What to access when counselling has failed

Hello,

I am massively struggling with mental health after my recent diagnosis of TNBC at 36. I have tried talking therapies, counselling and EMDR therapy in the past for medical trauma and health anxiety without success. I am currently on antidepressants and have tried more than one type before. My BCN says there is a year’s wait for a psychotherapist. I currently won’t leave the house and will only do so for chemo appointments when these start. What other help is out there that people have accessed? I am at a loss, to be honest. Many thanks.

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Have you ever tried EFT tapping? You could maybe look up a practitioner who would do it online. But it would cost as private. Can you ask the nurses on here for advice? There seems to be a section for that. Or the MacMillan website?

You’re doing brilliantly saying you will leave the house for chemo. Be proud of yourself.

Xxx

Hello @treacle

Sorry to hear you are suffering as you are.

With regards to tapping there is a summit on at the moment ran by Nick Ortner. This is the link,

I’ve been getting emails but not had time to watch. There’s also tapping on you tube too. I haven’t tried it myself.

I suffered with anxiety and got the lady care magnet from labalance online. It took my anxiety away. It could be worth a try for you too

Hope you get sorted xxxxxx

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Really sorry to hear that you’re suffering g but well done for leaving the house for treatments . I was speaking to a Therapist recently - not for myself just generally chatting and I asked about the tapping therapy as I had just heard a out it. She said she often recommends Somatic Yoga I stead - I have done this , it’s not like other forms of Yoga it’s do e lying down in a nice warm room and uses a combination of gentle repetitive movements synchro used with the breath to release tension . The teacher was doing the class for women recovering from breast cancer as she had had it herself and it was part of her own recovery process . It really did effect some sort of change in all of us - some people who had been bottling things up were able to let go and cry . I found myself quite tired afterwards but also mercifully free of my h of the joint

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Oh dear … pressed send a bit too soon yet again . Was trying to say that afterwards I was free of joint pain and tension for several days and also feeling relatively relaxed . There are some videos on it on YouTube so you wouldn’t have to go out , including I think from the lady who taught me who is called Nicky Forsdyke . Xx

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Hi there Treacle.

I’m so sorry to read this. Anxiety is so debilitating, and health anxiety added to that sounds exhausting. I’d love to offer you an answer - but I don’t know that I have one! I can only offer my own thoughts about it, which may be useful or not.

I see you’ve accesses various therapies, all of which can be helpful - but only it’s the right therapy with the right therapist for you, at the right time… I’m going to assume each option you accessed only gave you a set number of sessions, which can add to the anxiety, I think. Then there’s the anxiety of, “that didn’t work, will this work?”, maybe followed by, “what will work, what’s wrong with me, why can’t I make this work”, or similar, perhaps.

Trouble is, the brain creates the anxiety to keep us safe from a perceived threat. It’s like the fight-flight-freeze reaction has gone into overdrive, and that comes from a deep, primal part of the brain that is hard to get a grip of! Plus, with a cancer diagnosis, it’s easy to think something like, “well, I got cancer, so I could get anything, so I’m not safe, and it could all be bad, and…and…and….”.

For context, I’ve struggled with PTSD around “something bad will happen someone’s going to die”, for many years. Then, I got cancer - so yes, I’m on high alert to what’s happening in my body. (Currently 18 months post-treatment and all good :grin:). And in those 18 months, two friends have died from cancer (not breast), and another from sudden and unexpected heart failure. Recently, my sister was diagnosed with motor neurone disease. So, I absolutely know that the worst really can happen.

Thing is, I also know that 99% of my fears and anxieties and “what ifs” are not going to happen. They aren’t likely to happen. If they do happen, there’s not much I can do about it. I cannot prevent the random crap that life throws at us. I wish I could. So I sort of CBT myself - when a friend stays over and sleeps late, by about 9am part of my brain says “well that’s it, she’s dead, what will I do?”. And then I give that part of brain a slap and tell it to stop being so stupid, because whilst I know it is possible, I know it is incredibly unlikely that she’s died. And if she has - well, naff all I can do about it, and I know I could deal with it because I’ve dealt with worse. But it’s so very unlikely that I need to just get on with what I’m doing and wait for her to wake up.

If you’ve not tried CBT, maybe it’s worth a go.

The other thing I try to remind myself of, and follow, is that I refuse to waste my life on anxiety. Not everyone gets the option to get up and live freely every day, and there is often neither rhyme nor reason to who gets ill and who doesn’t. I get why you choose to stay home all the time, but don’t isolate yourself forever.

Sorry I’ve rambled on, I have no idea whether anything I said might be helpful at all, but I’m happy to talk and help if I can.

Xx

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Thanks so much for your replies xx

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Sending love to you @treacle . It seems such a shame to me that you will be going out for chemo but not for anything else - I’m worried for you because if you only go out for something that you have to do and wouldn’t choose to do it may only go to reinforce any negative feelings you may have about going out and make you even more averse to go anywhere. if there’s a nice sunny day can you get outside and be in nature for a bit even if or especially if you go on your own - don’t go to do anything in particular or to meet anyone unless you would feel happier with a particular person with you, no need to put that pressure on yourself just go to be there . Sunshine and green spaces are definitely beneficial for mental health . Xx

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Have you considered talking to other young women who went the same path as you and have been recovering from the treatments and now they have fulfilling lives after 10 years since the end of treatments? I know a few of them.

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I am so incredibly sorry you are going through this. Dealing with a TNBC diagnosis while carrying past medical trauma is a weight no one should lift alone, especially when the system leaves you stranded on a year-long waitlist. Since you mentioned you can’t leave the house right now except for chemo, fully remote specialized support might be the only viable bridge for you.

I completely understand why standard talking therapies or basic EMDR didn’t cut it before—sometimes trauma runs too deep for quick-fix methods. When I was dealing with severe somatic anxiety and felt completely frozen, a friend recommended looking into specialized out-of-network practices that focus on deeper, trauma-informed clinical care rather than the usual marketplace apps.

I’ve been working remotely with Manhattan Mental Health Counseling via their telehealth setup. Even though they are US-based, their clinicians combine things like somatic work and polyvagal therapy, which actually helps regulate the nervous system when your body feels like a warzone. It might be worth checking if they can accommodate you internationally, or at least looking for a similar private, remote clinical model locally.