleep at night. These are also the reasons why cancer patients experience fatigue and lethargy.
Professor Feng Li pointed out that tumor-related fatigue is caused by multiple factors, so comprehensive treatment should also be carried out. For example, patients with malnutrition need appropriate nutritional treatment, patients with pain need reasonable and effective pain relief, and patients with poor sleep need to improve their sleep.
In addition, physical exercise is very important after suffering from cancer. Long-term bed rest without exercising will cause disuse atrophy of lower extremity muscles. Once you get out of bed, you will feel weak in your lower extremities. For emotional instability, anxiety patients need psychological intervention and counseling.
In traditional Chinese medicine, the treatment of such patients is generally based on the theory of "deficiency is supplemented", on the basis of syndrome differentiation and treatment, taking supplementing deficiency as the basic treatment principle, and taking measures such as nourishing qi, nourishing yin, nourishing blood, warming yang, etc. The treatment formula is combined with blood stasis, phlegm resistance, and qi stagnation in patients to promote qi, activate blood, resolve phlegm, and remove blood stasis.
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