An interesting study has been done on breast cancer patients by Doctors in Greece. Not a big study, but it points to women suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, even when treatment has been successful and they are well into remission.
When I read it, I could identify with things like flashbacks and nightmares.
This makes a lot of sense. Even right now there are two threads on here describing these kind of symptoms - Will I ever feel really at ease again? and When will I feel like me again?
Even if treatment is successful and you end up being one of the lucky ones, the initial dx forces us all to face the possibility of dying from the disease, and the fact that there are so many recurrences and secondaries means that even the lucky ones are constantly on guard in case.
Very interesting article to show unsympathetic employers when returning to work.
E xx
I was thinking as I was reading it, I hope my unsympathetic GP and his equally unsympathetic GP wife at the same practice are reading this. According to them we should all just accept we’ve had BC, then pick up the threads and get on with our lives again! However, they would have been happy to refer me for psychotherapy had I been an addict. I took that to mean that addicts bring more money in than cancer patients.
It is interesting to see that there is little correlation between the staging of the cancer or treatment involved and the level of PTSD suffered. This is so relevant in terms of those who have been considered by doctors, employers, family, friends, (you name it)to have got away lightly - ie no chemo or early staging. The diagnosis of cancer has a huge impact and some clearly can cope with it better than others for a whole load of different reasons. Perhaps studies like this will raise awareness amongst doctors in particular to not be dismissive of signs of anxiety in those they consider to be low risk of recurrence. Just because we look well on the outside, who knows what we are going through psychologically.
Interesting stuff. Cancer survivorship is woefully under-researched and underfunded. This kind of research can really help to counterpoint all the pink fluffy nonsense which tries to convince us that cancer is some kind of fabulously life enhancing experience.
It is interesting Cathy that staging and prognosis have little relevance to the level of PTSD. This is something oncs should be more mindful of perhaps.
Personally I have been helped by the experiences of other people who have had serious health problems - not necessarily cancer. I have a few friends who have lived with HIV for many years now. They call themselves the Sword Of Damacles club. The gallows humour keeps me sane.
Having read this read I think I have begun to experience this now some 7 months post Herceptin. I thought it was just me! Since having first check up a couple of weeks ago I have felt very emotional and fragile. I thought I was coping well. I do not want to go on anti depressants which I think my GP would only prescibe. There is no help for how to live after cancer. I can identify with the Sword of Damacles. It seemed when I was actively having treatment every three weeks I was coping better. I also cannot stand the fact that I seem to have acquired “celebrity status” for having cancer! and there those for have not had it and whenever they see me say “so what treatment are you having now?” It is 2.5 years since my dx!!
This article is spot-on. I have been very lucky in that my surgeon, oncologist and nurses have all warned me I could have such feelings. They all described it as a form of PTSD from the start.
I actually didn’t have any feelings of panic at diagnosis, during treatment or afterwards for a long time. The ‘trigger’ for me was trying to go back to work and some sort of normality as if it hadn’t happened or been a temporary blip even though I’ve got bone mets. I had to go off again and ended up retiring on ill-health grounds. I then remembered my onc had told me early on that I may never be able to work again because of the amount of treatment I’d had but I thought I knew better !!!
I saw a registrar this week - new one - and she was lovely, spent nearly an hour with me one way or another discussing all sorts and it was obvious she had read all my notes. She again said the fallout from treatment is like ptsd and with the amount of chemo etc I’d had, it would be no wonder I had some of these feelings.
The medics here all seem to realise that the after effects of treatment can be ‘worse’ than the treatment itself and can strike at any time and that it’s nothing to be ashamed of. I found the bit about 3 yrs later interesting as I’m just coming up to that.
I realise I’ve waffled (another side effect!) and it probably sounds like I’m a real moaner but I’m not - I’ve been very ‘positive’ through it all and most of the time I feel fine and settled in my new life.
Liz
Starfish - please consider giving anti-depressants a go. It took me almost a year of having tried allsorts of remedies to get rid of the side effects of chemically induced menopause all to no avail. In the end the onc recommended I give it a bash on prozac as I was at my wits end. She could see I was struggling so much without me needing to say it. The prozac made a huge difference - I felt so much more like my old self.
I started getting very stressed out towards the end of Herceptin. I had gone to a new job that didn’t work out as the employer didn’t have the training and support package in place for me starting. The woman who was supposed to be my line manager left me to flounder as she was more concerned with her first grandchild being born, so she was very dismissive when I asked for help and would only ever give me 10 minutes training at a time; I was supposed to be with her for a week but she shunted me off to my department after a day and a half. I went to the job in good faith, but it was just a nightmare and I was still sorting things out after I left as they didn’t remove me from the payroll, so were emailing me to ask for the salary to be paid back. I did attend a grievance meeting where they would not take responsibility and they were trying to shift the blame on to me for returning to work after cancer! As it turned out, the woman who was my line manager was only on secondment to the job and I think she was trying to cling on to the position as it was a higher grade than hers. I think this may also have accounted for her dismissive behaviour (she was out of her depth as a manager to say the least).
It was about 4 months after this that I started counselling. I only had 6 sessions, but after the first one I slept really well and things progressed from there. I do still get a bit down at times (I’ve had depression twice, last time in 1993 so I recognise the symptoms), but some of the techniques I learned and worked through with the psychologist, plus meditation techniques, generally help me to buck myself up again.
An interesting article - it makes me feel better as I try to get back to normal - it sort of justifies things. After mx, chemo and rads I tried to get back to normal - only to get more and more breathless and tired. I was then diagnosed with heart failure (from the chemo) and when they investigated this they said that the tests showed I had had a heart attack when on chemo. Before dx I took no tablets, but now I am on Femara as well as tablets for my heart (Beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, diuretics and B Vitamins and Thiamine). Some days I feel more like the old me (apart from joint pains etc.), but other times I feel tired and have strange moods (sort of bad moods and slightly confused). I then like to go and rest quietly on my own until I can cope with people again.
great article, makes lots of sense. Thanks for sharing
eva
I might see if I can find something a bit more in depth about this article, I’d be really interested to read more about this. I was very lucky in that the hospital breast cancer service I was under believed in treating the whole person and had a psychologist attached to it, (they were also not keen to discharge you unless they felt you were doing ok emotionally)but I know others may not be so lucky.