Hi Kerry --

I assume that your husband has already been checked for obvious physical causes of fatigue such as anemia. He could be depressed, this is common, but he also could be suffering from what is termed "cancer fatigue", which often results from chemotherapy or radiation and is not well-understood.

One thing that has shown some promise, and is being studied in a number of NCI clinical trials, is supplementing with l-carnitine, a derivative of the amino acid lysine, which facilitates the movement of long-chain fatty acids into the mitochrondia, and thus boosts energy. Normally one synthesizes enough l-carnitine, but some chemotherapy drugs (notably cisplatin) cause the excretion of this material. Some initial studies have shown benefit to "cancer fatigue" patients by supplementation with 500 mg/day of l-carnitine. This is readily obtained in liquid form at health food stores as some sports enthusiasts feel it boosts energy for performance. (This is apparently not borne out in controlled studies, as most people have enough normally). However the story appears to be different for cancer patients.

In any case, with approval of his doctors, Barry took 500 mg l-carnitine (mixed with juice or water) all through treatment and maintained good energy levels, and was back to normal within a few months (he still takes it). We told another chemorad patient about it -- she had been complaining of wanting to sleep all the time after her treatment - and she recently emailed me saying that she had an almost immediate positive effect. OK, only two data points but worth considering...do a google for "l-carnitine for cancer fatigue" for some recent abstracts.

Of course, never take a supplement without clearing it with your doctors!

Gail