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Loss of physical strength

I read that person in his/her 30s will start to lose muscle mass to muscle mass. This is apparently called "sarcopenia". A person loses 3 to 5% of his/her mass per decade and may lose 30% during a life time.

Now, my problem is that I started to lose my strength 10 months prior to diagnosis and by the time of diagnosis, I had measurably* lost 25% of my strength.

I understand that once a CML patient has his/her leukaemia brought under control that the body should be returned to its pre-leukaemic state and be undamaged.

And yet, my strength has not returned. If anything, I am still getting slightly weaker as the months pass.

I seem to have lost as much strength in two years that a person loses in his/her lifetime.

Has anyone else suffered a similar loss of physical strength.

* Measured the number of swimming laps that I complete in one hour of front craw. Age 63.

That has definitely happened to me even though I have tried to maintain it.  I think the main reason is due to the muscle loss we all go through due lack a lack of weight bearing exercise brought on by the chronic fatigue.  I’m also sure these meds have a detrimental affect of you gut health and digestive system that also affects our ability to grow/repair quality muscle mass.

Like you I was in unusually poor physical condition when diagnosed as I'd spent the winter with low activity due to fatigue and also got sick a couple times and really had trouble recovering.  Then I was even worse off physically on the TKIs.  I'm only 6 months into the TKI treatment, and most of the time I've been less capable of physical exercise than I was when I was first diagnosed.

I've been working hard to regain or at the very least maintain fitness.  I don't seem to be making progress, but then I figure if I don't keep at it I'll be far worse off.  I used to enjoy exercising but now it is rather unrewarding, a struggle with no perceptible progress.  Yet I do feel better on days I exercise, both mentally and physically.  I have a thread here on Retaining Regaining fitness on Dasatinib where a few folks have chimed in with suggestions.  The ability to get fit on these drugs seems to vary with individuals, but there are people who struggled at first then were able to regain fitness.

One other note, these drugs can affect your thyroid, and that can make you weaker and/or low energy as well.  Thyroid imbalances can be corrected with meds but may take a bit to get the dose right.  

For me it is worth the work and often frustration.  I feel better mentally when I exercise, and figure I'm taking an active part in managing my condition.  Good luck and may you find with work you can get back some of your strength.

Maria