I was just wondering if Stress could play a major part in developing Cancer.
I have been through some big Stress in recent years.
In 2006 my mum died.
Then in same year the love of my life was cheating on me, we had a very dramatic and traumatic (on my part) break up, I was devastated and thought this break up will kill me…survived that…in 2009 my lovely dad died from Alzheimers, another very traumatic year.
2 years on from that I find myself with breast cancer, which may have been festering during that last 5 years, who knows when or how or why it started.
I feel like I want to blame someone… my ex probably for ripping my heart out and causing me so much Stress I cried so much I thought my eyes would pop out :o( Well and truly over the rat now, but wondering if these stresses could have caused my BC ?
Has anybody suffered extreme stress then developed Cancer?
Yes i have and i think lots of ladies have asked themselves this question too.
My husbands boss started treating him really bad 4 years ago and he ended up after nearly 30 years of working for the same person going into buisness on his own .Problem was i always wanted him to work on his own so when things got tough for him and he was crying out for help he said he was going to leave me (we had been together 24 years since i was 15)i was devastated !!
We are still together and all is ok but it caused me to be so upset.
Then the year after my son met a girl whos mum was into alsorts and he changed overnight never drank never smoked didnt do drugs ,within a month he had done it all .The times we lay awake wondering what was happening and where he was .
He kicked the drugs habbit pretty soon but the drinking and smoking carried on .
The year after he stole our car from outside our house with friends and wrote it off within ten minutes .Neighbours warned us and we rang the police .He rang us when he smashed it and the police took us to pick him up .All the others had fled and he took the blame .What followed was us having to prosecute him and see him go through court .He got beat up cos my sister rightly so said he had to give police names and ended up nearly loosing his site.
Then we put our house up for sale and moved in april and i was diagnosed in may .So yes i have wondered if stress plays a part in all this and i am so sorry for all the bad things you have been through xx
Daisy, my mum died at only 54 in 1994, my dad was diagnosed with colon cancer a year later, but survived. 2005 I was seriously attacked in my job. I had serious PTSD as a result of the attack. it took a year to get to court. During this time I had to report a previous line manager for sexual abuse of a child. This all went to court in the same year as the other case. In April 2008 my daughter waa diagnosed with anorexia and she spent 4 months in hospital I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in June 2009.
I have often asked myself the same question as you have asked. I am well now and finished treatment, I have also had reconstruction. I wish you all the very best. You sound like a very strong person Daysie.
My onc told me before I was discharged that they do know there is a link between stress and cancer, but they have not done enough research into it; she said they are always interested to here about their patients having stressful episodes prior to being diagnosed.
In my own case:-
Jan 2001 my house was flooded when I was on holiday. The tank burst in the attic and water poured down for about 4 days. It was rendered unfit for habitation and we were in hotels and temp accommodation for 6 months. We then had to get through 2 renovations as the house wasn’t dried out properly the first time. This took 18 months of wrangling with loss adjusters and builders. 85% of our possessions were lost, clothes, furniture, books, CDs the lot. OH was under immense stress in his job at this point and wanted to walk out of it.
2002 I had to move 450 miles without my OH to look after my dad who was developing dementia. Saw OH once every 6 weeks if I was lucky. I couldn’t work during this period and my dad was taken into care in 2003. The following year he didn’t know any of us.
2004 husband walked out of his job and we moved to Scotland permanently. He then had a serious employment tribunal in London with his former employers which collapsed and both parties had to sign confidentiality agreements. He was owed 125k which he lost due to a technicality and a mistake that was made on the part of his solicitor.
October 2005 my dad died.
August 2006 we started a business.
October 2006 I found out I had aggressive BC 3 weeks after being told I didn’t have anything wrong with me, just a fibroid.
So I think on the stress front I have been there, done it and got the t-shirt!
Thankfully I now lead a much calmer life, both at work and personally. My 40s were not good to me, but I’m determined my 50s will be better.
For myself I would say absolutely yes. My diagnosis followed a horrendously stressful time in my life when I went through every stress trigger you can name (divorce, death of parent, remarriage, birth, made redundant, partner made redundant, conceived twins, relocated when they were 8 weeks old) all happened within 10 years and I eventually suffered clinical depression. The cancer showed up about a year after life started to settle down.
Daysie, I definitely think you’re on to something. In the past 3 years I’ve gone through 2 redundancy reviews (although I kept my job, it was a worrying time not knowing), my mother-in-law died after several months in hospital, a stressful house move and my husband has had 2 years of chronic ill health.
Things were just starting to look up when I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
I’ve been told it doesn’t play a part - but I’m not convinced because being in a permanent state of stress over a very prolonged period can have all sorts of effects on the body and immune system - so why not?
There were some studies on animals but that was physical stress - they can’t replicate mental stress over period of years in animals.
And stress? I’ve had nothing BUT problems over the past 4 years and before then, but particulary bad in past 4.
