Navigating Cancer’s Unseen Challenges: Cancer Fatigue and Medical Test Anxiety

Cancer impacts more than physical health—it affects energy, resilience, and focus. This guide explains cancer fatigue vs normal fatigue, common symptoms, how long fatigue lasts, and which type of cancer causes fatigue. Plus, practical strategies to manage fatigue and reduce stress, helping individuals maintain strength and clarity during critical times.

Dealing with fatigue

A common refrain from people with cancer is, "I'm so tired." But "tired" is a vague word that covers all kinds of fatigue. A crucial difference is whether we're talking about regular fatigue, or cancer-related fatigue.

Everyday fatigue vs. cancer-related fatigue

Everyday fatigue starts with a baseline of health. You may feel sleepy or worn out from long hours, exertion, or unrelenting stress — but you don’t feel persistently exhausted or sick. You can get out of bed and power through the day, even if you don’t want to. A cup of coffee or a nap might perk you up.

This type of fatigue is usually related to external factors: lack of sleep, stress, an extra-hard workout. But internally, your body is working well and is generally healthy. Cancer-related fatigue is different.

Cancer-related fatigue: a symptom and an effect

Cancer-related fatigue may start before you even get your official diagnosis. It's one of the most common and challenging effects of just having cancer and often made worse with treatment. Cancer fatigue can be caused by the treatments you receive, as well as stress, sleep problems, medications, pain, poor nutrition, and other factors related to your disease.

The fatigue that accompanies cancer isn’t your average, everyday tiredness. It drains you of energy, makes your arms and legs feel like lead, and doesn’t relent, no matter how many hours you sleep. Cancer fatigue can disrupt your daily life, making it impossible for you to work or spend time with friends and family. What’s worse, the fatigue can continue many years after your treatment has ended.

Try these strategies to manage fatigue:

• Take short naps or rest breaks during the day.
• Prioritize the things you need to do and take care of the most important ones first.
• Divvy up large tasks (cleaning your house) into smaller ones (dust one day, sweep the floors the next).
• Ask friends and family for help getting through your daily routine. Let loved ones pick up groceries, medications, or drop off meals so that you don't have to worry about getting healthy food on the table.
• Exercise. Though you might feel too tired to drag yourself out of bed, a brisk walk, yoga or tai chi, or a swim will give you more energy to face the day. It will also help you sleep better at night.
• Eat foods that give you energy. Fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein (fish, chicken, eggs, tofu) will give you the right mix of nutrients to help you power through the day.
• Drinking plenty of water throughout the day can also fight fatigue.

Tell your cancer team that you’re tired. You might have an underlying condition, like anemia, that’s treatable. Your doctor can prescribe medicine to help you sleep better or give you more energy, if you need it.

Tips to cope with medical test anxiety

It’s normal to be apprehensive about having a medical test, particularly one that can cause discomfort or pose some other risk. Even a simple blood test involves a moment of discomfort. Some people faint at the sight of the approaching needle; this intense fear of needles is called trypanophobia, and it leads some people to avoid blood tests, medication infusions, or vaccinations. And when you have cancer, the experience is even more loaded — so much so that it has a name in the cancer community: “scanxiety.”

Fortunately, there are ways to cope with these anxieties, and important reasons why you should.

Sources of anxiety

The source of medical test anxiety depends on the test and what you think you’ll experience. Here are examples.

• Pain and discomfort. “Needles hurt, and a lot of procedures are uncomfortable or unpleasant. Past experience with the procedure can also activate traumatic memories,” says Justin Gillis, a clinical therapist at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital.
• Bad news revealed in a test. Even if we’re not worried about discomfort from a test, we can be very worried about the test result bringing bad news, particularly when you have been diagnosed with cancer. So we can be tempted to avoid having the test: no test, no bad news.
• Test complications. Exposure to harmful levels of radiation, reactions to contrast dye in imaging tests, or a punctured colon during a colonoscopy are real risks; they’re just very small. In ordering these tests, doctors have weighed the benefit from the information provided by the test against the very small risks.

What you can do

To decide if skipping a test is a bigger problem than getting it, talk it over with a loved one or doctor, and try the following.

• Change your perspective. “Avoiding a test won’t change the possibility that there might be a health problem. And if there is a problem, knowing that as soon as possible will give you more treatment options, and possibly a cure,” Gillis says.
• Arm yourself with information. Talk to your doctor to get more information about a test and its risks. Or do some research on trusted websites such as Singapore Ministry of Health or the Singapore Cancer Society.
• Make the test more comfortable. Tell your provider about your concerns. You can request medication to numb the skin before a shot or ask for a mild anxiolytic or sedative to ease the fear of an imaging test. If you’re claustrophobic, ask for an “open” MRI, which takes place in a machine that is open on the sides (unlike a standard MRI).

Coping in the moment

To better cope when you’re getting a test, use these strategies.

• Bring a friend with you. Your friend or loved one can hold your hand and comfort you during the experience.
• Try relaxation exercises. Do some deep breathing. Or focus on a happy experience: How did things look, taste, smell, or sound?
• Look away from the needle. You’ll focus on pain if you watch the needle go into your arm. Instead, look away and try to distract yourself.
• Focus on something fun. “Have something arranged that you can look forward to after the test, like watching a new movie,” Gillis says.

By taking small, informed steps and leveraging expert support, you can stay in control and lead with confidence—even in the face of life’s toughest challenges.

This article is part of our collaboration with Harvard Health Publishing, a trusted source of medical expertise from Harvard Medical School. Content has been adapted for local audiences.

Copyright © 2025 by Harvard University. Original work prepared by Harvard Health Publishing. This content is for informational purposes only and does not replace professional medical advice, and do not represent the views of Manulife (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.