Having, at the age of 78, been diagnosed approx. 1 year ago with advanced Stage 3 lymphoma / myeloma I am now delighted to be in 'remission'. My treatment has included radiotherapy and 8 cycles of chemotherapy which I tolerated very well except for a profound fatigue and cognitive impairment. What is not clear is whether the fatigue experienced throughout treatment and is continuing is a symptom of the disease per se or an unwanted side effect of the various treatments received. During my professional career, I frequently experienced 'jet lag' as a result of long international flights across many time zones. It seems to me that the fatigue associated with my malignancy has much in common with jet lag, including daytime dreaming i.e.rapid eye movement (REM) sleep); even after good quality uninterupted night time sleep and other features ( e.g. impaired cognition, poor motivation) which distinguish fatigue from simple tiredness.
