Early breast cancer: a guide for women - Cancer Australia

after treatment can help you to feel less tired. It can also reduce yourchance of weight gain. Gentle exercise like walking is ideal. Somewomen find that more strenuous exercise is also helpful. Exercise hasalso been shown to help improve sleep, body image and mood. Talk toyour doctor or breast care nurse about the types of exercise that maybe suitable for you.“Diet and exercise are the one thing that a cancer survivor actuallyhas control over. As well as the physical benefits they might bring,it helps emotionally to know that you are doing everything in yourpower to avoid a recurrence.”Fatigue can also be due to anaemia caused by chemotherapy. Youwill have blood tests while you are having chemotherapy so that yourdoctor can check your blood cell count. If you develop significantanaemia with your treatment, your doctor may recommend a red bloodcell transfusion.Anaemia: a condition in which there are fewer red blood cells inthe blood than normal.Hair lossNot all chemotherapy drugs cause hair loss. However, the drugs mostfrequently used to treat early breast cancer are likely to cause hairloss. If you do lose all or some of your hair, it will grow back withinweeks or months of stopping chemotherapy.Hair loss is more common with chemotherapy programs that includeanthracyclines and taxanes. Ask your doctor about the risk of hair lossfrom the chemotherapy program recommended for you.Hair loss from chemotherapy can range from mild thinning of the hairto total hair loss, including body hair. When your hair grows back it maybe more curly, thicker or finer than it was before treatment. It may growback a slightly different colour. Although losing your hair may not seemserious compared with coping with breast cancer, many women find itupsetting. Losing your hair may affect how you feel about yourself andyour sexuality. Talk to a member of your healthcare team about howyou are feeling.70