Coping in General
Many cancers can be cured. Most can be treated effectively, giving patients a good quality of life for longer, but nevertheless, cancer is a devastating diagnosis. Fears about pain, loss of dignity, loss of control and death are normal – it would be surprising if they did not occur to most patients at some stage.
Helping patients with concerns and worries is something that many people around the patient – health professionals, family and friends - can help with. The help required will vary from patient to patient – there is no answer or approach that suits everyone.
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Information About Your Illness
Most patients will want to know about their illness, their treatment, its side effects and what to expect. Good information dispels misconceptions and unnecessary concerns, and helps you plan for the future. If it helps, take a list of questions you want to ask. But they will also find it difficult to remember everything that they are told during a consultation, so it is useful to take a close relative or friend, or ask for written information.
Appointments with your doctors and other clinicians are opportunities to ask as many questions as you want, but health professionals are under a duty to answer honestly, even if they know it’s not what you want to hear.
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Help and Support
Help and support is available from a range of sources.
Some websites are very good, with helpful information and suggestions – throughout this website you will find links to other sites that may be helpful. But there are some websites suggesting ideas that have not been tested and may be harmful, so if in doubt discuss what’s bothering you with one of your health professionals and ask for their advice.
Patient groups can be helpful. Hearing about how others coped, and sharing experiences is very useful in some circumstances but everyone is different, as are their cancers, treatments, side effects and how they prefer to deal with them. Again, if in doubt, discuss what’s bothering you with one of your health professionals and ask for their advice.
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Feeling Anxious or Depressed
There are a variety of ways that people cope with difficult situations, different approaches suit different people – some will want to put it to the back of their mind, others will want to talk about it. But everyone feels low from time to time and will have issues that worry them – these feelings are normal and not anxiety or depression in a medical sense, but if they have a significant impact on your life, you should mention it to your health professionals.
In general, all concerns or worries can be put into one of two groups – things that you can do something about and those that you cannot influence, and are sometimes called constructive and destructive worries.
Constructive worries are concerns that can lead to a solution, so concerns about how best to fight the cancer might lead to decisions about attending appointments, having a healthier lifestyle, spending time doing things you enjoy with family and friends.
Destructive worries is spending time agonising about things that you cannot change, because you cannot control them, but worrying about them has a negative effect on your ability to enjoy life.
Sorting out the constructive from the destructive worries is something many people find helpful.
Everyone with cancer has some concerns and worries from time to time. However, if worrying is causing you significant distress, or is interfering with your normal activities, it is worth talking to your doctor about it.
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Specific Problems
There are a number of situations which may cause some patients particular problems, and where clinical psychologists and other experienced professionals can provide help:
- Imaging and Treatment Simulation – requires patients to be very still, and in some cases special equipment is used to hold the patient in place which some people find very difficult. There are techniques that can be used to cope with the uneasy feelings you may have. If you find enclosed spaces difficult various relaxation methods can be used and help a great deal.
- Fatigue – is a problem many patients experience and generally those who either do too much or too little exercise will find it more of a problem. The right level of exercise can even vary from day to day. Experienced health professionals can help you work out graded activities to achieve the appropriate level of activity, so that you are at your best.
- Nausea and Vomiting – is not as common with radiotherapy as many people believe but does affect some patients especially those receiving treatment to the stomach and pancreas. Relaxation and other techniques can be very helpful supplementing the beneficial effects of medication.
- Pain – is one of the major fears of many patients with cancer. Anxiety and depression can make the pain worse or make it more difficult to cope with pain. Addressing underlying concerns, recognising and treating depression can also help in dealing with pain – not as a substitute for painkillers but as a way of helping to control it.
- Depression – will affect some patients but by no means all. In fact there are studies to show that patients whose cancer is diagnosed and treated well experience lower rates of depression that the normal population. However, if you feel down in your spirits most of the time, and are much less interested in things that usually interest you, or are less able to enjoy these things, we suggest you seek help from your doctor or another health professional. Be reassured that a number of effective treatments are available.
- Anxiety – concerns and worries are part of life but anxiety can have a serious impact on your ability to enjoy life and make other symptoms worse – if this is the case then seeking help is the best thing to do. There are a number of ways in which health professionals can help.
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Conclusion
Cancer can have major psychological impacts on patients and those that care about them. Many of these problems can be helped, leading to a better quality of life. But your doctors and other health professional can only help if they know that there is a problem – telling one of the team treating you is the first step to doing something about it, if they cannot help themselves they will be able to suggest someone who can.
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