hi everyone, I could really do with your advice or comments. I have lived with SBC for nearly 7 years and up until now feel I have managed well mentally(holding down my job three days a week). However I have just recently started to feel anxious. I think it was a result of a recent virus I had. I have seen my GP nurse and discussed anti depressants . Initially I was given sleeping tablets which seemed to work as my brain switched off so I got a decent nights sleep which made me feel better. I am not sure if yi have got used to these but feel I need something more. Up to now I have managed things with counselling, good friends and family to talk to plus exercise but I now feel I have moved on a stage mentally.
Your mental wellbeing is essential to your ability to live with your illness and carry on with the life you choose to live. Sleeping tablets are only a short-term solution, as are benzodiazepines like diazepam. Anti-depressants like SSRIs are a longer term solution but, like most medications, everyone reacts differently. What works for one person makes another one ill. The term anti-depressant is a bit of a misnomer in that many of them are used to treat anxiety and other MH conditions now, very successfully.
I’ve worked my way through most SSRIs and struggled with side effects which spoil the quality of life. However, I eventually found one with very few side effects and my life is a lot better. It’s even better since my cancer treatments finished as I was left with neuropathic pain - so my GP prescribed pregabalin for that (side effect - measurable improvement in mood and absence of deep-seated anxiety!). My advice would be to go back and discuss anti-depressants or pregabalin for treatment of anxiety. Discuss potential side effects and what is acceptable (or not) to you, given your condition. If you dare, ignore instructions and start with a very small dose, increasing it steadily till you reach the recommended dose. Then wait and see. If it doesn’t help, ask to try another…and another… till you find the right one for you. You may be lucky first go.
Too often there’s a stigma attached to SSRIs. Weird when you think about how we allow all these poisons to pump through us to deal with a physical health issue, but feel embarrassed or weak for turning to a medical solution for our mental health. Both are of equal importance in my opinion. Go for it. It sounds to me you’ve been doing an astounding job so far! Best of luck,
Hi Coolgirl, what a great response from Nicky, and what a great girl you are for being resilient for so long. I wonder if there has been any changes in your life which has knocked you off course, so to speak. It certainly doesn’t take much for me to regress slightly. I have to hold tight to all the little tricks my psychotherapist gave me. Anti depressants certainly didn’t work for me. On the smallest dosage I was like a zombie. Physical activity is my drug of choice. Before you get ? excited, I’m 73, overweight and slow moving. Swimming, aqua aerobics and TaiChi is my absolute limit! ?. Hey, whatever gets us through the day. ?
Can I firstly thank you Caz for starting this thread. Your timing was so right for me. I’ve had a very difficult 2 years since initial de novo diagnosis. I’m currently stable, with no active cells and on Denusomab and Letrozole. I thought mentally that I’d dealt with everything that I had gone through and had thrown at me, but I realise these past few days that I haven’t even started ?
I was already on anti-depressants for PTSD and to be fair they have got me this far, but having read this thread, plus others on similar topics, I have decided that they are not enough and I need more help. I went to the GP yesterday and asked for a change in medication. So today I start to taper off my existing one, and start the new one. Scary but it seems very controlled and I’ll have a review in 3 weeks to see how I’m doing.
I had 9 months of counselling, finishing earlier this year but I’m not sure I want to revisit it again at the moment. However this remains an option as I can self refer.
Not sure why I’m posting! But guess what I’m saying is how amazing this forum is, how relevant, how magical that sometimes posts just appear at the right time, and make us realise we are not alone. So thank you to everyone who has contributed because you have helped me. Xx
After 12 years my BC returned. I immediately went on a anti-depresant. When I felt like you are feeling I called a friend of mine who is an oncology nurse. I explained to her almost word for word as you did about feeling like I needed something else. She told me that my brain was wanting or telling me it needed more of something to calm me down- in other words more of the drug I was taking or some other drug at the same or higher dosage.