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Just as cancer treatment can affect your body, it can also affect your emotions and feelings. Some survivors continue to have strong emotions about the cancer experience long after treatment is complete. Others may have new emotions. Some people feel they have to be strong while others seek the support from loved ones. Whatever you do, try not to compare yourself with others.
Some survivors worry a lot or have a general feeling of uneasiness or unhappiness. These types of emotions can affect communication with loved ones, friends and employers. In some cases, relationships may suffer.
Many oncology programs offer counseling support and support groups to help survivors continue to do well into the survivorship phase. If yours does not, ask your doctor or social worker for a referral.
Worrying About Your Health
Worrying about your cancer coming back is normal especially during the first year after treatment. To help with the fear cancer returning, try some of the following:
- Be informed – Learning about cancer, understanding what you can do for your health now and finding out about services available can give you a greater sense of control.
- Express your feelings – People have found that when they express strong feelings like anger or sadness, they are more likely to let go of them.
- Look for the positive – Try to use your energy to focus on wellness and what your can do now to stay as healthy as possible. But, you do not have to be upbeat all the time. It is ok to have “down days”.
- Don’t blame yourself for cancer, cancer can happen to anyone.
- Be as active as you can – Getting out and finding something else to focus on besides cancer will keep you from worrying about it.
- Focus on what you can control – Being involved in your health care and making lifestyle changes, like exercise and diet, can help give you a sense of control. While there are things about your health that you are unable to change, focusing on what you can control helps.
Feeling Stress
When you are diagnosed and going through treatment, you put concerns such as family, work or financial problems aside. Now that treatment is over, these issue need to be dealt with.
Many survivors fear that stress may have played a role into their cancer. It is important to remember that no research show that stress causes cancer. But, stress can cause other health issues. Finding ways to reduce your stress levels may make you feel better.
Reducing Stress
Many survivors have found activities the following activities useful in dealing with their worries after treatment ends.
- Exercise – Exercise is a known way to reduce stress and feel less tense (whether you have had cancer or not).
- Mind-body methods – Meditation or relaxation may help lower your stress by quieting your mind.
- Creative outlets – Art, music or dance gives people the chance for people to express themselves in different ways.
- Joining a support group – Sharing your story with others can help air your concers, problem solve and find meaning.
Depression and Anxiety
After treatment, you may feel angry, tense or sad. For most people, these feelings go away or lessen over time. For some people though, these emotions can become more severe. Talk with your doctor if you think you suffer from depression. Many survivors get help from therapists who are experts in both depression and people recovering from cancer. Your doctor may also prescribe medicine to help you.
Talk to Your Doctor About
If you have any of the flowing signs for more than 2 weeks, talk to your doctor:
Emotional Signs
- Feeling worry, anxiety or sadness that do not go away
- Feeling emotionally numb
- Feeling overwhelmed, out of control, or shaky
- Having a sense of guilt or feeling unworthy
- Feeling helpless
- Feeling short-tempered or moody
- Having a hard time concentrating, or feeling scatterbrained
- Crying for long periods of time or many times a day
- Focusing on worries or problems
- Having a hard time getting certain thoughts out of your mind
- Finding it hard to enjoy everyday things
- Finding yourself avoiding situations or things that you know are really harmless
- Thinking about hurting or killing yourself
Physical Sign
- Unintended weight gain or loss
- Sleep problems
- Racing heart, upset stomach
- Physically slowing down
- Fatigue that does not go away
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