Fatigue during Cancer

Fatigue during Cancer

In the process of caring for cancer patients, what is the effect of physical therapy on reducing fatigue symptoms compared with psychotherapy within before and after treatment?

Population/ Patient problem- cancer patients

Intervention- physical therapy

Comparison- psychotherapy

Outcome- reducing fatigue symptoms

Time – before and after treatment

Cancer causes several complications in patients, including pain, fatigue, difficulty in swallowing, insomnia, weight loss, difficulty in breathing, nausea, and diarrhea. Weakness or fatigue is a common problem facing people with cancer and continues to cause suffering. The magnitude of this feeling is, however, different for each person. Research also dictates that it is difficult to determine whether the symptoms manifested in the patients are either fatigue or depression (Seiler & Jenewein, 2019). Patients diagnosed with cancer seem to experience fatigue in all stages, including after treatment. Differentiating the difference between the symptoms of fatigue and depression is one of the problems that physicians face during the treatment of cancer patients.

The causes of fatigue in cancer patients are not easy to determine. Studies cannot decipher whether this symptom is due to cancer itself or the treatment process. There are no relevant tests that physicians can use to determine the level of fatigue except asking the patients to describe their symptoms on a scale of one to ten. Four to six on the scale indicates moderate pain, while the rest of the scale levels up to ten determine severe pain. Some of the methods that doctors recommend to cancer patients to relieve these symptoms include physical therapy (May et al., 2018). Doctors, however, need to determine whether the causes of fatigue are due to depression as both can manifest in the same way. Most cases of depression are solved using psychotherapy (Akechi et al., 2018). Depression in cancer patients causes them not to respond to the medication making this symptom a top priority to find solutions.

References

Akechi, T., Okuyama, T., Onishi, J., Morita, T., & Furukawa, T. A. (2018). Psychotherapy for depression among incurable cancer patients. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.cd005537.pub3

May, A. M., Hiensch, A. E., Witlox, L., Velthuis, M., Van Der Wall, E., & Peeters, P. H. (2018). Four-year effects of physical exercise during adjuvant treatment on fatigue and physical activity in breast and colon cancer patients. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 36(7_suppl), 99-99. https://doi.org/10.1200/jco.2018.36.7_suppl.99

Seiler, A., & Jenewein, J. (2019). Resilience in cancer patients. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00208