Our recent CLL Global Research Foundation Town Hall featured CLL Global President, Dr. William Wierda, and Dr. Alessandra Ferrajoli, from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Watch the full webinar.
Expert Panel:
Dr. William Wierda, President & CEO, CLL Global Research Foundation
Dr. Alessandra Ferrajoli, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Transcript
Jamie Forward:
So, we’ve received several questions about fatigue. So, Leo writes: How can I stop from being tired all the time?
Dr. Alessandra Ferrajoli:
So, I’ll take this one too. I’ll volunteer myself. So, the first thing we recommend is exercise. Moderate exercise done three times a week, appropriate for your level of fitness has shown that there is improvement in the level of fatigue because fatigue is most likely related to cytokine, cytokine levels that increase in our blood.
However, fatigue, a severe fatigue is a fatigue that affects your daily activities, can be a reason for starting treatment. And, in general, we do see an improvement in the fatigue level after treatment is started. Interestingly, that’s not necessarily related to how deep your response is, so it may not be necessary to achieve a complete remission to obtain resolution of your fatigue. But just any intervention that we modify the CLL in the majority of the cases is also from a part of your fatigue.
Of course, you need also to make sure that your fatigue is not due to other causes such as thyroid dysfunction or having other components like an anemia or another concomitant condition.
Jamie Forward:
Sure, and, of course, you started this with exercise which sounds counterintuitive but if you’re thinking about it, what is the sort of base level? Is it a 20-minute walk? What would you suggest?
Dr. Alessandra Ferrajoli:
A little more. We have done this study, and actually a resistance exercise is particularly useful. So, using like elastic bands, using some weight, doing some resistance exercise is useful as well, and then, of course, doing some cardio work that can be walking at a brisk pace for 20 minutes is recommended.