how do you feel now

hi all now my treatment has finished i am mentally tuned in all the time every ache or pain i think its back . do you feel the same ?

Hi susy

I’m actually just starting a year of herceptin - but have finished with all the rads/chemo…It’s 9 weeks since my last chemo and I’ve already been to my GP 3 times with back pain, chest pain and pain in general!! Fortunately he is a really lovely GP who puts up with me moaning about every sympton I have lol - and I feel takes my concerns seriously.

I imagine the majority of us will go this to some degree or other…

take care
Margaret x

Hi Susyh and welcome to the forums,

I’m sure many of the other users will completely understand where you are coming from, I thought you may find Breast Cancer Care’s peer support service helpful, our Peer Support telephone service aims to quickly put you in touch with one of our trained peer supporters, who has had a personal experience of breast cancer. Our peer supporters are from diverse backgrounds and ages and have experienced different types of breast cancer and treatments. They are ready to listen, offer skilled emotional support and share their experiences and understanding.

For more information about this and our other support services available to you, please telephone our helpline on 0808 800 6000 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm and Sat 9am-2pm) or email:

info@breastcancercare.org.uk

Best wishes
Lucy

Hi both I am now only on Tamoxifen and I too at first had a panic attack at the slightest pain and was constantly at my GP …the comfort blanket of the hospital visits
had gone and I felt a bit abandoned …some days are better that others I try not to spend every waking hour with BC on my mind ,but some days are really hard and some others easier …and I have dreadful mood swings !! I suppose its to be expected as we have had a life changing experience that we wont forget it overnight will we ?
xxxxxxxx
Maz

Hi all,

Has anyone looked at the cancer surviors web site? It’s American but very inspiring. I’m not quite there yet but it looked to be useful after treatment is completed.

Toffee

Dealing with the aches & pains is difficult - especially as radiotherapy can leave all sorts of pains that come & go in the rib area. The best bit of advice I received was only to worry if any pain etc lasted more than two weeks. So I take a mental note of the day the symptom appears, and so far nothing has lasted more than a few days.

Hi Susyh,

Other than tamoxifen I finished treatment 15 months ago and mentioned to my consultant about aches and pains and being worried. He said I would have had all those niggly aches and pains before bc and never noticed them but after diagnosis we notice everything and in the majority of cases it’s nothing. As time has gone I am better at thinking that everything is not cancer related and as roadrunner, said I leave it a couple of weeks before mentioning it and generally after a few days it’s gone. I think with time (and trying to keep busy!) it does get a littlr easier.

Take care
Shorty
x

There is a useful page on the Cancer Research site that tells you what type of aches and pains you should look out for and what the pain would feel like. I found it put my mind at ease a lot as I don’t want to go down the route of thinking every pain or headache is secondary cancer!

I was great all the way through my treatment, then bang! it all hit me in one go. I’ve had 3 sessions of counselling with the psychologist who works with my oncology and breast clinic. It is really helping me regain my confidence levels and helping me to approach things in a different way. My GP was not going to let me go for this as, according to him(!) it wasn’t necessary (“you just need to be positive again and get on with it”). My onc and a consultant I saw about the menopause overruled this and said they felt I should go. Where I live they are supposed to get the permission of your GP first as they are your family doctor, but my onc thought my GP was being ridiculous.