Secret to Boosting Energy Post-Surgery: Share Your Tips

turchan posted under Emergency supplies. I thought I would help by starting a new topic for her.

turchan : What is the secret key ingrediant to gain some enegy? I feel so lifeless. Surgery was almost 3 years ago. Ostomy 2015,2016 and 2017 surgeries to take out the cancer tumours that mastized to both lungs. I don't like this feeling. Don't have energy to do anything. I force myself to go out and socialize. I guess I feel that I just don't fit in anymore.

For me it is to get some good sleep. Take naps as required. Vitamins have not helped.

Hello xnine.  Thanks for helping out on this one! It did not occur to me to post on behalf of turchan on this subject. So, my reply is directed at turchan and I hope she is reading this.  I have suffered from bouts of energy loss and lifelessness/listlessness since I was very young and, until I was admitted to hospital, I never really thought much about it and accepted it as part of my 'life'. Whilst in hospital, they took blood pressure readings and mine was exceptionally low, which was one possible reason for the tiredness. Another possible cause was identified when I told them that my mother suffered from anaemia. It seemed that I too had the same complaint. However, having addressed these two issues and still feeling exhausted for most of the day, I started looking at sleeping patterns. After some simple tests, it turned out that I had sleep apnoea and was inadvertently waking up about 40 times an hour ( ALMOST UNBELEAVABLE!)  They put me on a breathing machine called CPAP (Continuous Positive Airpressure) which I was to use overnight. The next day my life had changed completely and I was no longer fatigued in the same way that I had been previously. I still become feint occasionally from low blood pressure, but at least I now know what it is and can do something about it. This brings me to my last point, which is that finding out what is wrong can be a great comfort and support when it comes to trying to put things right. When I first approached my doctor about the tiredness, I tried to explain that there were different 'types' of tiredness and they came on at different times of the day. I got the impression that he either did not believe me or thought I was being a hypochondraic. In retrospect, I take every opportuntity of reminding doctors about my own experiences in this regard, so that they can be aware that some people suffer from multiple causes in such matters and that, just because one solution doesn't resolve the whole problem, they should not discount the possiblity of the same or similar symptoms having different origins.

I hope you find this helpful.

Best wishes

Bill