I am 8 days into a 15 day radiotherapy course and started taking Letrozole about a month ago. I am severely depressed, at a time when I should just be relieved that the cancer has been removed from my body. I don’t know whether its the radiotherapy or the Letrozole, but I don’t know what to do.
I remember feeling like this when I was having radiotherapy and had just started letrozole. I mentioned it to my radiotherapist during a review appointment and she gave me lots of hope. She said it’s a big shock going through diagnosis and treatment and there’s no right way to feel. Often people are in a state of shock at first and then the reaction and emotions come later but things do settle down,so we need to be accepting of our feelings and kind to ourselves. Radiotherapy is tiring, not just as a side effect that accumulates as the days pass, but also just all the effort of getting to the appointments. It also causes dehydration which adds to tiredness so remember to drink extra water. She also said it takes time to settle onto letrozole medication but people often find symptoms, such as depression, do lessen. If the depression is still bad she said they could try me on different aromatase inhibitors such as anastrozole etc and it is also possible to have antidepressants. I think once she helped me realise the culprit was letrozole I was able to say to myself ‘it’s just the letrozole’ ie not a true picture of the world, and over the next month I began to feel the depression lift. However, I did have a setback when I was given a different brand, I find it really helps to stick to one brand. We’ve been through so much. Initially there’s a huge sense of relief after surgery is over but then comes the long journey to a new normal. Breast Cancer Now helpline were very supportive to me and Macmillan and my GP. You deserve all the support that’s available, don’t suffer in silence or delay getting that support. Well done for getting to the halfway point for radiotherapy. I don’t like taking medications generally but I feel settled on letrozole and grateful it’s another line of defence against this beastie. Also, gentle exercise helps, yoga style stuff is good I found. All the best to you, everyone on this forum is cheering you on x
Hi Shelton.
Great to hear you’re halfway through the radiotherapy - nearly there. I’ve been on anastrozole since last April and have blamed it for everything, unfairly it seems. At your stage in treatment, I would hesitate (with the wisdom of hindsight) to blame letrozole for your depression. One of the effects of radiotherapy for some is fatigue, which shares many features with depression. Also, you’ve been through a traumatising time - a diagnosis, surgery, the fears about treatment and survival - plus there’s this bloody virus to be constantly wary of. I’d have thought depression might be a completely natural reaction. If you’ve had chemotherapy, I’d say depression was almost normal!
I’m not saying it’s not the letrozole. I’m suggesting there might be other factors to take into consideration before reaching a conclusion. If it doesn’t get any easier or it gets unbearable, ask your oncologist if it’s ok to take a month off and see if there is any improvement. That’s what I did and it ruled it out. If there isn’t an improvement, that’s the AIs eliminated, which would be good since it’s an essential part of your continued freedom from breast cancer. Then your GP will be able to help you. You don’t have to suffer. There are many effective treatments available as well as non-medical tools such as mindfulness, yoga, the gym etc (my eyes roll when these are mentioned but, in fairness, they do help some people).
All the best in your countdown to the end of treatment. I hope you begin to feel easier in yourself - but do ask for help. There’s usually a breast care nurse based in radiotherapy but that may not apply in the current circumstances
x