Living With and Beyond Cancer: What To Do
The physical and psychological effects that persist after treatment ends.
Last revised
The end of treatment is frequently harder than people expect, and late effects are under-recognised.
Key takeaways
- Common late effects: fatigue, cognitive changes, neuropathy, lymphoedema, early menopause
- Cancer-related fatigue: improves with graded exercise rather than rest
- Most useful single change: Ask for a holistic needs assessment and a treatment summary.
- Commonest mistake: Assuming fatigue after treatment means recurrence.
- See a doctor if any of the signs under "When to get help" below apply to you.
Do
- Ask for a holistic needs assessment and a treatment summary
- Use graded exercise for fatigue; rest alone tends to worsen it
- Ask about late effects specific to your treatment
- Use Macmillan or Maggie's for practical and financial support
Do not
- Assuming fatigue after treatment means recurrence
- Prolonged rest for cancer-related fatigue
- Ignoring low mood after treatment ends, which is very common
The figures behind the list
Each item above follows from these, published in the guidance named at the foot of the page.
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Common late effects | fatigue, cognitive changes, neuropathy, lymphoedema, early menopause |
| Cancer-related fatigue | improves with graded exercise rather than rest |
| Holistic needs assessment | should be offered as part of care |
| Macmillan support line | 0808 808 00 00 |
Where to go next
- Living With and Beyond Cancer: Just the Figures
- Living With and Beyond Cancer: What Published Guidance Supports
- Living With and Beyond Cancer — the reference entry
- Cancer and Family History: What Published Guidance Supports
- The Evidence on Cancer Treatment Side Effects, Without the Hype
When to get help
Contact your oncology team or GP promptly for new or changing symptoms, unexplained pain particularly at night, new lumps, unexplained weight loss, or persistent fever. Seek urgent help for fever during or shortly after chemotherapy — neutropenic sepsis is a medical emergency. Use your acute oncology contact number.
Where this comes from
- NICE — Suspected cancer: recognition and referral
- Macmillan Cancer Support — after treatment
How this page was put together
Every figure, recommendation and warning above is taken from the guidance named in Where this comes from. Nothing on this page is inferred, summarised or generalised beyond what those bodies publish: where they give a number, it is their number, and where they are silent, so are we. Pages are rebuilt whenever the underlying record changes. Sign-off by a named clinician, where it has happened, is shown at the top of the page along with the date.
Medical disclaimer
This article is general information, not medical advice. It cannot account for your own history, medication or circumstances. Always speak to a GP, pharmacist or another qualified health professional before making changes that affect your treatment, and never delay seeking medical advice because of something you have read here. In an emergency, call 999.