L'expérience de la fatigue chez les malades atteints de cancer

Abstract

Fatigue is a common symptom experienced by cancer patients. This article explores the manner in which people handle living with this symptom within the context of their disease. Based upon a qualitative survey of 35 cancer patients, the analysis proposes that there are three different ways of living with fatigue and interpreting it: 1. fatigue is "positive" when it is associated with the hope of being cured, 2. it is "normalised" when it is interpreted as an inevitable effect of treatment, and 3. it is lived and undergone as a complete "immersion" when all of the suffering linked to the cancer is expressed through fatigue.