There was a phone in on 5Live this morning (Nicky Campbell’s show) about the BMA wanting to get smoking banned in cars. A woman who was a Consultant Oncologist rang in at about 9.45 and she said whilst there is no concrete evidence, Oncologists do believe stress is a big factor because they know it suppresses the work of your immune system and most cancers are multifocal i.e. made up of a number of different factors. I was very interested by her views (she didn’t want to ban people from smoking in their cars btw).
Also been here my daughter was in a horrific car crash we were told she wouldnt survive the night thank god she did, long process of recovery still problems with her health 11 years later, went through divorce after an abusive relationship worked all the hours god sent to keep a roof over our heads.
Met someone else who who was a compulsive liar and a user and nearly broke my family up.
Met my mr Right got married thought this was the end of my bad luck and developed Breast cancer life is so crule,
Does stress play a part?.. YES! I should say so! We had rolled on through stressful situations as most of us do ,with stressful jobs, losing 3 members of family in two years but got through it all then within the space of 18 months my son left his wife and son, too long a story but we helped our daughter in law who lost her mother a couple of months afterwards,then on a weekend away had a car accident thankfully didn’t have serious injuries then a month after lost my mum during all that awful snow driving 150 miles back and to arranging funeral ,along with stupid family rows! it happened 19th Dec so went all through Christmas then had funeral on 7th Jan. I then started a new job, more stress but was getting there! Then arranged son’s wedding and four days after found my lump!! One of those where I would so love to have one of those gizmos from Men in Black to forget the last couple of years!!! So I would agree with all the women on here and say most definitely stress plays a major part in this awful illness… xxx
I agree! It seems when you have battled through bad times and start to relax a bit, bc will rear it’s ugly head. I was just beginning to enjoy life but my body had other plans.
Would be inclined to agree, I’ve had several stressful times through my life but culminated in traumatically becoming single, having mini breakdown in process, about 4 weeks before Dx.
Now hoping to have a less stressful life and retain NED.
Most definitely stress plays a major part in bc… have had a bad few years which have built to bc… father dx with Parkinsons, dodgy marriage which culminated in messy and costly divorce (reasons I cant go into), I’d been with him for over twenty years! House move, obviously, then threat of redundancy. Grievance with company fought by Union for me … but all very nasty … slight change of job and major drop in salary… various other family and career upsets … then bc. But we will overcome…
I have to agree re stress! i was dx oct 2006 and mum 6 months later but prior to that dad had prostate cancer but died very suddenly due to have appt with oncologist (1st) next day! treated by a urologist colleague until then!
My husband and i split 3 kids under 7,mother in law died of BC…all this happened within 8 months…ex hubby insolvent and dx with bipolar, ive no financial help from him…lost our house, moved to a smaller house 10 miles away, kids hate it…work in Nhs…
Mum worried about me…but interesting point i was 41 OUTSIDE SCREENING(found a lump) she was 66 OUTSIDE SCREENING AGE but went to get checked because of me,never had a problem and regular mammos in the past.
My onc told me that stress can ignite a predisposition to cancer.
Now just anxious if my 2 daughters are higher risk…but brac 1&2 neg
I’m totally with you on this one. I am convinced that stresses that first started in 1990 are the cause of my BC. Of course no Oncologist will say it is a cause and there is no scientific evidence out there, but for me its the only explanation.
xxxxx
I must admit I also asked myself this question as mine followed a horribly stressful 5 or 6 yrs and even after diagnosis. The body can’t go on indefinitely in this state and something has to give. Since I have always tried to live healthily I can’t find any other reason. Should we be looking for a reason? I think there has to be one somewhere!
Ami xx
I’m sure it does play a part in this although as with all this cancer stuff everybodys cancer is individual to themselves, my stress was to do with losing my job, going for endless interviews (I was lucky enough at least to get interviews) with no success 3 years I’ve been trying to find work in my field, got loads of debt from my degree and worry worry worry, and all this is after re-training again after my degree to try and improve my chances of finding work but still no luck then in March this year dx with primary and secondaries at age 43. I was going to try for a baby this year as I figured my career was going nowhere and I did’nt want to leave it any later, so I go to the dr’s to talk about being an older mother and find out I got breast cancer stage IV, no chance of ever having children now as I am on tamoxifen for as long as it works and herceptin probably for the rest of my life.
Now I wonder why I bothered with education or study or working hard none of it means anything when you dont have good health and the thought that I brought this on by being stressed out makes me feel physically sick.
However, I have also spoken with ladies that have BC and say they were happy and content when dx, I’m afraid there is no answer to this but I am sure in some cases stress plays a part.
Sending everyone love light and stress free life
Sarahlousie xxx
I think there is a link too - but would be interested in all those people out there who have had a stressful time nd not got cancer!!
Personally my stress came from my Sons death nd the medical negligence case that followed. I then got meningitis nd the lumbar puncture to diagnose this went horrificaly wrong leading to disability!! Some very sad stories on this site - hugs to all.