_ _I had a mastectomy last June 2013. I had chemo and Radio therapy and am now on Letrozole. My husband has been very good practically but is not good on the emotional side as are none of my three children who have been brilliant otherwise.
At the same time as I was diagnosed my mam was diagnosed with early dementia.
I am now on the mend and through all the treatment but I get days when I feel so low, I feel as if everything is going on around me but I can’t take it in. I get very lethargic and a lot of the time just want to be alone. Some days I feel ill although I know I am not.
I am not able to tell any of my family this and feel very much alone at times. I have always been good at putting on a brave face. I wennt for my first yearly mammogram three weeks ago and was recalled as they thought there was something there so you can imagine how I felt. Anyway it was clear thank goodness.
It is a difficult time when your treatment is over, everyone just expects you to be the same as before, but you’re not, one of the side effects of Letrozole is depression and low mood, also tiredness. I am just about to start taking it so I’ve been reading up on it. Maybe your GP could give you something to help with your mood.
You might benefit from talking to someone about how you feel. My hospital offers support groups and I think it helps to talk to others going through this as well. I have stopped saying my treatment has finished because I consider hormone therapy is still treatment and everyone just expected me to be ‘over it’ when I finished my radiation.
I feel anxious and disconnected from whats going on around me and I have been offered help with relaxation techniques, but if that doesn’t work then I will consider antidepressants, I know you are a brave face kind of person, so am I, but sometimes we just need a little help. I hope you can sort some out for yourself.
Pleased to hear your first check up went ok, that must have been scarey for you, being called back.
I only finished rads 4 weeks ago but feel like I could be depressed if I am not careful. I am a very anxious person and dr gave me some diazepam before my op as my blood pressure was sky high due to me stressing out and not sleeping.
I can fully understand how you feel about people around you considering that its done with but its not that easy for most of us to get back to where we were before we were diagnosed.
I rarely get asked how I am now - everyone just assumes treatment is over - end of… even though I am still feeling incredibly tired.
Also, its a very lonely feeling and the forum does help
I used to have good days and bad days and inbetween days all my life up until that dreaded day i was diagnosed in Oct 2012. Having gone through 2 operations, 6 months chemo, 3 weeks rads, several hospitals admissions for infections - including one for MRSA - then now on Hormone treatment for another 4 years i think it’s safe to say that there are no more inbetween days anymore! I have good days when i can move about without wincing from joint pain and pins and needles in my feet and foggy brain and forgetfulness.
I have those bad days when everything hurts and i can’t think about anything apart from when will i be having the next good day!!! Never having been what i would call depressed or maudlin, i have often found myself thinking black thoughts and wishing my life away which is not like me at all.
I can cope with pain on most levels (i sailed through all the ops i had, all the needles i had for chemo and blood tests and canulas in hospital) but when it is caused by something beyond our control ~ ie: hormones and various drugs that change our moods and the way we think rationally ~ then i do think that we can be forgiven the occasional bad day or mood swing or even depressed feelings that hopefully in time will go away and leave us alone!!
Thank you all for your kind words, it has helped me to know that I am not alone. I am now certain it must be the Letrozole. I did try telling my Oncologist last week when I went for a check up but she doesn’t seem to realsise the side affects the drug has. I no longer need to see her which is one good thing.
I will keep on going on as they say and get through this as we all will.
Can I ask a question, I have taken Letrozole since March 13 and now so depressed that this week been told by my GP to start taking Fluoxeline. I was suppose to start today but too scared. Do you think that it is ok to do this? Thanks
the leaflets say that doctors often give antidepressants to help with the low mood but also the menopausal symptoms that the hormone therapy causes.
Personally I would have no problem taking them but we are all different. I just want to come out of this happy and I will take anything that helps with that. I told my oncologists that I don’t want to spend the next five years feeling miserable.
Thanks for your advice. I managed to pluck up the courage and started them yesterday. Someone told me that it will be a rocky 3 weeks before it starts to kick in, is this true?
Have been taking the pills now going into week 3. Had alot of headaches and migraine this week, also very tired and find that I have fallen asleep again! when sitting down. Hope I will feel better soon
It seems like everyone on hormone therapy is depressed, maybe because of estrogen levels being depleted. I am not medical, it just seems like common sense. I’ve had a reiki session and it helped balance me, effects lasted a wee while too, and I hope to go again. Amazing they can stick blokes on space stations , wasting billions, and they can’t put this into research into meds with less, or even no, side effects? My own non med remedy is my cat. Apparently the purring of a cat has therapeutic properties, as the vibrations do something …don’t know what. My cat regularly sits on the operation site, purring her small heart out. I am divorced, no kids, no family support, friends too busy etc, so depression is always lurking for me. Not everyone has a solid army of supporters, tho the media representation would have you believe we are all positive happy bunnies. This portrayal makes me feel like a failure, as I just can’t turn on my STAY POSITIVE switch these days… That, combined with the often patronizing and doom laden behavior of friends, is very wearing, and not going to raise my mood. So get a pet, try the reiki or whatever, do what seems best for YOU
