Heavy legs of lead post chemo

Anybody else suffer after chemo finished ? I'm a runner and I ran throughout chemo but only a few miles.  Now I'm done with chemo I want to get my miles back up but my legs are dead.  I feel like they aren't my legs and are so heavy.   Did anybody else get this and can you tell me when your legs felt like yours ??  Thx

  • Hello Whymewhynow,

    As I read your post I ran a quick search here on the forum for people in a similar position. While I found some threads where members mentioned having issues with their heavy legs, I didn't find anything about being a runner and how to resume exercise after chemotherapy. That being said, this page from our website covers exercise guidelines for cancer patients. Hopefully, others will come by with better advice but perhaps this can help a little.

    With best wishes,

    Renata, Cancer Chat Moderator

     

  • Hi runner, I feel ur pain my thighs just want to wake up when I go to bed, I run and do spinning to and my legs are okey during exercise however when I sit down and stop they just ache

  • Hi Whymewhynow, 

    I've had 7 rounds of chemotherapy among other treatments and you have to give your body a long time to recover. Chemo affects your whole body and having had all the main cancer treatments, I'd say it's by far the worst in how long it affects you. By all means keep as active as you can but don't push your poor body too hard before it has recovered.  My nails still break constantly 15 months after chemo and my hair isn't growing at its normal rate and still has chemo curls. I use these signs as a measure that the rest of my body will still be recovering too. Energy levels better than they were but not what they used to be. 

    My hospital sent me After the Treatment finishes - Then What? by Dr Peter Harvey. You can find it online if you want to read it and it explains that recovery happens in 3 stages.

    One day you'll get your miles up but try not to be impatient for this to happen. Good luck!