Why do I feel worse after chemo ended than during?

What you're experiencing after chemotherapy is more common than many people realize, and it can be really challenging when you expected to start feeling better. The body often needs time to recover from the intensive treatment, and both the chemotherapy medications and steroids can have lingering effects as your system works to return to its baseline. Many others in this community have shared similar experiences with post-chemo fatigue and joint pain, so you're definitely not alone in this journey.

Are you on aromatase and/or cdk4's now?? If not it could be that the steroids were masking this?

Take Claritin for bone/joint pain.

I just remembered Mary did they have you on a wbc stimulator during chemo? Neulasta/Neupogen? Those drugs suck the marrow/wbc from your bones. This could be a side effect from those? People can have long term bone pain from them as a side effect and now your not taking the steroids that could mask/lower the pain

Cory, YES!!! I finished chemo May 15. And yes, my joint and muscle pain has been horrible. I’m only 47 and can barely get up from the floor if I’m sitting on it. If I’m sitting in a chair too long, I look like I’m 90 when I try to stand up and move. My hands are tight when I wake up in the morning. I can barely open a water bottle. My oncologist told me exercise will help. I started doing some light weight training and it has helped. I was more sore at first but after a couple days I felt some relief. I haven’t started my hormone treatment yet. I heard it will get worse with that. I’m not looking forward to it!

Look up long term side effects from Neulasta

Is there a way I can reach out to you and talk? I'm an advocate/ friend of a woman who was recently diagnosed with virtually the same set of problems. Invasive ductal carcinoma stage 2 grade 3 triple negative. She doesn't speak English, only Arabic, so we work together using Google translate but I'm sort of her lifeline to the world as she's been here just 3 years. She has 10-year-old twins and a 4-year-old so I'm obviously concerned and overwhelmed. I need to hear that somebody can get through this. I haven't used this website before so I don't know what the protocols are for talking to anyone. Please let me know.